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I actually just started episode 2, but this is getting some heat in Couch Chat, and not only is Jason Bateman doing a great job in a Breaking Bad-type turn, I also just saw (episode 2) Laura Linney walk in on a guy with a jar of peanut butter and a dog. So I figure it's time to make a thread. Right, here's the deal. The series was co-created by Bill Dubuque (The Accountant, which was great), but is run by Chris Mundy (Low Winter Sun US, which...wasn't). Jason Bateman (who directs 4 of the season's ten episodes) is Marty Byrde, a money manager in Chicago who has been handling the finances of Del, a ruthless cartel big shot. Del catches Marty's dumbass partner Bruce skimming, forcing Marty to watch him execute Bruce, Bruce's fiancée, and everyone involved. Marty's about to be disappeared as well, but he spins an earlier suggestion from Bruce about a vacation in the Ozark Mountains into a desperate rear end-pull of a money laundering scheme, promising to not only make Del whole, but make him more money than he ever dreamed possible. Del sees through it, but he's intrigued, and gives Marty a chance to impress him on the shortest leash possible. So Marty suddenly packs up the unfaithful wife (Linney) and his two kids, and they go on an adventure that hopefully doesn't end with them being dissolved in oil drums. How is it? Well, a lot of people in Couch Chat seem to like it. It's certainly a slow burn, and it seems very similar to Breaking Bad, but the tension and atmosphere are there, the characters are rock-solid, and there are a few key differences that keep things interesting. Byrde, for instance, holds no illusions about the kind of man he is, and won't waste any time making apologies for himself. When he solves a problem and three more inevitably pop up, he sighs, rolls up his sleeves, and goes to work. He's in this for his life, and possibly the lives of his family; the morality boat sailed long ago, and he's made peace with that. What you're left with is a pure crime thriller about a man trying to stay five steps ahead of a game with...problematic consequences for its losers. It's on Netflix now. Do me and any newcomers a favor: tag spoilers for the either the next two days or the first page, whatever comes first. Thanks!
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Jul 26, 2017 02:58
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Oh, by the way, (Episode 2) "In fact, the satisfying sound of your lover smacking the pavement is the only thing that gets me to sleep every night."
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Jul 26, 2017 03:01
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You know, I don't think it's that much of a slow burn, I think it's actually paced very well. There are major plot beats every episode, and something always happens. If you're super concerned that this just sounds too much like Breaking Bad, know that it's a superficial resemblance. Whereas in Breaking Bad, so much of the tension resolved around Walter White hiding his crimes from people: the police, his family and friends, here everyone is looped in early in the game. Marty and his wife Wendy are more partners in the enterprise, and even the kids know what's going on. Marty is a great character, played excellently by Bateman, and he's confrontational, hyper-competent and fearless. He charges into situations and talks his way out of them. Good side characters as well. I'm only half way through because I've been busy as poo poo, but I've been struggling to get into a show lately and this hooked me right in.
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Jul 26, 2017 03:14
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Haha holy poo poo the episode 2 strip club scene. I'm liking the dark humor. Bateman is great. Edit: god drat this is way better than it has any right to be "You miserable. Redneck. Cocksucker." 
precision fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Jul 26, 2017 |
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Jul 26, 2017 04:14
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Marty forgetting his son when they were looking for his daughter and then giving the cliche "Nothing is more important than you" explanation made me laugh harder than anything in Breaking Bad did.
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Jul 26, 2017 07:58
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On episode 4 and can't stop. The side characters are amazing, especially the redneck crime prodigy girl
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Jul 26, 2017 08:48
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I'm glad I found this thread, I'm up to ep. 2 and this is fun, tragic, thrilling and well made. Love how no one is fooling anyone in this, seems like every character is smart as a whip and that makes it hard as hell for Marty to pull his accounting/money laundering tricks against their interests. I dunno how they make that exciting but it does work. This is also showing a kinda desolate side of rural America in a good (if sad) light, it's interesting and unique.
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Jul 26, 2017 21:44
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I love the setting and Bateman has done some great stuff but I still considered to skip this after Sepinwall and Grubb talked about it, it sounded like it would be too slow. I'm really glad I gave it a chance. The pacing is perfect (I'm up to episode 5) and I love that there are very few secrets between the main characters. Also the side characters are fantastic.
