‘Ozark’ Season 2 Episode 10 Recap: ‘The Gold Coast” Finale

By
Alison Helms
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Ozark Season 2 Episode 10
Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Janet McTeer in ‘Ozark’ season 2 episode 10 (Photo by Tina Rowden/Netflix)

Netflix’s Ozark season two finishes up with episode 10, “The Gold Coast.” The episode kicks off with Marty (Jason Bateman) showing Ruth (Julia Garner) where they’re hiding the money inside Buddy’s mausoleum. She asks how much is in there and he reveals they hid $43 million. He gives her a folder filled with account information and reiterates they’ll be leaving the day after the ceremony. Ruth’s slightly panicking because she doesn’t know anything; Marty begins to question her on accounting and she gets all the answers correct. He reassures her she can do this.

Wendy (Laura Linney) is giving Helen (Janet McTeer) a tour of the riverboat casino when Marty shows up. Helen questions Marty about whether he has any idea of what he’s pulling off. Other cartels have tried the casino business and have failed. She then asks Marty if he’s given any thought to the next five years. She thinks they can legitimately expand.

After Helen leaves, Wendy informs Marty she called the school and Charlotte showed up. Wendy tells him she thinks Helen’s right about the next chapter in their lives. It seems the Byrdes are not on the same page; Marty wants to run and Wendy is talking about their future there in the Ozarks.

Cade Langmore (Trevor Long) talks Agent Roy Petty’s ear off about Marty and the cartel, but Petty (Jason Butler Harner) doesn’t want to hear about it from him. He knows Cade can’t prove anything and questions if he’s willing to turn his own daughter in. Cade believes Petty owes him since Petty got his daughter tortured and got his brothers killed. Petty informs him his five minutes are up and wants him to leave.

As Petty’s putting his fishing gear on, he still isn’t done berating Cade. He calls Cade a loser and says he and Ruth are trailer park trash. Cade suddenly loses his temper and smashes Petty over the head, nearly knocking him out. Realizing what he’s done and knowing it’s too late now to go back, he continues to bash Petty’s head in, killing him. After putting rocks in his pockets, he drifts Petty’s body into deeper parts of the water and lets him sink.

Darlene (Lisa Emery) is waiting for Wendy when she returns home. Darlene delivers the news that Jacob died that morning. Wendy, seemingly shocked, hugs Darlene but that sympathy is short-lived when Darlene tells her his dying wish was to stop the casino. Wendy pulls back from the embrace and seems confused; she knew Jacob was for the casino. Darlene simply says, “He had an epiphany.”

Wendy’s suspicious now and wonders why if Darlene’s husband just died her first thought was to come see them. Her next question is about how he died. Darlene lies and says his heart failed. Wendy informs her the casino will happen no matter what. Darlene concedes she’s willing to step aside if Wendy gives her Mason Young’s baby. Wendy basically tells her hell no and to get off her property.

Cade bangs on Ruth’s door and says if anyone asks, he was with her all morning. However, Ruth refuses to do anything for her dad. She’s beginning to walk away when he tries to guilt-trip her, claiming he did it for her. When that gets her attention, he tells her the Fed is the one who got her in trouble with the cartel. Ruth picks up on what he’s saying and asks, “Tell me you did not kill a f*ckin Fed?!” He begins to explain what happened and where Petty’s body is. Ruth refuses to help him.

Marty’s at Social Services seeing if they can place baby Zeke with a nice loving home. They confirm they can’t for another six to eight weeks. Marty explains they’ll need it sooner because they’ll be leaving the country.

Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) is riding his bike when Darlene stops him.

Marty shows up at home to find Darlene has shaved patches into Jonah’s hair. It seems like a weird warning, but Jonah says Darlene has a message. “You know what she wants,” he says.

At nightfall Cade goes back to cover Agent Petty’s car with tree debris to try to hide it.

Marty is holding baby Zeke and confessing to him he doesn’t know how to protect him.

Darlene hosts a service at her house for Jacob and is playing the grieving wife. In a shocking move, Marty shows up with Zeke to hand him over to an unstable Darlene. As he hands him over, he threatens Darlene if she ever touches one of his children again, he will kill her.

