Ozark [Netflix] (***SPOILERS***)

JP Liz V1

Jason Bateman new dark drama which he produces and directs starts July on Netflix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdHriYYHAFw

Frank O. Pinion

Just watched the first episode. Another entry in "well-made, bad TV", for me. An intriguing opening, followed by 50 minutes of blandness, in the form of a Breaking Bad knockoff. Including silly stuff like the main character talking to himself out loud, while walking on the street. Jason Bateman is decent, but this isn't great television. Thanks Netflix and Bateman for the content, but no thanks.

wonderwall900

@Frank O. Pinion

Seems a bit harsh to judge it just on one episode. IMDB rating seems to be on the rise, it was at 8/10 last I checked and anything 8 or above on there is usually worth a shot.

That said though, there's so much good TV I already need to catch up on like GOT, Veep and Silicon Valley. I'll give it another week of the reviews coming in, both here and elsewhere, before I jump in.

Frank O. Pinion

Besides the opening, the show had zero "oomph". Maybe some people can watch 5 boring hours of a new 10 hour Netflix series, before quitting, but I don't have the time or energy, (the 10th episode of Ozark is 80 minutes...). Most of these "Golden age of TV" shows lately are just dying to be the next Breaking Bad or next whatever. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not original or captivating.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/arts/television/review-ozark-netflix-laura-linney-jason-bateman.html

ThisRegard

wonderwall900 wrote: »

@Frank O. Pinion

Seems a bit harsh to judge it just on one episode. IMDB rating seems to be on the rise, it was at 8/10 last I checked and anything 8 or above on there is usually worth a shot.

That said though, there's so much good TV I already need to catch up on like GOT, Veep and Silicon Valley. I'll give it another week of the reviews coming in, both here and elsewhere, before I jump in.

IMDB I find is pretty harsh. Ratings and reviews across the board are pretty high across the usual sites and media for it anyway.

wonderwall900

ThisRegard wrote: »

IMDB I find is pretty harsh.

Exactly, so if it's 8 or above on there that's usually a good sign. I just checked and it's now at 9.2!

On the other side though, AV Club are usually very on the money with reviews and they didnt like it at all. I was given a C- rating with choice quotes like:

Ozark plays like a computer program's idealized hybrid of Breaking Bad, Narcos, and Justified.

And

A money-laundering Jason Bateman can’t wash the stink off Ozark

That's 2 very polarized views indeed.

Basq

I watched the first episode and enjoyed it... relatively tense throughout and Bateman's always watchable IMO.

As for the "harsh opinion after one episode" comment.. I found the first episode of The Sopranos to be absolutely mindnumbing. But I'm glad I stuck with it!

wonderwall900

Fell asleep during the first episode last night. I don't think I'll be back.

JaMarcusHustle

3 episodes in. It's terrible. I'm done with it.

ThisRegard

Can't have been too bad if you watched 3 episodes in such a short space of time?

JaMarcusHustle

Weekend with no plans. Watched one episode each night this weekend.

I wanted to like it as I like Jason Bateman, I liked the trailer and I like to see comedic actors take on on darker roles, but there's really little going for it.

Thought the first episode showed a bit of promise and that it could be decent, but next 2 episodes delivered absolutely nothing.

Shred

There was some chat about this on Newstalk the other day and It sounded interesting; I've just watched two episodes and I'm really liking it so far.

evolving_doors

I think it's good too...
Folk be tryin to run it down sayin it's trying to be like Breaking Bad... but they be forgettin that breaking bad was touted as the new The Wire when it gathered steam.

Better than anything else I can find at the moment anyhow.

KERSPLAT!

Really enjoying it so far, about 4 episodes in

fitz

It's nothing like Breaking Bad.
Really enjoyed it, and writing it off before the halfway point is a mistake. It gets better as it goes, and had a terrific finale imo.

evolving_doors

fitz wrote: »

It's nothing like Breaking Bad.
Really enjoyed it, and writing it off before the halfway point is a mistake. It gets better as it goes, and had a terrific finale imo.

Well there's .... <snip> let's just say at least 6 common themes which BB has

But I still like it.

johnpatrick81

Easy on the spoilers there chief or is this spoilers included now?!

evolving_doors

johnpatrick81 wrote: »

Easy on the spoilers there chief or is this spoilers included now?!

Think that's all in the first episode..

Edit: except one I just deleted ... sorry!

johnpatrick81

That's still a massive spoiler for the first episode

evolving_doors

OK just edited them all out..

So can I just say it's kind of like The Wire / Breaking Bad but different :pac:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4LhXycJ7rI

Basq

I'm about 7 episode's in... and I like it but don't love it.

It's just going from one slightly menacing threat to another.. and not really gaining traction.

