The synopsis that appears on the Netflix website states, "A financial adviser drags his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks, where he must launder $500 million in five year to appease a drug boss."
Not only does that not do the show justice, it is also inaccurate. the correct figure is roughly $8 million, which is much more realistic for this story. When I read that synopsis for the first time, I wasn't immediately drawn to the show, despite the fact that I think star/executive producer (of 1 episode)/director (of 4 episodes) Jason Bateman, who portrays Marty Byrde, is an excellent actor. You see, I was a military cop for 20 years, so televised crime drama is not my thing. Then I discovered that the antagonist is portrayed by Esai Morales. I have only seen a small percentage of Mr. Morales' work, but what I have seen I liked very much. I first saw him in the role of Lt. Tony Rodriguez on NYPD Blue, back in the early 2000s when I did still watch cop shows/crime dramas. More recently, I saw him in the role of Joseph Adama on Caprica and thought he did an excellent job. I'm still disappointed that that show got cancelled after only 1 season. Other than those two series, I've seen Mr. Morales in a few films here and there. Anyway, the fact that he is in Ozark made me decide to check out the show.
And I'm glad that I did. The story -- the drama -- is so much better than that synopsis makes it sound. The synopsis for episode 1 of 10 states, "After his business partner cheats a dangerous client, financial adviser Marty must devise a radical plan to save the lives of himself and his family." While that doesn't say a lot, it is more accurate than the one quoted above.
First of all, the Byrdes are not the Clevers. "The who?" you ask. Stop calling me old. Anyway, they are not the all-American family of 1950s and '60s television. They have issues. I stated in the title that this critique would be spoiler free, so you'll have to watch to find out what those issues are.
So, as stated, Marty's partner cheats a dangerous client (Morales), which forces Marty to move his family from Chicago to the Ozarks to try to make things right by laundering millions of dollars for that client to save his and his family's lives. Unfortunately for Marty and his family, the residents of the Ozarks are not just a bunch of uneducated rednecks of whom he can easily take advantage. Twists abound as this season of ten episodes progresses, and Marty's "mission" proves to be much more difficult than he ever imagined that it would be, leading up to a tenth episode that left me feeling three different ways at the same time.
The writing is superb. The acting in this series is excellent throughout. As I write this, I can't think of a single weak link. Character development is equally as well addressed, even for most of the secondary/supporting cast. As I am a writer and not a filmmaker, I'm less qualified to judge the strictly visual aspect of the series, but I will say that as far as I'm concerned, the cinematography was every bit as good as the rest.
Only the Netflix 5-star rating system, I would give this series 4.5 stars, if it were possible to give fractions of stars. There is only one specific event that prevents me from giving it five stars, and that event is simply a matter of personal preference, so on the site I gave it five.
Definitely recommended.
