Ozark season 4 is really about how getting a promotion in America sucks

The second episode of Ozark’s newly released season 4 part 1, Wendy Byrde (Laura Linney) briefly encounters Sam Dermody (Kevin L. Johnson) inside her casino. Sam’s life has not been easy, but it is rare for people who remain in the Byrde circle to have things go their way. Sam once played the tables for Wendy’s benefit, but now he’s gambling simply because he has a gambling problem.

Wendy may be skeptical of Sam’s claims, but Sam promises her that everything will work out for the best. “I’ve got a plan!,” he says, not convincing anyone. Wendy quickly throws him out, saying it’s for his own good. The entire show is recreated in this small scene. This is the On Ozark, there are people like Wendy and Marty (Jason Bateman) and there are people like Sam — the users and the people being used.

Since 2017, the bleak binary has been in place. But what is it? Ozark It is always fascinating to see how almost everyone can play both of these roles simultaneously. Marty and Wendy have power over Sam, sure, but what’s the difference between that relationship and the one they share with Omar Navarro (Felix Solis)? One person can have everything and another cannot.

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Two episodes from the initial two seasons of Ozark’s fourth and final season show Wendy and Marty trying to deal with their problems, as they always have, by erasing them. Sam is not the only thing they wish to erase. Like what happened to their former cartel co-worker Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer) or Wendy’s brother Ben (Tom Pelphrey). Helen’s death at the end of season 3 was a loss because Helen was a phenomenal character, but the viewer’s loss is the Byrde family’s gain, as they have moved up in the cartel.

In a 1977 essay, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich and her professor husband John coined the term “professional-managerial class” (PMC) as a group distinct from a more traditional middle class of farmers and tradespeople, as well as being separate from the working class. They’re “salaried mental workers who do not own the means of production,” according to Barbara’s definition. They do what in the workplace. It can be “described broadly as the reproduction of capitalist culture and capitalist class relations.”

Middle management is also known as middle management. Marty Byrde and Wendy are the middle managers. Their little Ozarks money laundering operation has been dominated by the two of them. They achieved this through various means but most importantly through talking and making money. Ruining someone’s life? They’re still alive, so they’ll be fine. Is it possible to kill someone or multiple people? This is an unavoidable reality in business.

Now, The Byrdes enjoy a lot of attention in Mexico. People stare at them as they stroll around the party. This is their formal admission as fully-fledged operational partner. They’ve climbed up the ladder and are now getting the big invites. But once they’re there, all anyone wants to talk about is work. Specifically, Omar’s younger cousin Javi (Alfonso Herrera) wants to talk about Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery).

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Javi asks Darlene not to grow heroin. Wendy and Marty give a warning. Darlene is now a part of tangled Boomer/Millennial alliance with Ruth (Julia Garner), and Wyatt Langmore(Charlie Tahan). They form an alliance with each other, which they do not equal the sum of their parts, after at most two episodes. Ruth has her money laundering abilities learned from Marty, but lacks a program he’s written which makes the whole operation run. Darlene is able to plant poppies on her farm, but she has no distribution.

Wyatt mainly has vibes. These are very much needed in their tiny group. With distribution scared off by the cartel’s past behavior, Ruth gets the idea of rebranding their product as something elite, farm-to-table heroin. It’s an idea which makes Darlene’s skin scrawl.

Maybe because money laundering has become so important to Ozark’s premise, each little faction within its world can easily be viewed through their place in its complex capitalist structure. Wendy and Marty are the PMC, while Darlene Snell represents the older generation of middle class tradespeople who they are desperate to drive out of business (in past seasons this perspective has also been represented in Buddy, the guy living in the Byrde basement, and the Blue Cat’s one-time owner Rachel).

The young rebels within their ecosystem, Ruth and now young Jonah Byrde (Skylar Gaertner), are go-getters eager to disrupt the PMC’s domination of capital. They’re each drawn to their position through what are considered romantic notions on Ozark: genuinely caring about human life, be it Wyatt’s or Ben’s. And they want to liberate themselves from the long arm of Wendy and Marty, with Jonah happily bragging to Ruth about a system he’s written that’s better than his dad’s.

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It’s Ben’s fate that truly pushes Jonah out of his parent’s grasp. This is what he tries to explain to Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and asks if she will kill him, just as their mother gave her permission to murder their brother. Charlotte simply walks away, ignoring that their parent’s plan to clean their own names feels, as Jonah says, insane.

Marty and Wendy are told by Omar to do the impossible. What number of times has an owner told a middle manager this? But washing Omar’s reputation may be easy for Wendy and Marty compared to finding any common ground with Jonah. The second episode shows the audience what Jonah is looking for beyond justice. It’s not an expensive computer, or a chance to truly outsmart his parents, hence his complete honesty over his seeming betrayal.

It’s a chance to be a kid of the Ozarks. To hang out in the Lazy-O’s pool, to take a beer from his seeming crush, Ruth. As a system of capital, family, as well, can change. Ozark. All anyone can say for sure is that they don’t want to be like Sam Dermody.