BREAKING BATEMAN
As Marty Byrde in Ozark, Jason Bateman does for accounting what Breaking Bad’s Walter White did for science,
The show: Ozark, Season 1, Episode 1 The moment: The prostitute
Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman, who also directs some episodes) has discovered that his wife, Wendy (Laura Linney, fantastic), is unfaithful. He’s now in his car with a gorgeous blond streetwalker.
“Handsome, clean, fit,” she says, kissing him gently. “If you were my man, working all day so I could stay home — which was a bitch when they were little, but now they’re teens, in private school, even.”
She starts to touch him more assertively. “Who’s never missed a mortgage payment?” she asks. “Marty Byrde. On a quarter-acre in the suburbs. Marty Byrde, putting presents under the tree since 2002. Not only would I not cheat on you.” She unzips his fly. “I’d let you do anything. You. Wanted.”
Someone knocks on his window. He starts. It was all a fantasy.
This little scene seems dark: aggrieved male, feeling underappreciated (love that “presents under the tree” line). But it looks positively twinkly compared to what’s coming: Upright-seeming Marty is an icecold money launderer for a large Mexican drug cartel. His partner’s been skimming. Marty has to repay it or die. So the Byrdes fly off to the Ozarks, a vacation paradise ripe for washing money.
For we who miss Breaking Bad, it’s Breaking Bateman! Episodes move with the same can’t-catch-yourbreath speed, as Marty fends off drug kingpins, feds and rival crime clans. Remember how Walter White made science cool? Marty does the same for accounting, scaring away baddies by invoking the IRS in Bateman’s signature deadpan. His delivery is usually the calm in a comedic storm. It’s pleasingly sinister here. Ozark debuts on Netflix July 21. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.