Season 2 of Ozark met and beat every expectation I had for it
Every episode something horrific happens. For every step the Byrde’s take to get out, a mountain of dirt is pushed back on them.
Last season we saw the Byrde’s get linked to the Snells. It certainly wasn’t a mutual bond and Marty struggles at every step to manage some kind of sense out of the Snells. Well, one Snell over another. One of my favorite aspects of this season was the parallels that ran between Marty and Wendy with Jacob and Darlene. Born decades and miles apart, they are strangely similar.
The star of the show is absolutely Julia Garner as Ruth. She is an amazing actor and she is put through a gauntlet of misery and pain. Every time something happened to her, I thought this was it, this is where she breaks. The responsibilities she took on would test anyone and she was getting pulled apart from every angle. Her father Cade getting out of prison is the stuff of nightmares and him immediately figuring out her secret set the stage for his exploitative arc. As much abuse as she goes through, her ultimate goal of getting Wyatt out from the family shadow is the most beautiful part of this season. Ruth is a soldier like few others and I hope Julia gets some awards recognition for her work.
Whipping politics into this season was a really fun aspect of this year. Wendy got to strut her stuff and the head-butting she does with Marty turned into some of the season’s best moments. I think the whole entanglement with getting the casino approved, the encroaching FBI, Ruth’s world, the Snells, and Mason was executed as well as one could hope for. A lot happens this season and all of it was done on a tightrope suspended a hundred feet in the air.
There are few shows that have this many great characters. Half of them are nuts but that makes them shine even brighter. The cartel lawyer, Helen, is a force to be reckoned with. Agent Roy is about as obsessive as one can get. Watching Rachel try to get out of the spider web in one piece was nerve-wracking. Darlene is straight out of a Quentin Tarantino movie, I loved seeing how she and Jacob met. Buddy rules, I loved seeing the relationship he built with Jonah in such a short time.
With ten episodes a season, the writers manage to keep it all killer and no filler. Major things happen every episode. There are never simple answers and very little goes right. It takes major footwork for the characters to get somewhere and there are consequences for all of it. I admire how well the show manages to keep things believable and the ending was so satisfying for me. There is no easy out for the world the Byrdes are in and I can’t wait to see what happens next year.