We gobbled up the entire first season of the new show on Netflix called Ozark over the past few days. It’s about a financial planner in Chicago suddenly packs up his family and moves to the Ozarks. He’s been laundering money for a Mexican drug cartel and the whole business turned very ugly. For he and his family to survive he has to take a huge amount of cash with him to Lake of the Ozarks and “wash” it in 3 months. Adventure ensues.

We’ve seen the ordinary guy turns to crime theme before, obviously, in the hugely popular Breaking Bad (never mind that I didn’t get past the second season of that one). Beyond that surface comparison though, Ozark has its own identity. We were pulled right in and didn’t come up for air until we finished the 10 episodes last night.

The writing is great in this series and the characters are given plenty of complexity along the way. Jason Bateman stars as Marty and his performance is wonderful. I was  impressed too by Laura Linney as Bateman’s wife Wendy. Also notable is Julia Garner as Ruth, a young woman with a nasty plan.

Highly recommended.