Ozark Season 4 Part 2 - Review

By Niklas Müller

(PHOTO CREDIT: NETFLIX)

GRADE: B+

After four seasons full of incredibly tense television, the time has come to say goodbye to our favorite money launderers, the Byrd Family. Led by Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy Byrd (Laura Linney). We really have been through a lot with these characters and now we do have to fear for them, because in the last 7 episodes, in a show like this, no one is quite save. We can't rely on this feeling that they will eventually wiggle their way out of every situation as they did on previous occasions.

Ozark definitely doesn't waste any time in the opening episode of part 2, as we immediately pick up where we left off merely 3 months ago. But it certainly isn't just the first episode that gives us so many utterly intense scenes, but rather all of them as we are used to from this show.

Everyone on this show really understands how they need to approach those moments, because they really are the standout moments in this show (especially when Danny Bensi & Saunder Juriaans's riveting score is kicking in), everything is at its peak in those scenes.

Though most of the season is rather excellent as always, the series finale is almost sure to polarize the fans. There is a lot of stuff happening and some people definitely won't be happy with the last 10 or so minutes. I personally have to say, although I really didn't expect this particular outcome, it truly is realistic. Especially in the way these characters were built up and grew over the duration of the show.

On that note, it was almost an impossible challenge for the show-runners to outshine season three, which literally was a perfect season of television.

While watching this last season, I oftentimes came to think that this really could be one of the best acted shows of the last years or even of the last decade. It is up there with MAD MEN, BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL and SUCCESSION, among other standouts. Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore is such a fore of nature here, literally outshining herself in every episode. She already won 2 Emmys in a row for seasons 2 and 3 and she sure will be in the winning conversation for the last season as well. I can't wait to see where she will go from here on out. And speaking of female forces of nature, Laura Linney is absolutely perfect once again and everything she does on screen looks so nonchalantly easy (the perfect outcome really would've been is she won in 2020, then the Academy could've given it to Zendaya this year). After the botched opportunity to award her in 2020, the Academy should feel obligated to finally award one of the best television performances of the last couple of years.

This is also the best season for Jason Bateman, in what might be his career best performance so far. He just feels so very unpredictable, sometimes there is nothing left but to question what Marty's next move is gonna be (it was also nice to see Bateman finally directing another episode).

I guess this won't go down in history as one of the best series finales ever, but it certainly is not a bad way to end this highly rewarding show.

RELEASE: April 2022

CAST: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaertnar, Julia Garner

CREATED BY: Bill Dubuque & Mark Williams