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Marty Byrde
Ozark character
First appearance	"Sugarwood" (2017)
Created by	Bill Dubuque Mark Williams
Portrayed by	Jason Bateman
In-universe information
Occupation	Money launderer Financial advisor
Spouse	Wendy Byrde
Children	Jonah Charlotte

Martin "Marty" Byrde is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the Netflix crime drama series Ozark. He is portrayed by Jason Bateman.

Character biography

Background

Marty Byrde is a mild-mannered, Chicago-based financial advisor who launders money for a Mexican drug cartel. When the cartel finds that his partner, Bruce, has skimmed $8 million from them, Marty is forced to plead for his life as Bruce and his accomplices are killed by Camino "Del" Rio, a cartel enforcer. In a last-ditch attempt, Marty shows Del a vacation flier for the Lake of the Ozarks, and claims that it is a good location for money laundering. He says that if allowed to live, he will launder $500 million in five years. Del partly agrees, and Marty replaces the skimmed money by liquidating his personal assets. Marty then sells his home and moves his family to the Ozarks to begin his money-laundering scheme.

Season 1

Prior to arriving in the Ozarks, Marty is made aware that his wife, Wendy, was cheating on him. This strains the Byrde family's transition from Chicago. After arriving in the Ozarks, Marty begins to search for local businesses to purchase in order to launder the cartel's money. He eventually purchases the Blue Cat Lodge, a boating resort, and the Lickety Splitz, a local strip club. They are run by Rachel Garrison and Ruth Langmore, respectively. Unbeknownst to Marty, the strip club was being used also being used as a money-laundering racket for the local heroin-dealing Snell family, led by Darlene and Jacob Snell.

Throughout the season, Marty and the Byrde family run into numerous obstacles in their money-laundering scheme. Marty's activities draw the attention of FBI agent Roy Petty, who has tailed him from Chicago and is working undercover in the Ozarks.When Marty tries to convince the Snells to do business with them, the cartel sends Del and his associate Garcia to check on their progress. The Snells, who use pastor Mason Young's waterfront boating church congregation as a heroin distribution racket, murder the pastor's pregnant wife after Marty and Wendy feign interest in building an actual church for him. The Snells leave the baby on Mason's doorstep, rendering him a single father. Rachel Garrison steals a significant amount of money from the Byrdes and disappears.

When Del and Garcia realize little progress is being made, they terrorize Charlotte and Jonah, Marty's children. As a result, Garcia is killed by Buddy, a tenant living in the Byrde's lakefront home. Del rips off Marty's toenails in an attempt to find out what happened to Garcia. Concocting another plan, he tells Del that he will work with the Snells to build a casino in order to launder the rest of the money. Del agrees and meets with the Snells, but he is shot in the head with a shotgun by Darlene after calling them "rednecks". Marty is forced to continue with the casino plan.

Season 2

Disillusioned by the violent acts of the Snells and the perceived danger to his own family, Marty begins planning the family's escape to the Gold Coast of Australia. When Wendy finds out, she feels that the plan is flawed and opts to protect the family using a different approach. While Wendy begins establishing important ties with the Kansas City mafia, her increasing disregard for Marty's input on decisions strains their relationship further.

Marty and Wendy now deal with Navarro cartel attorney Helen Pierce and her bodyguard, Nelson, who have replaced Del after his death. After Agent Petty successfully gets an FBI raid on the Byrde home, Helen assists with the damage control. Pastor Mason Young, who now holds a deep grudge against the Byrdes, kidnaps Wendy and ties her up in his cellar after his son, Zeke, is taken into state custody. Marty retrieves Zeke from the state and returns him to Mason, but he is forced to shoot and kill Mason when he threatens to stab Wendy in the neck with a screwdriver. Marty is left traumatized by this incident.

Ruth Langmore is caught between working for Cade, her father, and working for Marty. Cade kills Agent Petty, solving a problem for the Byrdes, but Wendy plays a wild card when she orders her first hit against Ruth's abusive father. Her decision to have Cade killed further draws a rift between her and Marty. Now that it is safe to stay in the Ozarks, Marty prepares to open his casino.

Season 3

Marty and Ruth now manage the Missouri Belle, the riverboat casino being used for the Byrdes' laundering scheme. Wendy and Charlotte handle public relations. While the FBI is constantly monitoring the casino's activities, they are unable to prove that Marty is laundering the money. Wendy's brother, Ben Davis, shows up in the Ozarks and begins living with the Byrdes. Omar Navarro, the leader of the Navarro drug cartel, kidnaps Marty and brings him to his estate in Mexico to see if they can launder the money without him. Marty is thrown in a cellar and is forced to listen to loud heavy metal music for hours. He is fed maggot-infested food. When he returns, Marty copes with the trauma by purchasing an old arcade game and obsessively playing it.

Marty and Wendy begin seeing a therapist named Sue. Unbeknownst to Wendy, Marty is bribing Sue to side with her so that Wendy doesn't get upset. Their relationship is further strained when Wendy is forced to divulge the nature of the Byrdes' activities to Ben, who witnessed Marty's kidnapping. Ben, who is bipolar, grows disillusioned with their crimes and lashes out at Marty, Helen, and Helen's daughter Erin. Helen resolves to kill Ben, forcing Marty to escort him to safety.

When Wendy abandons Ben on a road trip and leaves him to die at Nelson's hands, Marty cremates Ben's body at the funeral home. Jonah discovers Ben's ashes and realizes what happened, permanently damaging the relationship between Marty and his son. Marty and Wendy win Navarro over and have Helen killed, cementing them in the cartel.

Reception

In 2018, 2019, and 2020, Jason Bateman was an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series for his performance as Marty Byrde.

NY Times TV critic Mike Hale described Marty Byrde as a "middle-aged anti-hero" fueled by "a sense of unkept American promises". Hale likened Marty Byrde to Walter White, the main character of the Neo-western crime drama Breaking Bad. He further lauded the character's personality, writing: "Ozark uses Marty’s voice-over musings about hard work and the wages of parenthood to give the appearance of gravitas, but the show’s through line is really just his resourcefulness in the face of gruesome, cartel-style justice."

Popular culture

A restaurant located in Lake Ozark, Missouri is named after the character.

External links

• Marty Byrde at Ozark Wiki
• Marty Byrde at IMDb