It’s business as usual in Ozark country. After a killer mid-season premiere that effectively functioned as an interlude based on a single plot point—the …
It’s business as usual in Ozark country. After a killer mid-season premiere that effectively functioned as an interlude based on a single plot point—the murder of Javi Elizondro by Ruth Langmore, in response to his murder of her cousin Wyatt—the show has returned to the status quo ante. Tense phone calls, shifting loyalties, last-second business deals, lots of characters driving back and forth to talk to other characters for two minutes or less: The tropes that have made Ozark what it is, for better and for worse, are back with a vengeance. In a way, the return to the ol’ Ozark scramble makes sense. The killing of Javi amounts to flipping over the gaming table, scattering all the cards and chips to the four winds. Suddenly, the Byrdes’ business deal with Shaw Pharmaceuticals is up in smoke. So is their deal with the FBI. There’s a power vacuum at the head of the Navarro cartel. The Byrde children’s role in the killing has to be addressed by their parents. Their parents themselves have to apportion blame for the mess they find themselves in. And there are still outside actors to be reckoned with. Private eye Mel Sattem is still sniffing around the disappearance of cartel lawyer Helen Pierce. And though his client, her estranged husband, begs off the investigation at the encouragement of his frightened daughter, there’s a new client in town: Nathan, Wendy’s father, who hires Sattem to search for his missing son Ben. To further the search, Sattem makes a business connection—and, if he plays his cards right, a romantic one—with FBI Agent Maya Miller, who earlier in the episode effectively tells a recalcitrant Marty to go fuck himself.
