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Ozark
If you’ve seen Netflix’s latest crime drama, you already know that Ozark is full of mysteries. Starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, the crime thriller follows the shady world of money laundering after one man is forced to clean up money for a drug cartel or risk putting his family in danger. It’s an intense series filled with crazy twists and turns, but almost all of those twists could have been predicted if you were paying attention to each episode’s opening credits.
Every episode features four symbols inside of an “O” that are arranged to spell out “Ozark.” However, these symbols are more than just a clever way to start a show. More often than not, they outline the key themes and moments of this crazy series. In case you were curious about the meaning behind every gun and needle, we did the heavy lifting for you. Here are the exact moments in Ozark that correspond to each episode’s symbols in both Season1 and Season 2.
Season 1, Episode 1: “Sugarwood”
This is the episode that started it all. Ozark began with a bang, and it never really let up for there. In “Sugarwood,” Marty (Jason Bateman) was given his money laundering ultimatum, his business partner and most of his professional associates were killed, Wendy’s (Laura Linney) lover was forced to commit suicide, and the whole family made their drug-assisted move to the Ozarks.
Season 1, Episode 2: “Blue Cat”
Ozark’s second episode was all about unsuccessful hustling and proving that the Byrds weren’t in Chicago anymore. Time and time again, Marty goes to different local businesses trying to catch a break and prove he can turn their operations around. Each time he’s brushed off, until he proves himself to Rachel (Jordana Spiro), the owner of the failing Blue Cat Lodge. Meanwhile, his daughter Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) makes some ill-advised local friends that put the Byrds in contact with the Langmores.
Season 1, Episode 3: “My Dripping Sleep”
The Byrds finally find their groove in the show’s third episode, and so do the FBI. In this one, Wendy demands a job from her real estate agent, and Marty decides he wants to invest in a strip club while figuring out what the heck he’s going to do with the meddling Ruth (Julia Garner). Meanwhile, FBI Agent Evans confronts Marty and Wendy about their shady dealings.
Season 1, Episode 4: “Tonight We Improvise”
The main event of this episode is Marty and Ruth’s takedown of the strip club. After pumping the club for information on multiple sides, Marty calls in an underage complaint to the police while Ruth tries to break into the safe. Meanwhile, Agent Petty (Jason Butler Harner) starts to form a close friendship with one of the Langmores, and we’re introduced to the shady Snells.
Season 1, Episode 5: “Ruling Days”
Marty decides to expand his scope ever further and goes from one end of the morality investment spectrum to the other. Marty and Wendy want to build a church for Pastor Mason Young (Michael Mosley). Meanwhile, Ruth is still plotting, both the Langmores and the Snells are still being nefarious in their own ways, the FBI is still searching, and the son of Wendy’s deceased lover makes an unexpected appearance.
Season 1, Episode 6: “Book of Ruth”
This episode is the reason why you shouldn’t tell everyone you come in contact with you’re working for a drug cartel. Marty and Jacob Snell face off even more, a confrontation that starts with Jacob almost running Marty over. Meanwhile, Ruth works on her plan to kill Marty, and Rachel learns that her investor and friend has secretly been cooking the books this whole time.
Season 1, Episode 7: “Nest Box”
Life is all about compromises, and the same can be said for the world of Ozark. Marty works with the Snells to figure out a way they can both use a church to carry out criminal activity. Meanwhile, Agent Petty manages to gain the trust of Russ Langmore (Marc Menchaca) and convinces him to be a spy for the FBI. Also, Charlotte is over the Ozarks after the man she has sex with leaves without telling her. She tries to run away from home, but is stopped.
Season 1, Episode 8: “Kaleidoscope”
It’s flashback time! Set 10 years earlier, “Kaleidoscope” shows us how Marty and Wendy came to be in the money laundering business in the first place. It turns out Marty’s relationship with Del was far more friendly than he was letting on, and Marty isn’t as much of a victim as he led us to believe. Meanwhile, Agent Petty has to deal with his mother’s drug addiction.
Season 1, Episode 9: “Coffee, Black”
We’re back in present day, and this super fast series is about to crank it up a couple more levels. Russ Langmore learns of Agent Petty’s secret identity and has to decide whether he’s going to betray his family or risk betraying the FBI agent. However, that moral dilemma is quickly solved when he and his brother fall victim to Ruth’s electrifying plan. Meanwhile, Wendy, who is helping her real estate boss with the death of his mother, decides to acquire a funeral home for money laundering purposes. The Byrds are close to their summer quota and something similar to freedom.
Season 1, Episode 10: “The Toll”
This is when Ozark goes into overdrive. The Snells exact their revenge on Pastor Young in the most disturbing way possible, murdering his wife and cutting the baby out of her womb. He’s so traumatized by this, he attempts to drown the baby before changing his mind. While this is happening, people are dying. Jonah and Buddy shoot an employee for Del, and the Snells take out Del and several of his lackeys as Marty watches. Marty tries to give his family new identities and send them away, but they all reunite at the last moment, now in more danger than they’ve ever been in before.
