The finale of Ozark has divided audiences, with the episode achieving the lowest audience rating in the series’ history on IMDb.
Netflix’s hit crime thriller came to an end last week, releasing the last group of episodes from its fourth and final season.
Major spoilers follow for the ending of Ozark...
The series finale, entitled “A Hard Way to Go”, saw fan-favourite character Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) meet her end at the hands of Camila Elizondro (Veronica Falcón) as retribution for murdering Javi.
At the very end of the episode, Mel Sattem (Adam Rothenberg) breaks into the Byrde home and discovers the cookie jar containing Ben’s ashes – potentially giving him enough proof to finally bring the felonious family to justice.
However, he is then confronted by a shotgun-wielding Jonah (Skylar Gaertner), who, it is implied, shoots him dead just as the screen fades to black.
The episode currently holds a rating of just 6.7 out of 10 on IMDb, as voted for by audiences. That places it far below the second lowest-rated episode ever, season one’s “Kaleidoscope” (rated 7.5 out of 10).
Many viewers shared their disappointment with the ending on social media.
“So….I absolutely hated the end of Ozark….. WTF,” one fan wrote.
“Hated the Ozark ending,” wrote another. “HATED. They did Ruth so unnecessarily dirty.”
“I loved Ozark right until the last episode. Such a disappointing end,” someone else wrote.
Others, however, defended the episode.
“#Ozark had a perfect ending and the negative reactions prove it,” one person wrote. “The Byrdes get their happy ending, all dressed in black, and Ruth, dressed in white, has to die for it. It isn’t right, but for four seasons we watched Marty and Wendy win as everyone else lost.”
“That #Ozark ending was just perfect,” wrote another. “The show not having a slam-bang finale and having a slow burn instead was the very ethos on which it was built. The theme persisted... that the world is an unfair place, no matter what you feel about it.”
The entire series is available to stream on Netflix now.
