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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
56
Mixed:
25
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews
The GuardianJan 21, 2022
Season 4 Review:
Laura Linney’s performance as Wendy is all the more chilling because her face says apple pie, but everything she does curdles into evil. Meanwhile, Jason Bateman’s Marty is a study in how far a pragmatic accountant can go into the depths of wickedness without the strain showing on his face.
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Jan 21, 2022
Jul 21, 2017
Season 1 Review:
The violence is stunning, shocking, messy and unexpected. Bateman, who also serves as executive producer, directed four episodes and is a master behind the camera. His work squeezes the suspense in any scene. The locations are both beautiful and sinister, and the show is superbly scored. Ozark will resonate with fans of “Breaking Bad,” although Walter White has little in common with Marty.
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Jul 15, 2017The Daily BeastApr 29, 2022
Season 4.5 Review:
Showrunner Chris Mundy has managed to land on a conclusion for their saga that’s at once surprising and fitting, not to mention underscores the series’ bedrock truths about greed, ambition, and amorality in 21st-century America. ... Ozark stays true to its focus on ruthlessly enterprising women, with Linney and Garner as formidable as ever, and Falcón a welcome addition to what has long been the best female cast on television. Yet it’s Bateman who does perhaps his finest work of the series in these chapters.
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Apr 29, 2022
Season 4.5 Review:
Cements its place among Netflix's finest dramas. Having already shown itself to be one of those addictive series that pushed the boundaries of serialized thrillers, its full-throttle race to settle accounts in this final flurry of episodes officially closes the deal.
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RogerEbert.comApr 28, 2022
Season 4.5 Review:
“Ozark” isn’t as flashy a production as “Breaking Bad” or “Mad Men,” or even older series like “The Sopranos” or “The Wire,” but has proven itself just as capable of the writing, direction, and acting on other, more high profile prestige dramas. These last seven episodes of Season Four do not disappoint.
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Jan 21, 2022
Season 4 Review:
After ending the third season with a bang (pun intended), "Ozark" begins its fourth and final arc with a nail-biting sense of purpose, as the Byrdes continue their dangerous dance with people who you really don't want to get on their bad sides. Increasing the kids' role without losing any of its potency, this Netflix drama remains among TV's best, unfolding with a perpetual state of dread.
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The Daily BeastJan 19, 2022
Season 4 Review:
Ozark remains a show drenched in blue-gray darkness, its exterior iciness in tune with its subjects’ internal frostiness. It continues to feature one of the best ensembles on TV. ... The series has long been a showcase for titanic female presences, and that’s still the case as it establishes its end-game plot.
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TV Guide MagazineJul 20, 2017
Season 1 Review:
Richly human and ruthlessly plotted--though overeager in repeatedly stating its existential theme of bad choices and worse consequences--Ozark is a triumph for Bateman. [24 Jul - 6 Aug 2017, p.14]
Apr 28, 2022
Season 4.5 Review:
Jason Bateman and Laura Linney continue to deliver some of the finest work of their respective careers, while Garner remains the supernova standout in the universally excellent, extended supporting cast. Over the course of four seasons, “Ozark” hit a few road bumps but never stalled out, not for one single episode. The finale keeps that streak alive.
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Mar 25, 2020
Season 3 Review:
There was a bit of a stumble in Season 2, but with Season 3, I’m pleased to report we’re back in business. ... [Julia Garner] continues to deliver shattering work as the whip-smart, fierce and tough but also vulnerable Ruth, who remains the most sympathetic character on the show.
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Mar 27, 2020
Season 3 Review:
Ozark started out as a sort-of poor man's "Breaking Bad," but has found its own tense, twisty identity. Setting up a particularly juicy arc for its main characters played by Jason Bateman and Laura Linney, the third utterly binge-worthy season ranks as the Netflix drama's best yet.
