TV writer Miki Johnson (Ray Donovan, Hell On Wheels) garnered a WGA award for Episodic Drama for her episode Fire Pink in the award-winning TV series Ozark. We spoke with her about writing the penultimate episode of season three and what made it stand out. (This interview contains some spoilers).

Fire Pink is a special episode, because it isn’t quite the last one of the season which typically gets more attention. “It’s amazing how often the second last episode of many TV shows is very explosive,” began Johnson. “The final episode must resolve the story arc of the season and promise something for the next season. The penultimate episode allows you to be splashy without the responsibility of the finale.”

The Ozark TV writers room spends a great deal of time writing their opening teasers. Fire Pink was no different; a scramble of thoughts contemplating the vicissitudes of life. Ben Davis (Tom Pelphrey), Wendy Byrde’s (Laura Linney) mentally ill brother has just been released from a psychiatric hospital and is driving home. His thoughts are fractured, contemplative, hopeful and uncertain as he discusses his past life in the marines, Tom Petty, his present life as a former psychiatric inpatient, old people eating sundaes alone, and his the future holds. It is a deeply emotional stream of consciousness opener.

Miki Johnson confessed that much of its execution was due to Tom. “He imbued it with such rhythmic energy and took my thoughts and spun magic.” She took great care to convey Ben’s feelings of mania, grief, shock and instability against a veneer of calmness and control.

Ben Davis (Tom Pelphrey)

The ending of the episode is equally powerful. Wendy is on the run after abandoning her brother at a rest stop diner and calls Marty (Jason Bateman) confessing that “she can’t do this anymore.” The criminal life they’re trapped in cannot continue.

Since Chris Mundy, the showrunner, stated that Ozark is a show about marriage in a previous interview, Johnson perceived the ending as further testing the Byrde’s marriage, but ultimately strengthening it. “Wendy and Marty have done things which would make other marriages prohibitive. The greater the danger they find themselves in, the greater their love for each other grows.” It’s unclear whether Wendy and Marty will ever escape their predicament although they may experience isolated moments of happiness to keep their marriage alive.

Creating successful anti-heroes on television and expecting the audience to stick with them across multiple seasons is a tall order. “Wendy and Marty launder money for a drug cartel, they lie, and they kill.”

There must be a point of intersection between Wendy and Marty’s nefarious acts and hooking their audience. “Viewers recognize aspects of themselves in the Byrdes. They recognize the slippery slope they are on after making one mistake at a time when their marriage stagnated.” After they entered that slope, there was no turning back. There was no cooling off period. Everything became a matter of survival, protecting their children, and keeping their family together.

Ben and Wendys’ fraught relationship is constantly pushed to extremes when Ben inadvertently puts the Byrdes in danger. In the end, she abandons him in a diner before breaking down. “Ben has embarrassed, terrified and angered Wendy at times. Mental illness complicates every relationship. Despite this, they deeply loved each other.”

Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer) the attorney who represents the Navarro drug cartel can easily be dismissed as a cold, callous and calculating criminal. She’s in a business with no margin for error. Despite her glaring faults, “Helen, like Wendy, is a mother. She has felt a failure to her children, but she loves them. Like the Byrdes, Helen made a decision to enter the drug business out of boredom, curiosity, and greed during a period of vulnerability in her life. She was devastated by her divorce and separation from her children.” In many respects, Helen and Wendy have led parallel lives and share many character traits.

Ozark progresses with a gentle undulating tone. The TV series is not overly plot-heavy with massive crescendos or dramatic plunges. This approach to its storytelling is by design.

Miki Johnson

“You have to spend time with people and it’s not always fast,” said Johnson. “There aren’t always big moves. You need to see Marty and Wendy in states less than those of full-blown adrenaline. Every scene needs to breathe.” Johnson attributes the tone and pace of the show to showrunner Chris Mundy.

Ozark has a slow metabolism and the drama unfolds slowly. This makes it captivating. However, every scene, no matter how innocuous, follows the core dramatic principle of every character wanting to achieve an objective while the other is trying to block it. “It’s often not a proud objective. It’s either the pursuit of love or power that makes them feel whole.” Every character’s goal on the screen is in service to achieving their underlying objective.

Ozark also makes occasional subtle political references. Wendy is a liberal, former speechwriter for President Obama, while Helen holds conservative values. This is fundamental to Wendy’s character, since it highlights the irony and hypocrisy of Wendy’s life choices.

Johnson referenced the history of the Kennedys when writing her characters. “The Kennedys were bootleggers and had a certain kind of aggression. They built a fortune on the back of illegality and criminality; a far cry from some liberal progressives currently parading on the political stage.”

Although Miki Johnson has written on several television shows, she personally identifies with the character of Ben on Ozark the most. She also wrote on the more masculine crime show, Ray Donovan. Curiously, the writer claimed that she thrived on Ray Donovan because he was so dissimilar to her. Donovan was a representation of what she might be like as a celebrity fixer. “I bring to it what makes sense to me,” she asserted. Every writer brings elements of themselves to every show. They don’t need to have a shared life experience. But they do need to have a shared emotional arc. It’s a chance for writers to get to know themselves better if they define how they would act in a given situation.

In conclusion, Johnson advises that good TV writers need a strong point of view with something to say in order to stay relevant in the industry. “You need pretty strong opinions about the story you want tell to make it.“