‘Ozark’ Season 4 Episode 4 Recap: “Ace Deuce”

By
Alison Helms
-
Ozark Season 4 Episode 4
Jason Bateman as Marty Byrde in ‘Ozark’ season 4 episode 4 (Photo Courtesy of Netflix © 2021)

Netflix’s Ozark season four episode four opens with Wendy (Laura Linney) speaking to the press about the Byrde Foundation and why the Byrde family decided to team up with Shaw Medical Solutions. As Wendy’s delivering her song and dance routine – once again attempting to pull at her audiences’ heartstrings by bringing up that her brother suffers from mental illness and addiction – Private Investigator Mel Sattem’s right there in his car listening to it all.

As Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) drops Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) off at school, she lets him know she’ll be helping their mom out at the office. He asks about her SAT prep, reminding her it’s important and that she shouldn’t skip it just to make their mom happy. She insists she’s not skipping it and says she’ll make it up.

Ruth (Julia Garner) calls Jonah and asks him to come over because they have too much cash and need to wash it. She’s forced to deal with an employee who’s stealing from people at the motel and complains to Jonah that she didn’t realize she would have to actually be in charge of the place. Jonah suggests she hire someone too stupid to understand what’s going on around there. A light bulb goes off in her head.

Cue clueless Sam Dermody (Kevin L. Johnson). The Byrdes have talked him into a lot of sketchy things over the past four seasons, and he now has a gambling addiction one could blame the Byrdes for. Ruth finds him gambling on horse races and offers him a manager position at the Lazy-O Motel.

Marty’s traveling with Javi Elizonndro (Alfonso Herrera) and has no choice but to listen in as Javi engages in a heated discussion on the phone. Marty plays dumb and asks if he needs to be worried about whatever Javi’s worried about. (Remember, in season four episode three Javi’s shipment of guns was seized by the FBI). Marty tries to downplay the situation saying it’s just a small percentage that was lost. Javi points out this was the third time it’s happened and normally it’s the DEA doing busts but this time it’s the FBI. Javi asks Marty to have his informant (Agent Miller) poke around. Marty says he’ll ask her but Javi decides he wants to do it himself and asks for her number. Marty refuses to hand it over, claiming she’ll only deal with him.

Marty and Javi show up to drop off opium to Clare Shaw’s pickup man. And at the same time, Wendy and Clare (Katrina Lenk) are wrapping up their meeting when Clare receives a text that the shipment is on the way. She lets Wendy know she’ll get her first installment payment in the morning.

Javi acts completely creepy and says Marty should have told Charlotte hello for him. Javi’s drinking and driving, and Marty wisely takes the flask and places it out of Javi’s reach.

Kerry Stone (Eric Ladin) turns up at the Lazy-O Motel and wants to take Ruth to the casino, even though Ruth’s on the no-admittance list.

Charlotte calls her dad and lets him know Ruth’s there with high rollers. He instructs her to let Ruth and the group in.

Ruth’s at the bar getting water when she sees Wendy on the news talking about her Ben. It’s obvious she’s furious at Wendy and her manipulative ways.

Marty and Wendy take a break from money laundering and drug cartels to discuss Ben while being domestic and washing dishes. Marty thinks it’s a really bad idea to talk about Ben during these press conferences. Apparently, Wendy doesn’t want to hear it and storms off.

Ozark Season 4 Episode 4
Eric Ladin as Kerry Stone and Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore in ‘Ozark’ season 4 episode 4 (Photo Courtesy Of Netflix © 2021)

Ruth, Kerry, and his friends party at the casino and gamble big bucks. The scene flips back and forth between Ruth playing craps and Kerry making frequent trips to the bathroom to snort heroin. He ODs and Ruth brings him back with a shot of naloxone.

Marty and Wendy show up as Kerry’s being taken to the ambulance. Ruth tells them Kerry Stone OD’d and Wendy asks where he got the heroin. Ruth claims not to know. Ruth attempts to turn it around on Wendy stating that’s all she cares about – how something affects her or her business, not the fact someone almost died tonight. Wendy correctly points out someone almost died tonight because of her.

Kerry’s driver takes Ruth to Darlene’s and Ruth’s forced to confess she messed up. Ruth explains what happened and assures Darlene she covered their tracks. Unfortunately, Kerry’s driver won’t stop talking and tries to blackmail Darlene. And that goes over just how we would anticipate; Darlene shoots him dead and tells Ruth which field’s best to use to bury him. With that, Darlene heads off to bed and leaves Ruth and Wyatt to deal with the dead driver.

Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) begins to cry after burying the body. Ruth says he can stay at the trailer if he wants.

PI Mel Sattem takes a road trip to see Wendy and Ben’s father, while Wendy tries to clean up the mess Ruth made at the casino by doing some PR. Wendy’s committed to continuing to tell sob stories about her brother, Ben. Marty listens to her phone call and warns her she can’t talk about Ben like that because it’s reckless.

Marty’s proven to be right when Wendy’s father, Nathan Davis (Richard Thomas), speaks to the PI and tells him he didn’t even know Ben was missing. Mel brings up Ben’s “drug problem” and Nathan’s taken aback by that statement. He claims his son didn’t have a drug problem. Mel informs him Wendy said he does and that she’s opening up drug treatment facilities to help other families deal with addiction. Nathan responds with, “Well, she lost the path a long time ago. I wouldn’t put much stock in what she says.”

Ruth wakes up to Sheriff Guerrero (CC Castillo) knocking on her door. Guerrero wants to know what she was doing at the Missouri Belle with Kerry Stone and appears suspicious that someone like her is hanging out with a celebrity chef. Guerrero also informs her they’re having trouble tracking down Kerry’s driver.

The sheriff also has questions for Marty and Wendy. She asks if they have ever had a drug problem at their casino before and wonders why Ruth doesn’t work for them anymore. Wendy takes this opportunity to point the sheriff in Ruth’s direction. “She quit, actually. Said she was looking for something bigger,” says Wendy.

That piques the sheriff’s interest and she asks what that bigger something is. Marty jumps in and informs her Ruth bought the Lazy-O Motel. As the sheriff wonders where Ruth got the money to buy that place, Wendy jumps back on the “make Ruth look suspicious” train and cuts Marty off. She supplies the information that Ruth said she was trying to work with her cousin Wyatt who lives with Darlene Snell. Wendy also suggests that maybe Darlene helped her out with an influx of cash.

After the sheriff leaves Marty asks Wendy what that was all about, correctly accessing the situation and fully aware Wendy was pointing her straight at Ruth. Wendy doesn’t think they have any reason to protect Ruth at this point. Marty reminds her their son’s working for Ruth and if she goes down so will he. Wendy cold-heartedly says, “Maybe it’s the best thing for him.”

Marty angrily demands she tell him she’s joking, but Wendy just responds that Jonah’s a juvenile. His record will be sealed when he’s 18.

Javi visits one of his drivers who got raided in jail and wants details on what happened. The driver informs him there were maybe three or four FBI agents, and Javi asks if any of them was a woman. The driver claims he didn’t see anyone’s face. Javi asks his lawyer if she can get the bodycam footage.

Wyatt and Ruth return to Darlene’s and she apologies to Wyatt about the previous evening. Darlene changes her tune toward Ruth and brings up Wendy being on the news and how she told an awful lie about Ruth’s boyfriend. “I’m sorry you had to hear all that nonsense. That snake of a woman is a goddamn curse,” says Ruth. Clearly, she has an angle here; Darlene apologizing is a strange thing to hear.

After Ruth leaves Darlene tells Wyatt she needs his help with something.

Kerry’s out of the hospital and checking out of the Lazy-O Motel when Ruth pulls up. Kerry lets her know he’s not coming back and they’re done. He’s not going to be involved in any future drug deals.

Wendy’s father calls her and, skipping right past the pleasantries, asks, “Were you planning on telling me that your brother is missing?” He seems to be more worried about how that made him look than hearing that his son’s missing from a stranger. Instead of answering, Wendy rips the phone out of the wall and walks away.

Javi hasn’t shown up at the opium drop-off and when Marty questions where he is, Javi reveals there’s a mole somewhere in the organization because Agent Maya Miller was at the raid. Marty asks if Javi thinks he’s the mole and points out that he doesn’t know where his drops are located. Javi explains that’s the only reason why Marty’s still alive right now.

The episode ends with Javi messing everything up by announcing he’s not making any further deliveries until he knows what’s going on. Marty calls Wendy while she’s sitting down having lunch with Clare Shaw and lets her know about the problem. Clare also receives a phone call that there hasn’t been a delivery. Wendy promises Clare they will fix this.

Wendy calls Navarro for help but he lets her know he can’t intervene; it would be too suspicious. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of him,” says an incredulous Wendy. She warns Navarro that if he wants to be free and clear he’s got to be ready to sacrifice someone.

Marty visits Ruth and apologies for being too harsh last night. He asks if she’s okay and then offers her a payday. Marty wants to buy all of her product and Ruth is dumbfounded. She says she’ll think about it.




RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR