Ozark - Season 2

[Artemis]

Has anyone started this yet?

We started on episode 1 but accidentally pressed 'skip recap' and were lost with what was going on, so rewatched S01E10 and I instantly remembered how much I enjoyed it. Someone on the Better Call Saul Insider podcast recently referred to it as "Breaking Bad with no patience" (and meant that as a compliment) but I think it's better than that. There's no steady descent of a main character, more things just explode around him.

We're now only one episode into the new season but it's started strong, and the actress who plays Ruth Langmore is great. Still has that strange Matrix-style green tint to it.

[monolith]

Seemed to have gotten pretty mixed reviews but I loved it. Netflix was being weird yesterday and not streaming it properly but I'll get on it soon.

[Artemis]

Three episodes in and I'm enjoying it, but there's a few too many conveniences for my liking. Characters that just happen to have the right connections, or who go from being staunchly against something to suddenly helping Wendy out without much apparent reason. There's certainly no real character development here, which compares badly to the BB and particularly BCS universe.

[rasta-spouse]

I enjoyed the pilot episode, found the middle of season 1 okay and sometimes good, and thought the final ep was a fumble.

But...I don't really get on with Breaking Bad and think Better Call Saul is an all round flop. So although Ozark has similarities to the aforementioned shows, I think it's much more evocative of golden era HBO. It has the potential, if it can avoid typical Netflix-jitters, to be something more original, realistic and interesting than BB. Hasn't manifested so far though. 

The FBI plotline from S1 made me think of the superior Boardwalk Empire FBI plotline. I'm onto S2E4 now...

[Lord Mandrake]

I enjoyed the atmosphere of the first series, it had strong central performances and it built some decent tension at times but three episodes into this and I'm ready to fuck it off. I'm finding it predictable, pretentious and somewhat cartoonish.

[rasta-spouse]

Yeah, I've finished S2 now and it's not so good. It's now fully dedicated to being a rehash of better shows, and the whole "we're a seemingly perfect family with mouse-faced children but look what's underneath..." theme is SO on the nose, and needlessly shoved down the audience's throat.

[paruses]

Also started this this morning and am 1.5 eps in. Enjoying it so far but can see that whole "write yourself into a corner just so you can write yourself out" approach is going to get on my nerves and also lead to some unsatisfying deus ex machina resolutions.

I also have a love hate relationship with Michael Bluth* - I can't work out if I like his acting or not. He always seems to be patiently sarcastic and I honestly don't know if it works or not.

I will update with more pithy insight after a few more eps.

*his name will come to me  in a moment.

[Lord Mandrake]

Jason Bateman, he also exec produces and directs several episodes. He does a fine line in inward contempt, exhausted patience and somehow creepy/sleazy yet innocent and upstanding.

[Neville Chamberlain]

I'm 2 eps in and it's bloody marvellous!

[Head Gardener]

me too, saw 2 last night and despite a bit of confusion at the beginning as they didn't give a "previously on Ozark" recap I am back in the swing, it's great

[paruses]

About ep7 now and have got back into the swing of it. Had forgotten how tense it can be. It's not yet (but almost) drifted into the "oh c'mon....surely that can't go wrong too" territory which I remember S1 doing.

Had forgotten how much I like the twist they've given the FBI component.

Wife came midway through the last ep I was watching and started with "who's that? Why is he doing that?" questions despite never having even heard of it before so I elected to switch it off rather than get divorced. she's awaybthr next couple of days so will finish it off, no doubt.

[paruses]

Is anyone else watching S2 and trying to guess what icons come up in the quarters of the O? I got very close with a reporters microphone and was very pleased with myself (it was a notepad but I think I might have been given that on Telly Addicts if I'd worded it vaguely enough - fuck you Blakemores from Wolverhampton, I'm going home with the prize)

[WhoMe]

It felt that Charlotte's sole purpose of sitting at the dinner table was to flounce away from it again this series.
Disappointing that Ruth's dad turned out to be more of a petty criminal than a serious mobster. He went from truly menacing to a bit cartoonish as things progressed.
I enjoyed it overall despite not quite living up to the promise from series 1. The first couple of episodes almost had the feel of The Wire what with the political/FBI/man-on-the-street story lines running parallel to each other but it didn't quite maintain it.
I really like the overall look and the effort that goes into shot composition. That shot of a drunk Cade silhouetted in the doorway of Ruth's bedroom while she lay still and petrified was very powerful.
Looking forward to more of this if/when it gets made.

[monolith]

From reading about it you'd think it was latter season Dexter bad but 7 episodes in to S2 and it's still pretty decent. Not perfect and sometimes it all seems a bit too convenient and it's no where near the quality of the shows it takes inspiration from but it's very watchable and I've enjoyed every episode so far.