Board 8 > Ozark (full spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm absolutely blue-balled by that ending.

but also not

what were you going for? i feel like it tired everything up pretty well and satisfactorily

not crazy about the show overall, but that's a separate thing

I watched the first season and a half (or so) and kinda gave up on the show. I think it's a good show but there's so much churn. And I also just felt like, jeeze if all these people die or suffer, I don't care all that much? And because of the churn, it felt like all their plans were constantly unraveling such that I didn't think they would have the money they needed at the end of S1, and they have it. It was like, they wanted me to feel the dread of the Byrdes not having the money, and then magically they do have the money so they can deal with the next set of problems.

neonreaper posted...

I watched the first season and a half (or so) and kinda gave up on the show. I think it's a good show but there's so much churn. And I also just felt like, jeeze if all these people die or suffer, I don't care all that much? And because of the churn, it felt like all their plans were constantly unraveling such that I didn't think they would have the money they needed at the end of S1, and they have it. It was like, they wanted me to feel the dread of the Byrdes not having the money, and then magically they do have the money so they can deal with the next set of problems.

The series premiere is legitimately one of the strongest premieres I've ever seen, and it never quite matches that potential. Season 2 is pretty awful and almost made me give up on it but I watched it during early shutdown so I had nothing better to do. If I had seen it live I probably wouldn't have continued with the show. S3 is really good. S4 is whatever

By season 3 it already kind of felt like things went wrong just for the sake of things going wrong. The show does a good enough job tying events to character motivations/hubris overall. But shit like the car accident and magic money to solve everything (I like Jim as a funny character but he's just a walking plot device) make it so you can't help but have a lingering sense of contrivance always in the back of your mind.

I like what the ending was going for and I appreciate that the last scene is Jonah finally firing that chekhov's shotgun. But to end the show there feels kind of arbitrary when the show has on a whim pulled the Byrdes from equally "sure" things in the past for them to have to get out of.

Still a good ride and I like the way they tried to end it much more than if they tried to button everything up. I wanted Wendy to die but I also think her living despite all her bullshit also just makes sense in the context of the world the show creates.

getting back to this - i agree ozark as a whole comes nowhere close to its potential

i understand that characters should drive events, so it's okay if the plot isn't perfectly cohesive, but honestly too me it felt a lot like the writers said "this is something i want to happen to showcase a character's acting ability, so whatever needs to happen to reach that point will work." it's the same logic found in barry, but of course barry is a surreal comedy while ozark tries for a realistic grimdark asthetic and tone.

i don't think the cutoff point is that arbitrary. the bad guys win, the original slate of antagonists is either dead (omar/ruth) or won over (jonah), drop curtain.

i do just love jason bateman though. big time reason i soldiered on.