A case can be made that one of the best television pilots of the last 20 years belongs toOzark.
It immediately invites questions like,Who is this man?
Byrdes life is revealed to be full of people whod been keeping secrets from him.
His wife Wendy (Laura Linney) is having an affair.
This is the show setting itself up and getting its characters secrets out of the way.
Secrets are what got them into this mess.
Image via Netflix
Marty and Wendy tell their kids the truth about their business by the end of the second episode.
In the cinematically straightforwardThe Sopranos, audiences saw mysteries and death fake-outs where they did not exist.
Sometimes you saw the explosions of violence coming, sometimes you didnt.
Image via Netflix
AMCs neo-Western crime-drama hybrid took David Chases anti-hero cocktail and added a splash of pulp fiction.
The audience has no clue why this is happening and nor does our anti-hero White.
By this point in history, audiences were used to these “byzantine plots.”
Image via Netflix
Audiences are conditioned for twists, cliffhangers, and sudden paradigm shifts.
Often cited for blame isLost, which drew in masses with it 2004 debut.
But audiences had been primed to trade clues around the water-cooler long beforeJ.J.
Abramsplanted his flag in the culture.
Ozarks jarring surprise is its bucking of this convention.
We see him purchase it after a shady character comes to town.
Examples like this abound.
If the outcome ends up being crazier than advertised, all the better.
But not hoarding plot points means not having plot points to spare.
