Ozark
Overview
Ozark is a 2017 crime drama television series created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams for Netflix, set in the Missouri Ozarks. The series follows Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), a financial advisor from Chicago who is laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel. When his partner steals from the cartel, Marty is forced to make a deal: he will move his family to the Lake of the Ozarks and launder $500 million over five years. Marty's wife Wendy (Laura Linney) is initially resistant, but she quickly becomes a willing and even enthusiastic partner in the criminal enterprise. The series follows the Byrde family as they try to survive in a world of cartel violence, local crime, and FBI investigation. They build a casino on the lake, which becomes the front for their money laundering. They become involved with local crime families, including the Langmores (a family of backwoods criminals) and the Snells (a family of heroin-producing farmers). The series is a dark, tense, and morally complex exploration of what people will do to protect their families and themselves. Marty is calm, analytical, and emotionally repressed. He is a genius at money laundering, but he is also a coward who avoids conflict. Wendy is ambitious, manipulative, and ruthless. She is the one who truly wants power, and she is willing to destroy anyone who gets in her way. Their children, Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) and Jonah (Skyler Gisondo), are also drawn into the criminal world. The series also features Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner), a young, foul-mouthed, fiercely intelligent woman from the Langmore family. She works for Marty, then betrays him, then becomes his ally. Julia Garner won three Primetime Emmy Awards for her performance as Ruth. The series ends with the Byrdes surviving the cartel, the FBI, and their local enemies, but at a terrible cost: Ruth is killed by the cartel, and their son Jonah is seemingly about to shoot the private investigator who has been threatening the family. Ozark was nominated for 45 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning four. It is a gripping, well-acted, and often shocking crime drama about the corrosive effects of money and power.
