Ozark — Top 5 Characters I Loved To Watch On The Hit TV Series
Ozark, *SIGHS* took me long enough to finally watch all remaining three seasons after my long hiatus since season 1.
And what a wait it was!
Ozark is an American TV drama series that stars Jason Bateman of the “Horrible Bosses” comedy flick fame.
The synopsis goes like this : Jason Bateman who goes by the character named Marty Byrde, is a financial planner who relocates his family from Chicago to a summer resort community in the Ozarks. With his wife Wendy and their two kids, Marty is on the move after a money laundering scheme goes wrong forcing him to pay off a huge debt to a Mexican drug lord in order to keep his family safe. And this as you would guess leads to lots of intrigues and unexpected turns covering four seasons.
Now to the meat of my story here are my five favourite characters from the hit TV series:
1) First off is Jason Bateman who starred as Marty Byrde. His character was cool, calm and calculated, very good at his job . The numbers guy — made money laundering look cool. Marty played his cards right, and knew just how to get himself out of complicated situations. How he related with family and those who worked with him in the midst of such tense circumstances, living daily on the edge of danger was quite adorable.
Given some of his previous rules critics expected he would have brought in a sense of humour into his character regardless of the fact that he was dealing with merciless drug cartels. Sure, bringing his funny side more in his role would have been cool to see but that takes nothing away from his all round performance
2) Next up is Laura Linney who starred as Wendy Byrde, wife of Marty Byrde. I really loved how strong her character played out. She was a fierce and loving wife, mother, business partner and a very ambitious politician.
Though she was seen as heartless for the most parts, seeing as her actions led to deaths of a number of key characters on the show, I would play Devil’s Advocate and say she did what she needed to do for the greater good and safety of her and family. I particularly loved the way her character was so good with negotiation and influencing people. That’s a damn sexy quality to have in a woman.
3) My 3rd best character was Julia Garner who played the fan favourite character Ruth.. I,, like many other fans of the series loved Ruth for her loud-mouthed don’t-give-a-fuck-who-you-are attitude.
There was just something cute and funny about her foul-mouthed way of talking. At the same time she was quite the loving, loyal and caring friend. She was also one of the smart ones in the show. Safe to say a lot of us were hoping she would make it out of the show alive after killing the son of a cartel boss.
4) And that brings me to the adorable Kevin Johnson who played the character Sam Dermody. Sam was everybody’s go-to buddy. His innocence and naivety was well taken advantage of. How he was going about helping to launder money was so funny and cute to watch. Sam simply had a likeable personality.
He was picture perfect for the character. How he attempted navigating around the FBI lady at the casino was quite entertaining to see, and his manager role at the Lazy O motel was a comic relief.
5) My last but not least favourite character would be Tom Pelphrey -who played the character Ben Davis, brother to Wendy Byrde.
Ben was quite the character to watch. Nominated for his performance on the show at the Emmys 2022 awards tells you he did something right. For one who was said to be suffering from bipolar disorder, he sure put on a show for the viewers.
On his good days, he was a remarkably loving brother, uncle and lover (to Ruth). His show of emotions on his not so good days was probably where he shined even more, giving quite a performance — like when he came raging down to a ceremony of the Byrdes to tell his sister off when he found out she killed Ruth’s father, and also that monologue he had in the taxi illustrating what mental illness could look like.
A part of me wishes he hadn’t died after all. And I kind of was given a false hope by Ruth’s friend, Wyatt Langmore, when he told Ruth that Ben may well still be alive. I guess the show’s writers had other ideas.
And those were my five top favourite characters from the hit TV series Ozark. A thrilling crime drama series I recommend If you are just hearing about it from me .
P.S — This is no spoiler, but how the show ended was quite chilling for me and had me wanting more, and hoping for a season 5 or something .
Till next time on another day of a review, it’s bye guys !