Follow TV Tropes

Following

Series / Ozark

Go To

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ozark_tv_series_779366354_large.jpg

"Money. That which separates the haves from the have-nots. Patience, frugality, sacrifice."
Marty Byrde

Ozark is a Netflix crime drama series created by screenwriters Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams. The show started its run in July 2017. It was renewed for two additional seasons, which were released in August 2018 and March 2020 respectively. A fourth and final season, with an extended episode count, premiered on January 21, 2022.

Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman) is a Chicago financial advisor who, along with his business partner, launders money for a Mexican drug cartel. When his partner tries to cheat the cartel and ends up dead, Marty relocates his unfaithful wife Wendy (Laura Linney) and two kids to a modest resort town at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, where he hopes to work off his debt to the cartel while avoiding the attention of the FBI. Unfortunately for them, the tranquil scenery does not offer respite from their troubles. Both the cartel and the Feds continue to breathe down Marty's neck, and he starts to attract unwelcome attention from the local criminal element, including the Langmore and Snell families, and later the Kansas City Mafia.


This series contains the following tropes:

  • Actor Allusion: The story Marty tells about Ritchie Valens can't be a coincidence. Esai Morales played his older brother in La Bamba.
  • Affluent Ascetic:
    • The Snells are the largest land owners in the entire county and are pretty well-off, even without accounting for their criminal empire. Then they get a stake in the casino, making them outright loaded. They maintain the "rural hillbilly" way of living in their farmhouse regardless of how much money they have.
    • Ruth progressively gets better jobs and earns more money throughout the series. Then she inherits all the Snells' land and money and works her way to become the sole owner of the Missouri Belle. Yet despite all that, she keeps living in her trailer and except for buying herself a new pick-up in season 2 (which she needed for her job anyway) and a one-time first class flight, she doesn't flash her money in any way.
  • All for Nothing: Several of the Byrdes' schemes are rendered moot due to changing circumstances. E.g. they spent lots of resources on winning the custody case against Wendy's father in season 4 only for the judge to rule the kids should decide for themselves.
  • Alliterative Name: We find out late in the series that Ruth's mother was named Lynn Langmore.
  • Ambiguous Situation: Javi claims one of his old business professors always hated him, and when the man reappears in the present, he's willing to accept Javi's money but doesn't want to be publicly associated with him. Its left unclear whether he somehow knows Javi works for the cartel, or is simply bigoted against Mexicans. Either way, Javi beats him for the insult.
  • Anachronic Order: The events of "Kaleidoscope" are a Whole Episode Flashback that isn't told in linear order.
  • Anyone Can Die: Side characters aren't even safe from the black mists of horrible consequences:
    • In season one: Russ, Boyd, Grace, Garcia, and Del Rio all die.
    • In season two: Buddy, Jacob Snell, Mason Young, Cade Langmore, and Agent Petty all die.
    • In season three: Sue, Helen, and Ben die.
    • In season four: Sheriff Nix, Frank Sr, Wyatt, Darlene, Javi, Navarro, Nelson, Ruth, and Mel die.
  • Apathetic Clerk: Helen encounters a particularly uncooperative one when looking for security camera footage regarding Del's disappearance. He ends up shot after refusing first a polite request and then a bribe.
  • Artistic License – Geography: Characters regularly drive between Lake Ozark and Chicago, then back again, as if it were an afternoon drive. In actuality, it's a 7-hour journey by car one way, and that's if traffic is good. The only time the series acknowledges the real distance is when Ruth is after Javi and even then she still gets there too fast.
  • Artistic License – Law: The stolen goat cookie jar is presented as a smoking gun, but courts take a rather dim view of vigilante cops breaking into suspects' homes and stealing evidence. It's unlikely that it would be admissible in court.
  • Assassin Outclassin':
  • Asshole Victim: Episode 11 of Season 4 has Marty becoming tranquil furious about a disagreement between him and Wendy. Later on the road, a disrespectful motorist starts insulting him and Wendy for no reason, calling Marty a bad driver and Wendy a bitch, which results in Marty brutally assaulting the man till he faints.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: After their arrival in Missouri, Marty and Wendy argue a lot due their marital issues and resentment and being disagree about how resolve their problems acting more as colleagues/partners-in-crime than a married couple. To the poin of reaching a breaking point in Season 3. But behind this, they still comfort for each other (after Marty was kidnapped and tortured and Wendy's brother was killed in Season 3 for example) when they need due to lingering feelings and for the sake of their family.
  • Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: Although the Byrdes are Villain Protagonists, it would make them a little too unsympathetic if they resorted to murder left and right. Luckily, The Cartel, the Snells, and the Langmores have the fortunate habit of finishing each other (and themselves) off. The protagonists are directly responsible for surprisingly few deaths (by season 4: Cade Langmore, Ben Davis, Mason Young, Cabrera and, presumably, Mel Sattem).
  • The Bad Guy Wins: In the end, the Byrdes get all the money and political connections Wendy ever needed and wanted, the FBI is off their backs, and their situation with the cartel is back to amicable. More importantly, every single possible warranty there was on their actions get expunged, Kicked Upstairs, or murdered.
  • Becoming the Mask: Ruth's original plan was to learn all there was to know about money laundering and then kill Marty and take the money. However, over the summer, she comes to bond with Marty and his family so much that she is willing to kill her own uncles to save him.
  • Behind the Black: When Del is shot by an off-camera assailant, the camera moves to his bodyguard, who was standing with a clear view of the shooter, but who apparently never reacted to the person picking up a shotgun and pointing it at his employer.
  • Believing Their Own Lies:
    • After having him killed, Wendy starts claiming that Ben is missing and had drug problems. Not only does this completely get out of hand, but Wendy starts to visibly latch onto her own lie, up to the point where Marty eventually has to remind her that she made that all up when she's called to a coroner's office to identify someone's else body.
    • Later on, she keeps deluding everyone, but first and foremost herself, that not only the foundation she started has any real point of existence (despite being an utter failure to do just about anything, not to mention secure far-reaching political ambitions Wendy has), but that working both with the cartel and the FBI is going smooth and will bring nothing but success. Eventually, she outright stops listening to Marty or anyone trying to reason with her, going deeper and deeper into her own lies.
  • Berserk Button: The Snells are proud hillbillies, not rednecks. Calling them the latter is a guaranteed way to get your head blown off with a shotgun.
