Last Season on Ozark
After Season 3 of Netflix’s popular show Ozark was complete, there was a debate by the show’s creators how much longer it would go. They debated about 5 Seasons but eventually, the cast and executives decided that Season 4 would be the final one. However, they also decided to break the final season into two parts. The first part, which consists of 7 episodes has been released. So, what is going to happen to our favorite money launderers, the Byrdes? This first part starts to unravel that mystery.
When we last left Netflix’s Ozark, Omar Navarro (head of the Navarro drug cartel) had a decision to make between his lawyer Helen and the Byrdes. Meanwhile, the repercussions of what happened with Wendy’s brother Ben (I still believe that actor Tom Pelphrey deserved an Emmy nomination for his outstanding performance as Ben in Season 3) and his demise is still being felt. Especially for Marty and Wendy’s son Jonah who finds out that Helen had something to do with Ben’s death. This brings about a confrontation between Helen and Jonah that only widens the divide between Helen and the Byrdes. However, Helen’s machinations in trying to turn Omar against the Byrdes blew up in her face at the end (literally). This left the Byrdes in charge of the Navarro cartel’s American operations and the dangers that entailed. Welcome to Season 4.
Season 4, Part 1
The first few minutes of Season 4 lays out a scene that is either a foreshadow of coming events, or a gigantic fake out (I’ll leave it for you to see to decide). Either way, if it foreshadows future events, it does kind of throw a minor monkey wrench into things, but I’ll get to that in the “Thoughts” section. From there, they carry on from the end of Season 3 with Marty and Wendy left to clean up the mess left by Omar and his dealing with Helen. (Again…literally).
Marty and Wendy’s Missions
They also have to somehow perform the impossible. First, Omar wants them to get the FBI to make a deal with him that would allow him his freedom. No prison time, the opportunity to go where he wishes, as long as he supplies them information about the Cartel. Needless to say, the FBI is not willing to go that far. Especially not without some kind of imprisonment. They were not going to let Marty go without jail time, no WAY they would let Omar escape some form of restitution.
Second, the Cartel wants them to convince Darlene Snell to stop her drug making enterprise. Good luck with that. Darlene has this bad habit of doing what she wants, when she wants. Those who don’t like it or get in the way of it, tend to find themselves at the end of her shotgun. This only proves truer this season. Darlene is a force of hillbilly nature. Oops, last time someone called her that, she shot him. My apologies, Miss Snell.
Ruth and Darlene
Meanwhile, Ruth, having separated herself from the Byrdes, is partnering with Darlene. Her of the itchy trigger finger. Ruth is trying to prove herself to her new partner by thinking outside the box in dealing with her drug crops. While she is having some financial success, it generally runs afoul of how Darlene likes things done. She is old-fashioned that way. The fact that Ruth’s cousin Wyatt is trapped between them doesn’t help things. But Ruth is as much or more a force of nature than Darlene is. More gas and fire than oil and water. Speaking of fire…
Omar’s Heir Apparent
In Omar’s plans to give up his life in the Cartel, he needed an heir apparent. As reluctant as he was, he decided on his hotheaded nephew Javi Elizonndro (Alfonso Herrera). Think of Javi as a Hispanic Darlene. He too thought most clearly with a gun. In fact, it was Javi that wanted Marty and Wendy to get Darlene to forgo her drug making activities. As you might expect, those are two freight trains on a collision course. But such is the way of Ozark. In the meantime, Javi had other people to introduce to his ways of persuasion. Which pretty much ended up only one way. Another customer for the Byrde’s’ crematorium.
Jonah and Ruth Make a Business Arrangement
But until Javi and Darlene’s heart to heart, Ruth still needed a way to market Darlene’s merchandise and to hide her assets. This would come in the way of Jonah who agreed to launder Ruth’s money for her. Not exactly winning any support from his parents. Of course, Jonah had first set his mother off when he took Ben’s ashes and gave them to Ruth. She found him a nice goat cookie jar to rest in and told Noah he could come visit Ben anytime he wanted. Not to let her son or Ruth to get the best of her, Wendy breaks into Jonah’s system and flags the authorities of what he has been doing. Marty is not on board with this and comes to the rescue to reroute Jonah’s set up accounts and protect him from government intervention. Much to Wendy’s chagrin. Wendy had hoped to scare Jonah straight. But all she did was widen the trust gap between them.
