Why Ozark deserves your attention

Simply put you should just take my word for it and watch this! End of article… really that is it not much else worth writing about, thanks for reading…

Ok I’m messing however this show, anyone who has watched it will tell you: ‘you absolutely have to watch this!’

Ever had someone bang on about how you really should watch this new tv show they have just gotten into? Been looking through your various social media outlets and seen something constantly being advertised, and everyone banging on about it? Sat in a waiting room at the doctors and overhead someone go on about this amazing new show? Your gran at the Sunday dinner start talking about her favourite character in this season? You get the idea.

Ozark is none of these things, and why it’s best described as a bit of a sleeper hit. Now on its 3rd Season it’s quietly creeped along on Netflix to not much widespread appeal, or cultural impact. Which is criminal in its own right, as it’s a phenomenal piece of work that once it sets its claws into you won’t allow you to stop watching it, and if you do or have to it’s not because it’s a bad show or it’s lost your attention, it’s for other reasons.

It’s maybe unfair to say it’s a sleeper hit or doesn’t have much widespread appeal as it certainly does. The issue being is that perhaps it has been drowned out in the endless sea of new shows that pop up with almost the same regularity, as the sun does every morning you wake (unless you live here in Scotland, it’s more a monthly situation..) Between Netflix, Amazon Prime, AppleTV etc, we are swamped and spoiled with shows to watch and it seems this will now be compounded by the addition of DisneyPlus, as well as the collaboration between ITV and BBC: BritBox. They constantly jostle and vie for our attention which is certain to become more intense and aggressive, as traditional broadcasters and adopters move onto the scene chasing ratings and money, while traditional TV goes the way of the dinosaur and we strictly consume on-demand tv in the 21st Century. So increasingly the chance to be heard and viewed is becoming more difficult, which is ultimately why we rely on recommendations from friends and work colleagues or algorithms like Netflix’s match rating, but the irony becomes with these things that it can become an echo chamber and we never view anything new.

Now onto why you should watch Ozark. The premise revolves around that of Marty Byrd and his family. The usual all-American nuclear family: Wendy a stay at home wife who used to work as a political campaigner for years, Marty a financial advisor who is a wizard when it comes to numbers, their children Charlotte a fake air-head who is desperate to be seen as an adult, and Jonah the bright intelligent straight-A student who may or may not hide a dark streak. So far so normal. There are the obvious sub-plots you would expect from a show of this type. Marty and Wendy’s relationship is strained – work, past and present demons along with resentment all seem to have robbed them of their love for one another. Charlotte and Jonah seem destined to be confined to their respective American stereotypes (arguably even more western stereotypes), Charlotte the girl who can’t really be anything more than what society says women can be in a male dominated society, who also feels the need to be simultaneously a ‘social’ girl in a digital age. Jonah is the strange, nervous and shy brainy male child, who is destined to study hard and go to University, graduate to a well payed job and ultimately follow in his father’s footsteps. The nuclear family living the American dream in all its glory/depression. By the end of the 1st episode this is all shattered, shredded, and exploded beyond all repair as their world is irreversibly destroyed and transformed.

The catalyst for this change, the revelation that Marty’s firm’s biggest client (The Navarro Mexican drug cartel,) sends one of its lieutenants to find out why their money laundering operation is losing money. After an awkward, dangerous and deadly game of cat and mouse ensues, Marty then finds himself and his family relocating from Chicago to the Ozarks, with the one proviso, get the cartels money back or face horrible consequences for him and his family. There are obvious similarities to Breaking Bad, a show about Drugs, Death, Money and Cartels (in that order), while Ozark is about Money, Death, Cartels and Drugs (in that order). That is about a far as it goes and after the first 2 episodes their similarities disappear.

