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10 Harsh Realities Of Rewatching Ozark, 3 Years After It Ended

Published

3 days ago

6th July 2025

Ozark is one of the best original crime dramas on Netflix, but there are a few glaring issues that stand out upon a rewatch. Between 2017 and 2022, Ozark ran for four seasons, comprising a total of 44 episodes. Since it didn’t go on for long enough to get stale, Ozark is primed for a rewatch.

It can be fun to go back and revisit a show like Ozark. It has powerful, nuanced performances from the entire cast that have depth and layers to uncover on repeat viewings. The plot is full of unexpected twists and turns, so it’s interesting to go back and watch it again, knowing that those twists are coming.

But, as great as Ozark was, it’s not a perfect show. There are a couple of storylines and supporting characters that don’t hold up to a rewatch. A weak story arc like Ruth and Ben’s romance or a misused character like Zeke stand out more on a second viewing.

10

Ozark Is Basically A Ripoff Of Breaking Bad In A New Setting

The Initial Premise Is Clearly A Breaking Bad Clone

As the story of an ordinary suburban husband and father getting in over his head in business with a Mexican drug cartel, Ozark is essentially a Breaking Bad clone. In the years following Breaking Bad’s groundbreaking success, every network was eager to get its own Breaking Bad off the ground. Ozark was Netflix’s answer to Breaking Bad.

The bleak, dreary Lake of the Ozarks is a very different setting than the dusty, sun-drenched deserts of Albuquerque, but the core story is very similar. The antihero tries to keep his family life and his criminal life separate, he has a contentious relationship with a young protégé, and his wife eventually comes aboard as his partner-in-crime.

9

Some Of Ozark’s Violence Is Hard To Stomach

It’s An Uncompromisingly Bloody Show

Marty and Wendy covered in blood in Ozark

Graphic violence can be difficult to stomach, and Ozark has some shockingly violent scenes. Marty gets tortured by the Navarros. Helen Pierce gets shot point-blank in the face. Wendy gives up her own mentally ill brother to be executed.

Ruth electrocutes both of her uncles. Cade bashes in Petty’s skull. You need to be made of sterner stuff to get through repeat viewings of some of these violent moments. It’s the same reason it can be tough to rewatch The Sopranos or The Wire or Breaking Bad — there’s so much death and gore.

8

Wyatt & Darlene’s Relationship Is Really Uncomfortable To Watch

Wyatt Is A Teenager When He Starts Dating This Middle-Aged Woman

Wyatt and Darlene in bed together in Ozark

Romances with a huge age gap are tricky to pull off in movies and TV shows, because they inherently make audiences uncomfortable. Ozark tried to give Wyatt and Darlene a Harold and Maude-style love story, but it didn’t work.

Darlene was a murderer, so it doesn’t make sense that a generally good kid like Wyatt would fall for her.

Wyatt was a teenager and Darlene was in her 50s when they got together, so there’s really no defending it. Plus, they didn’t have Harold and Maude’s on-screen chemistry — and Darlene was a murderer, so it doesn’t make sense that a generally good kid like Wyatt would fall for her.

7

The Feds Always Seem To Be Right On The Verge Of Catching Marty

The FBI Is On Marty’s Tail, But The Series Maintains The Status Quo

Throughout most of the series, the FBI is on Marty’s tail, closing in, but they never actually catch him. Ozark’s FBI scenes settled into a tired formula: agents would question Marty and seemingly have him cornered, then he would get away. The show wanted to build suspense, but it ultimately had a status quo to maintain.

This wheel-spinning became particularly noticeable in season 3, when the FBI still couldn’t build a solid case against Marty. At that point, after evading the FBI’s custody so many times, there was no way the audience would actually believe there was a chance he was in real trouble.

6

Baby Zeke Is Treated Like A MacGuffin

Zeke Gets Passed Around Like A Plot Device In Season 2

Mason’s infant son Zeke has a major role in Ozark season 2, but he’s treated more like a MacGuffin than a human being. Seeing that Zeke is unsafe with Mason, the police take the child into state custody, so Mason kidnaps Wendy to force Marty to help him get Zeke back.