  • Big Damn Heroes: When Garcia threatens the Byrdes, Buddy Dyker makes sure the cartel enforcer can't threaten them or anyone else ever again.
  • Big, Screwed-Up Family: Pretty much all the families present in the show:
    • The Byrdes: Marty's a money launderer; Wendy's cheating on Marty; Charlotte is uprooted and (understandably) lashing out at almost everybody except her brother (but, she will use him against her parents)… And, then there's whatever is up with Jonah, which can go several ways if they can't get him to channel that dead animal interest in other, less squicky, directions. Some of them just as pathological, if a bit less likely to mean a murder charge. Oh, and there's Wendy's brother, who seems to have been diagnosed with a personality disorder… or something, and is later revealed to be bipolar and a danger to himself and others when off his meds.
    • The Langmores are the local area's clan of ne'er-do-wells who run afoul of the law almost as often as each other.
    • The Snells have been running a heroin farm for several generations. The Snells we meet in the series never had kids and were too old to do so but that doesn't stop Darlene from trying to adopt a child. When that doesn't work, she turns to kidnap, murder, and just about anything else she can think of to have a kid.
    • The Navarro family runs a drug cartel and all of them have absolutely zero qualms about killing people on their way, either personally or through their army of mooks. Omar is the ruthless head of it, who doesn't mind getting his own hands dirty. His nephew Javi is an over-ambitious young kickstar, and once Javi is killed by Ruth Langmore and Omar takes credit to maintain his face, Camila, his sister and Javi's mother, starts plotting to both kill Omar and then take over the cartel — both of which she ultimately succeeds with. Oh, and once Omar figures his own sister is after him, he starts plotting back. And while Omar insists that children are off-limits, the rest of the family has no such reservations.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The ending for the series is pretty firmly planted on the cynical side of things. In the end, about every sympathetic character is either dead or ruined as a result of the Byrdes' actions. Ruth is the last one, killed by Camila as she was about to start a new, clean life. The upside comes from the Byrdes finally becoming a family again — which is only an upside if you find them sympathetic enough to deserve such an ending — though they will never truly be able to escape from being money launderers. Otherwise, it's a full-on Downer Ending with a family of Karma Houdini criminals getting free, with enough power and resources to politically control the entire midwest.
  • Black-and-Grey Morality: There are very few good people in the Ozark world. On the very darkest edge of this spectrum, there are mobsters and cartel members who think nothing of torturing and murdering those who get in their way, and the money launderers and lawyers who facilitate this violence. Then working our way down the list, we can find redneck sociopaths of all stripes, venally corrupt politicians, some extremely unethical members of law enforcement and light-fingered drug addicts. The small handful of people who are truly decent have a habit of being chewed up and spat out by those who are not.
  • Blackmail: Whenever Screw the Rules, I Have Money! is not an option, people resort to blackmailing each other.
  • Boom, Headshot!: A number of deaths happen this way, the most plot-relevant ones are Del at the end of Season 1, and Helen at the end of Season 3.
  • Both Sides Have a Point:
    • Following Ben being killed for being a liability, Wendy and Ruth are both furious with each other; Ruth is correct that Wendy sanctioned the murder and told Helen where to find him, and Wendy is correct that he was locked in a hospital (terrified and hurting, but physically safe and with a chance of getting back on his meds and recovering), until Ruth pulled strings to get him out because she trusted her judgment after knowing him a couple of months more than Wendy's who'd known him his whole life and had seen his meltdowns before.
    • When Charlotte contacts a lawyer to try and be emancipated, the lawyer points out that Charlotte is afraid of the person she'll become if she stays with the Byrdes. She isn't just acting out, or as the lawyer puts it, her parents took away her car keys. She's involved in a life-threatening situation she never asked for; by contrast, Marty and Wendy are doing everything they can to protect their children, and they know that if Charlotte leaves, she could be killed.
  • Break the Cutie: Over the course of the first season, Reverend Mason Young, one of the few unequivocally good and nice people on the show, has his life completely ruined, to the point of almost losing his faith. It gets even worse in season 2.
  • Break the Haughty: Frank Jr. is a massive tool that walks on everyone and uses his father to get out of any situation he gets himself into with his brash attitude. Then Darlene castrates him with a shotgun and also leaves him with a limp. Then she also has Frank Senior killed. Junior significantly calms down and cleans his act after those incidents, even becoming a somewhat sympathetic character despite all the stuff he already pulled prior.
  • Broken Pedestal: Rachel and Marty develop a camaraderie over the course of season 1, and she is very upset when she learns that Marty has been lying to her and laundering money through the Blue Cat.
  • Bullying a Dragon: When Del Rio shows up for his money, he does a big speech threatening everyone. Marty just snorts that he knows they're way too valuable to Del Rio to just let go and openly states, "This Dale Carnegie meets Pablo Escobar ruse is beneath you." Del Rio smiles… then proceeds to pull out a gun and fire into the bathroom where innocent civilian Liz is, killing her. At which point, Marty and the others realize he's dead serious.
  • The Bus Came Back: After almost two seasons of complete absence, Rachel Garrison and Tick of the Blue Cat Lodge make a return in the finale.
  • Call-Back: When Helen mutters about the Snells being "rednecks", Marty warns her not to make that observation in their earshot, referring back to the last cartel member who made that mistake.
  • Calling Parents by Their Name: Charlotte goes through this phrase in the third episode, after learning that her parents are working for the Cartel, and in Season 2's penultimate episode with Wendy.
  • Can't Kill You, Still Need You:
    • Subverted at the start, as Marty and his firm mistakenly believe they're too valuable for Del Rio to threaten. They find out the hard way that he's perfectly fine with killing them all and just hiring someone else.
    • Throughout Season 2 and 3, the Byrdes are in a constant game of this, as they try different ways to make themselves too useful to Helen and Navarro to kill, despite the problems they cause.
    • Helen is plotting a coup against the cartel, figuring it'll work given how she's so valuable to the organization, she can build up her power. She's still plotting that when she gets a bullet through the brain.
  • The Cartel: Marty's employer and the Greater-Scope Villain for the show is the second-largest drug cartel in Mexico.
