Now that Ozark’s fourth season is over, it’s time to move on. It’s always difficult to say goodbye to a beloved show, but Ozark has finally come to an end after five years on the air. Was the conclusion satisfactory? Is it a matter of who you ask?
in 2017 when Chicago accountant Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) made a deal with a drug cartel that would see him launder money in the Ozarks for the safety of his family, Ozark began. Season four’s first episode, which aired in January, showed Marty and his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) to be well entrenched in the cartel’s inner circle.
By now, they’d set up a casino to launder millions of dollars, had a bloody history on their hands and had been negotiating deals with the cartel and the FBI to finally get out of town and begin a new life. Throughout Ozark’s four seasons, the couple was constantly thrust into precarious situations from which they were able to escape. They felt like they were being squeezed in as the second half of season four began: Houdini or not, could they pull it off?
Game of Thrones fans is notoriously hard to please, as evidenced by the petition to re-edit the show’s final season. Some of the events in the final episode have divided fans. That’s how the tale concludes. There are spoilers ahead.
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Pour One Out for Ruth Langmore
Ruth Langmore, not the Byrde family, is the Ozark finale’s most talked-about character. Ruth, on the other hand, does not have a happy ending. Camila Navarro, the new cartel boss, shot and killed her.
Throughout Ozark’s first three seasons, Julia Garner portrayed the character of Ruth, and her tumultuous relationship with Marty was especially compelling. Part one of season four concluded with Ruth chasing down Omar Navarro’s nephew, Javier, on a highway. Season four revolved around Omar’s fear of his nephew, Javi, and the FBI’s involvement in a deal that went awry because of Omar’s distrust of the agency.) Javi had just killed Darlene Snell and Wyatt Langmore with his shotgun. To end the “Langmore curse” of premature death or imprisonment, Wyatt was Ruth’s closest relative.
Ruth was determined to avenge the death of her cousin, who had been murdered by her boyfriend. And she got her comeuppance.
A trap is set for Javi by Ruth in the second episode of Season 4’s second half. It happened in Shaw Medical’s offices. Clare Shaw, CEO of Shaw Medical, and the Byrdes were having dinner when Ruth snuck in. Shaw made a large donation to Wendy’s foundation in exchange for heroin, a key ingredient in many pharmaceutical products, from the cartel via Wendy in season four. To get Shaw to bring Javi into the office, she threatens him with a gun and orders him to sign a contract handing overstock to Javi’s mother. Ruth kills Javi as soon as he arrives.
It’s a good thing for Ruth that Omar Navarro claims responsibility for Javi’s death. Navarro is plotting with the Byrdes from prison to reclaim control of his drug cartel. So, he has Marty go to Mexico and tell the cartel that Navarro was the one who shot and killed Javi, the overconfident slacker. In the meantime, Marty meets Camila, the sister of Omar and mother Javi, who introduces him to Omar’s other sister.
#RuthLangmore went out like a fkin boss. No begging, no crying, she looked death in the eyes and accepted it. I’m still pissed she died tho, she was so close. She deserved the life she was building. #Ozark #OzarkSeason4
— Jablesse (@Jablesse) May 28, 2022
Enter Camila, the New Boss
In prison, Camila, who claims to know about cartel politics, orders a hit on Omar. After surviving the attempted assassination, Omar suspects a cartel member was responsible. The Byrdes and Camila plan to overthrow Omar by arranging another hit and for Camila to strike the same FBI deal accepted by Omar that would allow the Byrdes to wipe their hands of the cartel business.
When Camila visits Omar in prison to say goodbye, the plan goes awry. Camila is shocked when Omar admits that he did not kill Javi and that he has no idea who did. Omar claims that he only knows who did it because Wendy Byrde told him. Camila, despite her belief in him, goes ahead and kills him. Omar Navarro is fired after four seasons of tying people up.
A Byrde Family Foundation gala, where major donors show up to fulfill the Byrdes’ wildest dreams, is the setting for the final scenes of the final episode. Big-ticket donors are attending the gala to return to Chicago and live out their days as the charitable owners of a massive non-profit. They finally pulled it off. As long as Camila is present.
The day Javi died, she confronts Clare Shaw about it. Camila says she’ll forgive Shaw if he reveals the information right now, but if she discovers that Shaw lied to her, she’ll do everything she can to cover her tracks. Shaw tells Camila that Ruth Langmore was responsible for the incident. The only people in the office at the time of the killing were Shaw and Javi, but Shaw lies about it.
if Marty or Wendy tries to give Ruth any advance notice and Camila is coming for her, Camila orders one of her henchmen to kill the Byrdes and their children. Marty and Wendy discuss their options in the final scenes and realize that they have none. In the end, they’ve done nothing but wriggle out of trouble for the past four seasons. Neither they nor we can save Ruth, which is painful for everyone involved.
