Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
With so many shows being made by top-name creators and stars, it’s easy to raise your expectations a bit too high. Typically if a show does most of what it aspires to do, we give it a pass and keep watching, knowing in the back of our minds that this show is perfectly fine but not as incredible as we expected. On this front, Netflix’s new crime drama goes above and beyond. Bluntly put, Ozark is a damn good show as well as a reminder of how deliciously thrilling TV can be.
Created by Bill Duduque (The Accountant, The Judge), Ozark follows Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), a financial planner who has been cleaning up a drug ring’s books for years. When things go south, Marty has to replant his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) and two children (Sofia Hublitz and Skylar Gaertner) from Chicago to the Ozarks in Missouri. Most of the show focuses on Marty and Wendy falling into more and more crime-based catastrophes in an attempt to keep their heads above water. Fueled by Bateman and Linney’s incredible performances, the series’ acting chops are reminiscent of Bloodline, but its whiplash drama watches more like a cross between Breaking Bad and How to Get Away with Murder. Ozark moves fast, and, much like the on-the-run Byrde family, it doesn’t leave much time to breathe.
Bateman directed four of the episodes of the new drama and his episodes are by far the strongest of the show, especially “Sugarwood” and “The Toll.” However, the series reveals a side of Bateman’s acting chops I’ve always loved — his mastery at playing unapologetic assholes. Bateman’s Marty is not a good person. He’s cold, calculating, arrogant, and one of his only redeeming qualities is that he’s almost always the smartest person in the room. Linney’s Wendy isn’t much better as she shows time and time again she’s able to be cruel and ruthless. But there’s something immediately charming about these two characters, largely because the chemistry between Bateman and Linney leads to one of the most complicated portrayals of marriage I’ve ever seen. You don’t want them to completely get away with their money laundering crimes, but you also don’t want them to die.
The same things can be said for the show’s other anti-hero, the brilliant but savage Ruth (Julia Garner). On paper, Ruth sounds like a character from a Southern gothic novel. At only 19 years old, she’s one of the youngest members of her family, but her intelligence and perchance for crime make her the de facto leader of her family. Multiple times, Garner’s Ruth goes head-to-head with Bateman’s Marty, and the resulting scenes are some of the most thrilling parts of the show. The young but scrappy character is a sinister delight that deserves to be added to the list of 2017 best on screen baddies.
Ultimately, it’s the show’s rapid pace that makes it such a compelling watch. Whereas shows like Breaking Bad or Dexter spent seasons hiding secrets and lying their way around criminal activity, Ozark is jarringly upfront. On several occasions, Marty comes clean about his crimes to someone who runs the risk of jeopardizing his plan, but he does so with the confidence of an annoyed professional who has already run the numbers and is painstakingly explaining why there’s only one option. Bateman nails this brand of white collar condescension, and it’s as fun as it is obnoxious.
That being said, the show does run off the rails a bit in the middle. Around Episode 5, there are just too many plots and too many obstacles in Marty and Wendy’s way. They have to worry about the drug dealer who is waiting for his cleaned up money, at least two different police investigations, two equally terrifying Southern crime families, the family of Wendy’s former lover, and the general frustrations that come with trying to take over multiple local businesses and cook their books. However, the show corrects itself and delivers one of the most intense and satisfying finales this genre has seen in years.
From start to finish, Ozark is a nonstop roller-coaster ride fueled by lies, murder, and enough explanations to make money laundering look like a thrilling, high-stakes crime. There are a few shows that remind you TV can be pure, fun, blissful entertainment. The action packed and well acted Ozark is one of them.
