‘Ozark’ Season 1 Episode 6 Recap: “Book of Ruth”

By
Alison Helms
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Ozark Season 1 Episode 6
Lisa Emery, Jason Bateman, and Peter Mullan in ‘Ozark’ season 1 episode 6 (Photo by Jackson Davis/Netflix)

Netflix’s Ozark season one episode six begins with Marty (Jason Bateman) enjoying a nice, quiet bike ride. Shortly after riding by and noticing how the church he and Wendy are having built for Pastor Mason is coming along, he’s run off the road by none other than Ash (Michael Tourek), Jacob’s enforcer. Ash and more of Jacob’s muscle pick Marty up off the road and force him into the back of a truck.

Wendy (Laura Linney) and the kids are driving and discussing the new school year when Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) spots Marty’s bike lying on the side of the road. Wendy gets out to inspect what’s going on and orders Charlotte to stay in the car. Wendy finds Marty’s messenger bag lying on the ground and tries to call his cell phone. She hears it ring nearby.

When the cover of the truck Marty was shoved into opens, he’s greeted by none other than Jacob Snell (Peter Mullan). “Welcome to our home, Martin Byrde,” says Jacob.

Jacob takes Marty on a tour of their operation, all the while giving Marty a history lesson on the Snells. The floods of 1929 forced the Snell family to move further up the mountains. He begins to tell Marty the problem with them moving further up is things didn’t grow up there. But there’s one thing in particular that grows almost anywhere… poppies.

Jacob goes on to tell Marty he’s messing things up for him. “You seemed to think you have more power than you do,” he says, adding, “You are a threat to our little colony.” First with the strip club when he took over and now with the church.

Of course, Marty had no clue the Snells were using the church to distribute their drugs. Jacob demands he stop all construction on the church. Marty says he can’t do it until next month because of his employer. Darlene (Lisa Emery) cuts him off and begins to describe what the inside of the Byrdes’ house looks like down to every single picture of their family that’s hung up. Darlene goes on to describe the layout of the house including whose room is whose. Every detail including what color his toothbrush is.

Jacob might not know who Marty’s “employer” is, but he knows enough to know Marty might not be touchable at the moment without Marty’s employer retaliating. However, he knows he can go around Marty. Surprisingly, he doesn’t threaten anyone in the Byrde family. Instead, he brings up Pastor Mason’s pregnant wife. That gets Marty’s attention and he tells Jacob the construction will never finish and the Pastor can stay on the water indefinitely.

Jacob warns Marty, “If we see so much as a cross go up, we will cut that baby out with a paring knife.”

Wendy and the kids burst through the door of their home to see if Marty’s there. While calling out his name, Wendy tells Charlotte in a rush to call the Blue Cat to see if he’s there. Wendy runs to the basement to grab a shotgun and while loading it Marty shows up. He begins to tell them a lie about someone hitting him and the person taking off. He tells his family a local saw him on the side of the road and gave him a ride home. Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) points out they beat him home. He elaborates on the lie by saying the lady got lost on the way to their house and he wasn’t paying attention.

Ruth (Julia Garner) puts on a nice dress and makeup, and Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) asks if she’s going on a date. It turns out she’s going to see her father, Cade Langmore (Trevor Long), in prison. Once there, she tells her dad all about Marty’s money and where it’s located. He asks what she’s waiting for and she explains she doesn’t know how to clean it.

Cade begins to tell her there’s a lot of accidents on the lake. “You do what nature intended,” he says, implying nature intended for Marty to die. It’s an interesting way to tell his daughter she has to kill Marty. In a sinister way, Cade ends their visit with what I’m sure is supposed to be a compliment. “You’ll be fine, Ruthie. You’ve got me in you,” says Cade.

Back at the motel where we left them in episode five, Russ Langmore (Marc Menchaca) shows FBI Agent Roy Petty (Jason Butler Harner) a fly he made himself. Roy praises Russ, letting him know they’re good enough for Russ to sell. Roy lies and says he’s been thinking about opening his own bait and tackle shop for a while. He asks Russ if he’d like to go into business with him. Russ quickly names off what they would need…capital, money upfront. Roy casually slides in there, “What about that guy your niece works with, Byrde? Get him to invest.”