After Mason’s death, Zeke becomes a plot device and gets passed around between Marty and social services before eventually winding up with Darlene. Zeke is treated like property in this season, and it’s tough to watch (especially the second time around).

5

Wendy Is A Terrible Person

Laura Linney Gave A Great Performance, But Wendy Just Got Worse & Worse

Although Ozark’s premise is similar to that of Breaking Bad, it flips the central dynamic. In Breaking Bad, the husband, Walt, is the cold-blooded monster who abandons all morality, and his wife, Skyler, is the level-headed one with a clear code of ethics. But in Ozark, Wendy is more like Walt than Skyler.

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As Wendy goes into business with Marty, she slowly reveals her true evil nature. Marty is just trying to survive, but Wendy is genuinely a bad person. Laura Linney gives a fantastic performance as Wendy, but the character gets worse and worse as the series goes on.

4

Ruth & Ben Have No Romantic Chemistry

Their Love Story In Season 3 Feels Forced

The third season of Ozark introduces us to Wendy’s brother Ben, a high school teacher with bipolar disorder. When Ben comes to stay with the Byrdes, he ends up joining Ruth’s money-laundering squad, and they hit it off. Ruth and Ben quickly fall in love, Ben stops taking his meds, and they go on the run together.

The problem is, Ruth and Ben don’t have any romantic chemistry. They’re played by individually great actors, but there’s no tangible connection between those two actors. The romance never feels convincing, so this storyline falls flat (and it’s a huge part of the season). You can’t force chemistry, and Ruth and Ben’s love story proves it.

3

The Much-Hyped Car Crash Turned Out To Be Pointless

The Car Crash Was Teased As A Major Plot Development, But It Went Nowhere

Ozark’s season 4 premiere opens with a flash-forward in which the Byrdes are driving in their minivan, nearly get hit by an oncoming truck, and roll over in a brutal crash. The show then spent its entire two-part final season building up to that crash. It seemed like it would be a major turning point in the series.

This pointless detour would be egregious no matter what, but the fact that the entire season built hype around it makes it even worse.

But when Ozark finally got back around to this crash in the series finale, it was entirely inconsequential. The minivan rolls over, everyone is fine, and the episode continues as if the crash never happened. This pointless detour would be egregious no matter what, but the fact that the entire season built hype around it makes it even worse.

2

Ruth Was Much Too Smart To Die The Way She Did

There’s No Way The Ruth We Know Would Walk Right Into A Trap Like That

There are a lot of problems with the way Ozark ended, but one of the most frustrating is Ruth’s fate. At the Byrdes’ fundraiser, Camila gets ironclad proof that Ruth killed Javi, prevents the Byrdes from warning her, and plots an assassination. When Ruth returns home, she’s killed by Camila.

I don’t have a problem with the show killing off Ruth in principle — live by the sword, die by the sword — but the way she dies feels out of character. All throughout the series, we’ve seen Ruth stay one step ahead of her enemies. She’s too smart to just walk into a trap like she does here.

1

Ozark’s Ending Is A Cop-Out

A Disappointing Ending Can Ruin A Series Rewatch

The easiest way to hurt the rewatchability of a show is to give it a disappointing ending. Seeing Dexter become a mountain man or learning that How I Met Your Mother is the story of a widower tarnishes the legacy of the show and makes it tough to revisit. Ozark has a similarly underwhelming ending.

All four seasons of Ozark are streaming on Netflix.

As Mel vows to bring the Byrdes to justice in Ozark’s final moments, Jonah comes out with a shotgun. The screen cuts to black and a single gunshot is heard. It’s interesting to see that Marty and Wendy’s descent into a violent world has affected their children, but the cut-to-black followed by a gunshot is one of the most clichéd copout endings there is.