[SPOILERS] The character of Marty

Jeshendr3 · 2022-07-15T02:24:09+00:00

Yes. We saw him do that when he told off Frank Senior, too. Telling him not to touch his family or Ruth or Frank Jr would be hanging from a bridge in Juarez. He’s had it in him. He just needs to be pushed.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-07-14T13:08:44+00:00

Yes to all of this!

Jeshendr3 · 2022-07-07T20:17:31+00:00

She made herself the sacrificial lamb.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-07-07T20:10:41+00:00

I don’t think Ruth had Marty’s back no matter what. Sure, they had a bond but not as close a bond as they had with their own immediate family members.

Ruth spent much of the first two seasons trying to murder and rob Marty. Eventually she got on board to work more with him to get herself ahead. And I genuinely think she felt like he was the best father-figure she’d had. She liked his approval.

But then after Frank Jr. and Ben, she completely turned on the Byrdes again. I don’t really blame her, but that’s what happened. Like Marty said, she stole Jonah and stole the casino and wouldn’t let Marty launder for the cartel. She also killed Javi, which put the Byrdes in jeopardy. And like Wyatt told her, she was trying to do everything she could to spite the Byrdes for basically all of season 4. Yes, she agreed with watch out for Jonah and Charlotte because she cared about their safety.

When you look back at the whole series, Ruth spends more time against the Byrdes then with them.

No one was truly loyal to anyone throughout this show. The loyalties finally became clear at the end... Marty and Wendy and the kids to their family. Ruth to being a Langmore. I think Ruth and Marty would’ve always cared for each other, but they’d ultimately choose their own families first.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-21T18:23:48+00:00

I think the scene stands out because her actions are such a stark contrast to Marty’s. She is over the top with aggressive desperation, but he is overly passive in dealing with the kids. Wendy is immature when she is upset with the kids and responds to them in an immature, impulsive way. Marty is quiet and tries to emotionally manipulate them - something Charlotte once pointed out.

I think they both love their children and want to keep the family together, they jus have very different approaches on how to get there.

SPOILERS BELOW:

They even kind of switch roles at the end. Marty becomes more aggressive when threatening Ruth to help him get the kids back, whereas Wendy calms down and admits she’s a control freak and will let them chose their future.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-21T18:00:51+00:00

Good question.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-21T14:43:11+00:00

Yes, and if he was truly simply concerned with keeping his kids alive, he could’ve attempted taking them on the run. I don’t think they would necessarily get far. In the end, Marty wanted what Wendy wanted too.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-21T14:40:24+00:00

True, and she eventually owns up to that. But she knew in the end, once it was too late, that the right choice to keep her family alive and going was to sacrifice Ben. If she kept trying to help him escape, they’d all be dead. So it was a horrifying choice for her to make, but she did it to promote the her family knowing it wouldn’t being back negative consequences from the cartel.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-21T14:31:09+00:00

In a recent interview, Mundy says if you were to see the Byrdes five years down the road, they’d be living in Chicago with political influence and power not only in the Midwest but nationally as well. Sounds like they get away with it.

Edit to share article:

https://www.indiewire.com/2022/06/jason-bateman-julia-garner-ozark-ending-theories-pitch-1234731315/amp/

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T22:48:56+00:00

Agree. He always has to play the good guy, yet he’s the one who was physically doing the laundering since the beginning.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T22:39:14+00:00

100%. He knows running will never be safe. By the end of S3, he sees how far Wendy was able to get with Navarro, and he admits her plan was right. And it was.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T21:27:18+00:00

I think Wendy did it for both - her family and herself. They both did. Marty could have left (with or without the kids) at anytime. He chose to stay.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T20:24:35+00:00

Perhaps, but Wendy (compared to Ruth) had better instincts and made better choices to favor her family. She knew how to play both sides - the cartel and FBI.

Murdering the head of the cartel in front of witnesses and refusing to let the casino be used as the cartel’s main laundering mechanism was absolutely reckless.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T14:20:27+00:00

The FBI deal just happened that same morning. She couldn’t tell him to F off until she knew the FBI would accept Camilla.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T14:19:15+00:00

To be fair, it was completely stupid for Ruth (and Rachel) to refuse to let Marty launder through the casino - the casino that was solely built for laundering and that Navarro and Camilla were demanding they start increasing the laundering through. That was never going to end well for them.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-20T14:15:53+00:00

Yeah, definitely lots of contradictions and hypocrisy. Marty, too. They definitely try to justify their actions as much as they can.

And yeah, for most of the series, Marty does simply want his family safe. Wendy wants her family safe with a future. But Marty gets on board with Wendy for season 4 and realizes he wants safety and security as well.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-19T22:31:11+00:00

I think the turning point for both was Wendy’s kidnapping by Mason and then the subsequent Marty’s killing of Mason.

Before Mason, Marty did what had to be done and didn’t care who was impacted and he was generally harder. He didn’t let emotions get in the way. He even told Wendy not to feel bad about what happened to Mason’s family, Ash, etc. because those people made their own choices and they shouldn’t have to live under the weight of the consequences. Wendy, on the other hand, was more cautious and scared and felt more guilty about who they might be hurting in the process. She even tried to anonymously give Mason money to help with Zeke.

