For anyone inclined initially to dismiss "Ozark" as "Breaking Bad Lite," the Netflix drama has exceeded all expectations, 

steadily building toward a final run reinforcing the idea that getting into business with very bad people is going to have consequences. 

The fourth season has also become a family affair, adding a deeper hook to the Byrde saga that delivers tension right up until the last frame.

Perhaps foremost, the series has consistently tested the extent to which Marty (Jason Bateman) and his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) are willing to go to survive,  

as they try to navigate landmines that include drug dealers and the Feds in order to shed their dirty money-laundering business and buy their way back to Chicago. 

Richard Thomas also plays a more significant role as Wendy's estranged father, who has come back into her life and, like almost everything else in "Ozark," complicated it.

"Ozark" deftly builds toward that answer, delivering it in a thought-provoking way that cements its place among Netflix's finest dramas. 

Having already shown itself to be one of those addictive series that pushed the boundaries of serialized thrillers