The Ranch Part 6 saw the return of a familiar face: actress Molly McCook.
McCook now appears as Mandy Baxter on the hit FOX sitcom Last Man Standing, but she very briefly returned to The Ranch to reprise her role of Darlene Roth. Darlene is a small character in the Netflix sitcom, but has some key connections.
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Spoilers ahead for multiple parts of The Ranch.
Darlene first went out with Rooster Bennett (Danny Masterson) with a lackluster result. However, it did lead to Rooster meeting Darlene’s mother, Mary (Megyn Price) and starting a relationship. Darlene then starting hooking up with the Bennett’s longtime friend Umberto (Wilmer Valderrama) around the same time Colt Bennett was with Darlene’s sister Heather (Kelli Goss).
We see Darlene again in one episode: Part 6’s third installment, entitled “If I Could Just See You Now.” The episode serves as a send-off for Rooster, who is presumed dead. After the memorial service, the main Ranch crew goes to the local bar to celebrate his memory. Darlene and Heather are shown behind the bar serving drinks.
There is then a brief exchange between the sisters and their mother, with McCook getting one line in during the exchange.
“You doing okay mom?” Heather asks.
“Yeah, I’m alright,” Mary replies. “You got any more of that aspirin?”
However, it’s clearly not aspirin that Mary wants.
Darlene replies, “They’re Xanax.”
“Yeah, I was trying to be discrete,” Mary says. “Just give me the f—ing pill.”
This signals Mary’s drug problem building, but the sisters brush it off and carry on.
“I’m really gonna miss Rooster,” Heather says. “I feel like I should go find a chick to make out with in his honor.”
Darlene is shown one more time during the episode, participating in a toast to Rooster.
While that is all we see of McCook’s character on camera, Mary also provides some updates on her character in Part 6’s first episode, “When It All Goes South.” Mary looks through her messages for a any sign of Rooster, but only has messages from her daughters.
“Darlene wants to kill her kids. Heather also wants to kill Darlene’s kids,” Mary says.
There is then a humorous exchange between Colt and Mary that reveals that Darlene is now working at a local strip club.
“I’ll just swing by the Dairy Queen and the strip club,” Colt says. “Even if I don’t find him (Rooster), that’s a pretty good day.”
“If you see Darlene, will you tell her I cannot babysit tonight?” Mary says.
Colt replies, “Oh s—, she’s working at the Dairy Queen now?”
Mary gives an awkward pause before saying, “Yeah, sure.”
All episodes of The Ranch are currently streaming on Netflix. Part 7 is expected to be released some time in 2019.
Photo Credit: Netflix
