Unlike most folks, I don't automatically watch every single thing that Netflix offers. And, even though friends have thoroughly recommended "Ozark" to me, I have resisted it. After all, I'm already three seasons behind. And, oh, yeah, I hear it's very dark and our lives are already grim as it is. I'll pass.
And then the riots happened. Helicopters swooping around my neighborhood. The sound of glass breaking in the distance. Evil personified at every street corner in America. Politicization of these events at every click on the TV remote.
How do I escape this?
I clicked on Season 1, Episode 1 of "Ozark." And, within ten days, I was already into Season 3. Yes, the show is dark. But, compared everything going on outside, "Ozark" is Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep having a jolly holiday.
Yep, the story is grim. The people are nasty. The elevator pitch for this series would be "Green Acres with criminal records." At the same time, it is amazingly compelling. And a master acting class offered by the two leads Jason Bateman and the always welcome-on-my-screen Laura Linney. Trust me, two hours will get you hooked for thirty without you even knowing it.
Bateman is a married man and a father of two. As the series opens, he's an executive in a Chicago financial group that specializes in money laundering for a Mexican drug cartel. Um, who doesn't? Things are worse as Bateman is spying on his wife (Linney) who is having an affair. Well, the cartel means business and, before long, the wife's boyfriend winds up splat on Michigan Avenue. The whole family hightails it to the Ozark Mountains to hide out.
Except when you are amongst the dregs of white trash cafe society, you soon discover that you can pick up your dirty business practices. Before you know it, Bateman and family are Missouri's equivalent of the Sopranos.
That last comparison is a lofty one as Jason and Laura give us the most interesting and conflicted married couple on TV since James Gandolfini and Edie Falco. Pure magic in every scene. And, as the show progresses, there are amazing transformations in their characters that are organic and marvelous to watch.
Beyond the two leads, "Ozark" is similar again to "The Sopranos" as both shows are peppered with fabulously developed supporting characters. Watch, in particularly, Julia Garner as Bateman's hillbilly assistant and Janet McTeer as the drug cartel's lawyer.
As I wrote, I wasn't looking for "Ozark." But when I found it, I was hooked onto the best TV drama since...here it comes again..."The Sopranos." Dark, you bet. But its excellence will hit you like a ton of bricks.
At least, bricks that aren't being used to break a store window.
Dinner last night: Western salad.
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