DTF St. Louis Episode 2 Recap: Snag It

The HBO Max show ‘DTF St. Louis’ pitches an offbeat comedy that quickly devolves into a head-scratching murder mystery. In the suburbs of Twila, St. Louis, local weatherman Clark Forrest befriends an ASL interpreter, Floyd Smernitch. As their friendship grows, the two get involved in DTF, a dating app for married people. A short few weeks later, Floyd is found murdered in a community pool. All evidence points toward Clark as the prime suspect in the case, especially once the lead detective, Homer, learns about the meteorologist’s apparent affair with the interpreter’s wife, Carol. Nonetheless, as his reluctant partner, Jodie Plumb, scrutinizes one particular aspect of the case, she can’t help but grow suspicious of the initial theory. In episode 2, titled ‘Snag It,’ the two investigators continue exploring their respective avenues on the case, hoping to extract the truth one way or another. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Beginning of Clark and Carol’s Illicit Romance

Initially, the assumption remains that Clark befriended Floyd and then fell into an extramarital affair with his wife, Carol. However, this isn’t quite the case. While the weatherman remains in holding and Homer continues questioning him about the timelines of the trio’s interpersonal relationship, which begins to clear up. Clark did meet Floyd first as the two covered the cyclone news together at WGTV. Afterward, the latter invites him and his wife, Eimy, to a cornhole event gathering, where the meteorologist meets Carol, Floyd’s wife. The chemistry between the two remains electric from the start, with the latter showcasing a clear sign of interest in the other man. Likewise, he also plays himself up, lying about owning a deep-sea explosion company, to make a good impression on his colleague’s wife.

During this interaction, the duo learns that they like to get the same juice from the same Jamba Juice establishment. As a result, it isn’t long before they run into each other at the location. This creates the perfect opportunity for the two to spend more time together and even make future plans. Carol manages to subtly implant the idea of going to a Cardinals’ baseball game together as a way to help out with her own amateur umpire side-hustle. As their harmless meetups continue, Carol extends an invitation to one of her own games, underlining how her husband won’t be around on the day. This leads to their first time hooking up together behind their spouses’ backs. Over time, their relationship continues as they have regular rendezvous at the Garden Quality Suites. That is, until it eventually comes to a sudden halt.

Clark’s Affair With Carol Preceded His Friendship With Floyd

While Homer continues questioning Clark, he assigns his partner, Jodie, to drop by Carol’s house and get her version of the story. Even though the latter is still more interested in figuring out the truth behind the nude Indiana Jones magazines found on Floyd’s person at the scene of the crime, she still shows up at the Love-Smernitch residence. As she begins questioning Carol, the widowed wife doesn’t seem overtly eager to be on the receiving end of the interrogation. Still, she answers Jodie’s questions about her affair with Clark, notably, painting him as the instigator of their fling.

Carol also insists that despite the affair, she had no intentions of ever leaving her husband and made as much clear to the weatherman. Meanwhile, Homer gets the same confirmation from Clark in the holding cell. Even though his affair with Carol ran hot and heavy, with the duo indulging in their every fantasy with each other, the latter remained steadfast about her contentment in her marriage with Floyd. When the duo, plus Eimy, attended a concert Floyd was interpreting for, his wife was even moved to tears by the amount of love she apparently had for the other man. Shortly thereafter, she ended things with Clark over text, telling him that she needed to focus on her relationship with her husband.

As the weatherman’s texts and his own confession corroborate, it was only after this unofficial breakup that Clark decided to pursue an actual friendship with Floyd. Naturally, this raises some red flags for Homer, who believes the friendship was an excuse to infiltrate the interpreter’s life and eventually murder him. Even though the pieces begin to fall into place in favor of this theory, things aren’t always as they seem. Jodie realizes the same when, during her conversation with Carol, she catches her in a lie. The widow and the weatherman both claim they had the same juice order at the Jamba Juice: the Go-getter. However, one quick trip to the establishment confirms that Carol has a different regular order. As such, she intentionally lied to Clark about the juice, likely as a way to find some common ground between them. This suggests that she pursued Clark in their affair at least on some level.

Floyd’s Connection to the Nude Indiana Jones Magazine

Initially, as Homer interrogates Clark, he also investigates Floyd’s connection to the DTF dating app. From the beginning, the detective has had a hunch that the victim was a closeted gay man. This theory stems from the nude magazines he finds at the crime scene featuring a male Indiana Jones stand-in. Therefore, when he finds Floyd’s account on DTF, which shows him as having connections with multiple other male users, he draws his one conclusion. The fact that one of the users confirms that he and Floyd made out after a meet-up once adds further legitimacy to the theory. The last message the victim received on the app was from a man named Tiger Tiger, setting up a meeting at the Kevin Kline Community Pool, where the murder happened.

Further investigation reveals that Clark is behind the Tiger Tiger profile. Moreover, his pharmacy receipts confirm that he had a prescription for the same drug that killed Floyd through an overdose. Consequently, Homer gets his ideal solution. He concludes that the weatherman killed Floyd in an attempt to win over Carol. In order to do so, he theorizes that the suspect catfished him on DTF, then killed him at the Pool. However, there’s one major flaw in this theory. From the beginning, Jodie insists that the magazines are not pornographic in nature. Even though they feature a nude male body, she argues that it isn’t masturbatory material.

On her trip to Carol’s house, Jodie gets confirmation of the same. As a part of the case, the investigator also confiscates all of the mail that the household is receiving to be returned later after analysis. As a result, Carol shows her to the hutch containing all of their mail and other documents. Thus, Jodie discovers a box belonging to Floyd. The box exclusively contains Playgirl magazines, all of which have the same nude Indiana Jones spread found near his dead body. The most startling discovery comes when the detective realizes that the model in the image is actually a younger version of Floyd. As such, right as Clark gets charged with Floyd’s murder, the case blows wide open. Lastly, a concluding scene showcasing the weatherman leaving a message for his wife finds him confessing in earnest that, despite his affair with Carol, he never hurt Floyd.

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