The final seven episodes of Jason Bateman starrer, Ozark arrived on April 29th. Just as always the ending didn’t disappoint, but it did end up shocking the viewers. With a series that is one of the top shows on Netflix, it is very hard to believe that there was one biting review when the show first premiered. The negative review had made fun of Bateman’s performance, but the actor still remembers it to this day. Not in a bitter way, but because he appreciated the writer’s creativity in describing his character. 

The negative review had compared Marty Byrde to a boring airline agent

Jason Bateman, the critically acclaimed actor who has even received an Emmy for direction on Ozark was once criticized for his Marty character. The New York Post review called his performance bland. 

“There were good, there were bad, but what I did not anticipate was the creativity of criticism Mike Hale put together when he described me. He basically said, this guy Jason Bateman is so boring in this character, he is like the guy who works the counter at the airport when you go to buy a ticket. He just shaped that sentence in such a beautiful way,” he said.

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Jason Bateman was confident in his performance

Despite the criticism, he didn’t alter his performance. He knew the character build-up was necessary to tell the story. 

“There’s a reason Marty is not hysterical. Because he’s the center of all the madness. I knew why I was playing it like that and where I was going with it and how that, hopefully, is going to be satisfying by the time we get to the end of the season and end of the series,” he explained. 

Marty maintained a calm demeanor until he had a total meltdown in one of the last episodes. His self-control was gone when he jumped out of the cat to assault a stranger. 

The series ended with 44 episodes. Catch the finale of the twisted Byrdes family tale here.