Ozark

[WOM]

A quick search through Current Watching reveals that a good bunch of us watch this, so maybe a standalone thread.

**SPOILERS AHEAD** (Can't get spoiler tags to work, so just highlight the white.)

[SPOILER]Anyway, just finished S3 last night. Holy crap...what a final ten seconds. Shit went down so fast that I actually had to skip back 30 seconds and watch again. Wow. Solid season, and I continue to love Ruth a little more each episode. Also, interesting redemption arc for Darlene. [/SPOILER]

[tracteurgarcon]

We've watched the first three episodes of the 3rd season and I'm desperate to see how this pans out.

It seems to have cracked on at quite a pace and I love how the main characters are developing in opposite directions.

Oh and totally agree, Ruth is the best character by a mile, she's fantastic.

[WOM]

We did Tiger King in one day, and Ozark in two. It was a really solid season.

[San Bernardhinault]

We're trying to pace ourselves. Only 2 episodes in to S3 so far. Even when the plotting gets silly, I still love the acting and love the long overhead drone shots over the lakes and forests.

[WOM]

Non-plot spoilers below:

Absolutely none of the show is filmed in the Ozark. It's all around Atlanta and rural Georgia, due to their very generous film tax credits. (See Walking Dead, et al).

[Hot Pepsi]

Aren’t the the aerial shots authentic?


I watched all of season 3 in two days. I generally don’t like shows with this much evil and murder, but somehow it works for me.

The ending wasn’t a total surprise. Something had to give, so to speak. So that was it.

I’m wondering if this is like Breaking Bad or The Americans where there is just no way the protagonists can all get out alive with their family intact.

[WOM]

Damn, do I miss The Americans.

[Hot Pepsi]

I didn’t finish it. Yet. I knew it wouldn’t end well for anyone.

[slackster]

I like this show. Ruth is a great character and the central family dynamics remind me of a duller, more middle class version of Tony Soprano’s nuclear unit (well, he is an accountant...). Just up to s3 e2 so will want to avoid spoilers.

One point, though. I knew about the curious paddle boat casinos in some States as a way around gambling laws, but was wondering how big a thing that actually was, and if the owners were - how shall I put this - less than squeaky clean upstanding citizens...

[San Bernardhinault]

I think it's widely accepted that lots of casino owners are less than squeaky clean, and the smaller the casino the more likely to be associated with petty crookery they are (rather than the big casinos in Vegas who may have cleaned up a bit from the mafia/union days and are now involved in trying to buy elections instead). I don't know how big a thing riverboat casinos are these days, now that casino licensing has relaxed dramatically.

[Hot Pepsi]

It’s a weird legal fiction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverboat_casino?wprov=sfti1

But, I suppose it’s also just a marketing gimmick that ties the place, sort of, to the history of big riverboats and Maverick.

I’ve never seen the appeal of vacationing on a lake with so much speedboat traffic and “party boats.”

[ursus arctos]

Casino licensing hasn't been loosened everywhere and the boats got in first in a number of states.

[tracteurgarcon]

Finished Season 3 today. Great ending, if not totally unexpected. There seems to be so much going on, so many threads potentially unravelling, it'll be interesting to see how they keep all the plates spinning for another 10 episodes.

The acting and direction has stayed top notch, I wasn't really a fan of Laura Linney before this but she is incredible, as are pretty much all of the rest of the cast.

[Simon G]

Have just finished this and I have to say it really was fantastic. The ending was so sudden that, like Wom, I had to go back to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

Another one here for the Ruth is the best character bandwagon as well - although her swearing irritates me. I think it’s because it doesn’t sound natural.

[Bored Of Education]

Just to reiterate that the Series was great and the ending was amazing. Indeed, so amazing and surprising that I am still not sure that it makes any sense but, there again, none of it does really and that doesn't lessen its effect. I was impressed with the Ben character, not least for being a fairly good representation of someone with mental health issues (don't know enough about bipolarity to know how accurate it is of that).

[Hot Pepsi]

Have just finished this and I have to say it really was fantastic. The ending was so sudden that, like Wom, I had to go back to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

Another one here for the Ruth is the best character bandwagon as well - although her swearing irritates me. I think it’s because it doesn’t sound natural.

To some extent, it might not sound natural because she's forcing it. As a young woman trying to get by in a very tough world full of assholes, swearing helps her take up more space, so to speak.

She does a good job playing somebody from the Ozarks given that she was born and raised in New York. Acting!

[Cal Alamein]

I'm almost through the WACO series and the actress who plays Ruth is in it. Every time she opens her mouth I expect a flurry of f-bombs, but she's just a non-cussing Branch Davidian.

[Hot Pepsi]

I have the same problem with anything else Aaron Paul does. I expect every sentence to end with "bitch."

[WOM]

I just don't like Aaron Paul in anything. He's my male Toni Collette.

[slackster]

I get the Aaron Paul hate, but Toni Collette...Really? Can’t think of anything she’s been in where she’s wound me up.

[WOM]

It's not her work...it's just her face. Same as Paul, really.

[Incandenza]

So, we've been watching this. Mrs. Inca is really caught up in it, I'm still not fully on board. No one I really care about apart from Ruth, bad people aren't really enjoyably bad, and I feel that it's mostly devoid of any sort of humor (though I did laugh when I saw the therapist's car). I watch it, and I just sort of feel like "okay, so this is happening now, alright."

[ad hoc]

I feel like Inca. We've just started Ozark, and have only got to S1 E8. That's getting on for 8 hours of TV and I don;t yet give a shit about any of the characters. Maybe because there are none who have any redeeming features. I suppose the two kids, but even them - Jonah is clearly a psychopath in training and Charlotte (to this stage at least) seems badly drawn (or poorly acted, not sure which). In Breaking Bad, which for many reasons it resembles, at least there were humans in it with normal human flaws and normal human positives. These people are either brutal and horrible or just so deeply pathetic that I just feel I'm watching something too alien to enjoy.

[Incandenza]

Yeah, finished season 3 and I'm still not a fan. The end of the season that all of you were talking about here?

spoiler: Show

i was angry that the lawyer woman was killed and not Wendy. Wendy fucked up numerous times and is rude to the kingpin. I was amused when she called him up and he asked her if she thought he should be happy that she did her job when she had her brother killed. She's really annoying. I want to find out that Ruth brings them all down, but she'll probably die in tragic circumstances

[Hot Pepsi]

I feel like Inca. We've just started Ozark, and have only got to S1 E8. That's getting on for 8 hours of TV and I don;t yet give a shit about any of the characters. Maybe because there are none who have any redeeming features. I suppose the two kids, but even them - Jonah is clearly a psychopath in training and Charlotte (to this stage at least) seems badly drawn (or poorly acted, not sure which). In Breaking Bad, which for many reasons it resembles, at least there were humans in it with normal human flaws and normal human positives. These people are either brutal and horrible or just so deeply pathetic that I just feel I'm watching something too alien to enjoy.

I don’t find it alien. Everyone is just trying to survive and not get murdered by the cartel. Isn’t that a universal story?