Ozark

For anyone inclined initially to dismiss "Ozark" as "Breaking Bad Lite," the Netflix drama has exceeded all expectations, steadily building toward a final ...

"Ozark" deftly builds toward that answer, delivering it in a thought-provoking way that cements its place among Netflix's finest dramas. The performances are, again, sensational, with Garner standing out in a home stretch that showcases just how tough and determined Ruth can be. It has also developed ancillary characters, like drug kingpin Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), with a complexity that demonstrates what could be stock threats can be oddly charismatic, though it's never wise to turn your backs on them.

As one of the streamer's most suspenseful and successful shows wraps up, does it matter if fans aren't watching the big finish together?

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“Ozark” cinematographer Shawn Kim came aboard the show at the start of Season 4 with a good idea of what creators Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams wanted for ...

Customarily, the world of “Ozark” has a rich cyan-filtered look to it, “almost monochromatic,” he says. “If it was a continuing season, I wouldn’t necessarily be as bold,” he explains, “but knowing [the show is] coming to an end, I felt it important to have a little bit of punctuation.” We always have a psychological plan of the scene, and, hopefully, that translates to the viewer.” “This lets the audience into a more intimate space than they are used to on the show,” Kim says, capturing the sense that something is “fundamentally starting to take hold in Ruth’s character.” They used a 30-degree tilt to kill out any background, “just focused on three eyelashes. “This season, you’re starting to see more of the world but our characters become more in shadow so that even on a bright sunny day outside, we find a way to put them in shadow. “In terms of light, it’s mostly about denser shadows, elevated contrast — a bit more noir,” he says.

Marty gets his hands dirty playing at cartel boss. A recap of 'You're the Boss,' episode 10 of season 4 of Ozark on Netflix, starring Jason Bateman, ...

The guy who killed Ben, seen in a flashback in the prologue, bookends the episode, prepared to take out someone else who made the mistake of getting in the orbit of Marty and Wendy Byrde. Yes, Arturo says he messed with the books, but it was just to take the profit that he thought he deserved. Does Marty know at this point that it’s likely he can’t leave Mexico without killing Arturo? Marty oversees the torture of Arturo, hoping to get a confession out of him. Omar gets the advantage and chokes out his assassin, but he falls into a coma from the blood loss. Marty is auditing some books when he discovers that decimal points were dropped three times in a row — someone cooked the books and is skimming from Navarro. While the accountant responsible for the cooked books is getting beaten by a soldier named Arturo (Reinaldo Faberlle), someone tries to kill Omar in prison. Marty believes it was Arturo — he was jealous of Javi, and they caught him cheating the cartel. The parallel tracks of Marty and Wendy in this episode, along with really confident direction, make this one of the best of the season. It’s the assassin for the cartel who pulls a gun on Ben, and he starts begging for his life, then for him to relay Ben’s message to Wendy that he’s sorry. And she later gets around Wycoff by using Frank to help move the product while she serves as the decoy. Cut to the lawman at the Lazy-O, talking to Sam, who explains some of his “female conflicts of interest” before pointing him to Jonah’s room. Marty sees the potentially vicious side of his future turned into a bloody reality, while Wendy feels pressure from everywhere, and she does what she does best: lashes out. The scene unfolds on the road trip at the end of his life.

Since “Ozark” divided its final season into two seven-episode batches, it's been torture waiting for the final shoe to drop.

The final grade of critics and audiences hinges on the finale, which I’m forbidden to discuss under embargo until Monday (thanks Netflix). As of the penultimate episode, the car-crash framing device still hasn’t been addressed. In fact, the baby isn’t mentioned in the big return episode; you’ll have to wait until the next episode for a casual mention of a babysitter. As we learn Ruth’s fate, several other memorable characters show up to take a final bow in the final season. By the end, she’s pleading on her knees, calling him “daddy,” seeking medical advice for her mental health issues, and even head-butting her car window in frustration. — but the ramifications elevate Javi’s mother Camila Elizondro (Veronica Falcón). She makes moves in Mexico as her brother Omar waits in a U.S. prison, sparking twists, turns and internal turmoil within the cartel family as viewers’ chief cartel foil changes every season. Will it pay off in the finale? The first episode of the final batch thankfully gives us a definitive conclusion to Ruth’s revenge plot. Oh well, there’s a bigger custody battle brewing over Jonah and Charlotte, who are ready to break free from their parents as mid-to-late teenagers. On Friday, we finally get the final batch on Netflix, bringing a dramatic end to the Byrde family drama. As they mend their marriage in Season 2, we admire her entrepreneurial spirit in running the family business, until she becomes irredeemably coldblooded like Michael Corleone from Season 3 onward. I’ll try to refresh you on how we got here and tease the final developments without major spoilers as you sit down to watch this weekend. We admire Marty’s ability to keep calm in high-pressure situations, but we lament his pushover tendencies.