When Cade comes back to his truck, a park ranger is writing down his license plate number for being there after dark. Cade assures the ranger he’s leaving.

Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) and Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) are grilling food talking about the future when Cade shows up demanding to speak with Ruth and telling the rest of them to leave. Wyatt tells Charlotte she should go; he’s going to stick around for Ruth.

Cade demands money from Ruth. Forever the guilt-tripper, he says he moved the Fed’s car and that’s her fault because she told him to move it and a park ranger was there taking down his plate number. She refuses to give him money since all she has is for Wyatt’s tuition. Cade threatens his daughter that if she doesn’t give him the money he’ll walk over there and tell Wyatt what happened to his dad.

Ruth seems to have had enough of his threats. She approaches Wyatt and says she needs to talk to him. She confesses she knows Marty didn’t kill his dad because she did. He asks what she’s talking about and she explains how she did it and why she did it, adding that his dad was working with the Feds.

Wyatt thinks she’s lying when she continues explaining what happened that night. Ruth begins to cry and tells him he can hate her, but she needs him to know he’s the only thing in this world that she’ll ever f*cking love. Wyatt turns his back on her and walks away. Cade’s still standing there and witnesses it all.

Marty’s looking at the empty crib when Wendy walks in. She soon realizes Zeke is gone and questions Marty about what he did. She demands he get the baby back. Marty thinks they didn’t have a choice. Were they supposed to wait for her to touch one of their kids again or blow up the casino? He says they’re leaving and he has a plane standing by. There was no way they could take the baby with them. He then reveals his plans to move them to Australia.

Wendy becomes angry which is no surprise since she seems to be falling in deep with the cartel. She questions why he’s not trying to make any of this work. Marty insists he did try to make it work. “Charlotte wants to emancipate and our son is describing getting his head shaved by a f*cking lunatic as just a message like it’s normal?” says Marty.

After Marty pours his heart out and begins to tear up, Wendy’s only response is to ask why he didn’t talk to her about his plan.

Marty meets with the pilot who’ll take them to Little Rock to see if their deal is still on.

Helen comes to see the Byrdes but only Wendy is there. She asks where the baby is and Wendy informs her Social Services found him a home. Jonah interrupts to ask his mom if he can go on a walk and Helen notices his hair. (Who knows why they didn’t just shave the whole thing off.) Wendy blames his hair on being a teenager.

Helen changes the subject and tells Wendy that Jacob Snell is dead. Wendy confirms she already knows. Helen asks if there’s a problem and Wendy quickly replies, “It’s been handled.”

Helen lets Wendy in on a little tidbit – her clients had doubts when it came to Marty and Wendy being able to pull the casino off, so much so they monitored their every move down to their web browser history. (Are you thinking what I am thinking?) She reveals her client was convinced that when the casino is a loser, they would go on the run. Helen seems to be buttering up Wendy by telling her she’s been particularly impressed by her. She asks if they’ve thought about what they want for the next five years. Wendy changes the subject, suggesting Helen must be happy to be getting back to Chicago and her children. Helen circles back to wanting to know what Wendy wants. Wendy says her gratitude and Helen tells her she has it.

Frank Cosgrove shows up at Marty’s office not happy with Marty going back on their deal. Marty assures him his guys will still work. Frank’s not buying what Marty’s saying. Marty shows a little bravery and asks Frank what he’s going to do. He looks at the guy Frank brought with him and asks what he’s going to do as well – kill him or beat him up? He tells Frank to get out of there and just let him do his job.

Charlotte heads over to the Langmore property looking for Wyatt and Cade immediately starts demanding money from her. She doesn’t have any and isn’t talking to her parents right now. He begins to drag Charlotte by the hair when Ruth shows up wielding a gun. She fires a warning shot and Cade lets go of Charlotte. After letting her go and backing up, Ruth tells Charlotte to get in her car.

Ruth drives Charlotte back over to the Byrde residence. When they show up, Marty and Wendy are already running outside. They grab Charlotte, asking if she’s okay while they embrace. Wendy warns her to never leave again because if she does, she can’t protect her. Charlotte pulls back and tells her mom she hasn’t changed her mind; she just wants to go sleep in her own bed.

