Thats why the storyline was so brilliant, because it’s not as simple as “Ben is the best guy evar why he die for?!”
He was severely mentally ill but you couldn’t help but identify with him when he is lamenting the fact that he’s the only one who seems to be having a normal, horrified reaction to the business his family and Ruth are into. And in that moment, he’s absolutely spot on.
In one sense, the highly unstable and mentally ill man is the only one who has a normal, sane reaction to everything going on and I thought that really added a layer to his character and the storyline.
But yes, due to coming off his meds he helped engineer his own fate by making several bad decisions at key junctures. Though I didn’t find this annoying as much as I did desperately sad.
Marty was bang on from the very start when he said that they could not have Ben around given the shit they were into and his mental health problems. Wendy absolutely fucked up fighting him on that, Ben should have been sent packing like a week after first turning up. Marty was correct to say that they couldn’t risk having him around and look at the price Wendy ended up having to personally pay.
Ben’s battle with his mental health issues is really well acted and written. The way it ultimately escalates into a horrific climax…first class television.
I’ve seen numerous shows with characters that have mental health struggles where I’ve never properly bought into it. But Ben’s flashpoints really stuck with me. Really moving, touches deep. Ozark is elite level television, one of the best shows of the past 10-20 years.
The meshing of middle America and the drug game is done so well. Breaking Bad did it in its own way, Ozark does it in its own way too. Can’t wait for the next season
Agreed. A useless character made just to try and facilitate the drama. It’s the old drama ploy- if running out of ideas, introduce someone new to see how it works out. Problem with that is, it can go either of 2 ways.
One good thing Ben did do was present a human perspective to all the wild things going on around him. Arguably, Ruth has been doing this from series 1 anyway, so
Popping in quickly to say hi, will come back in a week or so once I’ve watched all seven episodes, can’t be taking risks and dipping into this thread til then.
It says spoilers in the thread title but just in case…spoilers.
Even with the raised stakes in the final episode it still was a really poor run for me.
I feel Javi’s introduction was actually pretty badly handled and his wrecklessness, while obviously meant to make us feel like the stakes were being raised, was actually just outward fucking stupidity. The type an educated second in command of a drug cartel would probably not be inclined towards. There is no real good reason Omar didn’t just have him killed after some of what he pulled. If they were trying to imply Omar lost his bottle it didn’t come across that way.
And I dunno with Wendy. The way she treated Jonah throughout just wasn’t believable. Has she had a total breakdown that we’ll find out about later? The scene with her dad for instance certainly wouldn’t suggest that.
It’s weird because this one podcast I listened to both hosts were raving about the character and the actor’s performance.
I just feel like Javi belonged in a different show. I understand what they’re trying to do, but it felt a little cliché. The second generation of a drug cartel gets an MBA in Chicago, speaks relatively unaccented English, is super suave but also dangerous. My issue is that he didn’t come off as smart at all. If anything he’s more a Don Jr. type for me.
And you’re absolutely right. The idea that Omar wouldn’t just kill him is absolutely ridiculous and doesn’t fit with what we know about him. We know he wants out, he told us that but this is the guy who kept saying that Marty can’t win until Omar also wins. You think he’s going to let his cheesedick nephew murder a cop and attack Federal agents without immediately recalling him to Homebase for a quick chat? Bullshit. If Omar had this huge change of heart or lost his nerve than show us! Even if it’s a little hamfisted like how they showed Darlene’s weakness with the heart attack.
I also absolutely despise the narrative trick of starting a season and then jumping backwards to some earlier point in time. It takes all the tension out of things, especially knowing this is the final season. Could Javi fly off the handle and shoot Marty during that scene cleaning Helen’s house? No, because Marty has to survive to be in the car crash. Could Helen kill Charlotte because she’s a perceived romantic rival? No, because she needs to be in the car crash. It’s lazy imo.
Yeah, I thought that could either be a dream or a sneak peek into how the whole thing ends. I fear it’s the latter. Tbh, I used to feel that way about the Sopranos. Even if Tony got in a heated “kill or be killed” fight, you knew he’d win. He’s the eponymous character.
I didn’t get what you meant about Helen potentially killing Charlotte. Helen died a season before so she wouldn’t have any influence on being Charlotte’s love rival and the car crash we saw at the beginning of this season, no?
Is there a more iconic duo than Darlene and her fucking shotgun?
I just finished it and although I liked the introduction of Javi overall because his character is psychotic (and really well acted), he just goes around killing people to create flash points in the show. I don’t mind that it’s unrealistic at times, but surely random henchman #3 would do the dirty work of murdering Darlene. However, the ruthlessness with which he kills Wyatt is shocking and thought that was fitting for a mid-season finale.
One thing that is pissing me off is Jonah. What a little twat he’s become. Fucking annoying prick. My bet is that he continues on his little moral crusade, but ends up doing something equally reprehensible. It might be a bit too obvious that he gives up Wendy, or does something that ends up killing Charlotte. We will see.
Overall thoroughly enjoyed it. Blitzed through it in like 3 days, and when you do that you don’t notice filler episodes as much, because you’re straight into the next one.
