Part 1 of the final season of Ozark sees the Byrde family work towards ending their cartel associations while having to jump through countless hoops to achieve that goal.
Summary
Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy Byrde (Laura Linney) are seen washing off the blood and chunks of Helen’s (Janet McTeer) remains from their selves at Omar Navarro’s (Felix Solis) party. Once they head outside, they come face to face with Navarro’s nephew, Javier Elizonndro (Alfonso Herrera).
Omar tells Marty and Wendy that he plans to step back from the cartel and would be willing to make a deal with the FBI for continued freedom in exchange for certain information. He drives a hard bargain but insists that the Byrdes get it done if they want to be free of the cartel.
Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) is disappointed with his mother for her role in his uncle Ben’s death and begins to rebel. He hands over Ben’s ashes to Ruth (Julia Garner) as he believes she truly loved him and deserved it more. Ruth, herself, is joining forces with Darlene (Lisa Emery) and her cousin, Wyatt (Charlie Tahan).
She buys the local motel to launder their money and asks Jonah if he’d be interested in setting up the system as he has created his own software to set up accounts. The cartel has ordered Darlene not to sell her heroin in the region but she insists that she will not back down.
A private investigator named Mel Sattern (Adam Rothenberg) shows up at Helen’s house looking for her and his investigation leads him to question the Byrde’s regarding her whereabouts but they do not give anything away.
Javier visits the Ozarks and begins inquiring about the status of the Darlene issue. He makes things all the more difficult for the Byrdes by killing sheriff Nix (Robert Treveiler) and taking his body to their house to be taken care of.
Marty visits Maya (Jessica Dukes) to tell her that Omar would like to have a one on one meeting with her to discuss his plans. She tells him that in order for him to get all that he wants, he has to cough up a lot more than he’s initially willing to.
Frank Sr. (John Lloyd) tells Darlene that he will not be carrying out distribution for her heroin so Ruth comes up with the idea to sell it to some high roller contacts at a much higher rate. She made those contacts when she worked at the casino.
Wendy meets with Jim (Damian Young) and asks him to set up meetings with influential politicians who can join the board of their charitable foundation. It’s all a ploy to become the most powerful family in the midwest. The Byrdes also reach out to Clare Shaw and come up with a deal to provide opium in exchange for a significant payment that works for both parties.
Wendy makes life difficult for Jonah at home, so he decides to move all of his work to the motel instead. Charlotte gets a call from Helen’s daughter asking about her whereabouts so Charlotte decides to go to Chicago to tell her the truth.
Wendy then has her first meeting with senator Schafer, the first possible board member of their foundation. He initially brushes them off but after her pitch, he says he’s willing to reconsider.
Marty and Javier carry out the first product drop off for Shaw pharmaceuticals. After the exchange, Javier mentions a gun shipment that’s happening later so Marty calls up Omar and tells him to give that up to Maya as a sign of good faith.
Mel keeps digging around town in search of Helen and when he sees Wendy mention her brother on TV, he decides to investigate him in the hopes of getting some leads.
Ruth’s arrangement with the high rollers ends after an unfortunate incident which means that she has to find a new way to make money. That’s when Marty arrives with an offer to buy their product.
Javier is holding off on his supply because he’s concerned about the possible mole that has been giving away information of their shipments leading to multiple seizures by the authorities.
Darlene puts up countless missing posters with Ben’s name on it and this unsettles Wendy. Wendy then goes on to actually file a missing person report with the police and calls Darlene to thank her for caring so much.
The heroin that Marty wanted to buy off Ruth was sold to Frank Jr. (Joseph Sikora), so he offers to buy it back for extra just so that he can fulfil Clare’s supply until Javier turns around. It takes some work, but they manage to get back the heroin successfully.
Senator Schafer asks Wendy to look into a wire fraud case because his son might be in trouble. After Marty and Wendy confirm that there is nothing to worry about, senator Schafer is left pleased and finally agrees to join the Byrde foundations board.
Javier decides to set a trap during one of their routine shipments which end up injuring several federal officers. This pushes Omar to act on his plan and he asks Marty to set up a meeting as soon as possible. He informs Javier that he will be stepping down as head.
Javier starts to make plans of his own now that he’s been told that he’s going to take over. He gives Marty a not so veiled threat about killing him as soon as possible. He even pays a visit to Jim and tells him that he would like to know everything the Byrdes know.
Frank Sr finds out about his son’s deal with Darlene and pays her a visit but she ends up killing him. Ruth tells Frank Jr about it so that he can take Darlene out of the equation but when Wyatt says that he wants to marry Darlene for Zeke’s sake, Ruth asks Frank Jr to hold off on killing her.
Wendy throws a wrench in Jonah’s operations by flagging his accounts. Jonah panics and calls Marty to help him out, and Marty settles all his problems quite easily. Jonah eventually finds out that his mother was responsible and this drives an even bigger wedge between them.
If you have any further questions regarding the final episode, read below for a detailed explanation.
Ozark season 4 part 1 ending explained in detail (Episode 7: Sanctified):
A deal with the devil
The FBI set up a meeting with the Byrdes and Omar Navarro at a secure location to settle his terms. However, they go back on their initial deal and put forth some conditions of their own that make things difficult.
They insist that Omar stay on as the head of the cartel for another five years while providing them with information as and when they please. Omar is not happy with this arrangement and takes some convincing. Marty and Wendy come up with excuses to tell Javier why Omar will be staying on.
They also convince the FBI to bring down the term to one year at a higher monetary cost. Maya is appalled by this deal as they would rather keep the cartel running under their terms rather than take it down altogether.
A spanner in the works
Once the deal has been thrashed out, Omar heads to the airfield but he is immediately apprehended by the authorities and Maya who had decided to go into business for herself. The arrest is all over the media and the Byrde family begin to scramble as they worry for their safety.
They ask Charlotte and Jonah to go into hiding. Then they visit the top brass of the FBI who say that they will not be involved in any dealings in an official capacity. They are willing to make a similar deal with Javier so that Omar can go free.
Then Wendy visits Omar and convinces him of the new plan and asks him to call Javier and tell him that they were not the ones behind the arrest.
Javier is just about the kill Marty when he receives the call and tells Marty to thank the gods that the call came at the right time. Jonah and Charlotte discuss what they would do if their parents were taken from them and how they would survive.
Reshuffling the deck
Javier meets with the FBI and agrees to a modified deal that his uncle was offered. He calls Clare Shaw and tells her that he will be personally handling all shipments of opium going forward.
Wendy and Marty meet with Omar and inform him of the new deal while trying to insulate themselves from his wrath. He listens to them but also lets them know that he is very disappointed with how everything went down at the end.
Javier pays a visit to Darlene and Wyatt, who have just recently gotten married and shoots both of them to put an end to his competitor. Ruth finds their bodies and initially calls Frank Jr, who claims he didn’t do it.
She then visits the Byrde family and asks them, who was the person who killed her cousin. Jonah tells her that it was Javier and Ruth says the only thing stopping her from killing him is if someone kills her first.
Mel Sattern puts two and two together after everything that he’s seen happening around in Ozark and contacts Maya and offers up support for any future endeavours.
Also Read: The Royal Treatment (2022) review: Like any rom-com, nothing new