After Charlotte leaves, Ruth walks back to her car. Marty and Wendy stop her. They don’t want her to go back to her dad.

Charlotte’s shaving Jonah’s hair (finally!) when Wyatt calls apologizing to her for taking off and not calling. He reveals he found out her dad didn’t kill his dad. He asks if she was serious about going with him to college. When she hesitates he knows that’s most likely a no.

After hanging up with Charlotte, Wyatt begins to have a conversation with his dead dad. He confesses he feels like he’s going crazy and doesn’t know what to do, but he realizes his dad isn’t there.

Marty and Wendy are talking outside when Wendy asks what they’re going to do about Cade. Marty suggests they can pay him to leave town. Marty changes the subject and suggests they tell their kids about their plans. Wendy’s against it and believes that’s not a good idea.

The next morning the Byrdes are having breakfast and Wendy sees Ruth just sitting on the couch after spending the night there. She invites Ruth to come to the table and join them. They’re talking when Ruth interrupts asking if this is a normal thing for them to do. Jonah makes a joke, “Unless we are on the run, then we eat in the car.”

After breakfast, Marty goes over with Ruth one more time what she’s going to do when the cartel’s gone. She’s going to give them a ride by boat to the seaplane that’s taking them to Arkansas.

Wendy meets with Cade at the diner that seems to be the usual meetup spot. She brings up that he hurt her daughter and Cade once again plays the blame game, stating because of her his brothers are dead. (First, it was Ruth’s fault, then the Feds, now it’s Wendy’s. Got it.) Not entertaining him, Wendy gets to the point and lets him know there’s a half-million dollars under the table. It’s his if he leaves town right now and never contacts Ruth ever again.

Ozark Season 2 Episode 10
Sofia Hublitz, Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Skylar Gaertner in ‘Ozark’ season 2 episode 10 (Photo by Tina Rowden/Netflix)

The commissioning of the riverboat takes place and the Brydes are there appearing to be one big happy family.

Cade’s driving down the road when someone blocks it. It’s a cartel man and he begins to shoot at Cade, killing him.

Wendy approaches Helen to let her know they have an issue. Helen warns her once she tells her what the problem is, Wendy can’t retract it. Wendy seems to understand what she’s saying, but Helen cuts her off. “No, you don’t. You can’t, really. Your whole body changes. The way you smell, your reflection, how it feels when your husband touches you.”

Wendy, unfazed, tells her that still doesn’t change the fact they have an issue.

Wendy appears to be thinking back on that conversation while standing at the riverboat ceremony. When Marty approaches her, she informs him they’re not running. Marty questions what she means by that. She explains they’re not leaving the Ozarks – it’s not safe. He reminds her it’s not safe to stay. She’s not getting on that plane and neither are the kids. He believes she’s simply scared and he attempts to assure her he has it under control. She doesn’t agree he has it under control – and they are staying put.

Wendy seems to be loving this life and does not want to go anywhere.

As they take their seats for the ceremony to begin, Charlotte questions Marty on what he and Wendy were talking about. Instead of responding, he informs her if she still wants to be emancipated, he won’t fight it. Marty gives a speech on how life came about for the Byrdes in the Ozarks.

While Marty continues his speech, we see Darlene singing to baby Zeke at the farm. We also see a fisherman finding Agent Petty’s car and the Byrdes office building getting blown up.

After Marty’s speech, Wendy tries to guilt-trip Charlotte into staying with them. She claims she understands why she wants to leave but they are still her family and they love her more than anything in the world. She even brings up her affair, confessing she did it because she wanted to be someone else and she was so wrong. She ends their conversation by telling Charlotte to just think about it.

Ruth’s at the morgue to identify her dad’s body when she asks Sheriff Nix if she can have a minute alone with him. She kisses him goodbye.

Helen says her goodbyes to Marty and Wendy when she drops the bombshell on Marty that Cade Langemore is dead. He was gunned down on the side of the road. Marty immediately looks at Wendy. A photographer asks the Byrdes for a family photo. Marty seems stunned and is still staring at Wendy while they get ready to take the photo. He suspects she had something to do with Cade being killed. Wendy appears to pick up on his suspicions and whispers, “I love you.” He says it back as the camera shutter goes off.

And that’s how season two ends.




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