Russ adamantly tells him no, not him right away. Roy questions why he’s refusing to ask Byrde and Russ deflects and tells Roy soon he’ll have his own money to invest. Roy warns him to never invest his own money. He proceeds to coerce Russ to get Ruth to make an introduction. Russ reluctantly agrees.

Marty and Wendy are forced into telling Mason they must stop construction on the church. They use the excuse the lot isn’t zoned for a religious establishment. Marty, the forever BSer, interjects, “Mason, you’re going to get your church. I promise we will get all this sorted out.” Until then, there can’t be any construction from anyone. Marty goes on to tell Mason the good news is he can get right back out onto the water.

Charlotte returns a book to Wyatt and before she leaves he invites her to an FT party that coming weekend to celebrate the end of summer and the tourists leaving. It’s not her scene so she declines.

Marty’s stressed; he doesn’t think the Blue Cat and the strip club will cut it.

Wendy’s proving Marty isn’t the only smooth talker in the family, telling Sam – the real estate agent – his sales are up 43% since last August. She informs him it’s because of her. When he attempts to point out that his overbearing mother helps as well, Wendy reminds him she has to fix what his mother does. She also declares she deserves a bonus.

Sam’s mother picks this particular moment to come in and criticize the cookies Wendy made for the open house. Sam asks his mother to give them a moment and Wendy starts breaking down the money that has been made. She informs him she wants half his increase in income.

Sam seems shocked and Wendy plays her cards, threatening to go down the street to another realtor. Before she can leave, he offers her $10,000. Wendy counters with $40,000. Sam’s mother isn’t having it and threatens to change her will to give everything to the ASCPA. After Sam’s mom storms off, he offers Wendy $25,000 and tells her to take care of the open house today before taking off after his mother.

A big party’s happening at the Blue Cat and Rachel (Jordana Spiro) goes on the hunt for Marty who seems to be MIA. It turns out Marty’s on the phone with Ruth in the office at the Blue Cat, letting her know he’ll be at the club tomorrow with his contractor to reroof the place. Marty also lets her know he’s leaving his van for the workers and will need a ride home from her.

Ruth sees an opportunity to put her plan in place.

Rachel finds Marty and tells him a half a dozen employers are wanting to buy him a beer, but he’s stuck in his cave. Ignoring what Rachel said, he reveals they’re going to re-carpet the rooms in the lodge. She confesses she’s really starting to like this place again since her grandma died. She reminds Marty about when she told him not to get her hopes up and he acknowledges remembering when she said that. She admits, “Well, they’re up.”

Wendy’s home and decides to sit outside with Buddy while she drinks. He complains about her kids being loud and she politely tells him to shut up so she can drown her stress in quietness. He tries to ask her what’s wrong and she shushes him. Wendy asks Buddy why he moved there and he reveals he worked for a politician. There was a bit of trouble so he came there. Wendy asks what kind of trouble and he flatly replies, “I killed Jimmy Hoffa,” and begins to burst out in laughter.

Turnabout is fair play so he asks Wendy why she came there. Instead of giving him an answer, she tells him she was in politics once. She believes she was really good at it. It was under the Obama administration back in Chicago. She loved everything Obama stood for. She quit after Charlotte was born and now here she is in nowhere Missouri. Buddy gets up to leave but not before informing Wendy there’s a package that came for her this afternoon.

When Marty gets home Wendy’s waiting for him visibly upset. She informs Marty that Del sent them something. Marty opens it to find a jar with eyes in it.

Ozark Season 1 Episode 6
Julia Garner in ‘Ozark’ season 1 episode 6 (Photo by Jackson Davis/Netflix)

Ruth’s messing with the electrical by the docks. It seems she took her father’s advice not only to kill Marty but to use Google to figure out how to do it. She’s decided if she gives him a ride it will be by boat. She rigs the power down by the docks so that when Marty uses the dock later to leave, he’ll be electrocuted.

