Warning: the following contains SPOILERS for Ozark season 4 part 1.
Ozark is coming to an end, and all signs point to Wendy (Laura Linney) becoming the sole survivor of the Byrde family in the finale. What makes Wendy's character arc so compelling is her intense transformation – from being a seemingly innocent housewife who's only partially aware of her husband Marty's (Jason Bateman) criminal activities, Wendy has risen to become the primary advisor of drug kingpin Omar Navarro (Felix Solis). In the process, Wendy has also independently cultivated influence as a political power broker in the state of Missouri. Indeed, Wendy's transformation is one of the main reasons why fans draw comparisons between Ozark and the seminal antihero/crime drama Breaking Bad, and if Wendy continues on this same path, she might get an even more tragic ending than Walter White.
Wendy Byrde wasn't always a criminal mastermind. After the Byrdes were forced to move to the Ozarks, it was Wendy who told the kids Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) and Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) that their dad Marty is a money launderer for a Mexican drug cartel. Although Wendy isn't solely to blame for Jonah and Charlotte's later rebellious actions, it is this decision that sets the Byrde children on their respective dangerous paths. That being said, Wendy has since embraced her and Marty's roles as business partners to the Navarro cartel. While drunk with power, Wendy has even actively sabotaged her family's chances of getting out. In the end, Wendy and Marty convince Omar to pay the FBI money and information for 5 years in exchange for an immunity deal – a plan that's sabotaged by agent Maya Miller (Jessica Frances Dukes) when she decides to arrest Omar instead.
Ozark's season 4 part 1 finale sets up a grim future for the Byrdes. While the arrest of the cunning Omar makes the Navarro cartel vulnerable, Maya's decision has put not only the Byrdes but everyone involved at greater risk. As Omar struggles to maintain control from inside prison, his violent and unpredictable nephew Javi Elizondro (Alfonso Herrera) takes the reins of the Navarro cartel. Despite Marty and Wendy's deals with Omar and the FBI, there's no stopping Javi if he decides to kill the Byrdes and make a new deal on his terms. That said, killing the Byrdes might not be so simple in Ozark season 4 part 2.
How And Why Wendy Will Survive And Avoid Prison
Wendy's goal of becoming “too big to fail” is nearly within her grasp. Through Wendy's character arc, Ozark marries the roles of concerned mother and Mexican narcotrafico. Echoing the true stories of drug lords like Felix Gallardo and Pablo Escobar, Wendy uses her connections and resources to keep politicians, business leaders, and even law enforcement agencies on her side, ultimately as a way of ensuring her family's safety. As Wendy successfully bribes people like Senator Schafer (Bruce Davison) to becoming part of the board for the Byrde Family Foundation, Wendy is on her way to having the machinery to rig even national-level elections, which could conceivably make the Byrdes truly untouchable and too big to fail. Apart from the safety of her family, Wendy is also driven by the goal of having enough political power to genuinely help people and support causes she believes in, which is Wendy's way of somehow offsetting the terrible things that she's already done in order to get to where she is. In short, Wendy is a resourceful, cunning, and extremely driven politician. It's not going to be easy to either kill her or put her in prison.
The ending of Ozark season 4 part 1 puts Wendy in a high risk, high reward situation. The very precedents that can justify Wendy's survival in the finale could work just as well to lay the groundwork for the deaths of Marty, Jonah, and Charlotte. In Wendy's efforts to protect her family from the heroin trade, she's diving deeper into dirty American politics, which can be just as dangerous as dealing with Mexican cartels – either world poses unpredictable threats to the Byrde family. More importantly, if Wendy wins everything by outlasting the Navarro cartel and somehow dodging prison – but at the expense of losing everything that she's been fighting for – it would be a fitting end to one of the greatest criminal character arcs in antihero drama history. Congruent with the underlying political themes of Ozark and Wendy's questionable decisions, Wendy will not only potentially survive, she will go on to earn billions for herself by rigging national elections – all while mourning for the lost of her family.
How Jonah, Charlotte, and Marty Byrde Will Die
The execution of Darlene (Lisa Emery) and Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) at Javi's hands was just a preview of what Ozark's new big bad villain has in store for the Byrdes. Omar called it when he told Marty and Wendy that they didn't have to hide their children, as Omar doesn't target or murder kids. This foreshadows the actions of Javi in Ozark season 4 part 2, as the new Navarro cartel boss seems to be the complete opposite of his calm and calculating uncle. In fact, Javi has already shown an interest in Charlotte. Once Ruth (Julia Garner) moves against Javi for killing Wyatt, Javi could find out that it was Jonah who gave Ruth his name, and Javi could see Jonah as a legitimate threat to the cartel. Jonah's increasingly risky behavior also suggests that he doesn't even need Ruth to get into the type of trouble that can get himself killed. As for Marty, Javi has already told him that he's been itching to kill him, which means that Javi will be actively looking for reasons to take out Marty.
Although the Byrdes seem to be on the way to once again living a normal life in Chicago, it's unlikely that they'll get off easy. Apart from Javi, new dangers are bound to arise from Wendy's foray into dirty political and corporate deals. Between the Navarro cartel's machinations, private investigator Mel Sattem (Adam Rothenberg) digging up dirt on the Byrdes, and Marty and Wendy running several companies while dealing with governors and U.S. senators, any number of factors can come out of the woodwork to strike at Wendy's family. Considering how Wendy not only green-lit the death of his brother Ben Davis (Tom Pelphrey), it also wouldn't be a stretch if Wendy ends up doing the same for Jonah, Charlotte, or even Marty if any of the three end up becoming a liability to her plans. The Byrde children are all grown up, and in this business, being treated like an adult means facing the risk of death.
How Everyone Will Lose In Ozark Season 4 Part 2
Ozark was never going to end well for any of its key players – not for the Byrdes, and certainly not for the Navarro cartel. In the end, if Wendy gets forced into a position where she has to sacrifice her family, it's going to be in exchange for something of equal gravity, such as the assured downfall of Javi and the Navarro organization. Before that happens, Javi could also target agent Maya – who has a new baby – in Ozark season 4 part 2, as retaliation for arresting Omar. Meanwhile, even though the Byrdes finally have a guarantee of safety from Omar, either could be forced to break the peace at any time, as Ozark is never short on unexpected factors that force the game and its players to change the rules. In short, a lot of things can go wrong for everyone involved. Wendy may be losing everything, but in the end, she's not going to be alone.