The fourth episode of the final season of Ozark focuses on shattered relationships—Xavi and Marty, Ruth and Carey, and Wendy and all. Any of these crumbling dynamics could be what drives the Byrde Empire down. Choose your team and place your bet.
“Ace Deuce” opens with a thoroughly thrifty press conference in which Wendy Byrd delves deeply into the mythology she is setting up to help her politically and personally around her dead brother. She claims in a press conference that the Shaw rehab center was inspired by her battle with addiction, something she has done to help her cause. Mel hears this from his car and seems suspicious, smelling Wendy's crap. "Today my hope is that all families are safe," she says. Well, not his brother or the Pierce family. And the Byrde family seems to be in trouble, too.
Wendy dragging her family down is given little detail this season, such as Charlotte leaving the SAT prep to cover the office at Bayley while her mom lies. Meanwhile, Ruth has some management needs that lead her to the forever doomed Sam Dermody (Kevin L. Johnson), who will manage the Lazy-O Motel. How everything went down in Litty Splitz doesn't end well after all, though it's hard to find consistent help with illegal money laundering operations. Take what you can get.
Meanwhile, Xavi is lamenting that the FBI recently confiscated three shipments to Marty to deal with the Shaw family, when Marty receives a call from Charlotte. See, Ruth leaves Sam alone at the motel to party with Kerry and her clients at Belle. At first, he doesn't let Ruth in, but Charlotte calls Marty, who allows it. Two big events happen in Belle. First, Ruth is at the bar when she sees news footage of Wendy's speech about Ben lying about the man Ruth loves. You can see the fire in her eyes and see that Ruth is considering just burning Belle. Even Marty knows this is wrong and tells him to stop lying about Ben.
Second, Ruth doesn't notice how often Carey goes to the bathroom to get high. What starts with a little sniff in one stall leads to heroin across the counter. He's drinking, he's sniffing, and then he's falling down the stairs. He overdoses in Belle's lobby, but he'll be fine. Ruth saves him, and the Byrdes appear to watch later. Almost anyone died from illegal drugs on their "clean" front. This could be a problem. Oh, and Wendy would die if Ruth's appearance could kill.
Ruth makes the wise decision to tell Darlene about the Kerry overdose before anyone else hears about it. Ruth tries to quell Darlene's anger and claims it won't come back to her, but Darlene fires a shotgun blast at Kerry's driver to eliminate at least one possible loose end. Given how much time the season has spent on the Darlene/Ruth/Wyatt dynamic, what's more interesting than the murder when Wyatt is forced to accompany Ruth to dispose of the body. Yes, Darlene will keep Wyatt by her side when she feels it helps, but she also uses him to do dirty things. Aligning Wyatt with Ruth at this point feels like a power shift, and interestingly, Wyatt ends up near his cousin for much longer during the rest of the episode. It looks like he'll pick Darlene if it comes down to an important decision, but that could change.
While Wendy is playing the Ben card again with a reporter as she tries to soften the overdose story, Mel is investigating this thread of lies in a small town. He finds his way to someone who would know of Ben's past, his father, played by the great Richard Thomas of The Waltons fame. He knows Wendy is lying and that Ben had no drug problems. He calls Wendy afterward, and you'd think they haven't spoken in years. Given how long Ben has been dead and that father didn't even know he was in the Ozarks, they don't seem like a very contact family, which may explain Wendy's lack of parenting skills. Was. When her father yells at her, Wendy disconnects the phone from the wall. very mature.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Guerrero visits Ruth Langmore. What was she doing at Belle? She is also looking for Kerry Stone's driver. Ruth plays dumb and later tells Wyatt that Guerrero is fishing for information. The law woman does the same to Byrdes, and Wendy throws Ruth under the bus. After the sheriff leaves, Marty explains that if Ruth goes down, Jonah can go down too. Wendy does not dismiss the idea, ready to punish her son for his decision to ally with Ruth. “That won’t serve time; we have connections,” she says. Oh.
Javi seeks body cam footage from the recent bust and learns that Maya was the first one. He yells at Marty about it and claims there will be no more products for Shaw until they find the mole. Everything could be derailed, but Marty has an idea. He goes to Ruth with a six-pack and a deal. Will one of the foundational ties on Ozark keep everything together? "I thought you were smart," he tells her. He wants to help her, but he also needs her product. As she says, "It's another Marty Bird plan." This could be the last.