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Sugarwood is the first episode of the first season of Ozark. It aired on July 21, 2017.

Synopsis[]

After his business partner cheats a dangerous client, financial adviser Marty must devise a radical plan to save the lives of himself and his family.

Plot[]

Chicago-based financial advisor Marty Byrde makes a speech in a voice-over about money, its absence in modern society, and its influence on a man's choices, while he takes a cooler of fish out on a lake and drives a boat to an undisclosed location, only to show that the coolers are filled with money and hiding it.

Marty finishes giving his speech to a couple he is advising. While talking with them, he gets an email from "Bob Lily" that has a video of a man and a woman having sex attached. His partner Bruce Liddell enters and gets the couple to sign with them for an increased price.

Bruce's realtor fiancee Liz shows him and Marty a possible space for a new office. After she leaves, Bruce notes that he saw the video on Marty's computer, assuming it was porn, and wonders why Marty is living "a subdued life" compared to him, both sexually and financially. He gives Marty a leaflet for Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks, suggesting they invest in land there. Liz returns and Bruce immediately agrees to take it, though Marty resists.

Marty eats dinner with his wife Wendy and their children, fifteen year-old Charlotte and thirteen year-old Jonah. The parents break up an argument between the children, while Marty stops Charlotte from donating to a classmate with psoriasis despite Wendy's objections, tired of her always trying to get money out of him. After dinner, he again watches the video behind Wendy's back, the woman in the video revealed to be her.

After putting the kids to bed, he drives downtown and picks up a prostitute, who praises him for his hard work as Wendy before giving him oral sex. He is actually imagining this as he masturbates in the car, halted by the woman he is thinking about having sex with. He gets a call from Bruce, who is at a trucking warehouse with its father and son owners, the Hansons. When Marty resists, Bruce tells him that "Del's here."

Marty arrives at the warehouse's office, where he is greeted by Camino Del Rio, a lieutenant in the Mexican Navarro Cartel, for whom Marty and Bruce launder money on the side and the Hansons transport. He demands five million dollars that was stolen from him, while Liz, in attendance, goes to the restroom. He tells the story of a cashier at his father's store getting caught stealing for her family and asks what those present what they would do with her. Everyone except Marty says they would give her a second chance, while Marty believes, Del is fishing for discrepancies and has nothing on them, calling it a "ruse." Del responds by shooting Liz through the door. The younger Hanson panics and implicates himself and Bruce as the thieves, trying to exonerate his father as Del's men lead them away.

The men dissolve Liz's body in a barrel of acid as Del and his men kill the Hansons. Del asks Bruce how he stole from them, and he admits he and the younger Hanson rigged the weight of the trucks so they could take money from them, stealing eight million dollars total. He insists that Marty knew nothing about the theft and tries to apologize to him before Del kills him. As Del prepares to kill Marty and his men dispose of the bodies, he begs him to let him call his children. Del ignores him and says he plans to kill Wendy next. As he raises his gun, Marty notices the dropped leaflet, claiming that the Ozarks are a prime laundering spot. He promises to reimburse him for the stolen money and launder five hundred million dollars in five years. Del puts the gun to his head and Marty thinks of a happy memory of the kids and Wendy playing on a trampoline with him, only for Del to let him live. He gives Marty two days to return the stolen money in cash, then another two days to move to the Ozarks.

Marty tells Wendy what happened, who begs him to go to the police. He refuses, knowing the cartel can find and kill them regardless, and tells Wendy to start planning their move. The kids object to moving, Marty dissolves his business to help pay Del, and Wendy tells the man from the video that her family is moving. She reluctantly tells him what is happening, and he warns her to pull their money before the government catches on to what Marty is doing and freezes his assets. Bob Lily, a private investigator hired by Marty to track Wendy, informs him that the man is lawyer Gary "Sugarwood" Silverberg, and he and Wendy meet at least twice a week. As they discuss how difficult it would be to make the Byrdes disappear, Marty gets a call informing him that his accounts are empty. Lily gives him Silverberg's address.

Wendy returns to Silverberg's apartment to find Del and his man waiting for her with a beaten Silverberg. As Marty storms towards Silverberg's building, his body, thrown from his balcony, lands in front of him. As Marty drives away, he gets a call from Wendy and picks up to find Del on the other end, believing Marty was trying to skip town. He again asks the question about the cashier and Marty says to fire her, as it was not the first time she stole, but the first time she was caught. Satisfied, Del leaves Wendy alive. They return home and he tells her "you're welcome."

As Marty empties his bank account, FBI agent Trevor Evans intercepts him to ask if he is in trouble, which he denies. He finds he is about seven thousand dollars short of paying off Del, who offers to buy his car to finish the debt. He orders Marty to clean the already clean eight million by the end of the summer as proof of concept or he will kill him and his family. Marty notes there was a discrepancy when he said he was owed five million, while Bruce and the younger Hanson took eight million. Del admits that Marty was right and he was trying to bait them into admitting it.

Wendy ducks Charlotte's questioning as they pack and begs her to help the move go smoothly.

Evans and agent Roy Petty remove the bugs they planted in the new office space. Petty laments that Bruce would have made an excellent informant and wonders where Marty is now.

As the Byrdes drive to Missouri, Marty pulls over, claiming he needs to relieve himself. He walks behind a tree and weeps for what he has done to his family before wandering to the edge of a cliff and staring at the lake. His family joins him.

Production[]

Credits[]

Deaths[]

Trivia[]

  • The "Z" in the episode's title card is Marty on his knees, begging for his life, the "A" is the Willis Tower, a Chicago landmark, the "R" is a gun, and the "K" is Gary Silverberg falling out of the window.
  • The episode's title comes from Gary Silverberg's nickname.
  • This episode was directed by Jason Bateman, who plays Marty Byrde.
  • In the scene between Del and Marty, in which he begs for his life, Marty's lines do not match the script.

Quotes[]

Marty: "More shoreline... More shoreline than the whole coast of California."

Del Rio: "Excuse Me?"

Marty: "This place right here has more shoreline than the whole coast of California. And apparently, every summer. Hang on, listen to me. Every summer, the population of this place explodes. Tons of tourists. Midwesterners from all over the place. Blue-collar, white-collar, loaded with cash."

Gallery[]

Promotional Photos[]

Episode Symbols[]

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