Starring: Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, Janet McTeer, Julia Garner, Sofia Hublitz, Skylar Gaetner, Charlie Tahan, Lisa Emery, Tom Pelphrey, Felix Solis
The full moral weight of Marty and Wendy Byrde's choices from the previous two seasons of Ozark come to grim fruition in season three. Having been in survival mode since the opening minutes of season one, Marty and Wendy now have to consider what kind of life they are fighting to stay alive for. The pressure cooker of stress and fear has now been cranked up to intolerable levels.
Is all of this worth it? I suppose when you're facing the prospect of death daily, then even this kind of life is better than pushing up daisies. Or is it?
Marty and Wendy are now the high-profile owners of the Missouri Belle riverboat casino, which rakes in beaucoup bucks for Marty and Wendy, their silent partners, and of course the Mexican drug cartel for which the Byrdes launder money. Things are going well, until they're not. Obstacles and wild cards pop up which threaten to tear down the scheme and endanger the lives of Marty, Wendy, Helen Pierce (McTeer), who has now moved to the Ozarks to keep an eye on the Byrdes, Ruth Langmore, who runs the day-to-day operations of the Belle, and even the children of all involved.
The most unpredictable wild card is Wendy's bipolar brother Ben (Pelphrey), who becomes dangerous and violent when he's not on his medications to control his disorder. Ben tests Wendy's limits, forcing her to choose between keeping her increasingly risky brother alive or...
Another disruption which splinters the Byrdes is their marriage, which is coming apart as the stress to keep everything afloat ramps up. They agree to couples counseling in order to pacify their daughter who attempted to emancipate herself in Season 2, but not only aren't the Byrdes working towards any reconciliation, they are undermining each other. Wendy wants to expand the operation, Marty wants to hold on to what they have in order not to attract unwanted attention by the FBI. Wendy's desire wins out, and then the feds set up shop in the casino tracking their daily cash flow. One FBI agent offers Marty a deal to plead guilty to felony charges and then work for the FBI.
It's too bad the Byrdes work for a drug lord whose cartel is in a deadly, bloody war with a vicious rival cartel. Navarro (Solis) is becoming unhinged, and has no patience for errors or being unable to deliver the expected amount of laundered money. His phone calls to Wendy take on a scary tone, even though he appears to be receptive to Wendy's ideas about expansion. Or is he?
Ozark Season 3 juggles a lot, but never loses its way. It is darker, more pessimistic,than the previous two seasons, with the Byrdes understanding, if not aloud, that they will never be free of their situation. In the previous two seasons, the Byrdes said they had lines they wouldn't cross. In Season 3, they cross those very lines and the emotional heft of their actions weights heavily. Jason Bateman and Laura Linney are excellent as always, and McTeer and Garner bring in different emotional dimensions to their characters than previously seen. Ruth's burgeoning relationship with Ben presents a multitude of complications for each other and for everyone else. Helen has child custody issues with her ex-husband, and her ability to keep her work a secret from her family can mean the difference between life and a bullet to the head. This is pretty much what the rest of the people in Ozark have to live with every day. But, remember, they chose this. As each episode rivets the viewer and catapults its characters further into darkness, this is something we must realize.
It doesn't mean we can't pity them, because even after all that is done, we still do. That's the beauty and the compelling nature of Ozark.
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