The final episodes of Ozark will be on Netflix Friday and, like shows following crime and family which have been split into two at their ends like Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, critics seem to be pleased here.
The first reviews for the seven remaining episodes of the Jason Bateman-led project came out online earlier today. Nick Hilton of The Independent gave what is coming four out of five stars and called it “event television” with strong tension and poignancy. He notes neither of the two main families in the series ultimately get what they want, while one does ultimately fair a bit better.
“The Byrdes and the Langmores have become more entangled. The Byrdes wanted to get rich; the Langmores wanted to get out of poverty. In the end, neither may – but it’s clear that the natives of the Lake of the Ozarks have paid a far heavier price. You can call it plot armour or just good ol’ fashioned socio-economic bias in favour of white-collar workers, but the Byrde family unit is – for now – intact.”
Over at Total Film, writer Molly Edwards published a slightly-lesser view. Her assessment of the series endgame garnered three stars out of five and she felt what concluded the content was anticlimactic. She said the second part of the fourth and final season was reserved but Laura Linney’s Wendy Byrde becomes more of a force for what is to be done while Bateman’s Marty follows her with no fight.
“He anxiously points out that Wendy’s latest idea isn’t going to work a few too many times, to the point of why he’s going along with it all overbearingly rears its head. It’s a strange state of affairs (which other characters frequently comment on), and it’s one that leaves Bateman with very little to do besides fret over their situation. At another point, he’s quick to give up and let something happen.”
For Chase Hutchinson at Collider, the final filmed moments of this family had him expressing similar sentiment to Edwards upon seeing them. He called the work meandering in his review while saying it was elevated by the performances and had a lot of fat to cut through before seeing the meet of the story.
“Characters get shuffled around, new and old, throwing narrative wrenches into the story in a misguided way of creating additional drama. This frequently does the opposite, leaving us wondering where any of these various subplots and contrivances are going. Far too many times, they go nowhere.”
The show currently has a 93 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 42 reviews. The consensus is it is just as entertaining and resourceful as ever and it has a 90 percent audience rating.