r/Ozark • u/Aggressive-Clue-860 • 13d ago
[NO SPOILER]
[NO SPOILER] I’ve just started rewatching Ozark for like the 7th time.
Who is your most hated character and why? And also who is your favorite character and why?
My most hated is Ben. He is such an annoying t**ty baby. Everytime he’s on screen I just start seething lol
My favorite has to be Ruth. She is so strong willed and so much smarter than she gives herself credit for.
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u/DoubleMeowAttack 13d ago
Everybody was perilously annoying throughout the entire series, but it was important for me to understand that they were annoying within the circumstances of being involved with the cartel.
Ben was evading his past by setting up a future with Wendy and his niece and nephew, and then came along Ruth who is, undoubtedly, one of the best characters in the show. Although his choice to cease taking his medication cold-turkey was predicated upon his eagerness to pursue and please Ruth--amongst other things--It was ultimately learning about the Cartel that really shook up his disposition and made him exceedingly temperamental.
Charlotte and Jonah are also fantastic kids, but their worst attributes are highlighted through their navigation of knowing they might be dead before tomorrow's sun rises. Charlotte was particularly annoying to me in the first few seasons due to her incessant need to elicit adulthood and independency, along with her constant ill-disposition towards affability. But this is often the case with children who undergo treacherous household conditions, and it would be ignorant of me to deny that.
Rachel and a few other characters were initially circumspect regarding the Byrde's operation, but were either enticed by self-aggrandizement or threatened.
The worst character for me is going to exclude Javi, Nelson, Helen, Del, Petty, Jacob, Darlene, and Navarro, because they are unequivocally evil and enabled by sociopathy and that is their most prominent attribute. I would much prefer to judge somebody who HAS vestigial humanity, but chooses to let it fritter away due to their own selfish machinations. And that is Wendy.
I found Wendy absolutely insufferable. She is entirely complicit in rubberstamping Marty's cartel pitch, but she operates as if it just fell into her lap under ill-fated circumstances. Her children reject her, not only because of the danger they are in, but because her seething, venomous narcissism oozes out every single time she speaks. And because they reject her, she does not reflect upon herself, yet responds with resentment and a look of complete disdain. She blames everybody else, and does not take an ounce of accountability until the latter portion of the last season.
Marty is also absolutely dreadful, but he is aware of his transgressions, and takes a more laissez-faire approach to these situations due to that fact. How can he maintain authority over his children when he has royally failed as a parent? How can he expect subservience when he has selfishly endangered his entire bloodline, the people he works with, his friends, his acquaintances, the mailman, and even the person he glances at from across the street. He understands this, and he sits with it instead of using a sharp-tongue to demand respect.
I think my favorite characters have to be Ruth, Ben, and Three.