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The PlaylistApr 25, 2022
Season 4.5 Review:
The quality contrast between the final arc of “Ozark” and some that came before is so vast, it’s like the writers were keeping every ace up their sleeves until the last possible moment. Even so, the show’s final season is a surprisingly rich viewing experience, and an assured end to a series that never stopped upping the ante.
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RogerEbert.comJan 21, 2022
Season 4 Review:
Season four is at its best when it deftly manages constantly shifting alliances and character developments within those emotional flares. ... Laura Linney is firing on all cylinders this season, sliding in nanoseconds from honey-sweet do-gooder businesswoman to hemlock-lethal crime boss.
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The TelegraphJan 18, 2022
The TelegraphMar 27, 2020
The IndependentMar 26, 2020
Season 3 Review:
Ozark mostly makes up for any deficiencies in originality with its crisp execution. The leads are superb, especially Linney and Garner, and the direction keeps things at a high point of tension, lit so dimly that even the sun seems depressed. The deep, looming score helps, too.
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Jul 19, 2017
Season 1 Review:
The series--created by Bill Dubuque, who wrote the films The Accountant and The Judge--is often still compelling to watch, especially for those who consider “average guy goes gangster” one of their favorite TV subgenres. That’s thanks in large part to the layered performances from its cast, especially its two leads, Bateman, who also directed four of the episodes, and Laura Linney, who plays Wendy, Marty’s not entirely innocent wife.
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Jul 19, 2017
Nov 30, 2020
Season 3 Review:
“Ozark” still has its crazy nooks and crannies — Ruth’s young cousin Wyatt (Charlie Tahan) takes up with the much older deranged opium grower Darlene (Lisa Emery), things like that — and the troubled, still-loving chemistry between Marty and Wendy remains powerful. Plus gangsters, drug cartels, body counts, all the standard pleasures of crime shows.
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IndieWireMar 19, 2020
Season 3 Review:
Season 3 is a marked improvement over Season 2, dialing up the pressure and tossing in just enough surprises to keep the audience on their toes. It’s engaging, well-acted (Linney and Bateman really are spectacular), and the moody blue and green color palette remains an incomparable tone-setter. Still, there’s un-mined drama in these murky waters.
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Aug 20, 2018
Season 2 Review:
Ozark is conspicuously going about correcting past wrongs. As a result, it feels newly and brazenly confident, steamrolling through story at a pace that seems to reflect an active decision on the part of the show's writers to find that perfect sweet spot between the arty and smart, unpretentious pulp.
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Jul 21, 2017
Season 1 Review:
The plot runs from dark to darker. But there are also flashes of humor, and the Byrdes are well-developed as characters from the beginning. Their plight, and the path they find themselves on, is twisty enough to hold interest, but laid out clearly enough to keep viewers from feeling hopelessly lost.
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Mar 26, 2020
Season 3 Review:
The 10-episode third season of Ozark is a substantial improvement over the lugubrious second season and, although it still suffers from many of the show's trademark inconsistencies, this is probably the best Ozark has ever been. At almost every turn, things point to a show that's actually trying to make refinements, which I can respect.
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TV Guide MagazineAug 16, 2018
Season 2 Review:
Ozark is still a compelling place to visit, but, like the Byrdes, I'm itching for an endgame. [20 Aug - 2 Sep 2018, p.11]
Jul 20, 2017
Season 1 Review:
Created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams (both of whom worked on “The Accountant”), Ozark does most things right. Not every plot point feels completely plausible, but the show looks good and plays well; the writing is crisp and not too colorful; the performances are unforced and believable.
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ColliderApr 25, 2022
Season 4.5 Review:
When Ozark is focused on its strengths, it is as good as it has ever been. When it gets caught up in the weeds of a frequently plodding plot and extraneous storylines, this momentarily dulls the experience. What shines through is the way the series concludes, laying all its cards out on the table as it reveals the rottenness that is taking over the Byrde family.