After a finale with major character deaths and a twist with the Navarro cartel's storyline, here's a breakdown of what happened and what it means for Part ...

If you think back to just about everything Marty Byrde either did or said over the course of the series, Ozark seems to always hint that he might change. And I have to say—the ending changed everything I believed about the series. The second he left the room, she muttered, "I don't like him." In my review of Part One of the final season, I settled on the lies. Ozark, when you look at it with the view from Wendy Byrde's third glass of wine, is about who we become at the end of the thousandth fib. But in a series jam-packed with double-crossing, murder, money-laundering, and more murder, what's the meaning of it all?

Marty is finally starting to unravel. A recap of “Pound of Flesh and Still Kickin',” episode 11 of season 4 of 'Ozark' on Netflix, starring Jason Bateman, ...

But Marty can’t say that there, in front of Omar. Doesn’t this make the Byrdes very expendable to Camila? She gets control, and she has the Shaw connection — why does she still need Wendy? Put her on the throne and she ices her brother and the Byrdes the next day. Marty gets out of his car and orders the guy to get out. “What is she doing here?” Wendy snarls when she sees Rachel. Marty sees Rachel and goes in for a hug and a “Good to see you.” Ruth cuts to the chase: She wants to make a deal — the Shaw money for the foundation and Ruth takes the casino. Camila gets to see Omar. Wendy blindsides Marty by offering to have Camila take control in Mexico. Marty doesn’t know about this and doesn’t like it. Marty wants to tell Navarro the truth: Wendy promised Camila that she could see her brother, even though she just tried to have him murdered. Marty takes him down, switching hooks and even getting in a kick. Rachel calls to give Marty a piece of her mind, and Marty’s neglect leads Garrison back to Ruth. Marty is a character who is always considering risk but too rarely remembers human connections and needs. He’s wanted by the State Police. It’s a weak story, but Nathan seems to buy it. While Wendy scrambles with Schafer, Ruth is off on a first-class plane trip, soaking in the luxury and smiling for the first time in days. Shortly thereafter, Marty and Wendy meet with Ruth and Rachel at the Belle. The different reactions of the Byrdes are telling. It’s how she can run a criminal operation without considering herself a criminal — she’s wearing a costume just to get a job done. She suggests to Marty that it’s not his fault because he was only doing what Omar would have done.

The series finale of "Ozark" releases on Friday, and the last season is weighing heavy on Mexican actor Alfonso Herrera, who portrays the memorable "Javi."

He has, of course, been proud to be a part of the series from the moment he accepted the role, but a lot has changed since then, both for him personally and in the world around him. Herrera recognizes there’s a risk in having to affirm his skills and experiences as a Latino actor. He added that he’s most proud of the fact that "Ozark" has challenged his limits as an actor, which is inextricable from his personhood. “His philosophy was to give me certain clues and thoughts and ideas of how the writers’ room saw him," Herrera said. This role of Javi presented itself at the end of 2020, at a time when everyone was forced to reevaluate what they wanted for themselves, professionally and personally. From plays in Mexico City to audio series like “Batman Unearthed” on Spotify, Herrera has made a meal out of confounding his critics and thrilling his fans. "I am always open to strong stories.” I think that the number of things I’ve experienced made me who I am right now — I could fit into Javi in a positive way,” said Herrera. And I have to give some kudos to many actors and actresses that have made things a little bit easier, like Demián Bichir," Herrera said. From there, he began booking steady television work in Mexico City, including the Latin American phenomenon that was "Rebelde." "If he doesn’t like you, he’s gonna let you know in a very direct way, which is, I would say, a positive thing." A relentlessly curious actor, he has won praise and some disapproval for refusing labels.

The Run the Jewels rapper cameos as himself in Season 4, Part 2 to discuss Nas's "N.Y. State of Mind" with Ruth Langmore.

He’s had roles in ATL, Baby Driver, and he did a voice-over in America: The Motion Picture. But I have one gripe. "I always thought it was so hopeful and fucking cruel at the same time.” On this great occasion, I'd like to call out a rather legendary cameo in the first episode of the Part Two drop: Killer Mike, one half of hip-hop duo Run The Jewels, who appears as himself.

Warning: The following story contains gigantic spoilers from Ozark's final seven episodes — proceed at your own peril.

THE GIST: The bad guys win. Camila murders Ruth after learning she was the one who killed her son. And what about Ruth? Was our favorite potty-mouthed heroine alive and well by the end of the series finale? HIGHLIGHT: Ruth’s spot-on analysis of narcissistic hypocrite Wendy in the episode’s final scene was satisfying beyond measure — so much so that I’m dropping the transcript here for posterity: “Wendy? She’s f—king soulless. She’s like a f—king predator that doesn’t even know why it’s killin’ anymore.” Did the Byrdes pass their final cartel test with flying colors?

Wendy is capable of playing FBI agents, cartel bosses, and powerful politicians, but she's no match for her dad? A recap of “Trouble the Water,” episode 12 ...

Despite no hearing, the judge has a petition in front of her and plenty of evidence. He’s checking out of the Lazy-O, and Sam says he was thinking about going to Gamblers Anonymous. Mel responds by saying how much he owes to AA, but he’s lying to himself by defying his sponsor’s advice and his own conscience. She gets in the car, catatonic, and then smashes her head into the window. Mel could break up a family that he honestly believes should be broken up or go back to Chicago. He calls his sponsor and says that the Byrdes are like “nine to 9.5” on a ten-point scale of evil. The Byrdes aren’t willing to go there and decide to use their connection on Sattem instead of Navarro. They will need to pull other strings, and Omar will have to show patience, which is not in his skill set. He grew up in the same area. Wendy calls to give Schafer what they need in Michigan and Wisconsin. To get Omar out of prison, they’re going to commit election fraud. The problem is that they already have a favor in play in getting Omar off the SDN list, and politicians like Schafer don’t give out two. If you take Nathan at his word, he believes that Wendy had something to do with her brother’s death, and that makes for a dangerous environment for his grandkids. While Sam is finding God at the Lazy-O, Nathan makes a major decision: He wants Charlotte and Jonah to come home with him, and he’s going to legally petition to have custody. Wendy wants Camila close and engaged, but Marty knows it’s not sustainable to funnel shipments to the FBI under her nose. She knows the guy is innocent, but it might lead to Javi’s murder if she reveals how she knows.

Alfonso Herrera loves that Ozark's final season didn't go the way you thought it would.

He’s a cultural reference in many ways, so I’m very excited to share a set with him and to work with him and with his team. So we are in the process of that, and I am very excited to be a part of this amazing saga. That is what Zack enjoys the most, and he is very clear about it. (Laughs.) On my first day, I was in the van on the way to work, saying, “Alfonso, don’t fuck it up. So I would point that one out, specifically, but I would also say the last one, which was the goodbye to everyone. What I sense so far is that everybody likes to have a good time. He’s a cultural reference in many ways, so I’m very excited to share a set with him and to work with him and with his team,” Herrera says. The last time I got into a fight, I was 13 years old. But we did have the opportunity to share lots of stories outside of the set. And if he doesn’t like something, he’s not afraid of creating a huge catharsis for himself, affecting the other person involved. The human side of each and every Ozark character is there because the scripts are very well-written and the direction is right on point. Tony is a very good friend of mine, and we’ve worked on different projects back home in Mexico. But no, actually, we haven’t talked about it.

With one more episode to go, Wendy goes completely off the rails to secure the power she's worked the entire series to acquire. A recap of “Mud,” episode 13 ...

