For everyone who is initially inclined to dismiss “Ozark” as a “breaking bad light”, the Netflix drama has surpassed all expectations, reinforcing the notion that entering the business with the worst people will have consequences. The fourth season has also become a family affair, adding a deep hook to the Barde Gathe that delivers tension to the last frame.
Perhaps most importantly, the series has consistently tested the readiness of Marty (Jason Bateman) and his wife Wendy (Laura Linnie) to survive, as they try to navigate through landmines that include drug dealers and the Fed. Dirty money laundering businesses and shopping their way back to Chicago.
Over the years, Marty has defined himself as a man who can figure out a way out of any situation, or at least try, while Wendy is becoming increasingly ruthless, which ultimately threatens to alienate her non-adult. Children (Sophia Hublitz, Skyler Gartner). “Who can you trust?” By the way, the Bairds have connected each other in that calculus from the beginning, but the question now seems particularly acute whether they are working together out of love or need.
Similarly, the bifurcated season has revealed the fractured alliance of the Bairds with Ruth (Julia Garner), as well as the necessary reminders of the collateral damage they suffered as they descended into this world of illegality. It has also developed supporting characters, such as the drug kingpin Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), which has the complexity of showing what stock risks can be strangely charismatic, yet it is never wise to turn their backs on them.
Standing on the Garner home ground, the show, which shows how tough and determined Ruth can be, is, again, sensational. Richard Thomas also plays a more important role as Wendy’s foreign father, who returns to her life, and, like almost everything in “Ozark,” it is complicated.
Viewers have their own ideas about whether Bairdes will find the right way after four seasons of sliding so low through this rabbit hole and whether it is really possible to clean up again after all the damage.
“Ozark” cleverly turns to that answer, in a thought-provoking way, to secure its place in one of Netflix’s best plays. After already showing up as one of the most addictive series to cross the line of serialized thrillers, the full-throttle race to set the account in this last mess of episodes officially closes the deal.