Ozark: Season 1/ Episode 5 “Ruling Days” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)
Marty finds religion… as something to exploit to meet his goals. Meanwhile, Ruth is given a bit more responsibility in Marty’s enterprise. Something Dead, Something New: Roy, Russ, Wendy, Wyatt, Charlotte So much to unpack with this topic. Well, first and foremost, Roy and Russ have sex. It isn’t clear who played what position, but…
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Marty finds religion… as something to exploit to meet his goals. Meanwhile, Ruth is given a bit more responsibility in Marty’s enterprise.
Something Dead, Something New: Roy, Russ, Wendy, Wyatt, Charlotte
So much to unpack with this topic. Well, first and foremost, Roy and Russ have sex. It isn’t clear who played what position, but it does seem Russ may go for seconds. Moving on, Charlotte and Wyatt hang out again, after all their drama, and she may like him. Granted, there are other boys out there, like this one named Zach (Spencer Neville), who takes an interest in her, but there is just something about Wyatt. Maybe it is because, as much as he fits into this rural atmosphere, he is smart. Might even become something.
As for Wendy? Well, she gets the visit of a lifetime. Gary’s son Josh (Ben Rappaport), tracks down Wendy and is looking for answers. He is trying to figure out who is this woman who is all over his dad’s Facebook. The women who is the key to knowing if his dad really committed suicide by jumping from an 80 story height? Her answer? Maybe. She claims she was breaking it off and that is the reason. Which, with Josh noting that his dad has never been so happy, it helps make sense of things. The one making him happy dumped him so he killed himself.
Commentary
How did Gary and Wendy meet? Did I miss that? For Wendy was a housewife and Marty doesn’t seem like the social type. So did she just meet him at the grocery story? Because, Josh clearly is nowhere near Charlotte’s age, so what was the connection. These are the things which puzzle me.
That and Russ deciding he wants some of Roy. I mean, I’m all for people who talk and act like Roy being gay, but this seemed more to be a shock or to make a statement than something natural. Like, someone just threw Russ into this storyline just for the hell of it. Which sort of bugs me but, hey, who knows? Maybe they can make those two into some weird looking couple that is loving? Though considering Russ will probably be on the down low throughout their relationship, they may just stay butt buddies and that be it.
As for Charlotte? I’m starting to think of Charlotte in the same way I think of Marty. When interacting with the Langmore clan, she is fine. Enjoyable even. It is just when she is with her family she is irritating as all hell. To the point when, as noted in the next topic, Ash decides to do some home invasion research, I wish she would have been there and ended up like Bobby Dean.
Finding My Religion: Marty, Mason (Michael Mosley), Jacob, Ash (Michael Tourek), Jonah, Buddy
Few things, first and foremost, Mason is a likable and naïve preacher. With that, both Jacob and Marty see the value in him. For Marty, building a church for Mason means a good way to clean the $4 million he has left to go through. For Jacob, he is able to move product through hollowing out bibles. So, both find it very useful to use this clean and very nice preacher.
However, it doesn’t seem they can share. Which is perhaps more so a problem for Marty than Jacob since Marty has Ash. This creeper who decides to break into Marty’s house and would have gotten shot if the newly trained Jonah got his sights on him. For, you see, while Jonah may not hang around Tuck, at all, he does hang around Buddy quite a bit. Someone who doesn’t mind the company and even teaches the boy how to shoot a rifle. Almost even opens up to him about why he ended up in Ozark.
Commentary
Was Ash just casing the house in case he ever had to kill Marty? Or was it one of those “It was easy to get into your house, so imagine how easy it would be to kill or kidnap your family” type of things? Either way, I was waiting on Jonah to shoot him and cause a new mess to deal with. If not accidentally shoot Buddy.
But, either way you slice it, someone is going to get shot between Marty’s family or Jacob’s. For both have these huge operations behind them that likely won’t intertwine well. And Jacob already has sent a few warning shots and being that Marty only has Ruth to back him up, it isn’t clear if she may be enough. Assuming she would even try to save him.
Can You Buy Loyalty?: Ruth, Marty
Ruth is given the strip club to run. For with her making about $80K over the 4th of July holiday, Marty feels it is in good hands. Though, even with him paying her $1K a week for her to manage the place, it isn’t clear if this bought her loyalty. For she tracks down where Marty is hiding his money and with that, who knows what her next move maybe.
Commentary
Who is Ruth’s daddy? Jacob? Because it keeps being brought up as a credible threat and with us not seeing him once, I am very curious. Though I’m also curious as to why Marty trusts Ruth so much? Does he think keeping her busy will distract her from screwing him over? Does he think just because she is 19 he will continuously outsmart her? Something seems very off here [note]Even though in the last episode I did say he should try to win her loyalty.[/note].
Question(s) Left Unanswered
- Am I wrong to think Rachel is eventually going to make Marty her man of the week? Could I be the only one who sees something there?
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