Ozark Season 2 Review: The Ends Justify the Means
The stakes are higher for the Byrdes as they expand their business, opening up the door for a whole lot more bad guys on Ozark Season 2.
One of the most appealing things about Ozark is the fish out of water premise which manages to be compelling despite being a common TV and movie trope.
Jason Bateman’s portrayal of Marty Byrde, a man who remains outwardly unflappable in extreme situations, is the best of his career.
Ozark Season 2 needs to be bigger in scope than Season 1. Watching Wendy (Laura Linney) and Marty continue to scrape by, trying to launder money in a town with few opportunities to do so, no longer plays. The main problem with Season 2 is the never-ending array of obstacles in Marty’s way.
Not only are the Byrdes in a tenuous partnership with the Snells, they’re also dealing with the Kansas City mob, the Navarro cartel, Ruth’s ex-con father, Cade (Trevor Long), crooked politicians and a pathological FBI agent.
Ozark Season 2 continues to explore the dark side of the American dream. The plotlines do grow increasingly outlandish.
At what point does a powerful cartel decide to cut their losses and run instead of continually letting Marty off the hook?
Marty and Wendy remain likable, mainly because their ultimate endgame is getting out with their family intact. Sadly, Marty and Wendy go back and forth between trying to maintain traditional family values which simply no longer exist — if they ever did — and irrevocably screwing their kids up.
Their hypocrisy diminishes their authority. Marty and Wendy lecture Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) about stealing a book, while Wendy utilizes Jonah’s (Skylar Gaertner) aptitude for his dad’s creative bookkeeping.
What continues to drive Marty is his belief that he can still extricate himself– and those he loves — from a life of crime if he just stays the course.
Marty remains remarkably sedate and rarely shows any emotion. There is a vulnerability when it comes to Charlotte and Jonah, but his most telling moments are those when his life is immediately in danger. On Ozark Season 2 Episode 6, “Darkness,” viewers finally gain a better understanding of why.
Marty confides in Rachel (Jordana Spiro) that he has to stay alive, serving as the last line of defense for his family. Allowing himself to get emotional stands in the way of that goal. The glaring contradiction that exists within Marty is that he entangles himself with the cartel in the first place, knowing the risks.
It’s also tragic, and at times confusing, how Marty deals with people who betray him. His shock and disappointment is a bit naïve given the business he’s in.
Some of the characters on Ozark Season 2 are undeniably one-dimensional. Petty (Jason Butler Harner), a fed who disregards the law to uphold it. Also, Cade, a bad seed who is just a dangerously inept criminal.
We’ve seen incarnations of Jacob and Darlene (Peter Mullan, Lisa Emery) before — people pushed out because they simply got in the way.
They are forces of nature — fueled by anger and a sense of injustice and pride that will ultimately be their downfall. They’re “rednecks” who are underestimated and presumably stupid.
The Langmores also live by a code, but opportunity and preparation both allude them, leaving them down on their luck. Ruth (Julia Garner) and Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) recognize the impossibility of freeing themselves from the gravitational force that is their family.
There’s an ambivalence surrounding Marty, a seeming complacency about his role in destroying the lives of those around him. But Marty continues to surprise us, even looking out for Rachel and Ruth after they betray him. Loyalty is paramount to Marty.
On Ozark, everybody goes about carving out something or themselves in different ways, and they all have justifications for their actions. The harsh truth is we are all responsible for our own choices.
Ozark Season 2 does feel overcrowded with storylines, and sometimes it takes a while to understand the relevance. Mason (Michael Mosley) going off the rails seems like needless drama, but his time with Wendy reinforces one ongoing theme of Ozark — the blurry line between good and evil.
Wendy: But the truth is, evil comes when the righteous path is so hidden … it just looks like there’s only one way out.
Like everything on Ozark Season 2, the situation escalates to reach an over-the-top conclusion, but nobody on Ozark walks away. The deeper they go down the rabbit hole, the more twisted it becomes. How long before lying, money, laundering, and extortion lead to murder?
Marty can discuss the moral decay of society. Wendy can extol the virtues of the Byrde’s contributions to the community, and they can still burn a body in their funeral home without missing a beat.
Do they believe what they’re saying when they say it, or don’t they even know anymore?
In general, Ozark lacks sentimentality even though, at its core, it’s about a family. Wendy’s instincts as a wife and mother may be questionable, but while Marty’s feelings are only barely palpable under the surface, Wendy’s are more likely to boil over.
Over the course of Season 2, Marty and Wendy each begin to view their plight from contradicting perspectives, setting up a big premise or Season 3. Marty begins to have those “aha” moments when he takes a pause, looks around, and considers the ramifications of what he’s doing.
Wendy takes on a bigger role in Ozark Season 2, and Linney’s unfulfilled stay-at-home mom asserts her independence to a degree that begins to threaten her husband. It’s Marty who deals with the ideas of reckoning and redemption, while Wendy dismisses this kind of self-reflection as a luxury.
Ozark Season 1 is about surviving outside threats. Season 2 focuses on those from within. What happens now that Wendy is on board with their new life, and Marty wants out?
That’s a question that makes me want to see Season 3.
What did you think of Ozark Season 2? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Ozark Season 2 is currently streaming on Netflix.
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Jennifer Lind-Westbrook
Jennifer has been working as a freelance writer for six years, contributing to BuddyTV, Screen Rant, TVRage, Hidden Remote, Gossip On This, and PopMatters. She prefers binge-watching old episodes of The Office (British and American versions) to long walks on the beach. She's still holding out hope that Happy Endings will get a revival.