Sneaky Pete season 3 episode 2 review: Just give Margo Martindale the Emmy

Sneaky Pete season 3 has set up a really solid story for both Marius and the Bernhardt family and while they may not be working on something together right now, we are completely invested in all of it. Marius has accepted an offer to work with his past love, a charismatic woman named Lizzie who he knows is bad for him and we can’t wait to see not only what the con is this time around, but the dynamic between these two and who is going to be better at the con. Also we have the Bernhardt’s troubles as Julia has been arrested (and bonded) for obstruction and racketeering after trying to help Valerie escape to Canada. Typically we think this show is at it’s best when Maruis is with the Bernhardt family, but so far they’ve set up stories so juicy that we are willing to look past that and see what’s cooking. We have only met Lizzie for a moment in the final minutes of the premiere and we are ready to get to know her.

Marius and Lizzie

When we met Lizzie she had just stolen about $4000 dollars worth of merchandise from a store, then created a distraction by breaking a bunch of things and saying her “husband” Marius would take care of it as she lifted his wallet and left him in the store. We’ve seen Marius get out of way stickier situations then this, and with a quick swipe of another customer’s phone he was able to pay for the items and get out of the store without issue. Lizzie wanted to see if he’s still as good as he was – just a little test to wet his beak.

Their first play together is to steal a bottle of wine worth $100,000, which works out as smooth as whipped butter. While Marius thinks of selling off the bottle of wine himself and cutting Lizzie out of it she knows that he’s there for more then just the fun of the con and the money – he wants answers and he still wants her. They finally have a moment to talk about what happened on their last job together and while we didn’t get all the details we did learn that whatever they were doing went sideways, Marius abandoned her and she was left with a really gnarly scar.

The problem with Carly

Back at the Berhardt farm Carly has been digging deeper into the letters Maggie left her and has learned from Audrey that before her mother died she was planning on leaving her father and not taking any of them with her. While Taylor is in complete denial over this news, Carly doesn’t want to bury her head in the sand and wants to know why her mother was so desperate to leave that she would abandon her kids. She learns that her mom had found out a week before the accident happened that her husband was having an affair with another woman and that the husband of that woman (Jacques) was the person responsible for hitting their car and killing them. While Carly’s parents didn’t make it out of that accident alive, Jacques did and with the evidence from the crash being inconclusive Jacques was never charged.

Unfortunately we are having the same problem with Carly that we’ve been having with her for the first 2 seasons, which is that she seems to only have this one speed – surly and ungrateful.  We get that teenagers can be difficult and moody, but Carly doesn’t seem to have any other feelings outside of being mad at everyone all the time and going into season 3 we were hoping that getting some answers on what happened with her mom would move her into a different frame of mind and show us a different side to her that we haven’t seen yet. She can’t be this one note, can she?

Trouble for Julia

Audrey and Otto are trying to get their business back, but it’s not going to be easy. The Attorney General wants someone to be responsible for what happened and right now it’s them, but if Julia is willing to plead guilty and take full responsibility for what she did then the A.G. might allow their suspended business to resume. Otto can’t believe that Audrey is willing to throw Julia under the bus saying that she did the right, compassionate thing, but Audrey doesn’t see things that way. She feels that Julia put her own family and children at risk for a stranger and now her actual family is suffering alongside her.

When Julia goes to court with Lance (yup, she’s stuck with Lance as a lawyer right now) Audrey shows up to try to talk to Lance about what kind of deal Julia could get if she pleads guilty leading Julia to lose her mind. Lance makes it clear that if she pleads guilty that she will do jail time so that’s not an option, but it’s the first time that Julia has realized that she may actually be going to jail at all. She’s handling things quite badly and her new crappy job at the bar isn’t helping – but the bright spot for her is when the real Pete shows up at her house!

Related – Check out our Sneaky Pete episode 3 review!

CarterMatt Verdict

As much fun as the con was with Lizzie and Marius, the real meat of this episode was the story of what happened to Carly’s parents and how Audrey has felt responsible for killing her daughter for all these years. She was the one that found out about the affair and didn’t want her daughter to be blindsided like she was when she learned about Otto’s affair so she told her – and then her daughter told Jacques which set all the events in motion. Audrey has been holding onto this guilt for years like an albatross around her neck and we could feel that hug between her and Otto as she broke down in his arms right through our TV screen. Margo Martindale is such an outstanding actress with this powerful and raw vulnerability she brings to this character hidden behind this mountain of lies and secrets. Two episodes in and we already see this as the year that she is going to be sitting on a pile of awards for this performance.

What did you think of Sneaky Pete season 3 episode 2? Leave us a comment in the box below. (Photo: Amazon)

This article was written by Jessica Carter and you can follow her on Twitter here.