  • Cast Full of Crazy: Darlene has a hair-trigger temper and does whatever she pleases and isn't above shooting people in broad daylight, and her husband won't bat an eyelash to murder; the FBI agents assigned to the Ozark case are completely emotionally compromised and make it personal; Ruth's father is completely unhinged; Ruth herself is not above murder; Wendy's brother has major anger issues including bipolar; Helen is completely stone-cold and emotionally removed, and then of course there's the Navarro Cartel, but that comes with the territory. The Byrde's are one Big, Screwed-Up Family, pathologically constantly lying to everyone and even themselves and pretending that they are normal, when they aren't.
  • Cerebus Syndrome: While never being a comedic show, season by season the amount of Black Comedy gets successively dialed down. Season 3 has a minor pushback with some humor back, to no small part thanks to Ben's and Sue's antics, but season 4 goes straight into being dry serious. In fact, season four has exactly one outright comedic bit (Marty getting into a brawl with a random car driver), which leads to a severe Mood Whiplash when it happens.
  • Chekhov's Gun:
    • The drone footage of the attack on the Cosgroves. Marty and Wendy it hand it over to the FBI so they could take down the Laguana Cartel.
    • The goat cookie jar with Ben's ashes isn't there just for the goofy look of it or sentimental value. Mel breaks into the Byrdes' home and steals it in the finale, forcing them to kill him.
  • Choke Holds: Omar Navarro kills his attacker at the prison using a chokehold.
  • Chronic Evidence Retention Syndrome: Ben's ashes, kept in a cookie jar, almost busts the Byrdes when Mel gets ahold of it. But thanks to Jonah and his trusty shotgun...
  • Cluster F-Bomb: Ruth, as the Lady Swears-a-Lot, hands out many of these in any given episode.
  • Compartment Shot: Several shots from inside a safe showing people fetching money or from inside the crematory chamber as another body burns up.
  • Concealment Equals Cover: Despite having hundreds of rounds fired at them with automatic rifles at short range from two angles into an unprotected car, due to Plot Armor the Snells manage to survive a hit on them with only Jacob taking a hit to the shoulder. By all logic, everyone inside the car should be turned into mince and the vehicle itself disabled. However, their car manages to keep running just fine, and apparently, the assailants decided not to follow them. Then again, the Snells may have thought investing in an armored car was not a bad idea at some point, what with being in a violent business and all.
  • Constructive Body Disposal: Nelson's body gets hidden under the newly cemented pool.
  • Corrupt Politician: Throughout the series there is an entire assembly of greedy, power-hungry, cynical and outright sleazy politicians, without a single white sheep in the fold. The best the show can offer is people who treat politics as a game to be played for fun and profits.
  • Couch Gag: The four symbols in the "O" in each title sequence reference something from the episode. The shapes of the symbols spell out the remaining four letters in "Ozark."
  • Cuteness Proximity: In "Gold Coast", Helen's all-businesses demeanor briefly softens as she plays with baby Zeke.
  • Dead Person Conversation: Ruth has conversations with Wyatt after his death and Petty talk to the dead Russ.
  • Deal with the Devil: Marty and Wendy talk themselves into working for the cartel with the justification that all they'll be doing is moving money and they'll be isolated and protected from the dirty side of the cartel's dealings. Once they accept, the first thing the cartel does is kill their predecessor in front of them, driving home exactly the kind of people they're dealing with.
  • Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: Marty tells the Feds that he suspected his partner of illegal dealings. In one fell swoop, this works as an explanation for why he dissolved his company and fled Chicago, for his partner's disappearance, and any illegal activity they might suspect him of (and since the partner was murdered by the cartel, there's no need to protect him). It would seem a plausible alibi, except for the Feds being already well-aware of Marty's involvement.
  • Description Cut: To keep Sam from withdrawing his investments, Marty offers to pay for Sam's mother's funeral himself, reasoning that it can't be that expensive. Cut to the funeral director upselling Sam on the world's most elaborate funeral arrangements, including having the mother's ashes compressed into diamonds.
  • Destroy the Abusive Home: Ruth first shoots at the trailer that belonged to Cade, her father, and then has it demolished. While the construction crew is tearing it apart, she smiles happily, but is still unsure if that was really the right move.
  • Disc-One Final Boss:
    • Camino Del Rio is abruptly killed at the end of season one.
    • Javi is killed at the beginning of the second half of season four. His mother (and Navarro's sister) Camila becomes the Big Bad of the finale.
  • Downer Ending: A mix of this and Bittersweet Ending (the latter only if you liked the Byrdes). Otherwise, at the end of the series following occurs: Ruth is murdered by Camilla in retaliation for the former killing the latter's Jerkass son, Jonah murders Mel Sattem in cold blood when he threatened to finally expose the family's crimes of killing Ben (thus embracing his inner criminal), the Byrdes are still funneling dirty money through the casino for the cartel, with the FBI's blessing no less, and every one of these bastards get off scot free. Oh, and even in the case of Mel not being shot dead, the Byrdes would still stand a fair chance of Off on a Technicality, since he gained the cookie jar with Ben's ashes by breaking and entering, something he openly admits.
  • Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Jerkass Agent Petty is humanized by his genuine love for his mother.
  • Even Evil Can Be Loved: Even after learning what kind of people their fathers were, Ruth and Wyatt still loved them regardless.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
    • Helen Pierce, the cartel's Amoral Attorney, loves her kids as much as any mother. It becomes a big part of her plot in season 3, when she brings her daughter to the Ozarks and continues to hide her criminal dealings from her.
    • Russ is close with his two sons and cares for the rest of his family. He also has genuine romantic feelings for Agent Petty.
    • Russ's brother Boyd is very loyal to him.
    • Darlene is horrified when Jacob kills Ash and later becomes a loving mother to Zeke.
    • From what we see in Season 3, Navarro has a genuinely good relationship with his children.
  • Even Evil Has Standards:
    • In Del Rio's words: "A father shouldn't have to see his child die" before having one of his henchmen kill Hanson Sr. and then Del Rio himself kills Hanson Jr.
    • Omar Navarro has a strict policy against killing children and at the end of season 4 tells Wendy he knew all along where her children are being hidden but chose not to use the information. He seems genuinely disappointed when she threatens his own family.
    • Marty uses this to recover the money after the Langmores initially steal it. He points out that while he can't make them give it back, he's going to tell Del they stole it, and Del will torture and murder all of them to get it back, which means that unless they're willing to kill Marty right then and there, they should give him back every cent. When Ruth argues that his partnering with a drug dealer makes him worthy of death anyway, Marty points out she will likely run out of her share of the money faster than the others and then probably blackmail them, and asking if they're prepared to either endure that or kill a family member. It works.
