There was a lot of anticipation leading into the Wild Cards season 3 finale, but while there were some moments that stood out, across the board, it was largely a letdown, especially in light of the other two seasons. 

Much of season 3 was flubbed by the writers, tanking everything that was built up between Max and Ellis over the first two seasons, particularly with their many moments of miscommunication and the surface-level introduction of Jessica. 

The series had a chance to course correct many times throughout the season, including the finale, which thrust Max and Ellis into another high-stakes situation.

Max was kidnapped, as Ellis was tapped in to not only help the heist go off without a hitch but also to save her life. It’s what she would’ve and already did for him, which is how she got into this mess in the first place.

The set-up was perfect for a vulnerable and emotional moment after their close call with death, but we didn’t even get a near-kiss or hug.

When Ellis finally got to Max, he got Chuck Norris’d, as she put it, and they were left for dead, making it the perfect moment for the two of them to see that, in the face of such a dire situation, all they’ve ever wanted was each other.

But the moment never came—not even Ellis’ realization that he went rogue and risked his entire career and life because of his feelings for her. 

Understandably, Max buried them, as she wears an armor to shield her from the pain of being abandoned and hurt, particularly by her mother, but the adrenaline should’ve been the catalyst for Ellis to finally make the move. 

Instead, we got nothing. For an episode titled “Now You Steal Me,” we should’ve seen Max stealing Ellis right back from Jessica!

You would think the show couldn’t mess it up more, but that’s where you’ll be proven wrong.

There was still an opportunity for Ellis to realize that his love for Jessica wasn’t the real deal, but instead, he doubled down on the relationship, almost in spite of his feelings for Max.

Jessica allegedly proposed—I say allegedly because we didn’t get to see the moment—and he accepted? Again, allegedly. 

We don’t know if anything else happened during this scene to lead to this moment, though many fans seem to think she informed Ellis of a pregnancy. Otherwise, why else would Ellis make such a rash decision?

And then there’s the fact that Jessica remains a huge question mark. We haven’t explored anything about Jessica or her backstory or really even gotten the full details on how they crossed paths, but there’s something they aren’t telling us.

While we haven’t gotten any signs or clues that Jessica is shady and not to be trusted, the first scene of the episode, where she tells him “not to be suspicious,” was a red flag to me. I can’t help but think she’s playing some kind of con on Ellis because it’s giving opportunistic. I don’t know what reason she would have, but they’ve only been dating for a few months, and it’s not like it’s this big romance, so why the rush on putting a ring on it? Especially since it was her idea.  

The engagement came out of the blue, so it seems specifically contrived to push a wedge further between Ellis and Max. There are so many other ways to do that rather than leaning into a common trope.

If handled properly, the payout could be worth it, but the series has already proven that it’s not good at exploring setups in a way that makes them meaningful to the plot.

We saw that with the introduction of Vivienne, which simply added nothing to the season despite being the most compelling development from last season’s finale.

Fans assumed Viv and Jessica were both working for Varga, which would’ve made a lot more sense than both of them just existing without any real sense of purpose.

Ellis’ decision seemed largely fueled by the Chief’s little hypocritical chat with him, where he expressed that Max was rubbing off on him and he once again broke the rules, so it seems that he assumed tying down with Jessic was somehow going to keep him on the straight and narrow.

And while I don’t condone breaking rules and running cons, Ellis should be thanking Max for inserting life into his dull existence.

He got a necessary shake-up to his by-the-book outlook, which makes him a more well-rounded person and detective.

 He’s proven that he’s actually quite good at pulling off these cons–a natural fit, and dare I say he even looked like he was enjoying it? Of course, he’d never lead a life of crime, but Max has shown him that things aren’t always black and white, and sometimes, it’s necessary to bend the rules. 

Ellis’s decision to do whatever was necessary to save Max and help her family out of a bind showed true growth, only for his decision to commit to Jessica, despite knowing that it wasn’t right—his shameful expression when he had to tell Max, said it all—knocking him back down several steps. 

Jessica is the safe choice, but Max is the wild card. Pun intended. 

The internal conflict Ellis is feeling has been pushed down for much of the season, as both Ellis and Max pretended that their feelings didn’t exist, but it needs to be explored heavily in season 4 to redeem itself in the eyes of fans, especially after that cookie-cutter ending.

How did we get from Max and Ellis almost sailing off into the sunset to this predictable engagement trope?

But now that the series has committed to it, Max doesn’t deserve to just sit around moping and waiting for Ellis to get it together. 

