Last week I finished the first part of the final season of OZARK. And I was immediately struck by one of the show's greatest innovations--it gives Jonah a real story.
Jonah and Charlotte both have always been sitting there in the background waiting for their moment. Between his relationship with Buddy (and everything that brought) and his tech prowess, Jonah has gotten a lot more time than Charlotte, and I hope the final 7 episodes do for her what these 7 have done for him, because at this point I think of her as almost the show's secret weapon. NO ONE would see her coming.
But I'm not sure anything has really prepared us for what we've seen in the first 7 episodes of the season, in which he's basically become Wendy's nemesis and the family truth teller. And the way the show has done that so quickly is by allowing him really clear and bold choices right from the jump.
Consider the things he does in 401:
1) He gives Ben's ashes to Ruth without telling Wendy.
2) He tells Wendy he knows she killed Ben.
3) He suggests the crazy new detective character talk to Lisa, Helen's daughter, about what happened to Helen, creating the possibility he will find out the truth. And he does it in front of his family.
4) He gives Ruth the software she needs to launder the money in her new business, which will directly compete with the cartel.
5) He tells his parents trying to launder Navarro is ridiculous.
6) He asks Charlotte to confirm that she would never kill him the way Wendy killed Ben. Charlotte says he needs to grow up.
7) He agrees to launder Ruth's money.
It's really amazing how many big choices he makes. And each is a choice that has risks to it, and one that involves standing up to others (mostly his family). And as a result each choice gives us a very clear sense of his desires and a clear direction. This is why big bold choices is so important in a script: it tells your audience who your character is. And the bolder they are, the more committed we as audience become to them. We love the people that really put themselves out there, that put themselves on the line.
It's also worth noting his choices' variety. Some are physical actions, while others are things he says. Some are very direct and obvious, while others are more slow burns (like giving the ashes away, which Wendy won't discover until the next episode). Many are very much about opposing Wendy; but sounding out Charlotte is also about trying to learn if he's all alone in this family or not. And helping Ruth, while definitely going to piss off Wendy, is also about his feelings for her and Ben. Even while his actions have one pretty clear motive, there's room for other layers, too.
The other thing to notice is how his strong choices actually help not only him but everyone else. When one character makes a strong choice, it can call forth that in others, too. Ruth asks him to join her. Charlotte stands up to him. And most importantly, Wendy more or less loses her mind. The rest of this first half of the season will doing a whole series of things first to try and win him back and then, shockingly, to destroy him.
Obviously, a character's choices have to be motivated by their situation and desires, or they seem crazy and unrelatable (a problem I'm going to talk about with regard in OZARK tomorrow). But in general, when we can give our characters those big swings, it elevates everything. And most importantly, it tells us who they really are.