It's never been near as tense as the scenes with Del in the first episode.

I'll probably finish it but I'm not exactly bothered..

bajer101

It tries very hard to be like Breaking Bad. Even the official blurb describes it as such, with a touch of Fargo. But it's shíte. The bar has been set too high now for this type of nonsense. It's more akin to Justified, or Son's of Anarchy with similar amounts of plot holes and bad scripting. Peter Mullan is very good though.

Roger Hassenforder

bajer101 wrote: »

It tries very hard to be like Breaking Bad. Even the official blurb describes it as such, with a touch of Fargo. But it's shíte. The bar has been set too high now for this type of nonsense. It's more akin to Justified, or Son's of Anarchy with similar amounts of plot holes and bad scripting. Peter Mullan is very good though.

Watched first episode last night, jury's out yet, but thats enough to put me off it!

johnpatrick81

Is justified not meant to be great? SOA comparison would put me off too

evolving_doors

No way, sons of anarchy is way more dire.

KERSPLAT!

I finished it, enjoyed it

Roger Hassenforder

Gebgbegb wrote: »

No way, sons of anarchy is way more dire.

If we establish a defined quality scale (call it the Hassenforder* (c) (TM) scale) from Sons of Anarchy (at 0) to Wire/Breaking Bad (10)

So where would this sit?


*we have Beaufort, Richter, Mohs...

evolving_doors

Roger Hassenforder wrote: »

If we establish a defined quality scale (call it the Hassenforder* (c) (TM) scale) from Sons of Anarchy (at 0) to Wire/Breaking Bad (10)

So where would this sit?


*we have Beaufort, Richter, Mohs...

Good call... Maybe the OP could throw up a poll.


On a Scale of SOA to BB, I'd put Ozark at a healthy watchable 7.

ixoy

johnpatrick81 wrote: »

Is justified not meant to be great? SOA comparison would put me off too

Justified is excellent and, first few episodes aside, is widely regarded as such. Insanity to diss its scripting as it's well known for its excellent dialogue.
Sons of Anarchy is poor enough though hardly the worst.

pickarooney

Let's say Vinyl as 0 and The Wire as 10 then

Dr Crayfish

I kinda like it, it's not great but decent TV. The whole time I was thinking that cowboy dude reminds me of an American Peter Mullan, even his voice is the same. Just found it was him, ha! I really love watching PM in anything he's been in. The small part he has in Children of Men in great.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

"It's not like breaking bad ergo it's not great"...

What kind of logic is being applied here? Like the show or don't like the show, whatever, but comparing it to breaking bad and the wire? That's just lost on me. Does this happen every time, on this forum, when a show is released?

evolving_doors

Kobe Blue Hyena wrote: »

"It's not like breaking bad ergo it's not great"...

What kind of logic is being applied here? Like the show or don't like the show, whatever, but comparing it to breaking bad and the wire? That's just lost on me. Does this happen every time, on this forum, when a show is released?

Yes

Sin City

Finished the series
I liked it
its not amazing but i enjoyed it

Frank O. Pinion

Kobe Blue Hyena wrote: »

"It's not like breaking bad ergo it's not great"...

What kind of logic is being applied here? Like the show or don't like the show, whatever, but comparing it to breaking bad and the wire? That's just lost on me. Does this happen every time, on this forum, when a show is released?

Plenty of review sites compared it to Breaking Bad, not just posters here.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

Gebgbegb wrote: »

Yes

Oh...

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

Plenty of review sites compared it to Breaking Bad, not just posters here.

But why? What's there to compare? I just don't get these comparisons, they are pointless. The casting is good or it's not, the script is good or it's not, saying it's not as good as another show is just stupid.

I liked how gritty Ozark was, but other parts of the show was poorly written. I think it deserves a 7 or thereabouts because it wasn't as good as Starwars.

Frank O. Pinion

Because it's clearly trying to ripoff Breaking Bad. Netflix put money into it, because of the Breaking Bad similarities and there's obvious similarities between the two. The difference is Ozark sucks. People will watch anything with good production values and acceptable acting, especially if it's on Netflix, and think it's good. This is not good. There's no substance or style with Ozark, it's a boring imitation of previous worthwhile series.

Deank

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

Because it's clearly trying to ripoff Breaking Bad. Netflix put money into it, because of the Breaking Bad similarities and there's obvious similarities between the two. The difference is Ozark sucks. People will watch anything with good production values and acceptable acting, especially if it's on Netflix, and think it's good. This is not good. There's no substance or style with Ozark, it's a boring imitation of previous worthwhile series.

