Ozark Has Perfectly Set Up Wendy To Doom The Byrdes In Season 4

While Wendy Byrde has so far helped her family in many ways, the show has been hinting since the beginning that she'll be their doom.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Ozark season 3.

Ozark’s first three seasons have seen to it that the Byrde family have gone through their fair share of drama - with Wendy being no exception, as a figure who may potentially doom the family in season 4. From getting caught up in a drug cartel, working with heroin farmers, avoiding near death and destruction every step of the way, it seems to be that the Byrde’s might just have it in them to cross the finish line and survive through to the finale. With that being said, the show has many underlying messages and has set up a possibly destructive future for the Byrde family, all thanks to the actions of Wendy herself. 

Having escaped what they dressed up as normal family life in Chicago and fled to the Ozarks to launder money for the Navarro drug cartel, the family hasn’t had a break for three whole seasons. With a slew of other criminal activity, the show really has set the Byrdes up as the real villains. Thanks to Wendy’s political maneuvering, they have acquired two casinos on behalf of Navarro, as well as ordered hits on both Ruth’s dad and Wendy’s brother and killed a local pastor. The Byrde’s have truly kicked up a storm and only ever seem to get deeper into the mess, but Marty has been looking for an exit since season 2, showing that Wendy is the one that's keeping them in it.

The very first episode of the show set a number of precedents. First and foremost, the center of the show is about the consequences of both action and inaction. Second of all, Wendy is an untrustworthy character, introduced to the audience as a liar, a notion reinforced throughout the show by her constant undermining of Marty. While Ben’s death may have saved the Byrdes in season 3, this brutal betrayal of her own brother - which she ironically used as a power play to prove her loyalty to the cartel - it set up to be a pivotal moment for Wendy’s character going into Ozark season 4. It could be the catalyst that forces her to wake up and get out, or that serves to bury her into the cartel forever - and given the fact that Wendy has increasingly fallen in love with her political station and professed her love for who she is to her own family, the former seems unlikely. Wendy’s political commitment to the cartel has not only increased their workload but also further involved them with the inner workings, ultimately leading Navarro to choose the Byrdes over Helen in Ozark season 3.

Wendy’s ascension into the Cartel is further reinforced when she revisits her family’s old Chicago home. Earlier in the show, she recalls a story of how in her youth she used to break into rich peoples’ houses and mess around when she realized she didn’t belong. This time, breaking into her old home was Wendy’s rebirth. She entered the house envious of their past, longing for simplicity, but upon reviewing their old life, she realized she has learned to love the power of her new self. Realizing she no longer belongs, she once again messes around, solidifying the choice of her new cartel life over her past family life. This commitment to the cartel has saved the family on a number of occasions, but the constant undermining of Marty and lack of working in Unison not only threatens their marriage but their lives.

With theories suggesting that Darlene Snell’s mother is Ozark season 4's big bad, a narrative shift away from the realm of politics may well save the Byrdes from impending doom. After all, season 3's plot was kick-started with Wendy’s paraphrasing of the "chaos is a ladder" speech by Game of Thrones’ Littlefinger, which was transformed into her discussion of making sure to "never let a good crisis go to waste". For the Byrdes to work together and get out of their mess, this political ascension needs to be reversed. 

Unless the Byrdes can turn their attitudes around and work together, it's increasingly likely that the finale won’t be happy. Wendy’s motivations moving into season 4 are ambiguous, but what is for certain is that doom looms over them at every second. Unless Wendy can leave her political motivations behind, she may well be the undoing of her family in Ozark season 4.