| “ | If you won’t protect my family, I won’t protect yours. | „ |
| ~ Wendy to Agent Miller. |
| “ | Evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden, it just looks like there’s only one way out. | „ |
| ~ Wendy Byrde |
Wendy Marie Byrde (née Davis) is one of the two main protagonists (alongside Marty Byrde) of the Netflix crime drama, Ozark.
A former political staffer, Wendy and her husband Marty become willingly involved in money laundering for the Navarro drug cartel. While initially a passive player in her husband's schemes, she eventually joins him as a cunning and sometimes outright ruthless ally.
She was portrayed by Laura Linney who also played Martha Bowen in Law & Order.
Biography[]
Background[]
Wendy Davis was born in Boone, North Carolina to Nathan Davis and an unnamed mother, and grew up in her home town alongside her brother Ben. Wendy experienced a abusive childhood from her alcoholic father, whom she recounts once hit her so hard she couldn't walk for days. Though raised in a religious family, Wendy later cut ties from the church after a pastor rejected her when she admitted her sins to him. Into adulthood, Wendy went into politics in Chicago, and become a well known political staffer during the 2000s. At some point, Wendy met Marty Byrde, whom she would marry and have two children with.
Ozark[]
A former political staffer for then-Senator Obama, Wendy is married to Marty Byrde, a financial advisor working for the Navarro drug Cartel, led by Omar Navarro. After a deal falls through, Marty's colleagues are killed and he is forced to relocate his family to the Lake of the Ozarks to launder money for the Navarro Cartel.
Throughout the series, Marty and Wendy open businesses, launder money for the Cartel and feud with two local families, the Langmores and the Snells.
Wendy's troubled brother Ben stays and ends up learning that she works for a drug cartel. After Ben confronts Cartel lawyer Helen Pierce and her daughter, Wendy attempts to help Ben escape to Memphis but reluctantly abandons him midway so her children would remain safe. Ben's death causes a rift between the surviving Byrdes and Ruth Langmore.
After Ruth's cousin is killed by Omar's nephew Javier Elizonndro, Ruth stalks Javi to Chicago and kills him in front of Marty, Wendy and pharma CEO Clare Shaw. Wendy's father Nathan then wins guardianship of Charlotte and Jonah.
Under the stress of losing her kids, Wendy has a mental breakdown and checks herself into a mental institution. Marty coerces Ruth into forcing Nathan to let the kids go.
During the riverboat party, Javier's mother Camila intimidates Clare into confessing that Ruth murdered Javi. Threatening to kill Charlotte and Jonah if the elder Byrdes intervene, she tracks down and shoots Ruth dead.
Marty and Wendy are devastated by Ruth's death and prepare to drink their sorrows away, but find Mel Sattem outside their home. Mel reveals that he stole the urn of Ben's ashes and gloats that he would turn it in to the police. However, Charlotte and Jonah arrive, the latter carrying a shotgun. Jonah then shoots Mel dead, letting his family get away with all their crimes.
Quotes[]
| “ | They tell you Adam and Eve knew that they could eat from every single tree in that garden, except one. But the truth is, evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden it just looks like there's only one way out. The truth is Adam and Eve probably grabbed that apple because they were f-cking starving, and it was the first tree they saw. | „ |
| ~ Wendy Byrde. |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Linney's performance received praise, and has been nominated for numerous awards such as "Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series" and "Best Actress – Television Series Drama".
- Wendy says the final line of the series: "Since when?" This is in response to Mel Sattem's speech about how corrupt people are not allowed to get away with their crimes, and that is not how the world works. Her words sum up the ultimate theme of the show: The world is a corrupt place, and people succeed via doing corrupt things.
- While her husband Marty is the clear protagonist of the first season, Wendy becomes the primary focus of the second season and the main protagonist of it. By the third and fourth seasons, both of them become co-protagonists with an equal amount of focus.
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 Villains
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Byrde Family Langmore Family Navarro Cartel Heron Mills Federal Bureau of Investigation Kansas City Mob Others
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