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Jul 26, 2017 22:01
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Popelmon posted:I love the setting and Bateman has done some great stuff but I still considered to skip this after Sepinwall and Grubb talked about it, it sounded like it would be too slow. Yeah, Ruth is a great character and the actress playing her is fantastic.
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Jul 27, 2017 02:35
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The gay FBI agent is amazingly creepy.
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Jul 27, 2017 03:16
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Such a good show!!! I am glad there is finally a thread. I watched the entire show in 1.5 days
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Jul 27, 2017 03:21
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This show is amazing. I don't see why people are comparing it to Breaking Bad though. It isn't like that show at all.
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Jul 27, 2017 04:50
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precision posted:The gay FBI agent is amazingly creepy. I hated this because this was the second show I'd watched in the span of 2 days(the other one was The Mist) where a gay character makes an advance on a homophobic characters, gets attacked, and then sex ensues. It was almost worse here because his character, as mentioned by his ex, is a sociopath. Overall the show was decent. Bateman and Linney both do fine jobs, but Julia Garner probably is the more breakout star. It was funny to see Peter Mullan typecast in almost the same role as his one on Quarry. The show didn't really add anything new in the corrupt family man genre, but it was solid. I don't remember where I read the review, but I read one that talked about how the show has a conflicting theme where Marty finds that these dumb yokels in the sticks aren't as dumb as he thought, but the show itself still presents them as dumb yokels outside of becoming smart to Marty's plan. I felt that way a lot watching it as well. It was definitely written from the position of city folk gazing fondly at the country folk with a feeling of superiority, and that kind of does a disservice to a lot of the characters in the show. PaybackJack fucked around with this message at 07:58 on Jul 27, 2017 |
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Jul 27, 2017 07:50
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Titan posted:This show is amazing. I don't see why people are comparing it to Breaking Bad though. It isn't like that show at all. Marty is more Saul Goodman than Walter White, if anything.
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Jul 27, 2017 08:11
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That whole boat distribution thing made zero sense. This show just kept getting worse as it went on.
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Jul 27, 2017 13:54
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Trebek posted:That whole boat distribution thing made zero sense. It was explained like three times.
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Jul 27, 2017 14:07
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Trebek posted:That whole boat distribution thing made zero sense. This show just kept getting worse as it went on. I do think that is the weakest part of the show. It really is a dumb idea.
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Jul 27, 2017 14:07
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First couple episodes of this are pretty good! Bateman is mostly great but sometimes I feel he's trying way too hard.
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Jul 27, 2017 14:13
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I do like how at the beginning, at least, every time Marty tries his scheme on one of the locals he gets "you idiot you think I don't know how to launder money?" right back.
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Jul 27, 2017 16:40
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Also the casino is a really dumb idea because you know, it's not like casinos have never been used to launder money before. Not to mention the red tape that goes into building one, even if it's on the water. And again another theme I've seen in at least two other shows in recent memory; Longmire and Banshee, albeit both those were associated with reservations.
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Jul 27, 2017 16:46
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precision posted:Marty is more Saul Goodman than Walter White, if anything. I can see that but with a heavy dose of Mike mixed in. Marty is hyper competent like Mike and savvy as gently caress like Saul. blue squares posted:I do think that is the weakest part of the show. It really is a dumb idea. The way they used the church to distribute the heroin was really clever. They mentioned that on the water during the services the police paid no attention to them, allowing them the least amount of risk possible. They explained this to Marty when he tried to build the church on land. Titan fucked around with this message at 18:10 on Jul 27, 2017 |
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Jul 27, 2017 18:07
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What do people think about the scene where Pastor Mason was at the lake with his infant son? I thought he was going to drown him but had a change of heart at the last possible moment and instead baptized him.
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Jul 27, 2017 18:16
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Titan posted:What do people think about the scene where Pastor Mason was at the lake with his infant son? I thought he was going to drown him but had a change of heart at the last possible moment and instead baptized him. As mentioned Ruth is fantastic. I loved how she was clearly smart and kinda wasting her time with petty criminal poo poo, and as soon as Marty recognized that and gave her real responsibilities and opportunities (albeit still criminal) she rose right up to the occasion. misguided rage fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Jul 27, 2017 |
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Jul 27, 2017 20:12
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God I fucking love Diablo 3 gold, it even paid for this shitty title
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I think it all tied up a bit too cute, but a lot of the deadpan along the way was really well done. So was the tragedy... killing your own family because the only chance you have to get anywhere in life is to manage a brokedown 'titty bar' in some podunk shithole. That's just so loving sad.
