Law and the wrong order
I binged through Season 4 of Ozark over the past few days, starting it while I was in Boston covering the Winnipeg Jets and finishing it Monday night on my final flight home from Pittsburgh through Minneapolis.
No spoilers here, of course. But the seven episodes were terrific. The usual tense, dramatic slow burn combined with top-notch writing, incredible acting and stunning visuals.
Ruth Langmore, played by the incredible Julia Garner, is one of my favourite characters of all time, in any show. I can’t wait for the second half to drop later this year (the final season has been split into two parts).
One word of warning, and this goes for watching any series — make sure you are starting it in the proper order. And, perhaps just as important, it’s never a great idea to start something on little to no sleep.
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I learned this the hard way when I watched what I thought was S4 Episode 1 last Friday evening, running on fumes after pulling an all-nighter last Thursday in Nashville to finish off a big feature story, then flying into Boston that morning, covering Jets practice and only catching a quick catnap.
I kept wondering why they seemed to skip over so many important plot points from Season 3 with little in the way of explanation.
Jason Bateman, left, and Laura Linney in Ozark. (Steve Dietl / Netflix / TNS)
It was only when the hour-long episode ended and the next one automatically cued up on Netflix that I realized the problem — it was taking me to S4 Episode 3. Because I had just started with S4 Episode 2.
Whoopsie.
Naturally, I went and watched the real Episode 1, which sure answered a lot of those burning questions I had. And made Episode 2 make a lot more sense in the process.
Anyways, if you’ve finished S4 and want to talk about it, my email inbox is open. I have SO MANY THOUGHTS!
Next up for me: Yellowstone and Succession, which colleague Jason Bell has assured me I will love. Fun fact about Jay, a fellow Ozark fan. He owns a parrot, aptly named MARTY BIRD!
I got to experience a maskhole in the wild
Speaking of flying back from Pittsburgh…
We nearly had to turn back on Monday afternoon as we made our way to Minneapolis, thanks to a woman seated in the row behind me who repeatedly refused to wear her mask.
She was travelling with a number of family members, including young children, and apparently felt she was above federal guidelines and didn’t have to play by the same set of rules.
The extremely patient crew on Delta had three separate conversations that turned into warnings, the final one being that the plane was going to be turned around for an emergency landing if she didn’t smarten up.
She eventually did, sort of, although she played fast and loose by nursing a package of almonds and a soft drink for the final 90 minutes of the flight, allowing her to keep her mask pulled down for long stretches of time on a technicality because she claimed to be eating and drinking.
I figured this would happen sooner or later, and I’m surprised it took until the fourth month of travelling for this current Jets season to run into one of these “maskholes” we often hear about.
It was a vivid reminder of how selfish some folks can be, unfortunately.
That’s all I’ve got for this week, folks. Be well, stay warm, wear your mask when required and we’ll talk again in this space next Thursday.
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