April 4, 2020
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Confessions of an Ozark Binge Watcher
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It’s April 2020. This New World we are now sequestered in is divided into Two groups – Ozark Binge Watcher and Tiger King Binge Watcher.
I am an Ozark Binge Watcher. Maybe a 3rd group – Prince Albert’s What’s Netflix? Group?
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ASIDE: I cannot express in words how much I dearly love my Christian Brother – “Prince Albert”. The Good Lord in His Infinite Wisdom broke the mold when he made “Prince Albert” almost 90 years ago..
In those almost 90 years, Albert has met a bazillion people thru his various lay ministries et al. If you asked all bazillion to list Five “Unique” Humans they have encountered in their lives – A LOT would have “Albert” on their list. “Unique” being in the eye of the beholder of course..
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No… that’s NOT Albert, silly. That’s Clark Gable. I thought it would be fun to stick it in here.
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How many guys do you know who have never seen GodFather – Animal House – or Caddyshack… but HAVE memorized long stretches of dialogue from Lonesome Dove. I finally shamed him into watching GodFather I a year or so ago His first question afterwards was “What’s a cannoli?”
Albert and the late / great Danny Lotz started a secret cult 10+ years ago. I call us “Anne Franks’ Attic”. It’s a Christian Men’s Fellowship that meet each week “over in the belly of the beast” – Chapel Hill!! If “the local authorities” ever found out … it could get messy if ya know what I mean.
We’re shut down now along with most of the other radical pagan groups in Chapel Hill … except of course for the Drive-By Abortion Mills and HateTrump T-shirt shops.
To keep us “together” during these times, several of our “techy” members set-up an on-line contact site. Lots of groups are doing it. So Albert sends out an email :
“We should have the U-2 ready by Thursday…” ? …U-2 ??
I’ve known Albert long enough that…
I replied – “Albert, assuming Francis Gary Powers will not be flying a spy plane high over Chapel Hill. Or Bono performing? You do mean YouTube don’t you?
He replied – “Who is Francis Gary Powers?” …
I replied – “The guy that invented the cannoli.” … See why I dearly love my unique friend “Prince Albert”.
For 20 years, Albert has read BLSays “religiously”. How he does pretty much everything. I am his 3rd Favorite Author … after King James and Max Lucado. He will be reading this. He has no clue what Netflix is. Which is probably “a good thing”. OZARK is NOT an “Albert you should watch this…” type of show.
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Ozark has three seasons “in the can” on Netflix. I am a bit late to the party. I became an Ozark Binge Watcher this past week with Season One … finishing Episode 10 around 11:20 PM last night.
Being careful not to play “Spoiler”… “The Baptism Scene” at the end of E-10 totally freaked me out. I’m a Granddaddy and That was a very loooong 20-30 seconds. YIKES!
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Ozark is a Very Intense – Very Dark – R-rated show.
It is NOT a reaffirmation that this world is a Happy Place filled with Good People doing Good Things for one another. The Ozarks ain’t Lake Woebegone!
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Jason Bateman is the central character and he is Incredible. He is on-camera 80% of the show. Much of it simply his facial expressions as he ponders “Can my life get any more complicated?” The conclusion each time is “Yep, it just did.”
He plays – Marty Byrde – a successful Financial Planner living the “good life” with his wife, teen-age daughter and young son in Chicago. Marty and his partner get involved “laundering money” for a Mexican drug cartel. Uh Oh!
Not to play “Spoiler”. This show is filled with an endless series of OMG, What just happened?
Blah Blah … Things go awry… DUH… Marty abruptly moves his family from Chicago to “The Ozarks” in Southwest Missouri to “make things right” over an $8,000,000 Oops in the laundering scheme.
“Del” – the #2 Guy in the cartel – is “George Clooney with a mustache”. Del is suave, never raises his voice and is SCARY AS HELL!
Marty, his wife – Wendy – and the kids must adjust quickly to the 180 culture shock of their new surroundings. That adjustment is an endless series of violent OMG incidents.
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ASIDE: Living in Missouri in the 70s, I visited Lake of The Ozarks … a popular water-recreation area for a 4-5 state area. I recall a visit to Bagnell Dam with friends – Bagnell Dam created The Lake and is a popular tourism gathering area.
While there – for reasons that made no sense then and even less these many years later – I seriously contemplated “getting one ear pierced” and a diamond stud inserted. I didn’t… but still recall the circumstance. Funny what one never forgets.
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Ozark is actually filmed in Georgia at Lake Altoona and Lake Lanier due to tax break reasons between Missouri versus Georgia. I bet The Lake of The Ozarks Chamber of Commerce is divided as to the “tourism $$$ impact” of this very popular Netflix series.
Are families across America actually contemplating “Let’s go to The Ozarks this summer and see…“?
- The cheap motel where the gay FBI guy seduces the red-neck … or…
- The Blue Cat Marina where the two red-necks get fried – literally … or …
- The “It’s a T***y Bar” that Marty buys and has Ruth manage … or …
- The trailer park where Wendy throws the dead possum … or …
- “Mrs Dermody LOOK OUT!” … SPLATT! … or …
- Where Del says _____ and quickly regrets it. … etc. You get the idea.
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The series has been compared to Breaking Bad. Which neither Albert nor I saw. Both series involve “the drug culture among the lower income segment of the social spectrum”.
IMO… There is a Deliverance aspect to Ozark. There ARE sub-segments within our society that most of us are totally unfamiliar with. If curiosity compels you to explore those areas… “their rules” are very different. “Not from around here’s” best be careful.
Ozark is compelling … but Dark, Intense and R-rated. If that’s your pleasure, go for it. I understand Season Two is “OK”; but Season Three is OMG – AWESOME! Guess I’ll be finding out.
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UPDATE: re: McClatchy newspapers “Begging for Bucks”. On Friday The Charlotte Observer reprinted the exact Help! We’re Sinking! plea letter from The N&O earlier in the week… but signed by the CO Editor … also “a female” making less than previous male CO editors..
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A LOT of New BobLeeSays’ … CLICK HERE
Sequesterization is resulting in a dramatic increase in my BLSays column output… both This Page and SAIDWHAT?. You might want to check out either / both for Insights you may have missed.
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