Ozark: Season 4/ Episode 13 “Mud” – Recap/ Review

Just when Wendy catches a break, Marty and Omar may have snatched her chance at joy. Also, someone dies this episode – can you guess who?

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Aired (Netflix)	4/29/2022
Directed By	Amanda Marsalis
Written By	Miki Johnson

This content contains pertinent spoilers.

Summary

Ruth gets all she needs to take over the Belle, and that royally screws over Marty and Wendy. Omar wants loyalty payments to his lieutenants, and now Marty is missing a means to get the job done. And while the Byrde Foundation and a gala they are doing would be perfect, Wendy has made enough sacrifices to get this far, and tainting the Byrde Foundation isn’t an option. So, with that, Marty racks his brain but seems unable to come up with alternatives, and Omar is getting impatient.

But as usual, Wendy tries to take the lead, but that isn’t making things better. She proposes Camila taking over and even reveals all to Camila, like all the FBI deals, but doesn’t reveal Omar didn’t kill or order Javi to be killed. When having a heart-to-heart with his sister, as she mulls Wendy and Marty’s proposal, Omar reveals that. This leads to her hoping Marty will have the answer, but he appears to be the money guy, which makes Wendy seem like the mastermind.

The thing is, if Wendy is the mastermind, it’s not because of careful planning anymore. Desperation has fully settled in, and it’s luck over skill at this point. But that luck is running out. The kids aren’t backing down and plan to leave with Nathan, and no matter what Ruth does, she can’t fix things at the casino so Marty can make the money, can’t get her kids back, so she checks herself into a mental hospital as a last-ditch effort to get her kids back and keep from killing Nathan.

As all that happens, Ruth feels the heat from denying Marty, Wendy, and the Navarro Cartel use of the Belle. Rachel gets threatened by Nelson, as does Ruth, but thankfully for both, they get a leg up on Nelson and kill him. Though with killing one of the top men in Omar’s organization, this won’t help Ruth when Wendy potentially snitches on her to save her own neck.

Things To Note

Question(s) Left Unanswered

1. Is it safe to assume Clare is just out at this point and played the part she was needed to?

What Could Happen Next

1. Wendy learning that being committed, like being arrested, isn’t hard for people to find out, and that desperate action becoming another nail in her foundation’s coffin. Even if Jim was able to get the CEO of the AFL-CIO.
2. Marty potentially leaving Wendy out to dry
3. Camila going after Jonah and Charlotte

Review

Highlights

Marty Realizing Who His Wife Is

It’s easy to have horse blinders or rose-colored glasses when it comes to your partner, especially when you’re on the same page or have the same goal. At this point, that is no longer true for Wendy and Marty. While he wants out and to be separated from all this Cartel stuff, Wendy’s hunger for power makes her want to get in deeper and to find ways to suck from the teat of the Cartel as long as she can.

Granted, part of the reason is the foundation isn’t set yet to give her long-term power. However, another factor could be that Wendy hasn’t felt like she had this much influence in all of her life. Clearly, with Nathan, her word, femininity, intelligence, and personality held no sway – hence the state of their relationship. So add in her doubling down on her father’s idea she is unlovable and her kids validating those negative feelings? This is where we are at.

Wendy is at her worst and showing Marty who she truly is. She is someone who doesn’t struggle with the idea of having someone be harmed. She’ll make the call herself. Wendy is someone not above having herself committed to manipulate her kids into sympathy. Thus pushing the idea while Nathan is a piece of work, maybe what he has said about her wasn’t an embellishment or outright lie.

What Could Be Camila’s Next Move

With Marty dry snitching that he wasn’t involved with Javi’s murder, we saw Nelson go after Ruth, and you could even assume Camila could suspect Wendy as well. After all, someone had to convince Omar to originally take the blame for Javi’s death, right? All of these FBI deals, with freedom being dangled, had to be negotiated and presented by someone, right? Who else but Wendy seems to give a wry smile as she wheels and deals regularly while Marty? Clearly, he can’t keep up. He can barely look you in the eye, or even his own wife! He, truly, is the numbers guy, a bit in over his head, with a partner whose ambitions force him to get involved far more than he desires.

So with that in mind, will Camila misinterpret Marty saying he isn’t aware of that side of the business and think Wendy is, or is Nelson following Ruth a sign that Camila got the information she needed from Clare to get who killed her son? Never mind, will Clare, Wendy, and Marty have to pay for not reporting the truth?

Ruth and Rachel Killing Nelson

Only bad things can come from this, and how Ruth and Rachel deal with killing one of Camila’s top soldiers will certainly make the series finale nail-biting. For you know, there has to be retribution for this.

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