Ozark
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A family is like a small business, Marty tells his bewildered kids as the episode opens.
This family has torn down its former establishment and has to put up a new one.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner), a genius surrounded by idiots.
This dynamic has been life-or-death from the very beginning.
Wendy goes house shopping while Charlotte and Jonah stay at the motel.
What do they tell the kids?
She notes that Gary was a good man, not like Bruce.
The goodandbad will die if they get around the Byrdes.
The only joy in his life recently?
Hearing Gary hit the pavement.
(He deserves it, honestly.)
While Wendy is shopping with him, Marty looks for investment opportunities around the Ozarks.
He keeps striking out.
For example, he gets a storage space in town but not an investment in the entire operation.
He also gets a bit of a warning about poor planning from the proprietor that he should probably heed.
Its not a bad pick-up line.
However, the religious angle doesnt work on Char nearly as well as the financial one.
The owner figures out that Marty is interested in looking for money laundering.
Leave it to the titty-bar owner to be the one to figure out Marty first.
He offers to work with him.
Speaking of death, Marty is thinking about his own.
He watches it fall.
Does he want to join it?
While Charlotte speeds around the lake with the Langmores, Jonah gets bored watching Shark Week.
He heads out for a walk and meets a boy named Tuck (Evan Vourazeris).
Its another seemingly random event that will basically save Martys life.
The premiere had the brochure.
The second episode has Tucks knife.
More on that later.
Wendy is trying to decide if she wants a grumpy old man living in her basement.
We learn that Buddy is 82 with a bad ticker that wont be replaced.
He doesnt mince words, which Wendy kind of admires.
He calls tampons period plugs, which Wendy kind of hates.
The Byrdes play hardball, and Marty hears about Ruth Langmore for the first time.
Shes tough, shes 19, and Marty knows shes probably robbed them already.
He panics and rushes to the motel to find an empty suitcase under the bed.
Marty is seriously outnumbered, but dont forget that he doesnt have much to live for at this point.
Hes already been contemplating jumping off a cliff.
What could the Langmores really do to him?
And the truth is that Martys dead anyway if he doesnt get that money back.
He starts to negotiate.
What could the Langmores do with all that cash?
If they keep the money, theyll have to kill Marty.
His strategy is to lay it all out on the line.
These people are in TOO DEEP.
Ruths business savvy kicks in.
Marty pushes back by suggesting that even if he dies, someone in this dirty crew will break.
Its agreatscene thats even better in retrospect when considering how much will happen between Marty and Ruth.
Why do I have this feeling we both know that youd be better off dead?
He doesnt seem to care much about what the relocation will do to their relationship.
Marty wakes up early the next day and kisses his kids on the head.
Is he ready to jump?
Did he take Ruths words to heart?
Its a crumbling lodge that could use money like Martys.
But hes still planning to jump.
He tells Wendy about the $1 million in life insurance and that theres money in a storage unit.
No one else can find the money.
After a call to his detective about insurance investigations related to possible suicides, Marty bails.
She turns him down but reconsiders when she sees Marty defend Tuck against some bullying bar-crawlers shortly after that.
Marty has no idea how much the Blue Cat will change his life.
In the final scene, Wendy shows the kids their new house (and their new roommate).
I shit you not.
Other supporting players may come and go, but Sam is still around in season four.
