Ozark secretly references Jason Bateman's comedy series Arrested Development in some unexpected ways. One of Bateman's early breaks in his career was landing the role of Michael Bluth in Arrested Development. The sitcom originally aired on Fox for three seasons and followed Michael Bluth as he tried to keep the spoiled Bluth family afloat after his father was sent to prison. Despite the early cancelation in 2006, Arrested Development returned several years later thanks to Netflix. The streaming service became the home for two more seasons, but season 5 was it's last.

Following this experience with Netflix, Bateman reteamed with the streaming service on a brand new show, Ozark. Bateman stars as Marty Bryde, a financial advisor who becomes part of an illegal money-laundering scheme for a Mexican drug cartel. The dark crime drama is quite different from Arrested Development in terms of its tone, but there are some surprising similarities between the two shows. And even though there aren't any direct Easter eggs to Arrested Development like the Bluth Company stair car or the frozen banana stand, there are some subtle references to Bateman's previous TV role.

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In Arrested Development, Michael Bluth's father took part in several illegal activities to amass the Bluth's family fortune. One of the ways he decided to hide this wealth was to put cash in the walls of the frozen banana stand. Those who have seen Ozark know that stuffing cash into the walls of a business operation is something Marty Byrde does too. He hides stacks of cash at different places across the Ozarks, but one particular episode saw him forced to stuff the walls of the Blue Fish Lodge. While Marty is able to keep his money safe this way, Michael Bluth was unaware the banana stand had $250,000 in its walls and burned it to the ground when he was angry with his father.

Ozark Arrested development reference

The similarities between Ozark and Arrested Development do not stop there though. It turns out that both of Bateman's characters are quite knowledgeable about maritime law. Maritime law refers to laws about the sea and other nautical issues. Michael Bluth references it multiple times throughout Arrested Development, and Marty Byrde mentions it while revealing one of his master plans. Since Marty has businesses closely related to water, it is understandable why he is proficient in such legal matters. Meanwhile, Michael learned about maritime law during his years at law school.

While putting illegal cash is quite common in crime stories, references to maritime law are not. Both of these similarities could be coincidences or Bateman inadvertently borrowing from Arrested Development to make Ozark. However, there's also the chance that Bateman and the Ozark creators did this intentionally as a way to reference his work on Arrested Development. Could Marty Byrde and Michael Bluth even be the same character? Probably not, but Ozark's future could potentially include more Arrested Development references.

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