We need to see a romance develop for her, even temporarily, and enough to ruffle Ellis’ feathers. This would be the perfect opportunity for someone from the department to pursue Max, maybe even someone who doesn’t sit well with Ellis, forcing him to confront the truth.

Max has been watching him with someone else for months, and he needs to see how it feels. 

Aside from Max and Ellis, the Varga reveal was also quite a letdown. It turned out that we were all right on the money that George’s parole officer, Howard, was involved in the Varga situation, but when he ended up being Varga, it was kind of laughable, mostly because he wasn’t scary at all.

This was the man that Vivienne spent years running from? He didn’t even have a team working for him, nor did he have any real motive for hating Viv and her family and wanting to ruin their lives.

Tomo was honestly more menacing. 

The heist itself was honestly the only solid part of the episode, as it tapped into what made the show so fun and thrilling in the first two seasons.

It was just wacky enough to suspend disbelief, especially with the David Copperfield trick on the plane, and it proves that the family has always been extremely good at these cons, especially when they turned the con into a larger setup to put an end to Varga. George in that mask masking as a prisoner was also a nice touch.

Wild Cards — Image Number: WC310_0076_f — Pictured: Giacomo Gianniotti, Jason Priestley, Tamara Taylor — Photo Credit: Bettina Strauss/The CW — © 2026 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Seeing how the plan came together, who played what role, and how they managed to pull it off was also fun, as was the twist that the diamond wasn’t actually a diamond but Varga’s brother Artie, whom George got close to while mentoring prisoners. Everything they’ve done this season has been leading up to this moment, so the payoff felt earned, even if the stakes never really felt that high.

Max sliding the detonator using a piece of gum wrapper—the wrapper that helped them figure and piece everything out in the first place—and placing it in Tomo’s pocket so he can blow himself to smithereens was also crafty. Even in a time of crisis, Max is steady—never shaken—and one step ahead.

So now we know series excels in cons, but it fumbles when it comes to the character-driven moments, where audiences simply need more.

The emotional dynamics suffer when they should be steering the ship.

Vivienne’s return never lived up to its potential, resulting in sloppy storytelling that continued into the finale. They never fully explored the impact of her return from the dead, and George did a complete 180 following the con, simply forgiving her for everything. It was even more jarring that Ricky, who couldn’t get behind her return, was declaring “finally” when they kissed.

She was then extremely pushy for Max to go tell Ellis how she feels, which could’ve just been coming from a place of “don’t waste time denying your feelings,” but she didn’t even stop to consider that it could open Max up to even more heartbreak. Is that what she wanted? She’s clearly bad energy, even if her intentions are in the right place. 

Hopefully, the series finds ways to utilize all these promising talents and characters next season, including George and Ricky. We need more Ricky in our lives, come on!

And Max not only deserves to find love this season, but it would also be nice to take her future seriously. She seems determined to stick around, and she’s good at what she does. Maybe she can go to school and actually become more than a consultant? Everyone has accepted this is her path forward, so why not commit to it?

Wild Cards Season 4 needs to take more risks, rather than leaning on soapy plots that have been played out, and invest more in its character roster, so that it can get the fandom’s respect back! 

Do you trust Viv, or do you think she’s still up to something? Do you think Jessica is good for Ellis, or is she playing a larger game? What did you think of the finale? Share your thoughts in the comments. 

Read more:

On Wild Cards Season 3 Episode 9, titled “Fast Crimes at Ridgemont High,” also the season’s penultimate episode, it was revealed that a major character is leaving the series. 

After a fake stakeout, where Det. Yates dropped plenty of hints about the feeling of abandonment and knowing that someone you’re close to is leaving, she finally confronted Simmons about his departure, stating, “You were just going to slip out like a raccoon at a buffet.”

“When you move, I move,” she told him, expressing that she knows all his passwords. 

Simmon then confirmed the news, explaining, “All right, I’m leaving the precinct. I put in for an undercover task force. Li vouched and I just got clearance. Different city, and I’m gonna need to lay low for a little while.”

Yates took it personally, naturally, especially that he wasn’t going to tell her but “write” her a letter instead, asking, “What is this 1895?”

“I didn’t know how to tell you face-to-face, I’ve always been bad with goodbyes,” Simmons continued, as Yates revealed that she’s happy for him, but work won’t be the same.

Is Michael Xavier Leaving Wild Cards?

That seems to be the case after Yates and Simmons’ heartfelt scene together. 

While there’s no word on why Xavier is exiting the series, US Weekly reported in Nov. 2025 that the actor and his wife, Bria Murphy, daughter of Hollywood star Eddie Murphy, are expecting their first child together. 

