Warning! Spoilers for Ozark season 4 below.
Ozark season 4 begins with an opening scene that is thrilling on the surface, but by the end of the first half of the Netflix show's final season, it's clear that the first few minutes of the premiere are a missed opportunity. After the last season of Ozark premiered in early 2020, the crime drama was primed for a major comeback and Netflix has opted for a super-sized final season comprised of 14 episodes split over two parts. Ozark season 4 begins with the Byrde family in their minivan as they drive down the highway and it's unclear if the scene is a flash-forward as Marty and Wendy discuss their business vaguely.
Throughout the two-minute scene, it becomes apparent that Marty and Wendy are discussing moving out of the Ozarks and leaving their unsavory businesses behind. For a second, the Byrde family has hope. All of that is quickly dashed, though, when Marty takes his eyes off the road for a brief second and suddenly finds himself about to collide head-on with a semi-truck. He swerves, causing the minivan to roll over several times on the side of the road. Ozark season 4 leaves the scene there and doesn't revisit it throughout its first seven episodes, making the scene feel like a waste for several reasons.
Ozark season 4 is not short of thrilling twists and shocking deaths, but the fact that the car accident is not revisited leaves much to be desired. With no premiere date in sight for part 2 of Ozark's final season, audiences are left without resolution to a major development, which ultimately feels like a cheap way to raise the stakes on a show that has no problem with dramatic developments. The car crash scene was previously used in Ozark's season 4 trailer and while the Byrdes are almost certain to pay for their crimes, doing so in the form of a tragic accident shortchanges the characters in a way that doesn't make sense for the series.
For starters, the car crash in the opening scene of Ozark season 4, part 1 is completely insular from the overarching plot of the series. Unless the show reveals some major (and likely inexplicable) twist that it was, in fact, not an accident, the car crash feels like a cheat, a way to put Marty and Wendy in harm's way without any real dramatic weight. If and when Marty and Wendy, Ozark's true villains, are to truly pay for their crimes, they should do so in a way that makes sense for the show's story and not through some random accident.
The opening scene also has the potential to hinder Ozark season 4, part 2. At the end of part 1, Marty and Wendy are finally able to worm their way out from under the cartel, convincing Omar Navarro's brother Javi to cooperate with the FBI as they plan their move back to Chicago. That seems to be what they are discussing in the van, so it's somewhat safe to assume that the car accident will happen quite early in the final seven episodes of the series. Hinging Ozark season 4's ultimate ending around the car accident would be a major mistake for the series and could potentially show that the creators were too afraid to follow through on the promise of the show's ethos.