She calls panics and calls Rachel, who is busy watching Duck Dynasty. She finally gets a hold of her BFF, warns her that Nelson is coming, and talks her through getting on the roof with a rifle and shooting Nelson as he gets out of his car. The Byrdes offer her power and a license from the government to keep it and the ability to stay behind the scenes. Tell Camila who actually killed Javi. She wouldn’t agree to Omar’s murder, but he could stay behind bars, and she could run the operation with the FBI. Of course, that gets Ruth killed … She goes into the station and tells Wycoff everything she knows about Javi’s murder, including that she killed Javi and that Javi killed Wyatt and Darlene. If Wycoff tells anyone, who would believe him? Shes goes in on him for falling off the wagon, being a cheater, not being a real Christian. She implores him to take the life-changing money and run, but he doesn’t budge. It will be the last time he asks anything of Ruth and Rachel. He tries to call Wendy, but she’s not answering. the Foundation and reveals her plan. She has the cash and needs to be committed for the night, but it turns out that she can’t buy her way into the facility because they’re already overcapacity. Ruth attests that she needs to keep her clean record and doesn’t give in. She goes and pounds on Nathan’s door, dropping the bag on the bed. Marty has to go to prison and tell Omar and Camila what’s up with his kids and cash flow. And yet the first body to fall is a bit unexpected.

Laura Linney and Julia Garner make killer final appearances in the Missouri-set thriller's swan song.

Still, there’s fun to be had in seeing this cast—especially Linney and Garner—chew through their characters in a shared victory lap. There’s not a ton to get your heart racing, if only because every narrative move feels forced by the need to make familiar characters interact with each other one last time—even as the central storyline lacks the proper justification to do so. But there’s a sloppiness to these episodes’ overall execution—across editing, cinematography, and, above all else, writing—that substantively undercuts the rest of the series’ more successful tension building.

The Byrde family sees perhaps its biggest threat yet with the introduction of antagonist Javier "Javi" Elizonndro in Season 4 of "Ozark.

It's exactly the likability of the character that provides Herrera's key to embracing him, and that enthusiasm comes across every time Javi is onscreen. Herrera's approach to navigating that unpredictability, grounded in giving sufficient coverage by relevantly altering the performance decisions between takes, is a great way to land Javi's complexity while freeing Herrera to try novel things–and that continued novelty is the most Javi thing possible. AH: Exactly. So, I didn't have that much of a problem not judging Javier. On the contrary, I was – and that's why it's so fun to play Javi, because the possibilities are, it's so unpredictable. I really enjoyed Javi, and I really laughed reading the script. I enjoyed him, I really enjoyed Javi. So, it was not difficult for me to say, "I like this guy! The Byrde family sees perhaps its biggest threat yet with the introduction of antagonist Javier "Javi" Elizonndro in Season 4 of "Ozark." Smart and ambitious yet unpredictable and violent, Javi (adeptly portrayed by Alfonso Herrera) has his sights set on climbing to the top of the Navarro cartel.

The dark, menacing beach town where Ozark is set doesn't bear much resemblance to the Queens streets that inspired Nas' 1994 debut album Illmatic, ...

“You ever wonder if he’d trade that record if it meant not having to go through all that shit?” Langmore asks Mike. “If you’ve got to ask the question,” Mike says before trailing off. She’s a 19, 20-year-old white woman who lives in a trailer in Missouri. That's very far from Queensbridge. At the same time, she’s around the same age as he was when he wrote that album. The second we decided it should be Illmatic, it couldn't be anything else.” The parallels seemed too perfect,” said Mundy. I also felt the way the album lays out, it feels very whole, but there are different moods in there that were going to suit what we shot. (The rapper told Billboard he was a fan of the show when the cameo was announced.) “[There are] parallels between Ruth and Nas. I mean, in one way, they're very different.

The Byrdes' knew laundering money for the cartel would come with a price. In the finale, the bill is due. A recap of “A Hard Way to Go,” episode 14, ...

