Helen Pierce is the central antagonist of the Netflix series, Ozark, serving as the central antagonist of Season 2 and Season 3 and the posthumous overarching antagonist of the first half of Season 4. She is a Chicago-based attorney who represents the Navarro drug cartel.
Biography[]
Following Del's disappearance, Helen is sent to deal with Marty and to check in on the 50 million dollar situation.
She’s there to make sure Marty and the Snell’s live up to their end of the deal. In the first episode of Season 2, she seems skeptical of the casino plans, but coolly reminds Marty of what’s at stake.
In Season 3, Helen moves to the Ozarks to help oversee the Byrde’s operations. At first, she and Wendy strike up a friendship and help each other navigate the future of the cartels money. Helen's daughter, Erin, also comes to the Ozarks and hangs out with the Byrde kids.
Eventually, Helen thinks that Wendy and Marty are a liability and makes a plan to kick them out. The Byrdes catch on and behind her back make a move to appease Omar Navarro and have him trust them more. The Byrdes win and Omar has Helen shot at his property in Mexico.
Personality[]
Helen is a cold, calculating woman who is willing to do anything in order to get ahead, as well as to please her boss Omar Navarro. Much like Marty, she has a tendency of burying her emotions in high pressure situations and being able to make hard decisions. Though unlike Marty, Helen is much more ruthless and conniving, overseeing many illegal acts such as murder, arson, animal cruelty, and others. She is much more like Wendy, she is willing to do whatever it takes in order to make sure that she succeeds, no matter how foul or morally objectionable it may be.
She is also very duplicitous and has a habit of taking matters into her own hands, such as when she had Marty and Wendy's marriage counselor killed when she felt that the woman knew too much about Marty and Wendy's business, and when she figured out what really happened to Del Rio, to name a few instances.
Despite her ruthlessness, she does have a tender side. She genuinely loves her children and cares about her ex-husband, despite the fact that their marriage ended acrimoniously and will do anything to protect them, as well as to keep them out of her business, unlike Wendy and Marty who have already told their children the truth of what they do and even involve them in their affairs from time to time. She also genuinely apologized to Jonah for her role in Ben's death and said that she was sorry for a lot of the decisions that she had made during her life. She seemed to take a genuine liking to Wendy during their partnership together, viewing her as an equal and seeing many traits that she herself has in Wendy, though this ended with Ben's revelation to Erin and his subsequent death.
She also showcases her tender side with Jonah, saying that he's a smart kid and even apologizing to him for ordering Ben's death, about Erin, and for dragging Jonah into this mess that is the life of a cartel operative, which indicates that, like Marty, she regrets ever working with the cartel to begin with.
Her downfall came once Ben revealed to Helen's daughter Erin the truth on what she did for her work, as well as Marty and Wendy's children admitting that what Ben said was the truth, causing Erin to sever ties with Helen. This quickly caused her working relationship with the Byrdes to sour and deteriorate completely. She attempted to set Marty up with a fake confession to the FBI, but unfortunately Navarro chose to side with the Byrdes and had her killed for her actions.
Quotes[]
- "Don't fuck with me and don't fuck with my client. They'll kill your children. They'll gut your fucking wife. Do you want me to tell you what they'll do to you?" - Helen
- "It's the first law of power. Those who can, shit on others. Those who can't, clean it up." - Helen
- "Maybe that’s the only way to truly make a marriage last. Make it impossible to blow up without the shock wave swallowing everyone. Mutually assured destruction." - Helen
- "Ours is not a business for the progressive ours is a conservative pursuit" - Helen
- "Ben does not have to die because he told Erin. He has to die because Erin is not the last person he will tell." - Helen
