WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Ozark Season 4: Part 1, now streaming on Netflix.
Netflix's Ozark began its fourth and final season with a bang as Part 1 held quite a few gruesome deaths in its seven episodes. It crippled the laundering empire Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) ran in the lake town for Omar Navarro's cartel, allowing the FBI to pull rank as things fell apart. It created a shocking, bloody finale to remind Marty that ultimately, in such high-level wars with many betrayals, he'll often end up powerless, so let's dissect what happened.
Omar Navarro Was Betrayed & Brought Down in Ozark Season 4
Omar had Marty and Wendy use their connections to Agent Maya Miller to broker a deal with the FBI. They formed an uneasy partnership, but Maya hated how the feds betrayed her ideal of justice to make money off the cartel and garner control over the Mexican drug scene. As such, she went rogue and had local cops arrest Omar, bringing a media spotlight on the possible joint venture in America.
Luckily, Marty's teams scraped together a new deal after that act of sabotage that saw Omar's nephew, Javi, take over the cartel and begin working for the feds. The Byrdes also warned Omar if he felt they were culpable and had his goons go after their family, he'd pay dearly. It more or less ended their partnership as the boss hated how Wendy threatened his kids. It was understandable, though, as Nelson, Omar's hitman, was still loose, which left the Byrdes panicking as Javi assumed leadership.
Major Causalities Were Taken By Javi in Season 4 of Ozark
Javi already tried to assert dominance by killing Sheriff Nix early on this season, all to end Darlene Snell's heroin dealing and those she bribed to enable it. It cut into the cartel profits, plus run afoul of the feds as Omar's riverboat casino for laundering was in the riverways the Snells once owned. Thus, with his newfound power and sense of invincibility, Javi visited Wyatt and Darlene's farm to remind them who was the don.
Right after they got married and came home, they were blindsided as he sat them down on the couch. They tried to apologize but he shot Darlene in the gut and Wyatt in the forehead, officially killing the Snell legacy. Ruth visited minutes later to drop off a wedding gift after trying to play both Darlene and Marty's sides this season, only to find baby Zeke crying and her cousin and Darlene dead.
Ruth Prepped To Wage War in Ozark Season 4
The final scene set up Part 2 to be all about revenge for Ruth as she wanted to know who killed her people. Frank Cosgrove Jr. and the Kansas City Mob buried their beef with Ruth, and made it clear via phone they didn't hit Darlene despite bad business deals in the past. It led Ruth to Marty's home, and while he tried to lie to protect her, Marty's son, Jonah, spilled the beans.
He hated how Wendy and Marty's empire killed Uncle Ben, as well as all Ruth's uncles, so he pointed a gun-toting Ruth in the right direction. Marty warned her Javi was an FBI informant now but Ruth drove off, screaming as she didn't care. All the family she had in this world was gone and Part 1 ended with her yelling for Javi's head.
See how Javi brought about a bloody end to Ozark Season 4: Part 1, now available on Netflix.