Why Netflix's The Waterfront is miles apart from Ozark (despite all the subtle creative similarities)

Netflix's latest crime thriller series, The Waterfront, has received positive reviews from audiences and critics alike.

While Season 1 debuted with an average score of 65% on RT, fans have shown interest in creator Kevin Williamson's fictional and dysfunctional Buckley family.

The series owes much of its success to comparisons with another Netflix hit crime series, Ozark, starring Jason Bateman in the main role. Since its debut, the show has largely been compared to this 2017 hit as they share similar dysfunctional families and the dangerous criminal world against a coastal town set-up.

However, despite these similar tonal and aesthetic similarities, The Waterfront is in no way an Ozark replacement as it eventually takes a melodramatic tone, as opposed to the thrilling take of its predecessor.

More on this in our story.

*Disclaimer- This article is based on the author's opinion. Reader discretion is advised.*

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Despite the The Waterfront's subtle similarities, it is in no way an Ozark replacement

While fans were hoping Netflix's The Waterfront would be the next Ozark replacement for them, the show is nowhere near the 2017 hit.

Moving past the dysfunctional families and the similar geographical setting, Williamson's soapy drama series could not replicate the dangers of the gritty drug world as brilliantly as in Ozark.

Talking about the premise and the central situation, Ozark was far better established, and it gripped the audience's attention right from the get-go.

In Ozark, Marty Byrde is a family man working a seemingly clean accounting job in Chicago and living the elite suburban life. It is only after we learn that Marty has been skimming money from a Mexican drug cartel for years, we realise the protagonist is not what he seems.

When the drug cartel catches Marty off guard, he is forced to work for them and promises to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in the Ozarks to save himself and his family from the deadly consequences.

In contrast, The Waterfront lacks this surprising push into the criminal world as the Buckleys already have a background in smuggling drugs. Harlan's father did it, Harlan did it, and after a drug hand-off goes bad, Harlan's dumb son, Cane, is forced to become the frontrunner while his father recovers from a second heart attack.

While Williamson's show claims that Buckleys had no choice, Cane's plunge into the drug world seemed fated rather than circumstantial, as opposed to Marty's fate in Ozark. This confusing set-up could not provide the necessary urgency in the plot that made Ozark a must-watch show.

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The Waterfront's melodramatic tone lacks Ozark's thrilling elements

Much like Ozark, Williamson's The Waterfront also starts out as a gritty tale of violence and revenge, which soon takes a melodramatic and soapy tone.

Comparing the patriarchs in both shows, while Marty is a mastermind and brilliant manipulator who efficiently handles money laundering schemes, while making efforts to win back his estranged wife, The Waterfront's Harlan is just an abusive and cold father.

While Holt McCallaney is brilliant in his portrayal of Harlan Buckley, another demanding and abusive father role added to his career, he can nowhere match the street smarts of Bateman's Marty.

While Marty effectively plotted against the drug cartel and smartly planned his next course of action in every Ozark episode, Harlan is just an old and weak man, set in his toxic patriarchal ways.

The Waterfront spends the majority of its episodes entangling the frustratingly toxic family drama of the Buckleys, which gives it a soapy, melodramatic tone.

While Marty and Wendy later had an equal partnership in Ozark, where the latter became her husband's lobbyist and brought an equally fierce energy to the show, Belle Buckley had no shining moments on Netflix's latest crime series.

Belle and Bree Buckley became silent spectators in their families' twisty drug business, with no active role in the main plot.

While the show struggles to maintain its pace, it has largely enjoyed success and even climbed Netflix's Top 10 charts in many countries, leaving room for improvement in future seasons.

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