Felt a bit like a cheap joke to end the series. The presumption could be that Rachel takes over the Belle and runs that operation, but she’s got some heavy guilt over Nelson and will know what happened to Ruth. It feels like all of that could collapse and pull the Byrdes back in. The thematic thrust that the Byrdes can do anything hits home, but Jonah killing a man who is just trying to find justice for his uncle? Ruth and the Belle will remain part of the operation that Camila will lead. And so he came to find the evidence in Ben’s ashes. The Byrdes have to watch this truck come and not swerve out of the way. He couldn’t “put all the guilt away.” The Byrdes are so good at putting all the guilt away. Bring her in on the operation with the FBI to keep the Belle a part of it. Ruth agrees to get the kids to see Ruth, but she needs reassurance from Wendy that if Ruth does her part, Wendy won’t retaliate even if Jonah decides to go with Nathan. It can’t be her fault if Jonah still insists on leaving. He offers her a deal to escape, a new identity, a chance to leave town and start clean. When Marty and Wendy chose to uproot their family and launder money for a Mexican drug cartel, they knew in their hearts that it would come with a cost. Now that it’s over, we can look back on the story of a family who was willing to do anything to survive and could quite literally get away with murder.

Ahead of the acclaimed series' final run, the actress talks bringing "levity" to Charlotte—and growing up in lockstep with her character.

“It made me feel proud for how far I’ve come in my life—but also, it reestablished how proud I am for how far Charlotte has come and the character development,” she says. And when you’re having difficult times in your life, you have to learn not to bring that to work,” the breakout actress explains ahead of the finale’s part-two release. “I’ve always tried to not say ‘no’ with my face and my body language and…engage in a positive way, even if the scene doesn’t call for that.” The line immediately hints at Charlotte’s grounded, mature nature as she accepts her fate of moving from Chicago to Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks—high school ego and tinglings of a young woman in tow. It’s a simple question posed by Ozark’s Charlotte Byrde, played by newcomer Sofia Hublitz—who stars alongside her fictional parents Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy ( Laura Linney), brother Jonah (Skylar Gaertner), and neighbor Ruth ( Julia Garner)—early on in the first season of the Netflix original series. Viewers of the crime drama, which recently released the last seven episodes of its fourth and final season after becoming one of the most popular shows in the U.S., know that very question would unfurl a seemingly never-ending answer: her white-collar parents were “laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel.

He may have played a convincing mountain man from Missouri, but Trevor Long, who starred as Cade Langmore, actually calls Narragansett, Rhode Island home.

“He found out I was from New York and he couldn’t believe it.” He wondered if I went to his school or if I was from Alabama,” Long said. Long plays a very convincing Ozark mountain man, but in actuality, he was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, and grew up in Pittsburgh after moving there in second grade.

Ozark's final episodes (season four, part two) began streaming on Netflix Friday. In the first episode of the last batch, Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) does ...

But then he said, ‘Are you the one that's going to Europe this summer with your family?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that's me. They had me reading for Ruth at the time, Ruth and Charlotte funny enough, just for the initial round of auditions. I don't think I was there but she called me and she was like, ‘Okay, so you're going to laugh really hard,’” Hublitz recalled.

Ozark may have reached its finale on Netflix, but that hasn't stopped past characters from popping up. We explain who Rachel Garrison is from Season 1.

- Episode 8: The Cousin of Death The first seven episodes of Season 4 dropped on Netflix back in January 2022 and the second part will consist of a further seven episodes. Ozark Season 4 Part Two episode guide

Ozark season 4 star Jordana Spiro's age, height, Instagram, and roles: Find out all there is to know about the Rachel actress.

She captioned her post, “Today’s the day…. Given that there’s no definite confirmation, we’ll come in with a prediction that the Ozark actress stands perhaps around a height of 5ft and 6inches, which is a compromise between the two heights listed. If you’re curious about Ozark‘s Rachel Garrison (portrayed by the talented Jordana Spiro) then you’re in the right place because we’ve got everything there is to know about the actress, including how you can still stay up to date on her future projects.

The series finale of Netflix's 'Ozark' ended with a literal bang -- read our recap and then grade the episode.

At least Ruth went out in a blaze of full badass glory, uttering these final words as she waited for Camilla to pull the trigger: “I’m not sorry. Oh, and speaking of the good guys losing, Ruth’s dead, too. “You don’t get it, do you?” he sneered, before adding, “You don’t get to win… “I couldn’t do my job,” he explained to the quivering couple. Hooray… wait, where did Jonah come from and why is he holding a rifle and why is he pointing it at Mel and not his freakin’ parents and there’s only 10 seconds left of the episode and OH, HELL NO it can’t end with… After the screen on Season 4, Episode 14 cut to black, a gunshot rang out.