Nonsense, the Breaking Bad comparison is weak at best. Ozark wasn't great but it was entertaining. Oh look another episode of Orphan Black

duffysfarm

Ok. I love the series and I work as an accountant but don't understand how they are laundering money in the tv show. Can someone explain it to me? From what I can see he is spending as much money as he can and over inflating purchase invoices. I would have thought he would be looking to over inflate income to clean some of the dirty money. Also I don't get how he transfers money. Would they not be able to trace thuis?

evolving_doors

duffysfarm wrote: »

Ok. I love the series and I work as an accountant but don't understand how they are laundering money in the tv show. Can someone explain it to me? From what I can see he is spending as much money as he can and over inflating purchase invoices. I would have thought he would be looking to over inflate income to clean some of the dirty money. Also I don't get how he transfers money. Would they not be able to trace thuis?

He spending money sure, but he's spending to justify the further increased fake spending...

he'd increase business so he can increase legitimate -and fake!- profit but also pretend to be spending more on refurbishments (which he's pocketing).

Dunno how he transfers the money out though!
I presume it goes into a foreign account, suitcase, diamonds, bitcoin... fidget spinners.

Did I pass the test? (Episode 8 reference)

bajer101

It is literally being pitched as being similar to BB. The ads for it describe it as a combo of BB and Fargo. But barring some scenes in the first episode, that's where the comparisons end. It's terrible. As mentioned above, where's the money laundering? Buying a couple of businesses with $8m that was ridiculously left with you does not equal money laundering. And handing out heroin in Bibles to a few boats is just nonsense. How anyone can defend this tripe is beyond me.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i

bajer101 wrote: »

How anyone can defend this tripe is beyond me.

Because everybody has different tastes?

You can poke holes in any show, regardless of how awesome it is.

Slydice

Just binged it. It was decent TV.

Strong points:
The direction was done really well. The scene setting and camera work were tops.
The production quality, especially the wide angle scenic views were great!
The soundtrack was well chosen. It was really tense and shored up the story.

Neutral:
The acting was alright. Could've been better but it wasn't bad.

Weak point:
The story and dialogue. The overall idea was there but getting from the start to the end could've been done better. It wasn't terrible though and like I said, the soundtrack shored it up. It guided the audience to feel what it wanted to be felt.


Overall: It takes an established idea in a direction I can't remember seeing before. Complex storyline that held my attention.

Not sure how they can build a second season to be better but will probably give it a shot.

Final point:

jeez f?*k! I didn't know how that baby scene at the end was gonna go. My nails are gonna take a month to regrow

Slydice

Just watched the trailer for the first time

That gives away a lot of what the story slowly gives to audience. That was a bad trailer.

Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hAXVqrljbs

I can see a lot of the surprise being taken away by a lot of that trailer.

Akrasia

fitz wrote: »

It's nothing like Breaking Bad.
Really enjoyed it, and writing it off before the halfway point is a mistake. It gets better as it goes, and had a terrific finale imo.

Actually it gets worse. The 2007 episode is breaking bad episode records. (See what i did there)

Terrible show. I finished episode 8 and refuse to watch the last 2 because I'd be ashamed to allow the possibility of redemption in the final act.

It would be like seeing the far distant future where earwigs evolve into an advanced species better than we ever were, as a justification for why nuclear Armageddon is a good thing

Sugarlumps

Just finished it yesterday, loved every episode.

tedpan

Thanks OP, two episodes in and loving it

lindascribbler

Great finale

Loved the Trump association in last episode:

Jacob Snell when Darlene (psycho wife) finished off Del:
"There'll always be more Mexicans. Mexico has lots of mexicans@

FrancieBrady

Thoroughly enjoyed it here.
The only similarity to Breaking Bad is a general one. It has that very interesting hero/villain, like/dislike thing going on with the lead characters. Linney and Bateman are well up to the nuances of the characters. I love that kind of writing, you are constantly having to make decisions as a viewer. Intelligent writing imo.

When it unleashes it's plot strings over the final two episodes it is as good as anything I have seen.

willwe

Just finished watching it, all of it. Thought it flagged a bit in the middle, how many more guys would have Marty as an enemy?; The recall episode felt as if they had to do something to make 10 episodes. Last episode was tense, the baby in the lake was scary. I wonder will there be a season 2? I would watch

lawred2

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

Just watched the first episode. Another entry in "well-made, bad TV", for me. An intriguing opening, followed by 50 minutes of blandness, in the form of a Breaking Bad knockoff. Including silly stuff like the main character talking to himself out loud, while walking on the street. Jason Bateman is decent, but this isn't great television. Thanks Netflix and Bateman for the content, but no thanks.

I watched the first two episodes last night. Compared to most of the utter crap on tv I thought this was very good watching.

God knows what it is your looking for!? A weekly edition of War & Peace?