‘Ozark’ Season 4 Episode 12 Recap: “Trouble the Water”

By
Alison Helms
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Ozark Season 4 Episode 12 Recap
Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde and Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde in ‘Ozark’ season 4 episode 12 (Photo Credit: Tina Rowden / Netflix © 2022)

Netflix’s Ozark season four episode 12 begins with the Byrde kids having to deal with the aftermath of Marty’s attack on an annoying driver. Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) picks up Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) and after small talk about their not so normal teenage lives, they show up at the jail and bail Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) out.

Back home, Wendy wants to talk about what happened. She seems to think that with Camila working with them they can keep an eye on her. Marty wonders how he’s supposed to funnel intel to the FBI about shipments with Camila taking over. Wendy reminds him he did it when Javi was in charge.

It’s hard to figure out what kind of game Wendy’s playing when she changes her tune and tells Marty she knows she isn’t easy to love and that they’re so close to getting out of there. If he wants to leave her when this is all over, she’ll understand.

Private investigator Mel Sattem (Adam Rothenberg) sits down with Nathan (Richard Thomas) and admits he doesn’t believe they’ll ever find Ben. He shows Nathan a picture of the man who showed up at the restaurant where Wendy left Ben and explains he’s a triggerman for a Mexican drug cartel. He believes he was there for Ben.

Nathan can’t believe Ben would be mixed up with a drug cartel and Mel informs him that Wendy and Marty were investigated by the FBI for money laundering. Nathan doesn’t doubt this all leads back to Wendy’s actions. Mel offers to take it to the local authorities but Nathan wants some time to think.

Ruth (Julia Garner) and Rachel (Jordana Spiro) follow Jonah’s suggestion and meet with Charles Wilkes (Darren Goldstein). He’s all in when he hears what Ruth has planned will harm Wendy Byrde. He’s not only willing to help Ruth but also volunteers to sell her his stake in the casino.

Charles suggests the easiest way is to put everything in Rachel’s name and sell it all to her. Rachel wants to know about the hard way and Charles asks Ruth if her prior offenses were when she was a juvenile. She confirms they were and Charles thinks he has a judge who could expunge her record. She’ll just have to donate to some of the judge’s causes. Rachel pushes her to try and Ruth agrees. Charles will set up the meeting but warns her she needs to be polite.

Nathan finishes up a bible study group by the pool of the Lazy-O Motel and then speaks to his grandkids. He confesses he’s giving up the search for Ben because he believes they won’t ever find him. They don’t say anything and he wonders if they’re surprised by his decision. They still don’t answer and Nathan reveals that when he leaves he wants them to go with him. Nathan admits he hasn’t been around the past couple of years but wants to change that. He fears they’re in danger and thinks they believe that as well.

Nathan suggests they take some time to think about it since it’s a big decision.

Ruth is on her best behavior when she meets with Judge Mayhew. The judge is aware Ruth’s family has been raising hell all over Missouri and she wonders if Ruth can change. Ruth insists she gave up crime when her dad died. She’s managed to make something of herself and she’s even managed a casino. She owns a motel and came into some money when her cousin passed away.

Judge Mayhew informs Ruth she’ll be combing through everything and will do a drop-in visit to her home.

Nathan shocks his daughter when he shows up with a petition for Charlotte and Jonah to live with him. He demands Wendy read and sign it, and in response, she tries to shut the door in his face. He reveals they want to come with him and they’re not safe with her. Since she’s refusing to sign, Nathan will see her in Family Court in three days.

Wendy warns her dad he shouldn’t take her to court but Nathan doesn’t back down. He’s got his investigator ready to testify against her and she knows what he has on her. She slams the door and then realizes Marty’s standing there and heard the whole thing.

Marty and Wendy question Charlotte and she admits they did tell Nathan they’ll go with him. When Marty asks if she wants to go, Charlotte doesn’t exactly say either yes or no. She believes her grandpa isn’t just going to go away and she can’t protect her parents if she doesn’t go with him. Wendy tells her not to worry about grandpa.

Marty and Wendy go over this new development and Wendy’s adamant she’s not letting her dad take the kids. Marty understands but believes Nathan’s playing a game of chicken. They both realize they can’t let PI Mel testify in court. Wendy doesn’t hesitate and says, “We just need to make sure that Mel never makes it to court.”

Deputy Wycoff (Brad Carter) shows up at Ruth’s place to let her know they arrested someone for Wyatt’s murder. The man under arrest is someone who worked on and off for Darlene in her fields. He shows her Wyatt’s guitar case and explains the guy pawned it two days before the murders, along with a couple of pieces of Darlene’s jewelry. He suspects Darlene confronted the guy and he killed them.

Ruth wonders why Wycoff’s being nice to her all of a sudden and he apologizes for getting off on the wrong foot. Ruth didn’t just fall off the turnip truck and connects his new attitude to the fact she came into some money.

Marty and Wendy hit up Senator Schafer (Bruce Davison) with a request to get Mel reinstated on the police force. Schafer asks when they need this to happen and Wendy explains it has to be done by the end of the day. He laughs and asks if he should be worried, warning their money can only go so far. Marty bites and asks what he needs. Schafer brings up his grandson’s voting machines. (In season three Schafer’s grandson made voting machines that altered the vote count).

Wendy attempts to turn him down but Schafer insists her “friends” in Wisconsin and Michigan could really help them out and get them in place before the next cycle. However, she has to choose between getting Navarro off the SDN list or Mel back on as a detective.

