Maybe the end of Ozarks, with a quarter divided into two parts, do not leave the emptiness you feel when you finish a good book, for example; but it does leave the certainty that the story reached as much as it could, that the developed plots closed in a timely manner, without betraying the tension that characterized the three previous seasons. Exit.
When Netflix presented the first part of this fourth season, Ozarks could already be seen as a natural replacement for breaking bad. Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams, its creators, came up with a narrative that drinks from the aforementioned series, almost like a tribute, while knowing how to find its own record. The second part of this final season reaffirms this and allows itself a painful and poetic ending, like the bulk of its story.
For four seasons, Ozarks saved little or nothing in relation to violence and ethical tensions. Its protagonists, halfway between diplomacy and pragmatism, only saw how the blood of others spattered their feet, in most cases; in others, it was his. That pulse between their actions and those of others, that tightrope walker, reaches a stage where with luck they can only defend themselves. But at what cost?
Ozark and power
One of the concerns in relation to this second part was the role that Wendyinterpreted by laura linney, after mutating to a more visceral version. That shy, insecure woman turned into a character who acted like a wounded animal in most cases; she could be seen anticipating scenarios or reacting to them. Her fragility remained as a memory.
His development in the second part of the final season of Ozark is consistent with that development, while allowing the viewer to suspect that he may be breaking. Until it is discovered that it is just another manipulation strategy. His story serves to go towards one of the paths proposed by the Netflix series: in this story, only effectiveness matters when maintaining power.
Although it is presented as a pulse of life or death, most of the protagonists are crossed by their desire for power, their need for control, to protect what they consider theirs, the whole empire of lies and blood that they have built. They did so much to stay on their feet that they ended up melting into what they formed, dragged by the snowball, as could be expected.
That the outcome could be predictable was a risk for Ozarks; one that he assumed and from which he came naturally: during the final season the tension is maintained, the feeling that at some point a sigh can drift the house of cards and leave those involved empty-handed. But no. They, in the end, cling to what they have been doing, accepting that they may never be able to let go of their past.
Marty and Ruth as reflections of themselves
marty byrde (Jason Bateman) and ruth langmore (Julia Garner) are two sides of the same coin. They tried to defend their own from adversity and, later, from their own decisions. Both characters have the family as the axis of their stories. Yes, they want to survive, but they also try to ensure that most of their loved ones arrive on that path. Byrde reaches his narrative peak to exercise, even if he was only for a few moments, as the strongest man in the cartel; something that, being the key piece of the organization, he already was.
In the case of Ruth, that idea is truncated from the previous seasons until she arrives alone in this second part of the final season of Ozarks. Although she tried, often a conditioning or an external factor appeared that was impossible for her to control. The scenes in which she hallucinates the image of her first cousin Wyatt Langmore and imagines her relatives accompanying her are a tribute to her initial interesta wink to the viewer, who is reminded: this is not the plan she envisioned.
On that trip, Marty Bryde has what she doesn’t: a family. The character recognizes that, within the spiral in which she is, Ruth is one of the collateral victims of their interests. Though her particular denouement allows him to salvage her quest, leaving several scenes where he loses control of her, hers is a failure that resonates like another member of her family.
The series could perhaps be questioned that the main family does not suffer major losses. Although the last scene, after a series of deaths, corruption and power, rounds out the idea that runs through the entire final season: there is no way to get out unscathed (even as a spectator).