    • In spite of the ever mounting immoral actions Wendy has facilitated, she absolutely refuses to even think about helping Darlene adopt a baby. When Marty gives Mason's son to Darlene to pacify her, Wendy makes it clear that they are going to find a way to get him back. She makes good on this promise in season 3, though she goes about it in underhanded fashion and ultimately must give it up.
    • In spite of already being a Dirty Cop, Sheriff Nix is scandalized to be forced to push opium. He negotiates a tit-for-tat at the earliest possibility to get out of the requirement.
    • Jim is a bit of a shady lawyer, but even he draws the line at massive voting fraud. Ironically, so does Wendy.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: It is made abundantly clear as early as season 2 that the Byrdes, at least the adult ones, are completely incapable of understanding other motivations than Greed and desire to survive. They also struggle with the concept of Revenge Before Reason, all while making plenty of enemies left and right. Whenever they face someone that simply can't be bought or isn't afraid of dying for their principles, they are completely clueless what to do or how to handle it. This unfortunately means they can come up with only one solution for such situations.
    Marty: We can pay you.
    Wendy: Anything you want.
    Mel Sattem: I don't want your money.
    Marty: Name your price. You can change your life, you can change anyone's life you want.
    Mel Sattem: Except your money is toxic. (...) You don't get it, do you?
  • Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Deconstructed. The series opens with the goal of ostensibly protecting Jonah and Charlotte from the cartel and the truth about their family situation, but at the first given chance. Wendy bluntly informs the kids about the situation. From there on, more often than not, the Byrdes rely on their kids being at the very least compliant with their criminal activities, if not outright demanding full cooperation and participation. The series concludes with a dark So Proud of You moment: Jonah, a high school teenager, is willing to kill in cold blood a man ready to expose Wendy's involvement in the murder of Ben, his beloved uncle. Anything even resembling moral hesitation is long gone by that point and it's made clear in prior dialogue the kids are not just ok with the whole criminal activity but are fully into it on their own.
  • Exact Words:
    • In the first episode, Camino tells the owner of the construction company that a father should never watch his son die. They then shoot him in the head a second before shooting his son.
    • Season two has Darlene very disturbingly point out that she delivered the Youngs' baby. Given Darlene's twisted view of the world, she likely did not see the irony.
  • Face Death with Dignity:
    • Ben derives a sense of pride from the fact that he takes his fate with calm.
    • Both Omar Navarro and Ruth face their bullets with dignity.
  • Fan Disservice:
    • Most of the original strippers in the Lickety Splitz were quite homely and out of shape until the change in management. Interestingly, this is by design.
    • Buddy's habit of walking out to the lake almost naked. Wendy even asks him to please Think of the Children! and put some shorts on, to no avail.
    • In season three, Wyatt has sex with Darlene Snell, who's old enough to be his grandmother.
  • Fatal Flaw: There are many on display.
    • Marty is too good at compartmentalized thinking or single-track survival, which often blinds him to the obvious.
    • Wendy, for all her problems with Marty, still tries to stay with him "for the children", in part. But, mainly because she can't think of anything else to do.
    • The Langmores are riddled with complacency and bad habits.
    • As stated at the beginning by Agent Petty with quite a lot of self-awareness, constantly following the path of least resistance is the biggest flaw available.
  • Finally Found the Body: For a long time it was unclear what happened to Mason's wife until the FBI dug up the bones at the Snells. Marty mentions some belonged to her, although it may be a case of Unreliable Narrator.
    • Somewhat averted with Bruce, his girlfriend, and the trucking company owners. The bodies were dissolved with acid, but a still-intact jawbone was enough to assume that the rest of them had the same fate.
  • Friendly Enemy:
    • Marty gets on pretty well with FBI Agent Maya Miller. She eventually has a fall-out with him after seeing he doesn't really want to repent.
    • Ruth and Frank Jr. become friends in the end. Keep in mind prior to that, they were constantly at odds, he beat the living shit out of her and in retaliation, Darlene blew his dick off with a shotgun. They still develop a sense of commanderies due to surviving through so much shit together.
  • The Friend Nobody Likes: Senator Randall Schafer is a The Man Behind the Man for the entire Midwest political scene, so it's always good to be in good graces with him or at least having him in your pocket. However, he's also an incredibly greedy, completely depraved person that sees nothing wrong with going as far as rigging elections throughout a few states, which even other Corrupt Politicians consider to be unacceptable.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: By the final season, Marty, a mere accountant, becomes the second most powerful man in the cartel, even acting as head of the cartel temporarily. Wendy, a middle-class realtor and housewife in the beginning, by the end is one of the most powerful women in the Midwest, with half the politicians of the region in her pocket.
  • Good Girls Avoid Abortion: While she's being held captive by Mason Young, Wendy reveals that as a teenager, she engaged in a lot of self-destructive behavior and saw many of her friends overdose. The last straw, the one that caused her to run away from home, was when she confessed her sins — especially her abortions — to a preacher in an attempt to turn to Christianity. Though the preacher she confessed to claimed that God forgave her, Wendy saw in his eyes that he was disgusted by what she had done. Mason claims Wendy wanted to be rejected to justify running away, and that she knew a Southern preacher would react that way.
  • Good Is Impotent: A recurring theme, given the Villain Protagonist nature of the series:
    • For a varied definition of good, Agent Petty is ultimately powerless against Marty or pinning anything on him. He is eventually murdered without accomplishing anything beyond leaving a Trail of Bread Crumbs for the FBI to follow.
    • Agent Maya has far greater scruples and moral reservations, which further ties her hands down. And when she tries to defy this trope and goes against the wishes of her superiors, capturing Omar Navarro, she ends up Kicked Upstairs to remove her from the picture, as they can't exactly drum out an agent that just took out the kingpin of the biggest drug cartel.
    • Mel Sattem is a PI that works for various parties, but always stays on the side of the good. For all his wicked smarts and tying down the threads nobody else was even able to notice, he gets gunned down by Jonah before he can reveal it to anyone, leaving the Byrdes scot-free. And even before that, Wendy already found a way to reinstate him into the Chicago PD, in an attempt to both bribe him and prevent him from testifying against her in court, simply because he couldn't be physically present at the appointed time.
  • Greed:
    • Various characters call out Marty and especially Wendy on how much is enough and what for they need all that money.