Russ brings Roy to the strip club to try to talk Ruth into introducing them to Marty. She reminds him they have a plan in motion or did he forget. Ruth asks Roy to step outside so she can talk to her uncle in private. Russ asks Ruth what her plan is and she replies, “His dock. I’m rigging it to light him up.” It’ll be the perfect accident.

Ruth warns Russ in the meantime to shut his mouth and to get out. Russ returns to Roy’s truck and Roy asks what that was all about. Before Russ can answer, Roy asks what Ruth was talking about. Russ’ not so vague response, “Let’s just say Marty Byrde won’t be investing in much anymore.”

Roy tells him not to do anything or he’ll wind up in jail.

Charlotte sees Zach at the Blue Cat and asks him if his invite still stands. He confirms they’re heading there now.

The party’s a real boozefest on the water. When Charlotte goes below deck to use the bathroom, Zach accompanies her. When she returns from the bathroom, Charlotte makes the first move and kisses Zach. They move to the bedroom on the boat.

Charlotte loses her virginity to Zach.

Ruth goes to Marty’s dock unbeknownst to the Byrde family (and Buddy) to set up the electric rig to kill Marty.

Ruth’s on the water with Marty giving him a ride home. When they make it to his dock, Marty climbs up the ladder. Ruth is shocked nothing happens and Marty is perfectly fine.

Agent Petty’s in the woods spying on Ruth and Marty when Jonah appears behind Petty and aims a gun at him. Jonah stands there wordlessly holding the gun aimed at Petty but then allows him to walk away.

Marty tells Wendy they’re very close to hitting their goal. “We are going to make it,” he says. After an emotional embrace, they become intimate with each other in a way Marty thinks Wendy is into – thanks to the sex tape he has of his wife and Gary.

Ruth confronts Russ believing he messed with her rig to kill Marty. Russ denies it. She gets in Russ’ face and he gets right back in hers. “Fact is, we should have never let a little bitch do a man’s job!” After that verbal jab, Ruth spits in his face. That being his last straw, Russ slaps Ruth across her face.

The next morning Wendy asks Marty about the prior night, confirming they’ve never done that before. Marty simply says, “I thought you liked it.” She questions him again wondering why after all these years he would think she would like it. Marty leaves the house and leaves his laptop behind. She begins to look around on his laptop and finds the video of her and Gary.

Charlotte goes to look for Zach at the boat dock but finds Wyatt instead. He informs her Zach pulled his boat out this morning before he left to go back to Chicago. Charlotte wordlessly turns to face Wyatt when he admits he heard they were at party cove together. “They always leave, Charlotte. That’s the difference between us and them. And you…guess you’re one of us now,” Wyatt tells her. Charlotte begins to cry and walks off.

Ruth returns the van to Wendy at the Byrde home and Wendy notices Ruth’s black eye. Wendy invites her in and begins to clean Ruth’s eye. She asks Ruth if it’s from a boy or someone at home. Ruth insists she tripped. Charlotte storms into the house as Ruth says she has to leave. Wendy gives her number to Ruth and tells her to call if she needs anything.

Wendy and Charlotte are sitting on the dock when Charlotte tells her mom she hates it there and begins to cry.

Marty heads over to the Blue Cat office and finds Rachel sitting at the desk going through the books. She tells him the books are pristine but BS. She starts going over everything that isn’t true in the books. She confronts him about being a lair and demands he leave the property. He refuses. Marty begins to tell her about his situation. She threatens to call the police. He throws all the papers and storms out of the office.

Jacob has surveillance on the church to make sure it’s not being built when Ash shows Jacob that a cross was put up.

Marty’s trying to call Wendy when he stops in front of the church and sees the cross. Episode six ends with a shocked Marty leaving a voicemail to Wendy saying, “They put up a cross.”




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