ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

Female Film Critics 24/375

Reviews 

OZARK Season Four – Review by Susan Granger

Susan Granger , , , , , , , ,
0 Flares 0 Flares ×

The murder and mayhem that characterized the poplar Netflix series Ozark has come to an end – as season four concludes the Bryde family’s compelling crime drama. So it’s a perfect time to binge-watch.

After moving from Chicago to a lakefront house in the Ozarks, Marty (Jason Bateman) and Wendy (Laura Linney) Bryde, along with their adolescent offspring – Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) and Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz) – pursue lives of corruption and crime.

On the lam from the law for white-collar money-laundering, Marty is the financial brains of the operation, while charming, cold-blooded Wendy is the cunning, if impulsive strategist.

When Marty catches scrappy, foul-mouth’d Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner) stealing from him, he promptly hires her to work at his side. She’s insecure and ambitious, so their tenacious relationship puts the Brydes in direct conflict with Ruth’s small-time criminal family who live in nearby trailers.

The Langmores are legendary trouble-makers: Uncles Russ (Marc Menchaca) and Boyd (Christopher James Baker), along with Ruth’s grifter cousins Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) and Three (Carson Holmes).

Then there are the Snells. Steely Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) and her hapless husband operate an opium poppy farm which puts these feisty hillbillies at constant odds with local drug dealers.

Calmly compelling Omar Navarro (Felix Solis) heads the Mexican cartel with which Marty and Wendy have partnered; his ambitious nephew Javier (Alfonso Herrera) is too short-tempered for his own good. And their cutthroat lawyer, Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer), is a force to be reckoned with.

Plus there’s pregnant FBI agent Maya Miller (Jessica Frances Dukes), disgraced ex-cop-turned-P.I. Mel Sattem (Adam Rothenberg), Wendy’s bipolar brother Ben (Tom Pelphrey) and her Bible-thumping father (Richard Thomas).

Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams with showrunner Chris Mundy, the fast-paced series is set in Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks; however, to take advantage of Georgia’s tax breaks, most of the production has been short in and around Atlanta. Why not? “Money doesn’t know where it came from.”

On the Granger Gauge, Ozark is a enthralling 8, concluding with a shocking twist. Streaming on Netflix.

0 Flares Twitter 0 Facebook 0 0 Flares ×

Susan Granger

Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at R.K.O., M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures; her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M. As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O'Brien and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Phi Beta Kappa, with highest honors in journalism. During her adult life, Susan has been on radio and television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic. Her newspaper reviews have been syndicated around the world, and she has appeared on American Movie Classics cable television. In addition, her celebrity interviews and articles have been published in REDBOOK, PLAYBOY, FAMILY CIRCLE, COSMOPOLITAN, WORKING WOMAN and THE NEW YORK TIMES, as well as in PARIS MATCH, ELLE, HELLO, CARIBBEAN WORLD, ISLAND LIFE, MACO DESTINATIONS, NEWS LIMITED NEWSPAPERS (Australia), UK DAILY MAIL, UK SUNDAY MIRROR, DS (France), LA REPUBBLICA (Italy), BUNTE (Germany), VIP TRAVELLER (Krisworld) and many other international publications through SSG Syndicate. Susan also lectures on the "Magic and Mythology of Hollywood" and "Don't Take It Personally: Conquering Criticism and other Survival Skills," originally published on tape by Dove Audio.