We are inOzark’s final season, so it’s time to cancel your plans for the rest of the year — because you will need ample time to recover. Marty’s (Jason Bateman) phone is going to keep on ringing, folks.
Part 1 ofOzarkSeason 4 is a wild ride packed with everything you know and love aboutOzark: 1-minute phone calls that instantly throw a life-threatening wrench into every plan the Byrdes have put into place in the last 60 minutes, nausea-inducing scenes between Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) and Wyatt Langmore (Charles Tahan), andJulia Garnerjustbeing an overall force of nature.
Let’s take a deep dive into that turbulent ending as we ponder (stressfully) what’s ahead for the Byrdes, Ruth Langmore, and everyone else tangled up in the money-laundering machine that is the Ozarks:
What happens at the end of Season 4: Part 1 ofOzark?
The final episode, “Sanctified,” opens with a flashback from Season 1 in which Marty’s former (and now deceased) business partner Bruce Liddell (Josh Randall), is persuading Marty to start upgrading his life, starting with a new office space. It’s a heaping dose of dramatic irony watching Marty hem and haw about committing to an office space knowing the literal life or death decisions he now is forced to make on daily basis without a moment’s notice. Scrambling to perform an impossible feat and obtain freedom for the head of one of the largest drug cartels in North America certainly does put committing to a new office space into a new perspective.
Fast-forward to the present, and Marty, Wendy (Laura Linney), and Omar Navarro (Felix Solis) have finally secured their meeting with the FBI after yet another nail-biting season where the Byrdes take one step forward, then 3 (or 10) steps back. They meet the FBI in an abandoned mall in Jefferson City with Navarro, who has relinquished his position as head of the cartel to his unpredictable, hotheaded nephew Javi Elizonndro (Alfonso Herrera). Although Navarro has provided the intel needed to apprehend his nephew and neutralize the Navarro cartel, he is in for a rude awakening when the FBI, of course, goes back on their plan and gives him their one and only offer for his freedom: remain head of the cartel for 5 years and commit to being their inside man. After that, they can (note the choice of words here — notwill) grant him immunity from prosecution in the United States.
The Byrdes are shocked, and based on the look on her face, so is Agent Miller (Jessica Frances Dukes). When Agent Miller asks the question that we are all scrambling to piece together — if they aren’t here to take down the Navarro cartel, then just what the fuck are they doing here? — FBI Agent Clay (Tess Malis Kincaid) responds with the dismissive authority afforded only to a high-ranking member of the bureau: it’s about the bigger picture, and Agent Miller is too righteous and naive to think they’d ever take down a cartel as large as the Navarro cartel.
Navarro is furious, but, clearly recognizing that there are no other options, agrees to the deal. Before they part ways (or so they think), Navarro and Wendy share a brief, but telling goodbye. It is clear that Wendy has earned the respect of the head of the Navarro cartel, which is certainly not an easy feat. But what is important here is that Navarro hints at something that has been brewing for a few seasons now: part of Wendy, whether she is willing to admit it or not, enjoys playing the game. Now, she has to confront a different kind of fear that comes with long-awaited freedom: a fear of the quiet.
Navarro takes his leave and Wendy and Marty share a brief moment of peace at the realization that they are finally out — from both the cartel and the FBI. They can move back to Chicago and focus on the foundation.
But of course, thisisOzarkafter all, so that relief is short-lived. In a move directly against her superiors, Agent Miller arrests Navarro after the meeting as he is leaving the country. Wendy and Marty frantically race to amend the situation and convince the FBI to offer the same deal they offered to Navarro to Javi instead. For a moment it looks like Javi, who has also seen the news of his uncle’s arrest, just may get his wish, as he tells Marty, and finally get to kill them. Marty, staring down Javi’s gun pointed at his head, begs him to believe him that they were not behind this.
Wendy, meanwhile, meets with Navarro in prison and guarantees him that they will extradite him back to Mexico in 48 hours as long as he can convince Javi to take the deal. Navarro, unsurprisingly, is furious but calls Javi, who agrees.
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Meanwhile, Wyatt breaks the news to Ruth that he can’t leave the Ozarks with her because he is going to marry Darlene to avoid Zeke having to go to a foster home. In one of the most gutwrenching scenes this season (Say it with me: Julia Garner deserves all the awards), Wyatt tearfully admits that he never wanted to go with Ruth in the first place. Ruth pleads with him to change his mind, reminding him of the not-so-casual fact that Darlene just killed the head of the Kansas City mob and there is a target on her back, and therefore, a target on his as well. Sadly, Wyatt’s mind has been made up: it may not make sense to Ruth (or, you know, anyone at all watchingOzark), but he loves Darlene and refuses to leave her.
Ruth, who found a surprising ally in Frank Cosgrove Jr. (Joseph Sikora) this season considering she threw him off a boat and he had her brutally attacked last season — perhaps getting your dick shot off puts things into perspective — pays him a visit and asks him not to kill Darlene in retribution for her murdering his father. As another sign of their weirdly endearing partnership this season, he agrees.
Sadly, it was all in vain anyway because Javi, who now is fully in charge of the cartel (god, help us all), is waiting for Darlene and Wyatt at their farm where he can finally teach Darlene a lesson for continuing their heroin business. In just a matter of seconds, he brutally shoots both Darlene and Wyatt dead. (RIP Wyatt. You deserved so much better and will be sorely missed. Darlene? It’s about time.)
Ruth pulls up to Darlene’s farm to give Wyatt her wedding gift. When she knocks on the door, she doesn’t get any response except for the sound of baby Zeke crying. She clearly realizes that something is not right and lets herself in. The next shot is her speeding away in her truck as she calls Frank Jr. sobbing, demanding to know why he killed Wyatt. When he assures her that it wasn’t him, she quickly pieces together that once again, the Byrdes have something to do with this.
In a tense final scene in which, again, Julia Garner deserves all the awards, Ruth busts into the Byrde’s home with a shotgun demanding answers. Jonah (Skylar Gaertner), who really needs to learn to shut his mouth this season, tells her what Marty and Wendy won’t: Javi Elizondro is responsible for Wyatt’s death. Ruth screams at the top of her lungs with a sharp, piercing rage that cuts like a knife: “If you wanna stop me, you’re gonna have to fuckin' kill me!”
There has been no official announcement when Part 2 ofOzark’s Season 4 will release, but one thing is for sure: it cannot come soon enough.