Admittedly, Xavier’s exit is a loss for Wild Cards, though it’s not entirely surprising he’d want to move on. The series never fully developed his character, nor did it give him and Yates much to do. More often than not, they were sidelined from the central cases, reduced to a background presence with only brief moments to stand out, usually to insert a joke at Yates’ expense. Does Simmons even have a first name? Exactly.

It’s not clear if this was his final scene or if he’ll finish out the season. 

Wild Cards Season 3 Episode 9 Sets the Scene for the Season Finale

 There were a few things that happened throughout Wild Cards Season 3 Episode 9 that set the groundwork for the season finale, including the big planned heist that’s on the horizon.

The ‘Mole’ Mentions

The episode found Cole Ellis returning to his roots for his high school reunion. It’s immediately clear that he wasn’t the popular guy. He seemingly had no friends, and everyone he went to school with was cruel to him, so why he even attended the reunion is beyond me. But he did, and he brought Jessica with him, which Max’s mother assures is a personal declaration. She tells Max that Ellis is opening up the vault for Jessica, and pushing her out—and it gets in her head. It’s becoming harder for Max to downplay her feelings for Ellis as she sees him kissing and hugging Jessica, which should have been her if her mom hadn’t messed up her plans. 

Anyway, the case of the week isn’t as important in my opinion as the fact that the bullies keep calling Cole Ellis the “mole,” for reasons unknown. Jessica takes a lot of interest in the nickname, which honestly seems like a bit of a tell to me, considering many fans think she’s the mole that can’t be trusted. Only time will tell, but there’s just something off about her. She’s been kind of an empty plot point, not even stirring up any friction between the two leads, which has to be for a reason, right? The payoff isn’t there otherwise. 

George’s Parole Officer/Trapped in the Prison

I’ve mentioned that I think George’s parole officer is connected to or working for Varga, and while they shared a heartfelt moment with their final session, suggesting that they’d like to keep in touch, the officer knew that it was George’s final day mentoring the inmates when they went into lockdown. Before the episode ended, it was said that the whole block was getting moved, but it didn’t show George leaving the prison, so it got me thinking that either Varga wants George away from the heist or Varga’s guy is protecting him from it. Either way, the timing of it was incredibly strange. 

Vivienne Wants to Make a Run for It

Then there’s Vivienne’s decision to run away instead of going through with the plan because there are “too many variables.” It leads to a very emotionally honest conversation between Max and her mother, which, honestly, should’ve happened way sooner in the series for us to even care about Vivienne or take her seriously, but it’s also strange because not once does Vivienne mention running away and bringing Ricky or George. It’s almost as if she didn’t think about them. She mentioned leaving as a family, but it seems to have referred to her and Max mostly.

Many theories suggest she’s Varga, so having George locked away means he wouldn’t arrive on time for them to leave. 

And then, there’s Max’s kidnapping, which could be at the hands of Varga or it could be at the hands of her mother, who may or may not be Varga. 

Vivienne’s “death” and her big fight with Max from years ago parallels their big fight now and Max’s kidnapping. It’s possible that Vivianne also thought Max wouldn’t go for her plan to run away, so she staged a kidnapping. 

Or this is Varga giving them an extra incentive and motivation to successfully pull off the heist. 

It’s also possible that Vivienne is getting attached to her family again, while all she wanted was to con them and have them take the fault, and wants to run away so they don’t realize she’s working with Varga. The possibilities are endless, but one thing’s for sure–that woman is not to be trusted.

We didn’t dig into her character at all this season—heck, even Max’s “I hate you” admission barely scratches the surface, which, again, has to be intentional. Vivienne’s return should’ve been explored in several storylines this season, giving Max so much to work with and through, and deepening audiences’ understanding of who she is and how she got her, but the mother-returns-from-the-dead dynamic was just sidelined.

If it’s not intentional, it’s just sloppy and bad storytelling.

Keeping her character vague and surface may allow them to manipulate her in any way that is needed for the finale, though overwhelmingly, it’s been a wasted opportunity to provide any emotional depth or character building for everyone affected by her return.

The heist 

Either way, there are a lot of variables at play when it comes to this heist, and Vivienne has continued to put them in danger and cause them heartache.

She doesn’t even care that Max doesn’t want to run away because she’s created a life for herself that she likes with people that she considers friends and family.

It’s only natural that Ellis is going to be looped in to locate Max, seemingly pulling him into the dangerous plot. 

