Ozark season 4 finale explained (2023)

This article contains spoilers forOzarkseason 4

throughoutOzark, Marty and Wendy Byrde (Jason Bateman and Laura Linney) have repeatedly placed themselves in unimaginable danger only to escape by throwing another person under the bus. The number of their indirect kills is unbelievably high, and most people who defy them end up in their graves. Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner), perhaps the greatest victim of the Byrde family's wrath, recognizes this and constantly calls them poison for anything they touch. She warns people to stay away from the Byrdes at all costs, which she can never do.

In fact, Ruth's hotheadedness actually becomes her downfall in this final stretch of the seven-episode show. The last time we saw the most popular character on the show, she walked out of the Byrde house with a shotgun, ready to take down the person who pulled the trigger on her cousin Wyatt. That ends up being Javi Elizondro (Alfonso Herrera), the nephew of Navarro cartel leader Omar (Félix Solis). It seems that Javi will be the main antagonist of the last season, but the writers decide to change course immediately in the first episode of this last half season.

That's what mattersThe Last Act of the Ozark.

Javis at the top for a short time

Ruth follows Marty and Wendy to Chicago, where the pair strike a deal with Javi that will give him more power in the drug business. Despite Marty's pleas for Ruth to back off and calm down (he tells her she's not that kind of person), Ruth doesn't let go of her resentment. Seeing this, Wendy calls Javi into the room for the execution to take place.

It's all very oddly laid out on the first watch. Viewers are wondering how the show will progress over the next six episodes, but in typical termsOzarkFashion, things continue to spiral out of control for all the characters we love (and hate). With Omar in prison and Javi dead, it's up to Marty to take control of the cartel in Mexico while Wendy tries to break Omar out of prison in the United States.

The show loves to present many different storylines at the beginning of a season that always come together seamlessly at the end. The problem with this final season decision is that the remaining episodes leading up to the series finale seem to raise more questions than answers. This makes the home stretch feel a bit disappointing.

Wendy's apple doesn't fall far from the family tree

Wendy's father, Nathan (Richard Thomas), joins the herd in a big way. He discovers that Wendy is the cause of his brother's death after enlisting private detective Mel Sattem (Adam Rothenberg) to dig up the dirt. He goes after the Byrde children because Marty and Wendy are no longer able to raise them. Along the way, we learn of Wendy's troubled childhood, with bouts of alcoholism and abuse from her father possibly affecting her own villainous state in the present.

The plot shows somethingOzarkit really is: a family drama. While most are on the lookout for crime, drugs, murder and lies, stay within the four walls of the Byrde home for the juicy twists and turns. It was with this understanding of their own show that the writers came up with the series' closing thesis: Will the Byrdes get away with it? Will they manage to stay with their children, run away from everything and never be blamed for the lives they ruined along the way?

The answer is a resounding yes. In episode 12, Wendy fakes mental health issues (or so she says) and morphs into the same clinic she planned to put her brother in in season three. To bring Wendy back to her despicable, devious self, Marty blackmails Ruth into threatening to kill Wendy's father if he doesn't give her back her grandchildren. Ruth must comply or Marty will reveal to Javi's mother, Camila (Veronica Falcon), that she is her son's killer. Why is Camila important? She is Omar's sister and ready to stab her brother in the back to take control of the Navarro Cartel.

With Byrde's help, this transition of power is accomplished in the final episode of the series. Omar is murdered at his sister's behest after the Byrdes free him from prison. Marty and Wendy have their children back in their arms and are ready to return to Chicago and reclaim their old lives. That looks a bit too neat, doesn't it? Well, that's because they're not yet responsible for the death of another Langmore.

Ruth's fate was always sealed

Camila questions the only other witness to Javi's death at a Byrde family founding ceremony. That woman is Clare Shaw (Katrina Lenk), one of Byrde's greatest tools in the political world. She runs Shaw Medical Solutions, a company introduced as Wendy's partner in the first half of the season to contribute money to Byrde's charitable and political efforts. Clare breaks down at Camila's questions and betrays Ruth.

The Byrdes can no longer protect their surrogate daughter and Ruth is revealed to be the badass she is. Camila murders her in cold blood on the way home and Ruth almost demands that Camila get it over with. He falls victim to his own decisions and those of Marty and Wendy.

This is a gut punch to the audience and the most devastating death on the show. Ruth has always been the emotional core of the series, played with passion, power and sensitivity by the acclaimed Garner. Although we wanted her to escape her life of crime, she is not Marty and Wendy Byrde. No, Ruth is a symbol of what should happen to people who continue to make fatal decisions: They get what's theirs.

Mel the private detective returns once again

Marty and Wendy are clearly upset that Ruth's fate is sealed, but they accept the consequences of their actions and hurt everyone but them all over again. When they get home, they find a broken sliding glass door leading to their patio. who is waiting for you Mel the private detective. A detective at heart, Mel had to find out what crimes the Byrdes committed, even if he was no longer paid for it. He has Marty and Wendy cornered and piece all the evidence together, with Wendy's brother Ben's ashes being the final puzzle.

How Ozark differs from other crime dramas

that's whereOzarkit is distinct from any other parent of the genus. While anti-heroes like Walter White and Tony Soprano pay for their sins with their lives, Marty and Wendy smile with evil pride when their son, Jonah, comes into the backyard armed and ready to kill. The screen goes black, with the sound of a single shot, presumably killing the only remaining person who defied the Byrde family.

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Shawn is a graduate of the University of Washington in English Language and Literature. He was a freelance writer for SUPERJUMP, FanFare and An Injustice! Magazine He…