Ruth Langmore is confronted by Camila outside her house as the Byrde family takes the stage at their gala. Even though she knows what’s to come, she remains defiant.” She tells Camila, “I’m not sorry.” A murdering bitch, your son. It’s all clear to me now where he got it.” Ruth is shot right in the heart by Camila, who aims for her heart.
Chris Mundy, showrunner of Ozark, told Vanity Fair that if Ruth survived, the show would be too much of a fairytale. ‘I wanted everyone to have an active choice in the last seven episodes,’ Mundy told the publication. It’s up to Ruth whether or not she decides to take revenge, and she knows that if she does, it could result in her being injured in some way.”
A Miraculous Escape
First, a brief recollection of the car accident that greeted us at the beginning of season four. They are all sitting in a car talking about their impending move to Chicago if you haven’t seen the scene yet. In his euphoria, Marty fails to pay attention to the road and swerves off it, causing the car to flip and fall off the road.
It turns out that it wasn’t a dream, or anything of significance, at all. Even though the crash occurs in the middle of the final episode, no one is seriously injured in it. After Wendy’s father Nathan Davis’s attempt to gain custody of Jonah and Charlotte in season four part two, this is a major subplot. Wendy has a breakdown and ends up in a mental health facility after he plays the role of concerned grandpa.
To his dismay, Nathan is revealed to be just another vindictive father bent on getting even with Wendy by abducting Jonah and Charlotte. Jonah and Charlotte decide to reunite with Marty and Wendy after Nathan Davis tells them about Ruth holding him at gunpoint.
The dramatic but insignificant crash occurs as they drive home from work on their happy car ride.
Jonah Becomes a Byrde Again
A few minutes after the gala ends, the Byrde family arrives at their home. Marty and Wendy are both heartbroken by Ruth’s tragic end and their inability to do anything about it, as the kids dash back inside.
At the family table, Marty has his head in his hands and the camera pans out to reveal the shattered glass door behind him. Someone’s been in the house.
Mel Sattem, a disgraced former cop turned private investigator, turns out to be the culprit. It was during his investigation into Helen Pierce’s disappearance in Season 4 Part 1 of Ozark that he made his Ozark debut. When he comes back to this town, he works for Nathan Davis, who is looking for Ben Davis. Wendy ordered the death of her brother Ben in season three because his antics would have resulted in the murder of the entire family. Except for Byrdes and Ruth, no one else is aware of this.
It turns out Wendy was lying about the last time she saw Ben, and Sattem has photographic evidence of her taking him into the diner that was to be his final known location. Nathan Davis uses him to get a court to separate Jonah and Charlotte from their parents, so Marty and Wendy remove him. Diplomacy, not violence, is the best way to get things done.
Sattem has been seeking redress ever since he first appeared on the show. Even though he was expelled from the Chicago Police Department for stealing cocaine from evidence, he had the appearance of being a law-abiding and well-meaning officer elsewhere. Now that he’s clean and sober, he wants to return to the military. His reinstatement was secured by Marty and Wendy, who are well-connected in the Midwest. However, if he wants to return, Sattem must leave immediately. He is unable to testify in court against Byrdes.
He’s going to go. To return to Chicago, Sattem checks out of Ruth Langmore’s Lazy-O Motel. The large goat cookie jar he had seen in Langmore’s trailer was now on display at the Lazy-O, as he left. Ruth has been keeping Ben’s ashes there, and he has no idea.
After returning to Chicago, he simply cannot do it. Both the Byrdes and that cookie jar are on his mind constantly. It dawned on Ruth that Ben wanted to buy land and raise goats, and she had his ashes in a goat-themed cookie jar to keep them safe from the elements. There was no doubt that the Byrdes were guilty of murdering Wendy’s brother after seeing the ashes.
Sattem rejects Byrdes’ attempts to buy him off.
“You’re not going to win this game. To be like Koch or Kennedy, you have to work hard and have a lot of money “That is what he claims. “That’s not how the world works.” After Wendy’s question, “Since?”
Then there’s a gun cocking sound. It’s Jonah Byrde, who has been estranged from the family for both parts one and two of season four. For some reason, he is unable to reconcile the morally questionable actions his parents have taken, and he is especially irritated by his mother. Despite this, he is pointing a gun at an investigator who is doing his best to help others. While Marty and Wendy watch with pride, Jonah accepts the family and all they’ve accomplished.
We hear a gunshot as the screen goes dark. How did Jonah get the gun that fired the shot? Is it possible that he shot Sattem, or that he shot the cookie jar to destroy the only evidence against his family? It’s been speculated that Jonah, the one with the strongest sense of justice, wouldn’t have shot Sattem dead.
The Sattem was shot by Jonah, according to showrunner Chris Mundy. After the murder of Sattem, Mundy told Vanity Fair that Jonah’s actions “brought the family together through this act of violence.” While that murder isn’t shown onscreen, it still leaves the question of what happened open-ended. What or who do you think Jonah was aiming at when he fired the shot?
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