    • Season 4 reveals that the FBI's top brass have zero interest in actually waging the War on Drugs — they just want to siphon the Navarro Cartel's money, maintain the status quo by all means, and use the seized drug money as a personal payoff. Maya doesn't take it kindly, especially after she's told to toe the line or give up her badge.
    • Politicians are portrayed as thoroughly corrupt. Senator Randall Schafer and his clique will do anything for money, as long as it is coming in regular and sufficiently large tranches. Political alignment? Virtues? What are those?
  • Groin Attack: Darlene blows the balls off of Frank Jr. for attacking Ruth.
  • Happy Marriage Charade: Wendy and Marty have to pretend to be a happy couple in order to survive.
  • Hero Antagonist:
    • Agent Roy Petty in the first two seasons, the primary agent gunning for Marty. The show helps keep our sympathy with Marty by making Petty a bit of a creep.
    • Agents Trevor Evans and Maya Miller in Season 3.
    • Private eye Mel Sattem joins in Season 4, especially after he teams up with Maya.
  • Heroic BSoD: Marty, Wendy and Ruth all go through this emotion at one point due to defeat or the murder of a loved one.
  • Hillbilly Horrors: The Snells are hillbillies and proud of it. They're also borderline psychopathic and extremely dangerous.
  • Historical In-Joke: Buddy claims to be the one who killed Jimmy Hoffa. He instantly chuckles and spins it into a joke, but the show spreads just enough crumbs to genuinely paint him as the in-universe killer.
  • Honey Trap:
    • Agent Petty uses himself as a honey trap, getting into a relationship with Russ Langmore to gain his trust and gain leverage that can be used to trap Marty.
    • Wendy hires a stripper to approach a senator's husband and get video footage of them having sex Chained to a Bed. She uses it as leverage to get the senator to change her vote.
  • Hope Spot:
    • In "Fire Pink", when Helen arrives at the Byrdes home with the intention of finding Ben after he spilled the beans to her daughter, Wendy passionately pleads for Ben's life with promises of sending him far away and out of everyone's business. For a brief moment the appeal to Helen's humanity seems to leave her at least open to the possibility, but that dream dies the second Erin arrives with Charlotte and Jonah.
    • Season four gives us a twofer. First, the flashforward prologue shows us the Byrdes in their minivan, apparently making their final move back to Chicago, only for the minivan to roll over and crash. Then the end of the season proper has each of the characters getting most of what they wanted, which includes the Byrdes preparing to leave the Ozarks, only to get pulled back in again when Ruth goes on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge after Javi kills Wyatt and Darlene. The first instance is ultimately a subversion, as the Byrdes all survive the van crash.
    • In the second half of season four, Ruth manages to wrest control of the Missouri Belle from the Byrdes and runs it as a completely legitimate business, becoming the first clean Langmore in five generations. Then she is gunned down by Camila as revenge for Javi's death.
  • How We Got Here:
    • A number of episodes of the first season start with a scene that chronologically happens towards the end of the episode and then cut back to reveal how it got to that point.
    • One second-season episode begins with Marty acting distant and noncommunicative during an interview, seemingly refusing to back up anything Wendy says. The subsequent flashback reveals that he'd recently murdered Mason to protect Wendy, so he's not punishing Wendy by refusing to speak, he's shell-shocked and guilty.
  • How We Got Here: Season 4 opens with a flashforward of the Byrdes apparently getting away from the cartel and the FBI, only to have a car crash. The rest of the season is showing how they've reached that point, as they get there mid-way through the final episode.
  • Hypocrite: Charlotte and her parents are both this in regard to each other in Season 2; Marty and Wendy are shocked when Charlotte cheerfully tells them she stole a book from a shop and call her out on it in exactly the way you'd expect law-abiding parents to, while Charlotte points out this is a far lesser crime than what they do on a daily basis. However, Charlotte reacting to her parents' criminal activities by becoming a (very low-level version of) The Unfettered by stealing cartel money for her own use, stealing the aforementioned book from a completely innocent shopkeeper (in a way that is likely to implicate Wyatt, with far more serious consequences than she would face if caught) and then trying to emancipate herself from her parents in a way that vastly increases the risk of the cartel killing more people for knowing too much makes her condemnation of her parents ring hollow.
  • I Did What I Had to Do:
    • When Darlene Snell threatens the completion of the casino project unless Marty and Wendy hand over Mason's orphaned boy Zeke, Marty initially resists. However, when the Snells abduct Jonah and give him a hillbilly haircut (before releasing him unharmed) as a warning, Marty realizes that handing over Zeke is literally the only way to pacify the Snells and protect his family.
    • When Ben and his bipolar issues threaten to leave the Byrdes at the mercy of Helen Pierce, Wendy reluctantly facilitates his murder.
  • Improvised Weapon: In Season 2, Jacob beats his henchman with a firewood log before impaling him with a fireplace poker. Later that season, Cade murders Petty by bludgeoning him with a tackle box.
  • Indulgent Fantasy Segue: After learning that Javi killed Wyatt, we are treated to a scene in which Ruth shoots Javi in an open street in Chicago. Then we cut back to her being in a different place, revealing that this was all in her head.
  • Indy Ploy: Basically, Marty's entire scheme comes up when he (quite literally) has a gun to his head by his cartel boss. Remembering his partner's talk of the Ozarks, he spins that he was "scouting" the place out and can use the area to launder the cartel's millions with ease. Thus, the whole series is pushed by his desperate attempt to save his life and prove his word.
  • Insistent Terminology:
    • Marty always makes a point of specifying that Del's employer is the second-largest cartel in Mexico. Del even lampshades it in "The Toll".
    • The Snells draw a very specific and emotional distinction between being called "hillbilly" or "redneck". They are hillbillies, a proud and wise lineage with a long history in the region, who were unfairly pushed out of their homes. "Rednecks" are the corrupt and greedy interlopers who did the pushing. Calling the Snells "rednecks" will push on their Berserk Button.
  • Intergenerational Friendship: Buddy and the Byrde family. Young Jonah goes as far to call him his best friend.
  • In Vino Veritas: Nathan Davis is far less pleasant when he's drunk and his inhibitors are off.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: The Byrdes, all four of them, are initially portrayed as a troubled, but otherwise still good-meaning family. The series spends its first two seasons showing they are actually ruthless sociopaths that think nothing of other people or anyone's well-being, and whatever scruples they are ever shown having are at best Enlightened Self-Interest, at worst just a farce.
