Ozark: Sugarwood

July 24, 2017 9:04 PM - Season 1, Episode 1

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. (from IMDB)

Staring Jason Bateman (Arrested Development) and Laura Linney, with Sofia Hublitz and Julia Garner, a promising "new crime" dramatic series, on Netflix.

Similar setup to Fargo (but oh so much more contemporary), and as well done as (so far, potentially). Fuckup within a fuckup (as opposed to wheel within a wheel) reeling from one situation to the next, albeit with a modicum of competence.

Got hooked after ep 2, halfway in now (10 ep season).

posted by porpoise (9 comments total)

I'd imagine that this would benefit immensely from SmelloVision^TM.
posted by porpoise at 9:36 PM on July 24, 2017

I'm 5 episodes in now and am enjoying it. It definitely has that Fargo feel - ordinary Joe gets mixed up with the serious boys (although Bateman's character's eyes are more open going in than they would be in Fargo) with long lingering scenery shots. Once we get past episode one and they arrive in the Ozarks there's more than a hint of Justified in there too as they get involved with the locals.

It certainly mixes up the influences / tropes but I'm buying the acting and the story has kept me interested so far.
posted by jontyjago at 2:41 AM on July 25, 2017

This is a great show. It has amused me to catch myself thinking of Marty as what Michael (from Arrested Development) would have been like if he had been corrupt. A friend felt that Jason Bateman is too much of a 'type' actor but I really like him in this role.
posted by twilightlost at 2:39 PM on July 25, 2017 [2 favorites]

There's a scene in this episode where Marty's daughter is asking her dad for $10.00 and he's reluctant to give it to her and his wife says "it's ten dollars!" and I can't accept that that wasn't a nod to Arrested Development.

Seems like it could be very Breaking Bad-ish. First episode didn't sell me but I'll give it a couple more.
posted by bondcliff at 7:18 AM on July 31, 2017 [2 favorites]

Walter White meets Lester Nygard
posted by growabrain at 7:39 PM on August 1, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's not Fargo; it's A Simple Plan.
posted by kirkaracha at 9:35 PM on August 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

It's sort of put together from parts of other shows... Imagine Walter White is a money launderer instead of a meth cook. He gets in trouble with the cartel guys from Narcos and then has to go live among hillbilly type characters like on Justified to launder a huge amount of money really quickly.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:17 AM on August 31, 2017

Maybe the most realistic part of this series is how the family repeatedly tells people they're from Chicago, when really they live in Naperville.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 8:38 AM on September 8, 2017 [10 favorites]

Just saw the first episode. I found it just good enough that I am willing to try a second episode.

It amuses me that some people have said that Bateman's character reminds them of this or that character, because he reminds me of the realtor character in The Break-Up (who also lives in Chicago) and also of the character he plays in The Gift (who has just moved away from Chicago to LA).

Agreed that it has much more of a A Simple Plan vibe than a Fargo one.
posted by orange swan at 7:30 PM on November 14, 2019