Season 2, Episode 1 "Reparations"
New season, same old antics. The first episode of Season 2 is all about inevitable consequences. As Marty and Wendy start to move forward with the casino they promised the cartel, the Snells are forced to own the fact that Darlene (Lisa Emery) murdered one of the cartel’s top men. Meanwhile, Ruth is initially excited by her father Cade’s (Trevor Long) release from prison, but things quickly sour between them.
Season 2, Episode 2 "The Precious Blood of Jesus"
Set several weeks after the events of last episode, this one’s all about legislation. The pressure’s on for Wendy to coerce, bribe, and extort her way to lift Missouri’s casino cap. But Wendy is Wendy, so this is old hat for the political pro. Meanwhile Ruth is sent to pick up a riverboat for Marty, the Kansas City mob is hurting people to show their disapproval of the upcoming casino, and we finally learn what happened to Rachel.
Watch Ozark Season 2 "The Precious Blood of Jesus" on Netflix
Season 2, Episode 3 "Once Upon a Langmore..."
“Once Upon a Langmore…” does a lot to set some major season set pieces into play. The episode explores the deepening of the Byrde and the Snells’ alliance, which is slowly turning into something that resembles friendship. Meanwhile, Ruth continues to fight her feeling of guilt over killing her uncles with her passion for Wyatt to get into college, and Rachel and her newly reignited addiction problems return to the Blue Cat.
Season 2, Episode 4 "Stag"
Agent Petty is fully back in the game, and he’s not messing around. Petty rejoined Season 2 in its second episode, but it’s not until “Stag” that we learn what he’s been up to as well as how furious he is with the Byrdes. He sends Rachel in to spy on Marty with a wire. Wendy and Marty are immediately distrustful of the woman who once stole from them and don’t give away any secrets. But they’re not the only ones who know about Marty’s less-than-legal business. This episode also sees Ruth bashing in some administrator heads to get her cousin into college and the return of Pastor Mason Young.
Season 2, Episode 5 "Game Day"
The FBI are hot on Marty and Wendy’s tracks. Knowing that the government’s next step will be to investigate their business partners, the Byrdes beg Darlene and Jacob Snell to burn down their poppy fields. Naturally the Snells won’t budge, prompting Wendy to get creative. Through the raid, Marty and Wendy learn that their daughter Charlotte stole $5,000 from them. But the real star of this episode is Ruth. After Agent Petty frames Ruth to look like she’s been working against the cartel, the cartel corners her at home. Ruth admits to trying to kill Marty, and the cartel operatives waterboard her to test her loyalty.
Season 2, Episode 6 "Outer Darkness"
If she were dealing with any other crime family, Wendy’s plan to burn down the poppy fields may have gone off without a hitch. But these are the Snells we’re talking about. There are bones in those fields. It doesn’t take long for the FBI to find the bodies, so to speak, and arrest Jacob for possible murder. The graveyard affects everyone, including Pastor Mason who believes that his dead wife Grace may be on the plot. But thanks to some quick thinking on Marty’s end, no one gets the answers they’re looking for. He and Wendy swap out the onsite bones with Snell family bones, bride and threaten the lab technicians, and get Jacob out of jail.
Season 2, Episode 7 "One Way Out"
Ozark doesn’t really do bottle episodes, but this thrilling episode comes close. Someone calls child services on Pastor Mason, probably because he’s been preaching in the cold with his newborn baby. Mason assumes that Wendy is responsible for him losing his baby and snaps. He kidnaps Wendy and holds her ransom, telling Marty that if he doesn’t bring his baby by sunrise Wendy will die. Marty complies, but the encounter comes close to costing both he and Wendy everything.
Season 2, Episode 8 "The Big Sleep"
“The Big Sleep” starts with Ozark’s first serious time jump. Through a series of flashbacks and flashforwards, the episode shows how Darlene came to spike the cartel drugs that caused Rachel’s overdose. Darlene’s latest psychotic grab for the cartel’s respect has rubbed them the wrong way. Because of the bad batch, the FBI are looking more closely at the Nevarro cartel than ever before. They want Darlene dead, and they want Jacob to do it. Meanwhile, Wyatt gets back into high school giving him another chance at college, Ruth and her father try to steal money from Marty, the Byrdes take in the now-dead Mason’s baby, and Marty sends Rachel away to rehab.
Season 2, Episode 9 "The Badger"
After a full season of being horrified from the sidelines, it’s finally Charlotte’s time to shine. Most of “The Badger” revolves around the teenager’s fairly smart decision to legally distance herself from her parents. While Wendy responds to the news with shock and outrage, the announcement leaves a more contemplative Marty. Meanwhile, Wyatt gets into Ole Miss just like he and Ruth wanted, and Jacob tries to make good on his promise of killing his wife.
Season 2, Episode 10 "The Gold Coast"
It’s the finale we’ve all been waiting for. All of Marty’s plans are going off without a hitch, and the casino is up and running. But Marty and Wendy may have done their jobs too well. The Nevarro cartel is so impressed with them, it wants to offer them more work, something that Wendy is interested in but Marty is not. While contemplating the horrors of his own success, Jonah is also kidnapped from the Byrdes by Darlene. Marty gives Darlene Pastor Young’s baby in exchange for the promise she will never touch his children again. The season ends with the Byrdes still in Ozark after having made an enemy of the Kansas City mob and ordering a hit on Cade.
