Summary
Strap in folks, season 4 presents itself as the juiciest, most audacious yet.
This recap of Netflix’s Ozark season 4, episode 2, “Let The Great World Spin,” contains spoilers.
Read the review of part 1 of season 4 of Ozark.
A lot is happening in season 4, which is to be expected, but there’s also plenty of information to consume. Episode 2 sees a complex game of chess playing out as the Byrdes look for solutions.
Ozark season 4, episode 2 recap
Episode 2 opens with Ruth at an ornament shop; she picks out a glass goat that’s meant to be a cookie jar. She puts Ben’s ashes in them and sobs silently. This is a tragic reminder of how much Ruth loved this man. Wendy is furious at Jonah for giving Ben’s ashes to Ruth and confronts her. But of course, Ruth wields a shotgun to keep Wendy away, and words of detest are traded.
Marty visits Agent Maya Miller, and he brings up the audacious deal that Omar wants. Predictably, Maya plays down Omar’s chances (of zero prosecution and freedom of movement, but Marty thinks it would be a good idea for her to meet him. Playing the messenger in between, Marty convinces both parties to agree to meet. Marty’s cool head always seems to win.
With Sheriff Nix dead, there’s a new sheriff in town who goes by the title Sheriff Guerrero. She questions PI Mel about Nix’s disappearance. Afterward, Darlene introduces herself to the sheriff and attempts to ignite a relationship like she did with Nix. Unfortunately for Darlene, Guerrero is not easily baited into bribes, and it fails. This has Darlene worrying about her supply network.
As we saw in season 3, Wendy has this dream of the family becoming a national influence. She wants elections running through the Byrde family, but her advisor, Jim, tells her she would need to raise $150 million in order to buy people. That’s a shitload of money, so it’s an insurmountable task. But, with Jim’s advice, she meets the CEO from Shaw Medical Solutions — Clare Shaw; they talk about the Byrde foundation and the offer of mental and rehabilitation facilities. Clare is unsure due to the bad press that the Byrdes have had due to Ben, her brother. Clare has her reputation to keep intact after controversy with her family business.
So, Wendy encourages Clare to meet Marty; using the information provided by Jim, Marty breaks down Clare’s troubling finances for her pharmaceutical company and offers to fix it. He proposes they give her a regular supplier of raw opium materials to reduce costs and provide savings of 300 million ($150 million would go towards the Byrde foundation). This is when the pin drops on Clare that she’s entering an illegal deal, but with the high chance of saving her company, she agrees. An ecstatic Wendy tells Jim of the news.
Jonah is the outlier of the Byrde, and he’s so confident about it in episode 2; he meets Ruth about the laundering strategy. Darlene asks Jonah what happened with John Nix because it’s severely impacted their distribution network. But Ruth always has ideas, and she brings to Wyatt and Darlene a proposal where they rebrand their heroin as “hipster heroin” so they can charge more. She feels it would need to be influenced by customers and thinks using a high roller from the casino, a man named Kerry, would be the perfect influencer. She meets Kerry at his restaurant, and Ruth reluctantly takes a sample with him, which makes her high. Kerry is interested, but he wants to visit the farm first; when he tours the farm, Darlene calls off the deal.
Like previous story arcs, Darlene has a knack for self-sabotaging her environment; she has no regulation on her personal opinions.
The Jonah problem continues, especially when he reveals to Wendy and Marty that he launders money for Ruth using his software. Wendy is not pleased, but you can tell that Marty is secretly proud. Marty confronts Ruth about it, using his father-figure approach, but it fails. Later on, Wendy tells Jonah that he’s on the wrong team after receiving the $150 million donation for the foundation. This is where Jonah reveals another truth bomb — he knows what happened to the sheriff.
The ending
As another chaotic episode reaches an ending, a couple of significant plot developments occur.
Javi meets Marty, and together they clean up the sheriff’s blood in Helen’s house. It’s tense as Javi calls Marty untrustworthy, and then Omar rings Marty — Javi listens intently. But it gets worse when Sheriff Guerrero heads over, so Javi has to hide; the sheriff can see that Marty is cleaning up, and she is inquisitive.
The best part of episode 2 is the ending; Maya joins the Byrde family dinner, but it’s cut short when Mel Sattem shows up. Marty intervenes and tells Mel to get off his property. Mel reveals that he can sense that Marty knows what happened to Helen. Afterward, Maya asks Marty if Helen is dead and wants to know what’s truly happening. Marty explains that Omar’s nephew Javi is currently in Ozarks, staying close to them. Maya backs out on meeting Omar with this new information, stating it is too dangerous. When Marty reveals this to Omar, the cartel lord is his usual self, and he tells Marty to make it happen. Wendy tells Maya that she cannot cancel on Omar and threatens her.
As the episode ends, Maya gets in the cartel car and agrees to meet Omar.
Strap in folks, season 4 presents itself as the juiciest, most audacious yet.
Additional points
- Omar tells Javi that his impatience puts them at risk after killing the sheriff. Tensions between uncle and nephew continue to brew.
- Wendy tells Sam they are not reimbursing him anymore at the casino, and she bans him. She can see how addicted he is to gambling.
What did you think of Netflix’s Ozark season 4, episode 2? Comment below.
