Connecting The Dots Of The Netflix Series Ozark

It’s hard connecting the dots of the “Ozark” series on Netflix if you miss even one episode.

I watched another episode of Ozark’s last season last night. It’s hard to imagine how this show will wrap up, but everyone says it’s a shocker.

Ozark’s Netflix Debut In 2017:

Ozark debuted on Netflix in 2017 and captured the avid attention of Netflix viewers who became devoted fans. The show was created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams

This is Ozark’s Season 4, and fans will see this Netflix show ride off into the sunset.

I shiver to think about what I may see as I watch the episodes dwindling toward the end.

Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) Byrde are a married couple of 20 years. Their relationship is strained when he finds out that she was cheating on him through a private investigator.

Marty Byrde and his business partner, self-employed Chicago financial advisors, begin to launder money for a Mexican drug cartel. But the scheme they hatched goes awry.

The Dangerous Drug Cartel:

His partner is killed by the cartel, so Marty convinces them of a plan he comes up with to relocate the whole operation to Missouri.

He claims it’s out of the Feds’ range and a better place to launder money. He promises them millions of dollars in profit.

The couple leaves Chicago and moves their two children, Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) to The Lake Of The Ozarks in Missouri.

There Marty must work to make amends to the Mexican drug cartel, as he sets up a larger operation in the Ozarks.

Wendy Byrde’s Past Life:

Wendy, formerly a relations consultant on political campaigns, helps support Marty in their new venture.

She takes a leading role in their laundering of money after working for a few weeks at a realtor’s office with Sam Dermody (Keven L. Johnson), the realtor who helped them find a new home.

Eventually, Wendy is a principal partner in Marty’s scheme. She is ruthless and creative in her conniving ways and proves that she knows how to get things done.

At first, their children do not know what their parents are involved in. But they find out, and that’s when they too become involved. It can’t be avoided.

The Langmores:

Enter Ruth Langmore, played by Julia Garner, a 19-year-old woman whose family are local petty criminals. Ruth is mouthy but she is also savvy.

The Langmores live in a configuration of trailer homes on the outskirts of town.

When Ruth meets Marty, she plans to use and betray him. But instead, she becomes his business partner. Ruth knows how the locals think and she is strong and fearless.

Ruth & Ben:

Ruth becomes involved with Wendy’s bipolar brother, Ben, and they fall in love.

It is a short and fatal love affair, as Ben (Tom Pelphrey) can’t keep his mouth shut and gets killed for it.

That scene alone is a shocker, as his sister Wendy had a hand in it.

One of my favorite scenes is when Wendy is driving home in her minivan and pulls off to the side of the road while talking to Marty on the phone. She breaks down and tells him what she’s done and that Ben is dead.

Wendy felt she had no choice. Not if she is to protect her husband and children from harm.

After Ben is murdered, an enraged Ruth quits Marty and Wendy’s criminal organization and joins a woman named Darlene Snell, who is running a heroin business.

Insight Into Mental Illness:

Though Ben was only around for one season, he made quite an impression and gave much insight into those suffering from mental illness.

Pelphrey was included in Variety’s “top 10 actors to watch” list in 2020. He has acted both on and off-Broadway.

Just yesterday the People Magazine website announced that Pelphrey is dating Kaley Cuoco. She is an actress well-known for her role in “The Big Bang Theory.”

Darlene & Wyatt:

Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) and Ruth’s cousin, Wyatt Langmore (Charles Tahan), are having an affair, though Darlene is old enough to be Wyatt’s grandmother.

Which is just another of the many anomalies in this series.

The Snell operation is yet another convoluted and ugly story involving crime and nefarious characters.

Some Of The Players In Ozark:

In “Ozark” you will see an FBI agent have an affair with one of the Langmore men.

There will also be a young pastor, Mason Young (Michael Mosley) with a boat-based congregation who enters the picture.

Unbeknownst to him, the Snells have been distributing heroin to members of his congregation by hiding drugs inside the hymnals.

Mosley discontinues his services, which is when the Snells kill his pregnant wife in retaliation.

After Wendy Has Ben Killed:

The scene (Season 3) where Wendy pulls her minivan off the road and lets out her grief and guilt on the phone with Marty is agonizing to watch, though she was complicit in her brother’s death.

That scene represents the fact that once you become a criminal, you must be cold-blooded and merciless in your decisions in order to survive. And that can mean sacrificing one of your own.

If you haven’t watched “Ozark” yet, fasten your seat belt because you’re going for quite a ride.