A Deal Goes Astray
Although it seemed impossible, the Byrdes set up a meeting between Omar and the Feds. Omar laid out his plans and what he wanted in return. The FBI had other ideas. One of them required for Omar to retain control of the Cartel and continue to leak information to them. If he does that for a period of five years, then they will consider giving him immunity. “Consider” being the key word here. While this was NOT the deal he requested, Navarro decided to take the offer. But this IS Ozark, so not so fast my friends. Agent Miller goes against the grain by having Navarro arrested before he can fly back home. Just when Marty and Wendy thought they could finally be free of the Cartel and go back home to Chicago.
Cleaning up the Mess
Now that Navarro is behind bars, the Byrdes must now try to find a way to clean up this mess. Javi feels like the Byrdes betrayed Navarro and now that he is out of the way, he is free to kill them. Once again, Javi wanting to use his first and apparently only solution to anything. A bullet in the head. Wendy, however, calls Navarro and tells him that he could be extradited back home. IF, he talks Javi into excepting the deal that was offered to him. Still upset by the whole arrest thing, Omar talks Javi into accepting this arrangement. At least, on the surface.
Doing Business, the Old-Fashioned Way
Back with Darlene, she has been going around trying to do business the old-fashioned way. Killing people for it. This includes Frank Cosgrove Sr. who had just about enough of dealing with Darlene. Needless to say, she resolved that problem with some lead injections. That left poor Wyatt into having to deal with another body. He was so through with having to play cemetery worker. In fact, so much so, he told Ruth he would leave the Ozarks with her. Just pack up and leave everything behind. At least until Darlene’s poor health put her adopted son Zeke into jeopardy of being taken from her child protective services. Wyatt couldn’t let that happen, so he decided to propose to Darlene and marry her. So much for getting Wyatt out of the way of Darlene’s enemies.
A Long Time Coming
Now that she knew that Wyatt wouldn’t be leaving, Ruth had to get Frank Cosgrove, Jr. not to take vengeance against Darlene for the murder of his dad. Especially now that Wyatt was in danger as well. He agreed not to seek retribution…for now. But somehow, Javi didn’t get that message. He still wanted Darlene to cease with her heroine manufacturing, which was in direct competition with the Cartel. Since HE was now in charge, he paid Darlene a visit and did what Javi does best. Poor Wyatt. Wrong place, wrong time. Darlene? It was a long time coming. Needless to say, when Ruth came across the scene, she was not happy. At first, she thought that Frank, Jr. had reneged on his promise. But he assured her that he had not.
Then she decided the Byrdes must have had something to do with it. Not an unreasonable assumption, they have a hand in EVERYTHING! But not in this case. Leave it to Noah to spill the beans about Javi. Now we have a madder than spit Ruth armed and heading toward a Darlene style crazy head of a Drug Cartel. What bad can come of that? I guess Season 4 Part 2 will answer that.
Thoughts
This was Ozark style chaos at its finest. Starting with that foreshadowing scene at the beginning. If that scene was foretelling the future, it pretty much let you know that nothing would happen to the Byrde family until that moment. All were present and accounted for at the start of the scene. That kind of removed the possibility, at least as far as part 1 went, of one of our main players meeting with an unexpected demise. Not that it didn’t leave everyone else available as cannon fodder. However, if you have been following the whole series to this point, it wouldn’t be far-fetched for almost everyone to get the axe, or the bullet at some point. In fact, it wouldn’t shock me if Ruth came out as the sole survivor. It would almost be fitting. That is completely my own supposition at this point.
Just like the past seasons, the acting on Ozark is consistently first rate. Julia Garner as Ruth still dominates in every scene, she is in. No surprise that she is an Emmy Winner. Alfonso Herrera as Javi also does an excellent job as Omar’s ruthless and cold-blooded nephew. Part charmer, part assassin and all menace. Plus, he was running neck and neck with Darlene on how many people could be killed in 7 episodes. All in all, despite a few plot issues, Season 4 Part 1 lives up to the mayhem we have all learned to love from the series. Let’s hope that Part 2 brings it home in grand, Ozark fashion. Ozark Season 4 Part 1 can be seen now on NetFlix. If you haven’t had an opportunity to watch the series yet and enjoy twists and turns at every change of scene, phone call, and shotgun blast, Ozark is for you.
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Senior Writer at GeekVibesNation – I am a 50 something child of the 70’s who admits to being a Star Trek/Star Wars/Comic Book junkie who once dove head first over a cliff (Ok, it was a small hill) to try to rescue his Fantastic Four comic from a watery grave. I am married to a lovely woman who is as crazy as I am and the proud parent of a 18 year old boy with autism. My wife and son are my real heroes.