Ozark: Season 1/ Episode 9 “Coffee, Black” – Recap/ Review (with Spoilers)

Death is usually what surprises me the most when it comes to any show. But considering who got killed for who, by who, my jaw is hanging a little bit.

The Asset: Wendy, Sam, Marty

The women in Marty’s life don’t honestly get enough credit. And by women, I mean over 18 so I’m not talking about Charlotte at all. I’m speaking on Wendy and Ruth. Focusing on Wendy, who was the one that almost convinced Mason to let Marty build his church? Which would have been the perfect way to launder it? Wendy. Who has been thinking up backup plans just in case things went south? Wendy. Who, despite all that has gone down, hasn’t taken an FBI plea deal to just turn in Marty and be done with it? Wendy.

I mean, while she may not kill anyone like Jacob’s Darlene, you got to admit Wendy is a bit of a G. Her latest, brilliant, idea though comes in the form of buying a funeral home. For with Sam wanting the money required to bury his mom, Marty and Wendy have to get creative. So, Marty thinks up them paying for it and Wendy handles it.

But, as she starts to hear pricing, and takes not of the undertaker’s funeral home, things add up. They add up to the point she realizes this could be one hell of a place to launder money. For just for Eugenia’s funeral, and all the things she wants, that’s about $50K! So imagine how things can be with owning the funeral home, if not owning a few. People die every day and who better to take advantage of than someone in mourning right? It isn’t like between life insurance and savings they can’t afford it.

Commentary

Let’s just give props to Wendy right now. Though she wasn’t as innocent as we thought, based off episode 8, when it came down to getting her hands dirty, she was right in the thick of it with Marty. Be it pulling up a carpet to finding people to exploit, she has really been making up for cheating on Marty. Granted, part of the reason for her doing this is to keep her and her children alive, but, as said, she could have taken an FBI deal a long time ago. Yet, rather than take the easy way out, she has been a ride or die.

Hell, I’d argue she has even been training the kids to do so. Of course, it hasn’t taken well with Charlotte but look at Jonah. The boy is investing in guns to seemingly do more than shoot invasive species of birds. He is prepping to defend his family one bullet at a time.

The Jig Is Up: Russ, Roy, Ruth, Trevor

Roy reveals himself to be an FBI agent and pretty much tells Russ, either you help us get Ruth or you are going away for 15 years. Then, to add insult to injury, Roy is talking about Trevor being Russ’ handler. Let me repeat, after the very closeted Russ opened himself [note]No pun intended[/note] to Roy, he reveals he is the feds and is ready to just abandon him.

As you can imagine, this screws with him. Though, with Roy being forced between getting Ruth to incriminate herself or 15 years, naturally, he picks to screw over Ruth. After all, being Cade’s daughter or not, he doesn’t like Ruth enough to go away 15 years for her. So, he lets the trailer get wired up and tries to trap her.

Thing is, like the majority of the women on this show, Ruth ain’t stupid. Like most of the men, Russ is, but Ruth sure as hell is not. So with Russ trying to push her so hard to talk about killing Marty, she gives the slyest of smiles and says it was all Russ’ idea. Thus screwing over Russ to the point he plans to do something drastic.

Commentary

Taking note of Cade’s influence, I do wonder how Ruth became so cunning? That and where are all the mommas of these kids? Hell, even the mommas of these adults. For it just seems strange to me there has been no reference to any of these people’s moms. Ruth doesn’t talk about her’s, makes her seem dead in fact, and who knows who is Three and Wyatt’s mom.

But, those series of questions aside, I sort of felt bad for Russ. For while his whole family has been touted as thieves and such, they never seemed like bad people to me. Granted, Ruth tried to kill Marty, but she does live in poverty. Much less, as she said, it isn’t like Marty is an innocent man. He works for a drug dealer whose men have no issue killing innocents. As seen with Bruce’s little girlfriend.

So, keeping in mind that they all seemingly work, outside of Three and maybe Boyd, you can’t blame them for wanting to get ahead. Maybe enjoy the good life. Even if it requires killing or stealing. For who wants to live the rest of their life in some small trailer, with a bunch of idiots, while you have some dreams to better yourself. Maybe escape this hell you’ve been living in so long you don’t even tan no more.

The Blood of the Covenant Is Thicker Than the Water of the Womb: Ruth, Russ, Roy, Marty

With Roy breathing down Russ’ neck, and not in a fun way, and Ruth too smart to be fooled, Russ plans to kidnap Marty, find where his money is, then kill him. Afterwards, he plans to promptly run off with his boys north. Now, this was the plan but then Ruth got involved. She decides to rig the dock and let Roy, with Boyd accompanying, fry. With that, she has killed her uncles to save Marty. She has killed her blood to save a man she herself was just trying to kill. Thus leaving Roy a bit heartbroken and frustrated, and Marty a tad bit grateful. Rachel isn’t because they died on her property, but Garcia’s (Joseph Melendez) gun seemingly will make sure she keeps her mouth shut.

Commentary

Nevermind what Roy may do next, of which seemingly will be interrogating Ruth for he knows she did it. I think the better thing to think about is why did Ruth save Marty? Was it simply to make sure she got her hands on his money or could it be he may have really won her over? If not Wendy has won her over to the point she is willing to save Marty? For her crying and embracing him is what throws me off. If she just killed them and moved on, it would be obvious it was because they were trying to cut her out. However, with how things look, I think she may have adopted the Byrde family. Whether they know it or not.

Here is hoping, as Roy plots some kind of revenge, they do the same for her.