OZARK SEASON 2

AVAILABLE NOW | NETFLIX

Ozark’s first season saw Chicagoan financial planner Marty Bryde (Jason Bateman) and his family relocate to the Missouri Ozarks, where they found themselves (red)neck-deep in an underworld of money laundering, rough-hewn criminals and a Mexican drug cartel.

If the show’s first run inevitably drew comparisons to Breaking Bad, there is a hint of The Wire to how Season 2 widens the scope and deepens characters.

We kick off with Marty and his wife Wendy (Laura Linney) trying to cover up the killing that closed Season 1, while also attempting to cosy up to bigwig politico Charles Wilkes (Darren Goldstein) in an attempt to force through their proposal to build a casino.

The Brydes, local crime family the Snells (Peter Mullan, Lisa Emery) and the cartel (now represented, splendidly, by Janet McTeer’s cutthroat attorney)… it’s an incendiary mix - and that’s before you factor in corrupt politicians, bureaucrats and unions. What’s more, Cade Langmore (Trevor Long), father of Ruth (Julia Garner), the volatile teen who manages the Brydes’ strip club Lickety Splitz, is now out of jail. Oh, and the FBI is closing in…

What sounds far-fetched and convoluted in a plot synopsis is all perfectly buyable and compelling on-screen: grounded as it is by desaturated visuals, sudden, winceworthy violence, and multiple commanding performances. It’s also relevant, exploring the many left-turns taken in the corridors of power and the desperate quest for survival in a rundown community. Jamie Graham