Breaking Byrde

The second season of Ozark dropped on August 31, giving fans something to watch just before the regular TV season started up.  It's a show about financial planner Marty Byrde who, threatened by a Mexican drug cartel, moves his family to the Ozarks to set up a money-laundering operation that keeps the cartel off his back.

I felt the first season was okay but flawed. There were simply too many threats faced--haphazardly--by the protagonists.  Drama needs conflict, but the way it's presented on Ozark is exhausting.

Season two has the same problem.  The main plot is about the Byrdes trying to open a casino.  And who's against them?  Many of the same obstacles from last season.  There are the Snells, a successful crime family in the area who team up with Marty but still fight him tooth and nail.  There's Sheriff Nix, who works for the Snells and doesn't particularly like the Byrdes.  There's Roy Petty, the FBI agent who's hunting Byrde and wires up an old employee to get dirt on him.  There's Cade Langmore, head of a criminal clan of trailer trash, only recently paroled from jail who wants to get some of the Byrde loot.  There's Pastor Mason Young, who believes (correctly) the Byrdes helped get his wife killed. And there's the cartel, represented by lawyer Helen Pierce, ready to kill anyone who fails them or gets in their way.

On top of which there are the new threats.  In general, there's the state of Missouri, which doesn't want to grant the Byrdes a casino license.  There's Charles Wilkes, a successful businessman who controls many in the state legislature.  And there's the Kansas City mafia, headed by corrupt labor leader Frank Cosgrove, who doesn't want the casino bill to pass.

Oh yes, there's also the Byrde family themselves.  Marty never knows when wife Wendy, daughter Charlotte, or son Jonah will go off on some venture of their own at cross purposes with his plans.

As I said, it's exhausting.  Breaking Bad (which this show would like to be) made sure the characters faced peril, but was much better paced and planned out.

(A couple stray thoughts: Anyone who watches this show, and didn't know any better, would sure think America is corrupt through and through. Also, it's dangerous to drive in the Ozarks. In one episode after another, people are stopped by a truck parked on the road.  After they stop, they are either shot, kidnaped or taught a lesson.)

What I like about the show are some of the performances.  Jason Bateman is good as Marty Byrde--no matter what (with a few exceptions), he remains calm and composed.  Perhaps other would be tempted to play it up a bit, but it's good to have someone who may have a lot of internal trouble, but manages to be the calm in the eye of the storm.

Then there's Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde, who gets to flex her political muscles more this season, proving her talent for public relations.  Also good is Harris Yulin as Buddy Dyker, an old, dying man who rents out his house to the Byrdes.

But the main reason to watch this show, in both seasons, is Julia Garner as Ruth Langmore.  Born to a poor family that believes it's cursed, she's a foul-mouthed spitfire who doesn't let anything get in her way. Her loyalty is split between Cade, her father, and Marty, a father figure who's classier, smarter and richer than her no account dad could ever be.  But if she hopes for better things--including a desire to see her brother Wyatt attend Mizzou--she just as often sees her dreams come crashing to the ground.

As in the first season, the Byrdes, while believing they're doing it all for family, leave a trail of dead bodies behind them.  But there are enough still breathing that the show seems poised for a third season.