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Jul 27, 2017 20:17
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The flashback episode actually made me feel bad for FBI Patrick Bateman
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Jul 27, 2017 20:55
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jfood posted:I think it all tied up a bit too cute, but a lot of the deadpan along the way was really well done. So was the tragedy... killing your own family because the only chance you have to get anywhere in life is to manage a brokedown 'titty bar' in some podunk shithole. That's just so loving sad. I think Ruth killed them for quite a few reasons(in no particular order) a) She came to actually like the other family as a whole and did it to protect them b) it would have interfered with her plans to move up the ranks in whatever Marty was going to get into next c) It was an act of rebellion against her own father, whom she realizes doesn't respect or love her but is simply using her for his own means d) because she found out that they were going to betray her by taking the money and running away with their own children, leaving her behind and doing what she told them to do in the very beginning of the series
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Jul 27, 2017 22:26
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Lot of spoilers to not touch here :] I watched the first 2 last night on a whim and so far I dig it. I'm getting just as much Fargo vibe as BB with the twists and backstabbing so far, hoping it gets a lot worse. Better? Whatever!
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Jul 28, 2017 01:42
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This is one hell of a show to be sure, one of the better new Netflix shows in quite awhile for me. I love that Bateman is getting the chance to really show his acting chops in a proper drama series, he really nailed the role for me and I can't really picture anyone else doing as good a job at it. Directing about half the season is a nice touch too. I can see the Breaking Bad comparisons, of course, but there hasn't really been a proper successor to that since it left the air. Better Call Saul is of course super similar with the same people involved and many of the same characters, but it's nowhere near the tension level and darkness of BB or Ozark. I also respect the big swings this show takes, it really just frontloads a ton of story beats that could have been explored over several seasons in literally the first 3 episodes, and then you're off to the races. I didn't feel like it was a slow burn at all with how much crazy stuff happens right off the bat, I mean to bring in the BB comparison again there's SO many plot elements left to get into at the end of its first 6 episodes compared to what goes down in Ozark. I could go on, but suffice to say it gets a strong recommendation from me and I hope we get a solid 5 season run of it.
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Jul 28, 2017 02:28
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I'm getting through this and I think it's great. Batemans character is so cold while retaining enough fatherly warmth or something to be likeable. I saw some reviews saying "oh great another white male antihero" but this is different enough from sopranos and breaking bad to be it's own unique thing. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes in the end, the show is called a slow burn but there a shitload of irons in the fire at episode 6.
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Jul 28, 2017 12:37
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Almost done and man I just feel so bad for the gay fisherman 
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Jul 28, 2017 13:08
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precision posted:Almost done and man I just feel so bad for the gay fisherman I don't find that shocking.
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Jul 28, 2017 15:22
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...okay? He seems like a pretty good guy to me.
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Jul 28, 2017 20:59
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precision posted:...okay? He seems like a pretty good guy to me. Yeah except for the murdering part
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Jul 28, 2017 22:28
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I just want to say that the Redneck PFLAG meeting on the garbage barge, while drunk, was really quite touching.
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Jul 28, 2017 22:33
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So this is just breaking bad but Jesse is a white trash girl and Gus is an old redneck?
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Jul 28, 2017 22:47
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Just got done watching it. Was pretty damned good. -Lotsa good acting. Even with Jonah who had a few scenes that could have been iffy with most characters his age. Ruth and Wyatt are awesome. -That blue colorization is a little too much at times. -Main FBI dude: Reminds me of a less good copy of Tyrell from Mr. Robot? He gets better as it goes on, but that turns around quickly in the last few episodes. -There seems to be a lot of little side things that didn't wrap up this season and it will be interesting to see how/if they crop up in further episodes.
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Jul 28, 2017 22:54
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The creator says he has a five year plan if he gets that much.
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Jul 29, 2017 00:07
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Poppyseed Poundcake posted:So this is just breaking bad but Jesse is a white trash girl and Gus is an old redneck? No I don't think it's that.
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Jul 29, 2017 00:45
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Poppyseed Poundcake posted:So this is just breaking bad but Jesse is a white trash girl and Gus is an old redneck? don't call him a redneck if you know what's good for you
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Jul 29, 2017 03:28
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when those boys find out ruth killed they daddy and uncle she gon die
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Jul 29, 2017 18:15
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