Ozark Meets Dexter In Peacock's New 9-Part Crime Thriller That's Designed To Be Binged

Peacock has a new crime thriller that combines some of the best aspects of two legendary crime dramas, Ozark and Dexter, and all nine of its episodes are available to stream now. Ozark and Dexter are two of the best crime thrillers the genre has ever produced. Very few shows manage to be as smartly written, thrilling, and morally complex as them.

Ozark got off to a somewhat slow start, but by the time its fourth and final season had ended, it was drawing comparisons to another great crime thriller, Breaking Bad. Viewers and critics alike praised Ozark for its realism, its tense plot, and the superb performance by lead actor Jason Bateman. Dexter, meanwhile, was an instant hit for its blend of vigilante justice, Dexter's own internal moral conflict, its twisty mysteries, and its truly engaging serial killers.

Now, Peacock is attempting to combine the best elements of Dexter and Ozark into its new thriller, M.I.A.. The new series follows Etta Tiger Jonze (Shannon Gisela) as she takes on a revenge quest against the cartel that murdered her family. While reviews for M.I.A. have been mixed so far, there are currently plans for M.I.A. season 2, despite not having an official renewal. M.I.A. also released all nine of its episodes at once on Peacock, making it the perfect series to binge-watch.

M.I.A. Comes From A Co-Creator Of Ozark & Takes A Lot Of Inspiration From It

M.I.A. was created by Bill Dubuque, one of the co-creators of Ozark, and his influence on both shows is plain to see. Like Ozark before it, M.I.A. is also a very realistic and smartly written crime thriller. M.I.A. manages to have a few more outlandish plot points than Ozark, but the core of both shows is very competent people becoming career criminals, and the effect that change has on the people they care about.

The easiest way to compare M.I.A. and Ozark is in their pilot episodes. In the beginning of Ozark season 1, Marty and his money laundering partner, Bruce, are taken hostage by the cartel they work for after Bruce skims money off the top. In M.I.A. episode 1, the entire Tiger Jonze family is taken hostage after refusing to partake in human trafficking for the Rojas cartel. Both shows start with a very tense, bloody, and similarly shot hostage scene, M.I.A. just plays out in a more deadly fashion than Ozark does.

The shows even have similar settings. Ozark famously takes place in the Lake of the Ozarks, a rural part of Missouri. Much of M.I.A. takes place in Miami and the Florida Keys, and some scenes even take place in the Everglades. Both of these shows focus on criminals who run afoul of the cartel and both place a heavy emphasis on a somewhat rural coastal area. M.I.A. is decidedly more urban, but its focus on the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami gives it a very similar vibe to the Lake of the Ozarks.

M.I.A. and Ozark also have some stark differences, of course. M.I.A. is more of a classic revenge thriller, though it has promised to make Etta a "queenpin" of crime, presumably in future seasons. Ozark is more akin to Breaking Bad. Still, despite their differences, both Ozark and M.I.A. feature a strong focus on family dynamics, both place their central characters in a "fish out of water" scenario, and both take close examinations into how a relatively normal person becomes corrupted by crime.

M.I.A. Also Has The Southern Florida Setting & Vigilante Killer Angle Of Dexter

Additionally, while created by Bill Dubuque, M.I.A. was also partially written by Karen Campbell, who worked extensively on Dexter season 6, and she also had quite an impact on the series. Like Dexter, M.I.A. centers around a very smart main character that begins acting as a vigilante who exclusively murders criminals. Both shows revolve around Dexter and Etta, respectively, conducting investigations to find criminals and bring them to justice, and both bring a macabre fascination with murder to the table.

Again, the respective settings of M.I.A. and Dexter are some of the biggest similarities between the shows. Both take place extensively in southern Florida, and particularly in Miami. Both shows take a very similar, neon-drenched approach to the visual language of Miami, and they both look great. Miami itself also bleeds into both shows' plots in a very good way. For example, there's a scene in M.I.A. where Etta disposes of a body by dumping it into the sea that feels extremely reminiscent of Dexter's favored corpse disposal method.

M.I.A. also revolves around the examination of how Etta goes from a mostly typical young woman into a highly efficient killer, which aligns it with the Dexter prequel series Dexter: Original Sin. There are obviously differences — Etta becomes a killer through tragedy, while Dexter has his "dark passenger" — but the shows share an extremely similar philosophical question about vigilante justice and a morally complex anti-hero as a main character.

Dexter also had a strong focus on Dexter's family and personal life, and M.I.A. has replicated this quality, too. Much of M.I.A. season 1 revolves around Etta trying to balance avenging her blood family while also being there for her new found family, Stanley and Lovely. The way Etta interacts with them feels directly inspired by the relationship Dexter had with Debra Morgan, particularly in the later seasons of Dexter. If you're a fan of Dexter or Ozark, M.I.A. is certainly worth giving a chance.