  • Karma Houdini:
    • The Byrdes. They end the series in the clear legally and with their foundation intact, with enough money and political capital to become kingmakers of the Midwest. Even Ben's death will presumably not come back to haunt them with the death of Del. But they will all still have to live with what they've done to get there.
    • Nathan Davis. In spite of being a hypocritical drunk who never owns up to his abusive parenting, he gets a lucrative sinecure that he can use to live comfortably as a religious leader. The only thing he doesn't get to do is stick it to Wendy.
  • Kill the Ones You Love: Wendy has a hard time when bringing herself to have her brother Killed to Uphold the Masquerade.
  • Lampshade Hanging: The entire role of Rachel Garrison after she comes back in season 4 is to point out how far gone everything related with the Byrdes and Ruth went since the modest and (relatively) peaceful beginnings of season 1.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the final scene, Mel tells the Byrdes that they don't get to win, because that's not how it works. This obviously echoes a lot of assumptions the audience is having about whether the Byrdes will get their comeuppance at the end of the show.
  • Loophole Abuse: Jacob thinks he has the upper hand on Marty, having flooded his own land to ensure Marty can't use it. But Marty points out that due to some old rights issues, the land under the lake is part of the Missouri river, which is a federal waterway. Thus, Jacob just ceded all of his land to the federal government, who can use it however they want while Jacob doesn't get a dime.
  • Loud of War: Defiant prisoners of the Mexican cartel are exposed to loud metal music in their cell as psychological warfare.
  • Make It Look Like an Accident:
    • The cartel kills Wendy's lover Gary by making it look like a suicide… by throwing him out an 80th-story window.
    • Ruth rigs the pier by Marty's house to electrocute him and make it look like an accidental death. Agent Petty finds out in time and undoes the rigging. Ruth later uses the same method to successfully kill her uncles Russ and Boyd to stop them from killing Marty.
  • May–December Romance: Wyatt, in his late teens, gets into a relationship with Darlene, apparently in her 60s. Several people, including Darlene herself, state that she's old enough to be his grandmother.
  • Mistaken from Behind: Wendy has a Heroic BSoD and goes into hiding on a bender after Ben's death. In a supermarket, a young boy mistakes her for his mom and takes her hand. It's at this moment that Wendy decides to return to her family.
  • More Deadly Than the Male:
    • Downplayed with Ruth Langmore, who is more cunning than all her male relatives, though she is not as violently dangerous as her father.
    • Darlene Snell is a strong believer that Murder Is the Best Solution and proves ready to implement it at the slightest provocation.
    • By the end of Season 2, Marty has been deeply unnerved by the things he's done and seen and just wants to flee, but Wendy has completely immersed herself into life as a criminal. She engineers Cade's murder when Marty is just trying to flee. By Season 4, Wendy has become the mastermind behind the Byrde operation while Marty has taken a supporting, almost passive role.
    • This proves true in season four of Omar Navarro's older sister, Camila. Not only does she arrange an attempt on his life right under Marty's nose, she successfully gambits to keep him in a U.S. prison, and when the Byrdes approach her to make a deal, she barely hesitates to arrange the death of her beloved baby brother so she can work out a deal with the FBI to run the cartel herself. She forces Clare Shaw to instantly spill the beans about Javi's murder with a verbal threat so vile Clare visibly tries not to vomit, and then guns Ruth down herself. And she gets away with all of it.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • Ruth breaks down into tears after confessing that she killed her uncles to Marty.
    • Marty goes through a huge change in character after killing Mason, later suggested by Wendy to be acting emotionally out of guilt.
    • Wendy completely breaks down like this after leaving her brother to be killed by Helen's hitman.
  • Never My Fault:
    • Mason blames the Byrdes for all of his problems when he ignored their good advice and threw their efforts to protect him back in their faces.
    • Darlene is pathologically incapable of admitting her own mistakes, always blaming others for her own recklessness and making up excuses.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Maya arresting Omar allows Javi, who is even worse than his uncle, to take over the Navarro cartel.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Clare Shaw and her pharmaceutical company, whose reputations are toxic after they started an opioid epidemic in the Ozarks, are clearly based on Perdue Pharma and the Sackler family.
  • Noodle Incident: Jacob Snell makes a cryptic comment about Sheriff Nix owing the Snells some kind of debt, which has made him a Dirty Cop. We viewers don't know exactly what this entailed, but even after Jacob's death, Darlene is still able to use it as leverage over Nix.
  • "Not So Different" Remark: Jacob considers both he and Mason to be "men of principles" in their own right.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • Marty assumed Del Rio was just fishing around for info on someone stealing from him and was putting on an act to intimidate them. It's when Del Rio nonchalantly murders Liz that Marty, and the others, realize this man is willing to kill them all to get the truth.
    • A profoundly satisfying one in Season 3 comes from Helen after she has Ben killed and opens her door to find an enraged Jonah pointing a shotgun at her. It's the only time we see Helen genuinely caught totally off-guard and terrified.
    • When Marty and Ruth learn that Ben not only confronted Helen, but also told Erin her mom is a cartel operative, they instantly stop arguing with him, put him in a truck, and Ruth grabs a shotgun, fully aware of what Helen is going to do now.
  • Orange/Blue Contrast: A meta example — The show is very clearly intended to be a Spiritual Successor to Breaking Bad, and almost every scene has a dark blue filter in contrast to that show's frequent use of Warm Place, Warm Lighting.
  • Outside-Context Problem:
    • After being sent by the cartel to the Ozarks, Marty has an early brush with the Langmores when they steal his initial batch of cash. They remain a source of trouble for him — and partially for the cartel — for the duration of the series, as something that not only was unforeseen, but keeps being a legit issue.
    • The Snells are a local family of heroin dealers who won't take no for an answer and antagonize not only the Byrdes, but eventually also the cartel. Darlene in particular becomes an ever-increasing source of trouble for the cartel, undermining their operation and making unrealistic demands just because she can. She's eventually killed over it.
    • The war between the Navarro and Lagunas cartel comes out of nowhere and complicates life for Marty.
    • Mel Sattem is a private investigator, first to find out what happened to Helen and then to unravel where's Ben. The only reason his snooping didn't instantly blow a few schemes up was him being smart enough to know going forward would be suicidal. And even after Wendy gets him reinstated into the Chicago PD, it turns out he doesn't even have to be physically present as a witness for the judge to rule the case against Wendy, giving custody over Jonah and Charlotte to Nathan, their grandfather.
