We're 6 episodes in and although things aren't as crazy as in the first 2 episodes, we're hooked. It's like a mash-up of Justified, Breaking Bad, SOA and even a touch of Fargo, all shows that we really enjoyed. Glad to hear it has been picked up for a second season.
The comparison I make is between Bloodline and Breaking Bad. It starts off more Bloodline and finishes up more Breaking Bad. I had no doubt it would be picked up for another season, but still good to get the confirmation.
"Bloodline" for two seasons was one of the best shows I've ever seen on TV. Seriously, it was that good. Then the third season arrived and fell off the cliff. "Ozark" certainly has a lot of potential to be a very good series. Hopefully it can continue its strong narrative and keep developing good character arcs.
I'd compare this more to Justified than BB and BL. There's a lot of similies between members of the 2 main Ozark families and the Crowder family and others Kentucky locals from the 6 seasons of Justified.
I just finished all ten episodes and loved it! I can hardly wait for Season 2. Living in Kansas City, I have been to the Lake of the Ozarks many times, which gives the show an interesting perspective for me. This is one of the best written, best acted, best conceived shows of the past several years. I loved the use of the Rolling Stones "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" in one episode.
I agree with that except that I would say that Bloodline was excellent for 2.5 seasons before falling off the cliff. The first handful of eps in S2 were excellent also, IMO, all up until the end of the trial, then it literally lost the plot. They should have structured the whole season around the upcoming trial and the trial itself, ending with the verdict - putting the Rayburns behind bars, fade to black.
Just finished it, one of my favorite shows. I have one question about the finale, when Agent Evans was asked if he could produce the witness who saw Del Rio drive off in the car Marty was in, why didn't he call Agent Roy Petty?
I'll take a stab at this question (even though my mind was so captivated by the last episode that I'm not sure that I was able to take it all in). Spoiler: Spoilers As far as the local police knew, Agent Evans was acting alone. Petty was undercover, and still is, so the plan was to keep it that way. Recall when Agent Evens was in the police chief's office, they were trying to pin Del Rio on some minor infraction that happened in 2002. The police chief basically informed Evens that the local police were going to stick their necks out only so far for the FBI. Moreover, they certainly wouldn't invade Snell property. It was intimated at least twice on the show that Sheriff Nix knows something about the Snell's operations, or at the very least he knows that they are a power not to be messed with. Petty remains safe undercover. @Splungeworthy - To answer your question, I don't think that it's a stretch to say that the police arrived after the gunshots at the Snell home. As to killing off Del, from a pure story point of view, it allows Marty to go up against an even bigger, badder villain, in whomever the cartel sends out next. Perhaps even the head of the cartel, himself. From a reality point of view, I found it very believable that it would go down that way, because, as a main theme of the show, well, "stuff" happens. I found very little of the show to be contrived. What I can't wrap my mind around, though, is why did Ruth change from someone who wanted Marty dead to saving Marty? Or, let's forget about saving Marty, because that might not have been her intent; still, she waxed her uncles. Why? If it was a pure power and control issue for Ruth, I don't think she would be so easily manipulated by her father. There were times that I felt that Ruth really wanted to learn from Marty, and even that she began to like him. While at other times Ruth seemed erratic, yet calculated, where nobody matters but her. I think Ruth is one of the most in depth and enigmatic characters I have seen on TV in a long, long time. She is certainly captivating. Her screen presence is just amazing.
Thank you for the explanation, that makes sense. I agree, Ruth is a compelling character. Spoiler: Spoilers I think Ruth gradually changed how she felt about Marty as the show progressed because he had shown kindness and trust towards her, especially after hiring her to manage the stripper club. She had received kindness from Wendy and Charlotte when they took her to the prison to visit her father, and Ruth witnessed love between Wendy and Charlotte, something that had been missing in her life. Ruth's desire to become guardian to Wyatt and Three, and her expression of love to Wyatt at the end of episode 10 shows that her change of heart isn't just a ploy against Marty, but that it is real. But it's fragile and one incident or event could set her back to her murderous scheming ways.
Just finished this. Really enjoyed it. The two different scenarios involving the lake had me holding my breath...if you know what I mean.
Waited to read this thread until I finished it tonight. Excellent show. A great season finale. I'm not normally squeamish, but one scene in the finale made me squirm. Can't wait for season 2.
I've watched two episodes and am liking it. If one likes Breaking Bad, it seems one would like this. But it's not nearly as good as BB. The characters aren't as appealing or interesting and the cinematography on this is terrible. Dark and bleak -- the camera exposure is set way low to keep it dark, as opposed to the brilliant sunny scenes in BB.
At first I thought they were going to go "The Americans" route and keep the kids wondering what was going on with their parents. But they told the kids early on. They completely avoided the BB device of keeping the activities from the wife ... she knows all about it right off the bat, and she is no angel either. I do see some justified thrown in with the redneck south setting and all the hillbillies, which is one of the things Justified did best. So they're taking stale arcs that people expect, having seen these other shows, and nipping them in bud, right off the bat. And picking and choosing the most interesting aspects of other recent hit shows. It's working! I just wish they'd made more of an effort with the cinematography. It's almost like they decided early on they're going to take shortcuts to not have to deal with sunlight, which otherwise could take timing and waiting.
It's been a while now since I've seen it, but I don't recall having any problems at all with the cinematography.
The only thing I don't like about this series is the desaturated color. Oy. Not only is it distracting to me(I am a QC guy), it is not done consistently scene-to-scene and comes off as contrived(look at how cutting-edge we are!!) . It takes me out of the show and makes me think about why my monitor is broken. I would have been happier with everyone wearing drab colors and the production design favoring a monochromatic look. Bigtime props to Jason Bateman, who is killing it(no pun intended) as actor, producer, and director. Dan
Yeah, I hate that too. It's becoming quite common. What's often done is they desaturate the outdoor scenes to the point where everything looks ghostly pale (with poor gamma), but they do the opposite with indoor scenes where you actually get excellent saturation and gamma. There's no good reason for it and it is annoying.
So I guess you re-watched and now agree with my earlier post . This fits under the cinematography criticism I made earlier, unless the cinematographer relinquishes color/brightness control post-shooting. "The cinematographer—also known as the Director of Photography, or “DP”—though one of the most obscure members of the production team, is responsible for all the visual elements of a film. He or she makes every creative choice related to composition, lighting, and camera motion—anything that audiences can see in a given shot. The DP determines everything from color to depth-of-field—how much of the shot is in focus versus how much is blurry—from zoom to the positioning of people and objects within any given frame."
I didn't rewatch and am not sure what point you're trying to make (without re-reading the thread again). I was just making a general observation about the increasing practice of the use of color desaturation in many contemporary productions and how I find it annoying. As it applies to this production, frankly I can't remember...so, I would have to re-watch to confirm. However, what was fresh in my mind was Outlander, which does play around with saturation levels...
I've always thought The Americans suffered from this also, but Vidiot, whose opinion on this must be considered definitive, disagreed, thinking my monitor needed adjusting. I still maintain that The Americans looks washed out to me.
I haven't watched The Americans, but if one (interior) scene looks 'natural', ie well saturated with nice contrast and gamma and the next (outdoor) scene looks overexposed and washed out, then it's not about your calibration settings, but about the choices the show made in editing.
Re : desaturated color. It's the "lakewash" effect, to borrow a term from L L Bean. Anyway, great series. Don't know why Netflix isn't promoting it more. At the end, when Del said redneck I knew that was it for him. Good luck to Marty with the Snells and the cartel. I'll be watching.