The Ozark Scene That Fans Think Ripped Off Better Call Saul

With three seasons of brutal, bloody twists and turns in its wake and a two-part final season on the horizon, Netflix's crime drama, "Ozark," has been widely hailed as one of the streamer's best original series to date. There's good reason for that too, as its story of mild-mannered Marty Byrde's (Jason Bateman) descent into the shifty world of drug cartels, backwoods criminals, and corrupt federal officers is one the likes of which Netflix viewers have never seen before.

That being said, there are a few shows out there that served as clear inspirations for "Ozark," and it's safe to assume AMC's "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" are among them. Like both of those shows, "Ozark" follows a seemingly average guy who digs himself deeper and deeper into the criminal underworld, dragging those he cares about into the darkness with him. "Ozark" also features a colorful, morally compromised cast of supporting characters (see: Laura Linney's Wendy Byrde, Julia Garner's Ruth Langmore, and Lisa Emery's Darlene Snell), a ruthless Cartel kingpin with little regard for human life (Felix Solis' Omar Navarro), and a crew of federal agents who just can't seem to stop the bad guys.

But the similarities between "Ozark," "Breaking Bad," and "Better Call Saul" don't stop there. In fact, some "Ozark" viewers even believe one of the show's more comically unsettling Season 3 plot points took a cue directly from "Better Call Saul."

The "Ozark" scene in question involves the Byrdes' opportunistic marriage counselor, Sue Shelby (Marylouise Burke). Sue, of course, hilariously hustled the pair out of hundreds of thousands of dollars before showing up one day in a shiny, bright yellow sports car — an act that could obviously draw attention from any keen-eyed investigators looking to bring the Byrdes down. For some, the moment is a little too reminiscent of a "Better Call Saul" Season 2 scene that saw peckish, formerly cash-strapped Daniel Wormald (Mark Proksch) show up to a drug deal in an attention-grabbing bright yellow Hummer.

One fan recently pointed out the similarity in a recent Reddit thread, noting, "This scene felt like a ripoff from 'Breaking Bad,' but still got a good laugh." After the OP was corrected by other users that Wormald's misstep actually happened in "Better Call Saul," u/infodawg chimed in to argue that the scene was more likely a loving wink to the AMC hit, writing, "Ripoff, no. It's an homage." 

u/OzRockabella, meanwhile, noted that "Ozark" has frequently taken cues from the "Breaking Bad" universe, stating bluntly, "'Ozark' has 'borrowed' heavily from 'Breaking Bad.'" Likewise, u/100_Duck-sized_Ducks admitted that the shows were so similar he couldn't tell them apart, writing, "I just had a weird realization that these are 2 different shows lol, I watched 'Ozark' and 'BCS' at about the same time and they got ingrained together in my head for some reason."

Whether a blatant rip-off or a loving homage, the "Ozark" scene is just as hilarious as the one from "Better Call Saul" — even if its outcome is ultimately far more tragic.