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IndieWireJan 18, 2022
Season 4 Review:
Part 1 isn’t the end, so much as a chance to take stock in what’s kept us coming back to “Ozark” each season. Be it the thrills, the performances, or morbid curiosity, Mundy’s series is still searching for more meaning in its final hours. When Part 2 hits, we’ll finally hear how much “Ozark” has to say.
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Jul 19, 2017
Season 1 Review:
While there’s a lot to like in the cast and some of the plot, one of the major problems with the series, created by Bill Dubuque and Mark Williams (The Accountant), is that episodes feel too long at 60 minutes. It’s easy to find places where smart editing could have added momentum and urgency.
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Mar 30, 2020
Season 3 Review:
Overall, Ozark Season 3 is still the show you know — there are moments of quietude, gnawing personal conflicts, and, of course, that bluish scenery of this forest-rich landscape — but it's still by far the most stressful and emotionally ravaging stretch of the show yet thanks to its new characters, the increased duplicity afoot in the Byrde house, and, of course, the no-holds-barred drug war going on all the while which eventually makes its way to the Ozarks, too.
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ColliderMar 19, 2020
Season 3 Review:
Those who weren’t crazy about the series to begin with are unlikely to be magically won over—Ozark Season 3 is still very much Ozark—but fans of the series are sure to once again get wrapped up in the cavalcade of complications (and twists) that ensue, especially as the season reaches its explosive final episodes.
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ColliderAug 15, 2018
Season 2 Review:
The tension ratchets up to be sure, but [FBI agent Roy Petty's (Jason Butler Harner)] story is one that pales in comparison to those of Marty or Ruth or even the Snells, and his arc through the second season all feels a bit familiar and predictable. But the bright spots shine bright, and the season ends on a high note that sets up a compelling third season should Netflix renew the drama series.
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Jan 20, 2022
Season 4 Review:
The first seven episodes of the final season arrive on Friday (the second seven will be available later in the year), and they are easy to breeze through. But I’m still frustrated with the show. The story line, always on the fringes of believability, becomes utterly absurd in the new episodes.
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Jan 18, 2022
Season 4 Review:
The show nods here and there to what it is that Marty and Wendy want beyond to survive, and it’s there things genuinely pick up. ... In moments, one sees the version of “Ozark” that has a sense of these people, beyond their capacity to withstand extreme tension. But they’re too fleeting to dwell on. Better, perhaps, to embrace the ride, to speed on to the next kill.
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Jul 20, 2017
Season 1 Review:
Marty and Wendy don’t give Bateman and Linney much cause to stretch. One gets saddled with some sub-Scorsese soliloquies about criminal philosophy; the other has to make subtext into text with lines about vultures circling the Byrds’ and the scrubbing of a damned spot on the family’s dock. ... Derivative and lethargic.
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Aug 31, 2018
Season 2 Review:
The illusion of depth without any actual there there is an Ozark specialty. By the end of season two, it’s dragged itself to exactly where you’d think it would go, and racked up quite a body count (also proving it hasn’t really learned the lessons of the shows that came before it, which did their best to hold off on killing major characters). But none of it feels as if it has any meaning beyond getting from the end of season one to the start of season three. It’s a bridge to nowhere that keeps building itself right in front of you.
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Jul 25, 2017
Season 1 Review:
Ozark’s insistence on presenting the grimiest version of its story possible stands in the way of explaining why anything within its universe is happening. The presentation and the characters and the smug tone eventually coalesce into something deeply irritating. ... Ozark is offensive and doesn’t understand why it’s offensive.
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UPROXXJul 18, 2017
Season 1 Review:
What might have felt like a novel idea 10 or 15 years ago--middle-aged white anti-hero does something terrible to help his family, and only gets pulled in deeper and deeper--is now so tired that it would require sheer brilliance to come out feeling as fresh and untainted as all the money that Marty cleans. And Ozark isn’t up to that challenge.
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