Everything You Need to Remember Before ‘Ozark’ Season 4 - Netflix Tudum

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    Here’s Everything You Need to Remember Before ‘Ozark’ Season 4

    The Byrde family business is in disarray. 

    By Peter A. Berry
    Jan. 11, 2022

When Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) accepted an offer to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel, he thought he was looking at a risky, yet once-in-a-lifetime come up. Countless paranoid nights and life or death conflicts later, Marty clearly wishes he could get a redo, but backing out isn’t an option. That reality underscores Ozark, Netflix’s acclaimed crime drama that heads into its fourth and final season this winter.

While the first two seasons of Ozark had no shortage of twists and turns, the third outing took the stakes to another level as new alliances were formed and old ones died in dramatic fashion. All of this has unfolded as Marty and his wife, Wendy (Laura Linney) tried to parent their children, who themselves have become uncomfortably familiar with the ins and outs of their parents’ criminal activities. With increased pressure to succeed and hopes for a normal existence completely washed away, the Byrde family continues to find themselves stuck between a murderous drug lord and a hard place. And the FBI.

But before we jump into what’s to come, let’s take a look back. Today, Netflix serves up a rundown of everything you need to remember before the start of Ozark season four. Get the lowdown for yourself below.

Where It Takes Place: The story of Ozark unfolds in the Ozark mountains region in Missouri. 

 Inline Image: Marty and His Family Are Glorified Hostages

Marty and His Family Are Glorified Hostages: At the beginning of season one, Marty’s original business partner, Bruce Liddell, gets shot and killed by a cartel member for skimming money from the Omar Navarro (Felix Solis) cartel. Marty was moments away from the same fate when he offered to relocate from Chicago to The Ozarks to launder cash for the cartel. Miraculously, the suggestion saved his life—if that’s what you want to call indentured servitude. Condemned to this fate, Marty and Wendy transplant themselves and their daughter and son—Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah (Skylar Gaertner)—from Chicago to The Ozarks. There, they navigate the comings and goings of large-scale money-laundering, which include opportunistic rivals and overzealous federal agents. On top of all that, they also face the risk of letting down cartel overlords, who would kill them and their entire family without much hesitation. Not much of a 401k.

Inline Image: The FBI—and Local Rivals— Are Always Watching

The FBI—and Local Rivals— Are Always Watching: You don’t get to circulate millions of dollars in a local economy without making a few enemies. That’s a lesson Marty learns as he deals with attention from the Langmore family, the FBI and, eventually, local drug kingpins. For their part, the Langmores, a notorious trailer park crime family wanted all of Marty’s money at one point. Meanwhile, before their partnership came to an abrupt end, Jacob (Peter Mullan) and Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) wanted Marty to launder the cash they generated through the Snells’ heroin dealing operation. Quite naturally, the FBI wants Marty to cooperate so they can bring his cartel boss to justice. By the end of season three, Marty and company have survived numerous back stabbings, executions and schemes gone wrong through a combination of sharp wits and sheer luck, only to face more FBI attention than ever.

Inline Image: The Family Has Adapted

The Family Has Adapted: Although everyone but Marty was super apprehensive about money laundering at first, they all settled in by the end of season three. If you’ve been following the show, you already know that Wendy’s a full-time member of the Byrde’s laundering scheme and that she’s become perhaps the most ruthless family member of all. For his part, Jonah bought a gun, threatened to use it multiple times and created offshore bank accounts to launder money. Charlotte, meanwhile, has threatened low-level mobsters. It took a little time, but at this point, crime is the Byrde family business—whether they want it to be or not.

Inline Image: Helen Pierce Tried to Take Down Marty and Wendy

Helen Pierce Tried to Take Down Marty and Wendy: By season three, Omar Navarro’s icy lawyer, Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer), had grown tired of the Byrdes. A big part of her frustrations stemmed from the arrival of Wendy’s brother, Ben (Tom Pelphrey). At the beginning of the season, he travels to the Ozarks in order to hide from North Carolina police, who are searching for him after he assaulted a worker at a high school he was working at as a substitute teacher. Because he has an unspecified mental disorder, Ben is prone to erratic behavior and occasional acts of violence, and Marty is reluctant to let him in their house. Eventually, Ben’s manic behavior begins to jeopardize the Byrde’s operation and that, along with Marty and Wendy’s business and marital issues, leads her to stage a plan to eliminate them from the money laundering operation. In order to do this, she creates a document purporting to be Marty’s confession to the FBI.

Inline Image: Wendy Killed Her Brother

Wendy Killed Her Brother: By the end of season, a period that saw Ben romance Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) and befriend Jonah, Ben, frustrated by his family’s lifestyle, tells Helen’s daughter, Erin (Madison Thompson), the true nature of Helen’s job, which leads to Helen giving the order to have him killed. While Marty and Wendy do what they can to protect Ben, Wendy eventually concludes that he will jeopardize the lives of their family, so she gives Helen his location and Ben is killed. While some would argue that Wendy was only doing what she had to, it’s no doubt an ice-cold move, one that didn’t sit too well with Ruth or Wendy herself.

Inline Image: Navarro’s Cartel War Ended

Navarro’s Cartel War Ended: After it becomes clear that Helen is out to take over their business, Wendy and Marty conclude that the only way to stay safe is to win Navarro’s favor. They thought they could do so by winning the drug lord’s war against the Lagunas cartel. Luckily for them, Jonah’s drone captured footage of the Lagunas of committing murder on U.S. soil, thus giving the FBI the ammo they need to pursue them in Mexico. With that move, one brought to them courtesy of strategic thinking and a little bit of luck, the Byrdes ended Navarro’s war.

Inline Image: Helen Is Out

Helen Is Out: While Helen had been a loyal employee of Navarro, the cartel boss concluded season three by having Nelson—the same hitman who had killed people at Helen’s behest numerous times in the past—put a bullet in her head as she and the Byrdes arrived at the baptism for Navarro’s son. Needless to say, her plot to take over Marty and Wendy’s burdensome business didn’t play out the way she planned.

Inline Image: Marty and Wendy Are In

Marty and Wendy Are In: As Marty and Wendy soak up the shock of Helen’s sudden execution, Navarro makes it clear that he’s going to be working extra close with them going forward. This, of course, means they’ve earned his favor—for now. As evidenced by Helen’s death, there’s not a lot of job security when it comes to the cartel.

Inline Image: There’s a New Gang In Town

There’s a New Gang In Town: By any measure, Ruth is one of the toughest people around, and as someone who killed her own uncle to protect herself and Marty, she’s also willing to make some cold-blooded decisions. However, Wendy murdering Ben, Ruth’s new boyfriend, was the last proverbial straw. It was preceded by the Byrdes’ decision not to take vengeance on the son of Kansas City Mob boss Frank Cosgrover Jr. (Joseph Sikora) for viciously assaulting her. Even before those instances, Ruth learned that Wendy had her father killed. After a heated argument in the aftermath of Ben’s death, Ruth and Wendy get into a heated argument that ends with Ruth quitting her job with the Byrdes, both on and under the table. A short while later, Darlene exacts vengeance for Ruth herself, shooting Frank Jr. in the groin before bringing her to the Snells’ land to see a field of poppy seeds. With her distrust in the Byrdes ,a mended relationship with Wyatt, and the gratitude she feels toward Darlene, all signs point to a new alliance being born in the Ozarks. 

Inline Image: Here’s Everything You Need to Remember Before ‘Ozark’ Season 4

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