Netflixed: Ozark

 The Netflix show, Ozark, is a stressful show to watch.  It was nicknamed the "depression session" in our household as we binged through the four available seasons and each episode saw the main characters go through one depressing change of events after another.  We had watched the first season when it first came out but hadn't returned for its follow ups until now.  After watching the series finale last night I kind of wish I hadn't picked it back up.

Beware; spoilers ahead!

I honestly don't understand how so many good shows fail to land a decent ending. Game of Thrones is the most famous, but there are many others in the modern era of binge-worthy television shows that just can't get it right.  Ozark is another one on the pile and probably closest in feeling to the series finale of The Sopranos.  It is classic fade to black leaving the audience wondering.

Fortunately (or unfortunately maybe) the last season's story line is so unbelievable that as a viewer I was well prepared to be let down.  There are so many plot holes and questions and then a last second (literally the last seconds of the show) "oh hey I'm back" character appearance before the fade to black.  Also the season throws one ridiculous situation after another at our main characters who in turn find one more perfect miracle solution to get out of it. Then the ending.

The ending is a let down.  The Byrde family is happily back together murdering someone (assumed as the screen fades to black before a gunshot sound plays) to keep the gig going.  Throw this on top of the fact we just watched Ruth get whacked for literally no reason because some character blurted something out.  Oh and Nelson was killed by whats-her-face.  What was Nelson even doing?  We will never know.

The ending and lead up to it through the latter half of the season is just baffling.  The situations were so stressful to watch as well that it made it hard to enjoy but also hard to not want to binge the next episode and the next and the next.  Unfortunately that stress is unrewarded as the Byrde family is right back where they started: a family tied up in a criminal enterprise looking for a way out.

Another thing that rubbed me wrong was Marty's flirting with "do I really trust Wendy?" when he pours his heart out to his daughter Charlotte.  This was a pointless scene though as Marty goes way out of character to keep letting Wendy ruin any chance he has at saving his family.  Its OK though; the show writers just snapped some fingers and all miracle solutions were easily obtained off screen for Marty.

Most egregious of problems in my book was the final season kicking off with a car crash only to leave the viewer hanging and going back in time.  Then we eventually get to that car crash in the final episodes and it MEANT NOTHING TO THE STORY.  What a fucking wasted tease to have that as the kick off to the final season.  The scene was fine, but it didn't need to be teased as some huge ending moment.  Well maybe the scene was not fine; it was just one more ridiculous scene on the pile of ridiculous scenes.

Damn it.  Typing this post has stressed me out.  I want Season 1 Marty and Ruth back in my brain.  There was so much possibility there.  Another great series wasted with a shit ending.

Disagree?  Love Ozark's ending?  Leave a comment so I can tell you that you are wrong.

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I've got nothing.  But here's a post for my post a day :)  

A PSA for the PSA: New World, Easy Anticheat, and your computer's security software

 There is a PSA (public service announcement) circulating for New World players that proclaims a fix for "desync" (i.e. your computer and the game server being out of sync).  The fix asks you to exclude Easy Anticheat (the anticheat software used by New World) from your computers security software (usually just Microsoft Window's firewall).  This PSA is asking users to punch a big old hole in your computer's defense against rogue actors on the internet so consider this most my PSA for the PSA.  

DON'T DO IT (and no, I won't link to it)

This change is a bad idea and any "positive" result from making the change is likely a placebo effect.  While there is a plausible technical explanation that game + anticheat traffic is being combined together and thus allowing anticheat a free pass through security processing will improve performance it is an unlikely scenario.  If it is actually happening then that's a risk in and of itself.

For science I did make the change and there was zero change in how the game performed.  With the change reverted the experience is the same as it was when the change was in effect.

Why is it a bad idea to make this change?  Because anticheat software has unfettered access to deep levels of your computer to catch cheaters.  That unfettered access is fine if all its doing is trying to catch cheaters, but if that anticheat is ever compromised (see video at end of post) then letting it bypass security software is a terrible idea as it will give hackers that same unfettered access to your computer.

If I was a hacker that had access to compromised software this type of PSA to a group of users motivated to make the change is exactly the sort of stuff I'd love to see.

I could go on and and on about this, but instead I'll leave this below video on the risks with anticheat software.  I'd encourage anyone evaluating making this change to watch this video and decide if any possible benefit is worth the risk to giving anticheat a free pass to and from the internet.  Anticheat is a necessary component of online gaming, but there is no reason to take extra steps to make it any more of a risk.