OZARK(UPDATED POST)

I'm sure I'm not the only one that has been sleeping on this tv series from Netflix all this while. For so long now I've heard about the series Ozark but for once I've never thought to bat an eye and find out what the gist is about on this series. If you fall into this category like I was until few weeks ago. Don't worry I've got you covered now and I'm here to give you a short gist about Ozark if you're still contemplating on whether you should check out this series. This is more like an impression of season one and two. I'm also going to be making a lot of comparison to 'Breaking Bad' in this article, just to create a better understanding and context for those who have seen 'Breaking Bad'. This is not to say 'Ozark' is a copy, it is more like a 'niche' thing in this case. Without further ado, let's get into it. 

First thing you have to bear in mind is that this series is super lengthy. It's currently at season three right now with each season containing 10 episodes and each episode is around 55 minutes long or 1 hour (finale episode of season one was even 1 hour 20 minutes long!). Just thought I let you guys know what you're getting into with this one 'length-wise'. If you're planning to binge this one you better have like 30 hours+ chunk of time to burn (I wouldn't advise you do that.)

Ozark is definitely not an easy series to binge considering its runtime per episode and by the time you factor in its build-ups, it's very slow but not extremely slow. It's not a con for this series if you're wondering. Being slow-paced makes it worth it by the time an episode ends.

Now moving to the plot, 'Ozark' bears a lot in common with 'Breaking Bad'. If you're an ardent movie/series fan and you still haven't seen 'Breaking Bad" at this point in 2021. I'll say you're missing out a lot because 'Breaking Bad' is like one of the greatest tv series of all time. Even when you compile a list, it will always find it way onto that list; it's as good as that. But I digress too much, if there was any series to compare 'Ozark' to, it will be 'Breaking Bad' for sure. In fact, it's like a spiritual successor to 'Breaking Bad' but with its own charm and uniqueness too. 'Ozark' follows the story of a financial advisor, Martin Byrde (played by Jason Bateman) who launders money for a Mexican drug cartel. Things escalated quickly when Marty's Partner, Bruce, starts stealing from the cartel's money. In order for the cartel to spare Marty and his family. He proposes to set up a bigger money laundering scheme for them at place called Lake of the Ozarks region of central Missouri. An agreement is made, upon their arrival in Ozarks, It didn't take long for them to get entangled with the criminals running their territory in the remote areas of Ozarks; The Snell family.

If there anything that makes this series standout for me, it is character development. Martin Byrde (also called Marty) is equivalent to Walter White. Both men are very intelligent, you can also call them geniuses. They are so good at what they do and always quick to find a solution to problems when they arise. Even though both men have their hands deep in dirty businesses and insane moral compasses. One thing they don't joke with is their family. The survivor of their family is always what they put first. Especially in Marty's case, this reminds me of a quote from 'Gus Fring' from 'Breaking Bad' which goes thus: “When you have children, you always have family. They will always be your priority, your responsibility. And a man, a man provides. And he does it even when he’s not appreciated or respected or even loved. He simply bears up and he does it. Because he’s a man.” When you watch both series, you'll understand how relevant this quote is, to both the character of Martin Byrde and Walter white.

Wendy Byrde, Marty's Wife is almost like Walter's wife, Skyler. As the series progresses, you'll get to understand Wendy better. She starts out as annoying as Skyler, in her case she was even cheating on her husband but she eventually steps up and boy! You know the saying they say when they say 'You two deserve each other'? Not to spoil things for you guys, I'll leave you guys to experience Wendy's transformation by watching this series. Their children, Charlotte and Jonah, I find Jonah to be more of an interesting character than Charlotte. He is a very intelligent boy that takes after his father while Charlotte is like those annoying characters from teenagers dramas that somehow found it way into this show somehow. For real, that character is super annoying and it gets more and more annoying overtime because she keeps making bad decisions; sort of a cliched trope for a teenage character. The show basically centres around the Byrde family going through internal crisis, external crisis and trying to figure out a way to solve them without the family imploding under the stress and pressure.

There is also the Langmore family, Ruth being the most interesting one out of all of them. In a low-key way, Ruth is almost equivalent to Jesse Pinkman but not quite. Ruth is sort of like a sidekick to the character of Marty and you have the same with Walter and Jesse in 'Breaking Bad'. She's smart and dangerous. Over the course of two seasons, you'll see a lot of conflict going on with this character; that which makes her standout from the other members of the Langmore family. 

We can keep going on and on about the character and character development in this series and it will make this article super long. You'll find out more by watching this series; It's worth watching.

Moving on, 'Ozark' cinematography has this unique blue and cold filter to it. If you pay attention enough, it's one of the things you'll notice visually speaking. This effect creates a distinctive look to the series. This feel also expresses a number of things like their environment, the situation the family is in and the general atmosphere of the movie itself. This something that is also common to the 'Breaking Bad' series which uses this hot/orange like feel to it cinematography.

Currently, I still have one more season to complete(season three) but with what I've seen so far with 'Ozark', it's a show I'll highly recommend you give a shot if you have the time and space. I'll also call it an impressive show because having the same niche of show like 'Breaking Bad' is not an easy feat and for me 'Ozark' has really proved to be its own 'thing' so far.