  • Police Are Useless: Neither of the three sheriffs ever gets to solve any of the crimes committed over the four seasons. Either they are in the pockets of Darlene or get outwitted by the Byrdes.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: Various characters refer to the "Mexicans" derisively, and Darlene refers to the Vietnamese as "gooks".
  • Pragmatic Villainy: Darlene makes this appeal to Frank Cosgrove Sr. after blowing the balls off of his son. He can either go to war with her or profit millions by a partnership.
  • Promotion to Parent: Ruth to her two younger cousins. Also, Darlene and Wyatt when they start raising Zeke.
  • Punk in the Trunk: The body of Sheriff Nix gets transported in a trunk.
  • Quick Draw: When Darlene unexpectedly blows Del's head off, Jacob doesn't waste a second in drawing his own pistol and shooting Del's henchman dead before he can react.
  • Rags to Riches:
    • The Byrdes go full circle: they start the series with a Riches to Rags backstory, then work and scheme their way back to their original position, until by season 3, they are better off than they were at the set-up and only keep growing from there.
    • Ruth Langmore goes from a low-life trailer trash petty criminal to the owner of the Missouri Belle and the sole inheritor to the Snells' land and money.
  • Recruiting the Criminal: Subverted with Marty who gets an offer to work for the FBI because of his skills in money laundering. He passes up, not least because the deal includes 18 months of prison time for him before he can start on this new career path.
  • Revenge Before Reason: In Season four, Ruth kills Javi for him murdering Wyatt even though it means she's now become a target herself if word gets out. And it does.
  • Right for the Wrong Reasons: When Omar Navarro pieces together it was his sister Camila who ordered the hit on him, he's correct about the identity, but his reasoning, while solid and logical, doesn't match what really happened.
  • Running Gag: Business owners seeing through Marty's "Angel Investing" bunk and knowing he just wants to launder money through them.
  • Sacred Hospitality: Jacob Snell is very upset with Darlene for blowing Del's head off, because he was a guest.
  • Sanity Has Advantages: Ben is not well. This causes all sorts of problems for him and eventually leads to being first committed and then, ultimately, killed, simply because he doesn't possess a clear — or any, really — judgment of the situation. And it's openly discussed as something that has got him into deep trouble all his life, rather than just this specific situation.
  • Sanity Slippage: The pressures of working for or with one of the most powerful and ruthless organized crime syndicates in the world takes its toll on many characters as they weave in and out through Blackand Gray Morality.
  • Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Buddy. Sometimes it's hard to tell how much is absolutely serious and how much is just to get a rise out of people, but he always says whatever's on his mind without holding back.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: Due to their deep pockets, the Byrdes are able to bribe their way out of trouble numerous times.
  • Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
    • At the end of the first season, Rachel decides she's had enough, takes $300,000 from the Byrdes' new stash, and drives away. She's forced to return in season 2.
    • This is the endgame goal for Marty in regard to the Ozarks. Over the course of season 2, he comes closer to initiating the masterstroke. Too bad his wife flips the script at the last minute.
  • Secret Test of Character: In Season 3, Navarro has Marty kidnapped, brought to Mexico, and thrown in a dungeon after he discovered Marty had his wife's phone tapped by his men. However, Wendy and Helen are unaware of this and think Navarro is giving them a loyalty test, to see if they can handle the business without Marty present. Marty comes to believe that Navarro is trying to break him into submission. It's when Marty refuses, becomes defiant, and helps Navarro deal with a problem just to rub it in his face that he is let go. He then tells Wendy that she was correct about a test, but the real test was to see what kind of man Marty was when all the pretension was gone. He passed because Navarro saw that Marty was just like him, a determined person who wants to win no matter what it takes.
  • "Shaggy Dog" Story:
    • Ruth's ultimate victory is rendered moot, since she's unceremoniously killed by the cartel. But she at least has a perfect "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner.
    • The entire storyline of season 4 is one. By the end of it, the Byrdes are exactly where they were late into season 3, with Wendy's political dreams being secured and control of the Missouri Belle casino being in Marty's hands once more. This is part of general criticism of that season: none of the events really mattered.
  • She Cleans Up Nicely: Rachel Garrison upon her return in season 4, particularly when showing up dressed for the big social events. You are easily forgiven for not recognizing who she is on her first re-appearance.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Sue, the primary source of Season 3's darkly comedic Bathos, is absent for the final two episodes due to being dead.
  • Shoot the Hostage Taker: When Mason holds Wendy hostage with a knife, Marty accidentally kills him with a graze shot to his neck which makes Mason bleed out on the floor.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Wyatt is a huge Ray Bradbury fan and talks about him in several instances.
    • Bruce says he knows all about cartels because he's seen Traffic (2000).
  • Snowball Lie: Marty was so investigating the cash-rich Ozarks for opportunities… Plot (and death) ensues.
  • So Proud of You: A dark example in the finale. The very last shot of the series is both Marty and Wendy looking approvingly to Jonah as he threatens the last menace to their schemes with a shotgun, as it shows how far he's willing to go for his family. Then Fade to Black, and a gunshot is heard…
  • Sound-Only Death: The season four finale ends with a cut the black before we hear the shot that presumably kills detective Mel. Then the Deadly Closing Credits start rolling.
  • Start of Darkness: "Kaleidescope" reveals this for the Byrdes and Agent Petty:
    • The Byrdes were in Surprise Car Crash, causing Wendy to miscarry. This drives Wendy into depression and makes Marty more susceptible to the idea of laundering money for the income to keep his family together.
    • Agent Petty convinces his mother to take pain medication, which develops into an opioid addiction that destroys his family life and makes him Married to the Job (as well as It's Personal).
  • Stealing from the Till: The events of the series are kicked off by Del finding out that Marty's partner, Bruce, has been skimming from the money they're laundering for the cartel. Del even references an actual case from his childhood when his father caught a cashier literally stealing about five American dollars' worth of pesos from the till.
  • Steel Eardrums: While the soundtrack occasionally includes tinnitus ringing after gunshots, no one actually acts like their hearing was affected. Marty and the Snells are chatting in normal voices just seconds after a shotgun blast in a living room.
  • Straight Gay: None of the gay men in the series have any stereotypical gay mannerisms.
  • Stupid Crooks: All the Langmores (minus Ruth) are pretty incompetent criminals.
