Crooked path
Bateman, Linney cross new ethical lines to survive in ‘Ozark’
One problem with being a crook is that all your coworkers are probably crooks. “It’s so hard doing business when you can’t trust anyone,” your favorite money launderer, Marty Byrde (series star, director, executive producer and Emmy nominee Jason Bateman), laments.
In the second season of Netflix’s “Ozark” (streaming Friday), the threat of violence is everpresent and sometimes erupts — when you least expect it — with collateral damage to spare.
The new season picks up shortly after the first, with Del dead, murdered for “disrespecting” Darlene (Lisa Emery). But if Marty and Wendy (Laura Linney) think their lives are going to get any easier laundering that money for a drug cartel, they are quickly shaken of that notion.
Cut down one lieutenant, an even bigger nightmare appears.
Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer, “Jessica Jones,” “Albert Nobbs”) is a coolly efficient attorney with a negotiating style that would please Caligula and a willingness to order a murder the way others might request a latte from Starbucks.
Cross her employers, she warns Marty: “They’ll kill your children. They’ll gut your (expletive) wife. Do you want me to tell you what they’ll do to you?”
Still, Marty tells Wendy not to worry. All they have to do is get that casino built to funnel the mob money and then the family will escape somewhere — anywhere — and never again have to deal with these cretins.
There are a few issues hindering that magical dream — namely, the state has a cap on casinos, and they need to get a majority of the legislature to vote their way.
Ruth (Julia Garner), an aspiring crime boss crafty beyond her years, dreams of a white picket fence for her family. Her newly paroled father, Cade (Trevor Long), could be the biggest threat to her plans, her money and her life.
Just when you think the show has cut loose a few key supporting players, “Ozark” reels them back to bedevil the Byrdes.
How tense are the Byrdes’ days? Even the kids are keeping secrets — and cash — to make a fast escape.
“We might need it,” Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) concedes to his light-fingered sister, Charlotte (Sofia Hublitz).
Watching “Ozark,” you might be reminded of the heyday of “The Sopranos” — only here, the crime boss shares his criminal activities with his wife, who is just as much, if not more, of a felon. Bateman and Linney are marvelous as characters crossing ethical lines they once considered third rails to get what they want.
Marty’s ability to rationalize the most horrible circumstances with the detachment of an accountant considering a bank statement chills all the more.
“People make choices, Wendy, and choices have consequences,” Marty says.
Just about all the choices are bad in this season of “Ozark,” making this season your best Labor Day weekend binge.