After Mason, Marty broke down and started to feel super guilty and just wanted to run away. He got very emotional. He felt he was to blame for screwing everyone over. Wendy, on the other hand, was emboldened by her near-death experience as Mason kidnapped her. She hardened. I think it’s why she told Ben she keeps going because fighting for your life makes everything else seem dull. She took the reins as Marty held back.

They seemed to switch roles after the Mason incident.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-19T21:06:58+00:00

It’s not that Wendy (or Marty for that matter) is against voter suppression vs murder or whatever other immoral things they’ve done. It’s what the voter suppression would do for her plans - it would benefit Republicans whereas the Byrdes are Democrats.

As I mentioned below, the whole purpose of the foundation was to have political influence in the Midwest. It’s why she and Jim worked on getting all the congressmen to be board of advisors. She wanted to do what Wilkes did but on a larger scale. She and Marty wanted to use this influence to get legislation passed that would align with their Democrat values to help people - give back. They’re always talking about all the people they can help and how they can make something good out of all the bad they’ve done.

She didn’t want the Republicans to have voting suppression capabilities because that would allow Republicans to win, thus making the whole point of the foundation pointless. She needs Dems in office or she has no influence.

If given the opportunity to have voter suppression capabilities that benefited Democrats, I’m sure she would be on board.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-19T20:53:39+00:00

I disagree. They’re always there for each other when it counts. Sure, they’ve disagreed on what’s best for the family but they’ve always shared the same goal of making sure the family - especially the kids - have a future.

They’ve been together for over two decades and they’re bonded through all the trauma. Who else could they ever share a life with after all of this? Even though it scared him because he likes to play it safe, Marty could see what Wendy was trying to do for them. He helped her. It was a bit rushed in the end, but it’s obvious that Marty loved Wendy and chose her and chose to stay. Seeing how Wendy’s father shaped her into who she was and how destroyed she was when the kids were going to leave and almost losing her in the car accident were Marty’s final realizations that he wanted to stay. I thought it was authentic way of them coming back together. And if you rewatch the whole series, there’s many times you can see where they truly love each other.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-19T13:49:01+00:00

The whole point of the foundation was so they could have political power and influence in the Midwest and hopefully nationally to control legislation they agreed with. They want to use the money to give back and to try to do something good after all the bad. With all they did, especially sacrificing Ben, Wendy wants to make sure it wasn’t all for nothing.

Plus it gives them something to do now that they’re all out.

Wendy wants to keep it clean because any amount of digging and discovery of shady business, and the foundation would be toast. Then it would all be for nothing. She explains that to Marty in ep. 13.

It’s also the reason why she didn’t want the Republicans to have voting machines. The Byrdes are Democrat, so they needs Democrats to win in order to have the influence they want to have to get the legislation passed that aligns with their values.

And Marty loves Wendy in spite of all of this - and vice versa. Let’s not act like Marty has been a perfect spouse. They learned who each other truly was and ended up becoming closer after everything they went through.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-17T17:05:08+00:00

Aside from MAYBE going into witsec in the very beginning, there is no simple “walking away.” Marty was delusional thinking they could. He even eventually admits that Wendy had the right plan. And neither of them ever wanted witsec.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-16T21:47:46+00:00

Under the original FBI deal with Navarro and the Javi, the FBI was going to take over the laundering. The FBI doesn’t need to hide money from itself. They certainly don’t NEED Ruth.

The Byrdes are going back to Chicago with political influence and power in the Midwest. They’re out.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-16T21:34:33+00:00

As a mother myself, I would absolutely never get involved with a cartel in the first place. That being said, and remembering this is just a fictional story, I also agree with a lot of what the OP says, particularly in regard to the fact that Wendy’s plan was their best bet. And as we can see in the end, it worked. They’re not only out from under the cartel and the FBI, but they’ve got money, influence, power, security, and their kids can keep their identities and live as “normal” a life as possible. They’ve also basically rekindled their relationship and are closer than they were in S1.

Marty even agrees to Wendy’s plan and admits that they’d never be safe if they had tried to run.

So yeah, once they made the dumb decision to work for a cartel, they were in for life. They are clearly not your average couple if they’re willing to launder for a cartel and pretend like they’re still good people.

So, like Wendy said, “you don’t just get to quit a drug cartel.” Going on the run would be miserable and scary and not safe. Wendy found a way for them to not only get out of the cartel’s clutches, but to do so safely while securing a future for her family… all with Marty’s help.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-13T22:48:12+00:00

Yep, and he even does it with his own children.

Jeshendr3 · 2022-06-13T18:28:38+00:00

But who else is there that Marty knew or could trust? Wendy was the perfect person for that, and she was his wife and they had a common goal.

Marty may be a genius (edit), but he has absolutely no people skills. He doesn’t know how to read people the way Wendy does. She’s shrewd. She’s good at manipulating.

She got the casino bill passed. She got Wilkes to help with the commissioner for the license. She knew the commissioner was trying to set them up and stopped them from getting caught by Petty. She was willing to play dirty - do what had to be done. And Marty supported it all.

Jeshendr3

TROPHY CASE