Netflix: “Ozark: Season 4, Part 2”

So you think you have problems life? Then you haven’t been watching Marty and Wendy Byrde lately. The yuppie Bonnie-and-Clyde of the 21st century face a series of challenges as “Ozark” wraps its fourth and probably final season on Netflix.

The Mexican cartel for which they launder drug money is now being run by Xavi (Alfonso Herrera), the impetuous violent nephew of the imprisoned Omar Navarro (Felix Solis), the cartel’s aging paterfamilias. Omar may be released from his American prison due to an arrangement with the FBI which the Byrdes helped broker.

Shipments from the poppy fields to create the heroin the Byrdes depend on are disrupted due to an unexpected double murder. Ruth Langmore (Julia Garmer), foul-mouthed scion of a local family, wants revenge for the murder, which involved her cousin Wyatt (Charlie Tahan). Her rash, unpredictable behavior presages more trouble for the Byrdes.

Wendy’s religious but boozy father (Richard Thomas) breezes into town from North Carolina, poking his nose into the disappearance of his son. He suspects Wendy is involved, and in other shady goings-on with the cartel. So he connives to take Wendy’s son and daughter away from the couple “for their own safety.”

As veteran watchers of “Ozark” know, there are no good guys in the show. There are only degrees of evil among the characters, and you find yourself actually rooting for the ones who seem only sorta deadly.

The superior talents of Laura Linney as Wendy and Jason Bateman as Marty go a long way in fostering this confusion. I dare say that even Shakespeare never imagined a villain as consummately evil as Wendy. She smiles even as she is sticking a knife (metaphorically) into anyone who stands in her way.

Bateman’s Marty is the quintessential diplomat, trying to maintain his cool as the evil life he has chosen collapses around him. When he loses his cool in one of the most memorable moments of Season Four, it is a scene for the ages. Julia Garner as the potty-mouthed, quick-on-the-trigger Ruth Langmore, continues to prove, after four seasons of “Ozark” and one season of “Inventing Anna,” that she is the best young actor of her generation.

The finale of “Ozark” is so suspenseful, it will have you scarfing down the last remaining bags of popcorn you bought during the pandemic. And if you’re new to “Ozark,” I advise you to start at Season 1. The show is like a great stew: it takes time to come to a boil but it’s ultimately worth waiting for—and pretty damn delicious.