Anarchy99
Footballguy
The cartel had money, power, fear, and control for decades. The pharma company had multi-billion clout. The Snell's had the most land in the state (and drug money to burn). The feds even had their hands on the Byrdes to determine outcomes. Other politicians in the show came from money or had abundant wealth. The Byrdes had none of that for the entire series run.By the end of the series they were politically connected while also having the backing of a powerful cartel. I mean you did watch the last episode where they held that big fundraiser and were going to move onto being "king makers" in the political arena or didn't you?
I mean Wendy Bird basically laid out what I said to the Chicago cop right before he gets shot.
If you want to say they "won" in the end and earned the right from that point forward to become one of those families moving forward, sure, I could buy into that. But they didn't have any privilege or special standing throughout the show. They weren't royalty or blue bloods. But they weren't rich and powerful. They were pawns.
If we want to project their lives moving forward past the point where the series ended, I guess they could be on track to potentially become one of those families with heavy influence. But they are a long way from amassing a huge bank roll. IMO, they were still a long way from being dirty, rotten, filthy, stinking rich (to cite Warrant).