1x05 Ruling Days

The direction of this episode borderline does not match the rest of the series. The techniques employed here are nearly wiped out by the editor, but the vestiges are still there. There are two snap zooms in this episode. There are zero in previous episodes. It's such an obvious thing to use. I genuinely wonder why this episode was shot with them at all.

I have a few other gripes with how this episode plays out and it primarily comes from the fact that this episode as a whole feels a little stiff. We flow from one beat to the next and the connective tissue seems to be a little on the nose. As a result, the more glaring weak points of this season so far are elevated. Roy's homosexuality gets more play time in this season than his job as an FBI agent tracking the Byrdes. I can definitely see how that'll come to have an impact later on in the narrative, but the stereotypes here feel detrimental to the larger picture. I don't need to see another gay man brutalized.

Additionally, I should point out I'm from the American South. I've spent a lot of time in Boone, North Carolina (Wendy's hometown), my girlfriend went to college at App State. There's something a bit peculiar about how this show deals with the American South and it's best exemplified by Jacob Snell's accent. It's just not right. If I am to endure criticisms of American actors' poor accents, then I'm going to criticize Scottish actor Peter Mullan's incredibly awkward accent that does not match a single other person in this series despite the fact that he is supposed to have been living in the Ozarks his entire life. I'm also reasonably certain the vast majority of his dialogue in this episode is dubbed in.

I guess I just feel like this episode is at odds with itself and the five episodes of Ozark I've seen thus far display a series looking for its own two legs to stand on. I'm sure it'll get there, but right now it wears its influences a bit to blatantly--not only from Breaking Bad, but also from True Detective.