But no matter what happens, it seems that fans want the finale to end with Ellis coming to Max’s rescue and the two finally admitting their feelings for one another. 

Fans seem to agree that this was the strongest episode this season—one that felt like the first two seasons of Wild Cards, which is a shame since it’s also the last one. Maybe it’ll give writers something to tinker on before getting started with season 4! 

Read next: ‘Wild Cards’ Season 3 Made One Big Misstep With Ellis and Max

There’s nothing more frustrating than watching two people who are clearly meant for each other refuse to admit it and friend-zone each other.

In the case of Wild Cards Season 3, specifically Wild Cards Season 3 Episode 7, that frustration has officially hit a breaking point.

Ellis (Giacomo Gianniotti) and Max (Vanessa Morgan) officially friend-zoned each other, and while the show wants us to believe it’s complicated, fans who have been watching and rooting for these two for three seasons know exactly what it is: a stall tactic that’s wearing thin.

And it’s the biggest misstep the series made this season. 

The disappointment runs deep not only to the characters but to the fans.

Season 2 came the closest the show has ever gotten to giving us what we want, with Max nearly riding off into the sunset with Ellis on his boat. And then, just like that, the possibility was yanked away. She stayed behind when her dead mother returned to the land of the living, while Ellis “moved on” and returned with a girlfriend named Jessica, and suddenly, we were back to square one.

Wild Cards — “Barking Bad” — Image Number: WCD209_0459r — Pictured (L-R) : Giacomo Gianniotti as Detective Cole Ellis and Vanessa Morgan as Max Mitchell — Photo Credit: Justine Yeung/The CW — © 2025 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

And don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with Jessica. She’s not the problem. She seems lovely, and in another universe, she’d be a perfectly fine match for Ellis.

But Ellis’s heart is already spoken for, even if he refuses to admit it to himself. Jessica doesn’t deserve to be in a relationship where she’ll never be anyone’s first choice, in the same way Max doesn’t deserve to play third wheel, even if she does it with remarkable grace, compartmentalizing by telling herself that Jessica is a fine choice… if it can’t be her.

And that’s what she believes—that it can’t. 

Max is pulling back because she doesn’t think she’ll be around much longer with the heist looming, so why ask Ellis to give up someone compatible? It’s selfless and heartbreaking, sure, but also, frankly, exhausting to watch.

We get episodes where they tiptoe around their feelings, slapping a BFF label on feelings that are anything but platonic, convincing themselves it’s the noble thing to do. 

The obstacle is there, in theory, but Jessica’s presence also isn’t actually creating much of an obstacle. She’s just there, in the background, keeping them apart after hours, all while they continue their dance around the obvious at work. 

If we’re committing to Jessica, then why not commit?

The episodes that worked best were the ones that forced Jessica into their orbit, pushing them to fight the obvious chemistry. It makes Jessica impossible to ignore, but also emphasizes that she doesn’t have the same hold on Ellis as Max does—the chemistry isn’t as strong, their bickering doesn’t exist, and Ellis doesn’t light up around her in the way he does when Max says something out-of-place and silly. 

There’s something to be said for slow burns, and shows love to explore them, understandably. Building anticipation and prolonging tension keep fans invested. 

The payoff is much better when friends turn into lovers, but Ellis and Max have explored friendship for two seasons. 

But it also reaches a point where fans get frustrated. We’ve hit a threshold, and we’re ready for the payoff.

We want to see more than Ellis and Max’s friendship and relationship on the surface level.

We’re ready for messy. Really messy.

The heist is coming, and with it, hopefully, the moment that finally breaks through this friendship barrier for good. I’m talking the kind of dire, no-going-back situation that forces one of them to sacrifice everything for the other. Even if it forces him to bend the rules a little bit and her to walk away from everything she’s ever known. 

Because you can’t just casually acknowledge that Max was ready to drop everything and leave town with Ellis and then act like that meant nothing. Feelings like that don’t just disappear because it’s inconvenient. They both know it. We all know it.

What fans want and need to see finally is Ellis and Max navigating their feelings as romantic partners: messy and imperfect and on the clock. The will-they-or-won’t-they has simply run its course and isn’t doing the series justice anymore.

The friend zone is a slippery slope because it’s so hard to bounce back from, but if anyone can do it, Ellis and Max can. 

And the heist is the perfect opportunity to put it all on the line and see where love takes them. 

Sorry, Jessica, but your time is up.

Read more: Vanessa Morgan Is Finally Getting the Recognition She Deserves With ‘Wild Cards’