Ozark: Ranking Every Main Character Worst To Best
Ranking all the shady residents of the Ozarks from cartel kingpins to the Byrde family.
Ozark has had an interesting trajectory over the course of its first three seasons. It went from a mildly good show that could easily get lost in Netflix's barrage of new content to the best drama the streaming giant is putting out. The level of quality improvement from season to season is extraordinary and should be applauded.
A large part of that improvement can be attributed to the characters on screen. Ozark soon realised which of its characters were working and which of them weren't, weeding out the ones they could without disrupting the narrative too much.
What this means is that Ozark has a bit of a divide amongst its crop of characters. Some are amazing, flawlessly developed individuals who feel real and believable and some are grating, annoying or otherwise just uninteresting.
It's a complex show with a lot of moving parts and it is thrilling to see the Byrdes navigate the various dangerous groups that may cause them harm. As Ozark heads into its super sized final season, it is time to reflect on the best and the worst the show has to offer.
15. Cade Langmore
Ruth's incarcerated father becomes a big player in the second season as he manipulates all the members of the Langmore family to earn the one thing that matters to Cade: money. Cade doesn't feel overly complex and his aggressive demeanour gets old quickly.
Distracting Ruth for a whole season doesn't mean she isn't provided with strong material related to her father, however that doesn't stop Cade from being a slight drain on proceedings. The performance from Trevor Long is serviceable, but neither he nor the writing elevate the character above more than a one dimensional villain.
Although his presence allowed for good development to be had for the other Langmores, Cade himself was never that interesting and ended up feeling superfluous occasionally and forgettable constantly. He inevitably feels completely transitional as he is dead by the end of the second season in a quick scene that almost felt tacked on. The show is better off without him.