  • Surprise Car Crash: "Kaleidescope" has a flashback to the time the Byrdes were in a car accident. Another car t-bones them in a Jump Scare moment, causing Wendy to miscarry.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: The Snells had their heroin business running for decades, with the local sheriff turning a blind eye to it (or rather — being blackmailed into turning a blind eye). And it's going like this simply for the sake of the story. However, the second the sheriff is replaced with an outsider who's not under Snells' thumb, Darlene is instantly put under pressure, and it's heavily implied that she would be busted soon even if the cartel didn't get her first.
  • Surprisingly Sudden Death:
    • After being the direct threat to the Byrdes for two seasons and having them delivered to the cartel, Helen is casually gunned down by her own bodyguard.
    • Darlene Snell acts like a petulant, ax-crazy child for four seasons, routinely throwing logs under everyone's legs, kills characters left and right, and most importantly gets away with everything completely unpunished. This includes walking out of two different attempts on her life without a scratch. Then Javi casually puts a bullet in her, killing her mid-sentence.
  • Suspicious Spending:
    • Marty explains to Ruth and her family that no matter how much illegal money you have, without laundering it, all you have is a lifetime supply of gas and groceries. He's referring to the fact that you can make small, mundane purchase, but if you were to ever try to buy something big like a house or a car, it will inevitably lead to questions about where the money came from.
    • Sue uses her blackmail money to buy a ridiculously flashy new automobile. Helen, without even speaking to her, sees the car and knows that Sue is a problem.
      Marty: This is a Transformer and I spoke to you about conspicuous spending.
  • Tempting Fate: In the seven's episode, the major problem of the episode is that Marty needs $800K to supplement what he lost in the previous episode. He says that he can get an investor to loan him the money (without their knowledge) and that they'd never notice, unless they die. Well, through Wendy's business partner Sam Dermody, he gets this loan. Guess what happens to the investor before the end of the episode?
  • There Are No Therapists: Justified and lampshaded during Wendy's conversation with Jim. After she asks, hypothetically, what happens when a minor commits fraud, he suggests it's a problem better sorted out in family therapy. She laughs.
  • To Be Lawful or Good:
    • A recurring dilemma for Agent Maya Miller, who wants to be both, but the circumstances constantly force her to choose how much and which of her principles she wants to compromise. Ultimately, she goes against her superiors and every deal that has been made in Season 4, arresting Omar as he's about to board his private jet. To nail it further down, she's perfectly aware that everyone is trying to abuse her sense of duty and moral compass and makes that clear whenever anyone tries to gloat or talk her down.
    • Mel eventually faces a choice: go back to the police force and maybe try doing some good as a cop, or be lawful and expose Wendy as an evil mastermind behind a few murders, including her own brother. He eventually gets killed for his pursuit after the truth.
  • Too Dumb to Live:
    • Bruce decides that stealing money from The Cartel is a good idea, even though he was in the same room and witnessed how the last person who did that got his throat slit. Worse, he did this while simultaneously being The Mole for the FBI, which was just adding lighter fluid to the fire of dumbness.
    • Wendy's lover Gary, upon being told about the cartel situation, tells Wendy to empty the joint bank accounts and flee to his apartment, like the cartel is not going to mind a few tens of thousands of dollars being missing from what Marty owes them.
    • Del off-handedly insulting the Snells, and then defiantly repeating the insult in their own home. He should have at least considered that the kingpins of a local opium empire might be every bit as ruthless as he and his cartel.
    • Agent Petty is alone and unarmed with known violent felon Cade Langmore out in the middle of nowhere. This is probably not a good time to start mocking him and his family.
      • Applies to Cade as well in the same incident, as he impulsively strikes Petty in anger, then realises he's now committed to finishing the job.
    • Ben wasn't in a good headspace, and being committed is no fun, but he made so many bad decisions that the person who loved him most in the world had to end him.
    • Sue decides to blackmail the Byrdes after hearing them discuss their criminal activities, including murder. After receiving payment, she flaunts her ill-gotten cash while the Byrdes are under FBI surveillance and then tries to chisel them for a larger payday. No points for guessing how all this turns out for her.
    • Frank Senior becomes this when he goes to the Snells' place alone and unarmed to threaten Darlene, which ends rather predictably.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Marty and Wendy become much more amoral and harsher towards everyone in Season 2.
  • Tricked into Escaping: Omar Navarro is made to believe his allies are Breaking Out the Boss while it's only a ploy to kill him and make it look like a bungled escape attempt.
  • Villain Respect:
    • Helen Pierce gains this for the Byrdes, especially for Wendy, during Season 2. It starts to fade a bit during Season 3 as the Byrdes' failing relationship makes them both noticeably less competent, and is flushed down the tubes completely when Ben gets involved.
    • Helen also appears to gain this for Ruth after she endured her waterboarding without cracking and shows her own competence.
    • Jacob Snell couldn't help but respect Mason for refusing to continue his part in their heroin distribution network. It wasn't enough to spare Mason from the "consequences", but he respected it regardless.
    • In season 4, Nelson (of all people) is genuinely impressed with the Byres, not only with them getting Omar out of solitary confinement, but also being able to convince him NOT to kill them for putting him there in the first place.
  • Wham Line: From the very final episode
    Clare Shaw: It was Ruth Langmorenote 
  • White-Collar Crime: Marty's bread and butter even before the series proper starts. Eventually, Wendy joins him with her more and more elaborate political machinations. However, once they jump into the rabbit hole of the criminal world, it doesn't take them very long to eventually end up with orchestrating (or performing) murders, physically stealing, sending life threats, and even temporarily leading the cartel and being as ruthless as it takes for it. This gradual descent into a broad spectrum of criminal activity is further contrasted in season 4, where the Clare Shaw of Shaw Medical is introduced — and she's completely out of her league, because best she can do is tax evasion and falsifying documentation for the source of opium her company is using, while her security is a complete joke against the threat she's facing now.
  • Whole Episode Flashback: "Kaleidoscope" is set entirely in 2007 and shows both the Byrdes' and Agent Petty's Start of Darkness.
  • Widowed at the Wedding: Both Darlene and Wyatt get killed after returning from their wedding cermony.
  • Xanatos Speed Chess: Both Marty and Wendy are, by necessity, extremely good at it. Things rarely occur as planned, so they have to find a way to make them work on the fly.
  • Your Head A-Splode: Del Rio's head practically disintegrates when Darlene Snell shoots him point blank in the face with a shotgun for calling them rednecks.

Top