Ozark uses this framework to examine what the impacts of a life altering event like this has on a family, and the individual. More so than Breaking Bad and the other great tv shows of our time, The Soprano’s, The Wire, Game of Thrones, Lost et al it does one thing that puts it above the rest. It feels real. This isn’t a show that has you screaming or frustrated at the tv, that a character isn’t telling another character what’s really happening, or a scenario takes place that feels quite unbelievable and has you feeling the urge to ignore the silly-ness of it. Instead huge revelations are made, characters tell each other exactly what’s happening or how they feel, or why they are doing something. The show then sits back and shows you the chaos, tension, and shock that goes along with all of this, taking no prisoners. Plot lines are cleverly explained, and shown how they would work in a real world setting, as well as hinting at how these are also the very things that are happening right in our own world, everyday all around us at various levels of society. The storylines and the plot lines all inter-mingle, to the point where it feels like you are quietly observing real people’s lives. They all simultaneously keep going, moving and shifting at their own speeds. With threads running over from one episode to another, nothing is paused or gets ignored for 3 episodes while the big story takes place, it’s all one big thing. It also deserves praise for the pace and resolving of plot lines, while some shows take a whole season to get to the point (anyone remember the Mexican Cousins in season 3 of Breaking Bad who took 7 episodes to catch up with Walt…) this show has them delivered and resolved in a single episode.

The acting also makes this one of the great shows. At no point does it ever feel like you are watching actors. The hurt, fear, danger, pressure and elation characters portray on screen is palpable, the rollercoaster of emotions they are on is believable and you are along for the ride whether you like it or not. This carries across everyone in the show, and as the seasons go on the focus shifts to a wider scope of characters, and some who initially seem like supporting parts become part of the foundation and fabric of the story. There really is not a weak member, and it does become an ensemble piece, most especially with the 3rd and most recent season. Some characters also have more development in an episode or scene, than some writers achieve in a whole season on other shows with their characters.

It also doesn’t shy away from examining and exploring everyday issues in people’s lives. Affairs, Mental health, drug addiction, religion, money, mental and physical abuse are all on show here, as well as other aspects of society such as corruption, politics, law enforcement, class wars and stereotyping are all delved into, shown warts and all. Jonah’s telling his new school teacher, that the avoidance of the collapse of banks during the global financial crisis of 2008, was thanks to drug money is fascinating. A later season tackles what it’s like being Bi-polar and its impacts on those around it, with impacts that will haunt and stay with you a long time after the show is finished, containing one of the most tragic and gut wrenching stories of all time (to say too much would be a spoiler into itself). Another over-arching thread is that of politics, and how its manipulation is used to make all things happen from gaining a gambling licence, making huge amounts of money, procuring babies and everything in between. It shows at the core it’s morally bankrupt, and full of corruption and that for anything to truly happen or change then it involves individuals to give up their own morals and get dirty. How stereotyping people in society, as well as labelling them wrongly can have disastrous impacts, after season 1s finale you will never wrongly call a Hillbilly a Redneck. Again, all the above continue to make this show feel real as it shows issues we have all been affected by, or that we feel to be true when we view the world around us.

To summarise – this show is worth watching, but you should be prepared for it hitting you hard. It takes no prisoners, and as the episodes and seasons go by the stakes become ever higher, and the impact on characters morality, mentality, and lives (as well as our own as the viewers) becomes stretched. It makes us think about what we have seen, and if it’s right or wrong, good or bad, and what would we do in that situation. How ultimately life is never clear cut, and that to judge another is easy until you find yourself in that very same situation. It’s thought provoking but it’s also rewarding viewing, the writing and acting as previously stated is crisp, visually it’s a joy to watch and sometimes the way a scene is framed or lighted can almost tell a story in itself. Audibly it also surpasses itself, using what horror movies do so well to narrate the direction a scene is going or to raise tension is cleverly done here, and its use of real world music is done sparsely but with finesse, watch out for season 1 episodes 3’s use of Still the Same by Bob Seger as an example. Each episode is also like a mini-movie into itself, and so much happens that barely a scene is wasted, and the quality of production is movie quality into itself. All the above only scratches the surface of how great Ozark is, and I could go on for 3 times as long but then it would contain spoilers, as well as arguably make watching it pointless, it has to be watched to truly appreciate. To date there has been 3 seasons released (30 episodes), and the show has been renewed for a 4th and final season of 14 episodes split into 2 parts, the writers feeling this will be a natural conclusion. It’s nice also that a show wishes to end, when it wants to end which avoids the tendency of shows to drag on or be a season too long. To date Ozark has had a new season land every year since it started in 2017, the final season may not come till later in 2021 due to the CoVid-19 outbreak, so there is still time to get in on it, before one of the most original, shocking, deep, and tense tv shows to date concludes!

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