Wendy calls up Jim (Damian Young) to get his advice. It’s not good. She’s going to need four or five new faces and someone to fill Schafer’s board seat. She instructs Jim to do what he must do to make it happen.

Marty and Wendy meet with a man from the Chicago police department and ask for Mel to be reinstated as a detective, offering a “donation” to the police department in return. The man’s not willing to settle for just a donation to the department. He describes always wanting to cross Lake Michigan to Wisconsin on a boat. The only problem is that he doesn’t own a boat.

Ruth’s working out her issues by shooting up a trailer with a shotgun when Rachel shows up. Ruth explains the cops arrested someone for Wyatt’s murder so now either an innocent man sits in jail for the rest of his life or she’ll go to jail for the rest of hers if she comes forward admitting she knows who killed them. A judge won’t be able to expunge that from her record.

Ruth admits she doesn’t know what to do. Rachel says not to take her advice because she’s messed up every major decision in her life.

Ruth wakes up the following morning to discover Judge Mayhew outside her trailer. Judge Mayhew looked at her record and discovered every time Ruth got arrested she was with a family member. Mayhew wonders if Ruth was led astray. Ruth claims she did that all by herself. Ruth promises that if she cleans up her record, she will stay out of trouble.

Marty and Wendy deliver the good news to Mel that he’s been reinstated. Wendy points out they went out on a serious limb for him (even though Mel never asked for it). Mel isn’t stupid and knows why they did this, and it certainly isn’t out of the kindness of their hearts. He wonders what they promised the man they spoke with – a car or a boat? Clearly, he knows the man well. Marty doesn’t answer that particular question. Instead, he tells Mel he can be a real good cop again while Wendy tries to assure Mel he’s wrong about them.

Mel hops on the phone with his sponsor to talk about his dilemma. The man asks how bad the Byrdes could possibly be and Mel gives them a 9.5 on the evil scale. His sponsor confesses he’d like to tell him to take the high road but he also knows Mel’s been wanting his old job back for four years.

Ozark Season 4 Episode 12 Recap
Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore and Skylar Gaertner as Jonah Byrde in ‘Ozark’ season 4 episode 12 (Photo Courtesy of Netflix © 2022)

Ruth gives Jonah Ben’s ashes that she’s kept in the weird goat cookie jar. She thought he’d want them since he’s moving out of state and she confirms she’ll be at their court hearing the following day. She asks Jonah if he wants to hear something crazy and then tells him she no longer has a criminal record.

They walk off and leave Ben’s ashes on the counter in the front office of the Lazy-O.

Camila (Veronica Falcon) is already visiting her brother, Omar (Felix Solis), when Marty and Wendy arrive at the prison. Navarro asks for an update on the SDN list and Wendy says it’s in motion. Camila basically calls Wendy a liar by revealing she asked her lawyer about it and a motion hasn’t been filed.

Navarro requests they launder more money through the casino. Camila explains they want to expand their business which means the purchase of additional land, so they need to launder more money. She also needs money to spread across their lieutenants in order to keep them calm and happy.

Navarro wants off the SDN list within days.

Marty isn’t happy because this is all Wendy’s fault. He orders her to speak with Jim and get Navarro off that list so they can tell him about his sister. Marty realizes Camila wants more money to bribe the lieutenants to pay for their loyalty to her.

Wendy isn’t used to not getting what she wants and screams a curse word at the top of her lungs before getting in the car to call Schafer. She agrees to give him what he needs in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Ruth speaks with the man who was arrested for killing Wyatt and asks why he stole Wyatt’s guitar. He wants to know why she really came there and Ruth claims she just wanted to lay eyes on him.

Mel turns to Maya (Jessica Frances Dukes) for help in deciding what to do. She thinks if he returns to the force and doesn’t pursue the Byrdes, he’ll hate himself because she’s been there before.

After speaking with Mel, Maya calls Marty and wonders what is it with him and Wendy that they have to mess up people’s lives. They figure out she’s talking about Mel and ask if he’s going back to Chicago. Maya says he’s still weighing his options.

The Byrdes appear in court for the custody case and Nathan’s key witness, Mel, hasn’t shown up. Nathan informs the judge Mel isn’t picking up his phone. Wendy just sits there with a smug look on her face, assuming they’re going to win.

As Mel’s checking out of the Lazy-O he spots the goat cookie jar which he recognizes as belonging to Ruth. Will he figure out Ben’s ashes are inside?!

Wendy thinks they’ve won but the judge brings up their recent arrest. The judge also notes Jonah is currently living in a motel. Charlotte is allowed to choose for herself since she’s almost 18. The judge also believes Jonah’s capable of deciding where to live, even though he’s only 15.

After leaving the courtroom Charlotte and Jonah inform their parents they want to go with their grandpa. Wendy reminds Charlotte she said she didn’t want to go, and Charlotte points out she never actually said that. Marty suggests they go home and talk about it. Jonah looks at Wendy and says, “All you ever do is talk and nothing changes.”

The kids correctly point out Marty just does everything Wendy tells him to. Marty tries to deny that but Charlotte jumps in and says, “Dad, you said so yourself.”

As Charlotte, Jonah, and Marty continue to talk, Wendy approaches her dad and begs him to not take her kids. She literally gets down on her knees and begs. Nathan insists he’s trying to keep his grandkids safe. “Nobody is falling for this anymore. When I am done, they are gonna know exactly what you are, and they are never coming back to you,” snarls Nathan.

Wendy gets into the van and appears to be in a daze. She slams her head into the passenger window as season four episode 12 ends.




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