Blue Cat

*Teleplay by :* Bill Dubuque

**Blue Cat** is the second episode of the first season of *Ozark*. It aired on July 21, 2017.

## Synopsis

In the Ozarks, Marty struggles to find a local business he can use for money laundering, while his kids make new friends but neglect a crucial duty.

## Plot

The Byrdes have taken up residence in a local Ozarks motel, Marty hiding the eight million dollars under his bed in multiple cases of luggage. Marty instructs Wendy to find a place for them to live, and for the kids to familiarize themselves with the town. He reminds them all to not let anyone but the family enter the motel room. Marty tells Wendy that he no longer considers them married and berates her for emptying their bank accounts and sleeping with Gary Silverberg, and she slaps him, leaving to go find a house.

Marty looks for businesses to launder money through, first trying a self storage business. He rents a unit, but cannot convince the owner to take him on as an investor. He bounces around small businesses in town, not finding any success, as Wendy consults local real estate agent Sam Dermody.

At the motel, Charlotte makes conversation with one of their workers, Wyatt. He convinces her to hang out with him and his brother, Three, and Charlotte leaves Jonah to watch the room. Marty talks to strip club owner Bobby Dean. He initially seems to strike a deal, but Bobby turns him down when Marty denies that he would use the business to launder money.

Sam shows Wendy a house by the lake well within her price range, the only condition being she shares it with the dying house owner, Buddy Dyker.

Out boating, Charlotte notices a police boat pursuing them, and Wyatt sheepishly reveals that they stole the boat. He straps a life jacket on her and pushes her out to prevent her from getting in trouble and to distract the cops.

Bored, Jonah packs up all of the electronics, leaves the motel and wanders the town, meeting a young man with Down Syndrome named Tuck, who gives him a pocket knife.

Marty and Wendy pick up Charlotte from the police station, and the sheriff tells them the boys belong to the Langmore family, full of petty criminals. He shows them a picture of the family mastermind, nineteen year old Ruth, and Marty realizes she works as a maid at the motel.

To his horror, he finds that Ruth has made off with a suitcase of money in the family's absence. Understanding that the money is not safe, he hides it in two coolers with fish stacked on top and takes a boat out to another part of the lake, where he stumbles upon the Langmores—the boys, their father Russ, uncle Boyd, and Ruth. Marty and Ruth both manipulate the family to give back the money or keep it and kill Marty. Marty explains that he works for the Navarro cartel and that Del will kill them all if they steal, convincing the men to leave him alone. Boyd takes $20,000 regardless. Ruth follows her family, not before asking Marty if he also believes he would be better off dead.

Marty hides the money inside the pontoon of the derelict boat inside his storage unit, taking all of the money and hiding it two at a time, revealing what he was doing in the opening scene of "Sugarwood".

The truck holding the bodies from "Sugarwood" crashes, and Roy Petty finds Hanson Sr.'s decomposed jawbone in the wreckage. He transfers to Missouri, having tracked down Marty via his credit card usage.

Marty dreams about standing at the edge of a cliff and wakes, saying goodbye to his children. Jonah wakes, telling him about Tuck and his work at the Blue Cat Lodge, which he thinks Marty could invest in. Wendy stops him as he leaves, and he informs her that he plans to commit suicide and stage it as an accident for an insurance payout. Wendy is to email Del and inform him where the money is located, then call the sheriff. Marty calls Bob and asks what the likelihood of an insurance payout would be if the suicide was properly staged. Despite the possibility of it not working out, he decides to try anyway. Before he leaves the car to go to the cliff, he notices a sign for the Blue Cat Lodge.

As Wendy finishes calling the sheriff and finishes typing out the email to Del and prepares to send it, Marty comes back to the motel, to her relief. Marty meets with the lodge's owner, Rachel Garrison. Despite her business failing, she rebuffs him, and he gets a drink at her bar, which Tuck tends. When one of the patrons insults him and makes fun of his disability, Marty confronts him, demanding that he apologizes to Tuck. Eventually, the man tires of Marty's insults and punches him. Rachel does not intervene, but he gains her respect.

Wendy buys Buddy's house and takes the kids to see it, and Charlotte, exasperated, asks her again what they are doing in the Ozarks. Wendy bluntly tells her that their father is laundering money for the Navarro cartel.

## Production

### Credits

* Starring
* Guest Starring
* Co-Starring
### Starring

* Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde
* Sofia Hublitz as Charlotte Byrde
* Skylar Gaertner as Jonah Byrde
* Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore
* Jason Butler Harner as Roy Petty
* Esai Morales as Camino Del Rio (credit only)
* Peter Mullan as Jacob Snell (credit only)
* Lisa Emery as Darlene Snell (credit only)

### Guest Starring

* Charlie Tahan as Wyatt Langmore
* Marc Menchaca as Russ Langmore
* Christopher James Baker as Boyd Langmore
* McKinley Belcher III as Trevor Evans
* Carson Holmes as Three Langmore
* Kevin L. Johnson as Sam Dermody
* Adam Boyer as Bobby Dean

### Co-Starring

* Jill Jane Clements as Records Clerk
* Evan Vourazeris as Tuck
* Greg Allan Martin as Storage Owner
* Ben Taylor as Boat Captain
* Laura Whyte as Mom
* Morgan Brown as Big Redneck
* Scot Reddy as Skinny Redneck
* Brandon Sauve as Ralph

## Trivia

* The "Z" in this episode's title card is the barrel a liquified body was stashed in, the "A" is the Blue Cat Lodge, the "R" is Hanson Sr.'s jawbone, and the "K" is Marty holding his empty suitcase.
* The title refers to the Blue Cat Lodge, where Marty sets up business to launder money through.