Every Character Is A Villain In Netflix’s 44-Episode Crime Thriller

Published Sep 26, 2026, 10:30 PM EDT

Dhruv is a Lead Writer in Screen Rant's New TV division. He has been consistently contributing to the website for over two years and has written thousands of articles covering streaming trends, movie/TV analysis, and pop culture breakdowns.
Before Screen Rant, he was a Senior Writer for The Cinemaholic, covering everything from anime to television, from reality TV to movies.
After high school, he was on his way to become a Civil Engineer. However, he soon realized that writing was his true calling. As a result, he took a leap and never looked back.

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Most crime dramas set clear lines between heroes and villains. A few others feature morally ambiguous characters as their leads and either walk through their journey towards redemption or downfall towards completely embracing the bad side. One Netflix show, however, only features villains. Not one character in its story seems redeemable. And yet, it finds ways to keep viewers invested.

In its early moments, Netflix's Ozark seems reminiscent of Breaking Bad in more ways than one. Its lead, played by Jason Bateman, reminds one of Walter White as he gets trapped in the schemes of the underworld in a pursuit to provide for his family. However, this is when the show takes an even darker turn than Breaking Bad.

As Ozark progresses, some of its most morally skewed characters experience some semblance of catharsis. Some even show immense potential for redemption. Before the series' final credits start rolling, though, almost no character comes off as a true hero. Barring a few main characters in Ozark, almost all do some of the most morally messed up things.

There Are No True Heroes & Only Villains In Netflix’s Ozark

Even some of the bleakest crime dramas like Breaking Bad find their moral anchors in characters like Jesse. Ozark seems to take the completely opposite route by unfolding in a world where morality is pretty much dead. Its lead, Marty Byrde, initially seems like a reluctant hero with immense potential for redemption.

However, the more the show progresses, the more it becomes evident that Marty hardly has any noble intents. He only cares about his family and treats human life and morality as mere numbers on his balance sheets he can optimize for his own gains. In most shows about crime, the younger characters are usually portrayed as the more morally grounded voices.

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Ozark does not shy away from taking this away too. Marty's son and daughter initially seem on the right path to not repeat their parents' mistakes. Ultimately, though, they, too, become increasingly embroiled in their parents' criminal world and lose their moral compass. Some characters, like Julia Garner's Ruth and Tom Pelphrey's Ben, start emerging as heroes.

Unfortunately, for them, they struggle to survive in the pitch black world of Ozark and die in their pursuit to do what they believe is right. When the Netflix crime thriller's final credits start rolling, no heroes are left in its roster; only villains.

Ozark Still Brilliantly Finds A Way To Make Its Drama Compelling

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

It becomes increasingly hard to root for most main characters in Ozark. Towards the end, perhaps Ruth is the only character who has some semblance of morality left. However, instead of using moral virtue as a narrative device, Ozark thrives on unpredictability. It introduces new characters as potential leads and then ruthlessly eradicates them in the most brutal ways possible.

Ozark is still compared with Breaking Bad. While it is understandable where the comparison comes from, the Netflix show finds its distinct identity in its willingness to completely defy what viewers expect from its story. Even with its ending scene, Ozark completely subverts expectations without worrying too much about how audiences will react to its bleak conclusion.

While Netflix's Ozark, too, has its flaws and is not as perfect as Breaking Bad in terms of pacing and character development, it deserves its place among some of the better modern crime thrillers.

Ozark

Ozark follows financial advisor Marty Byrde, who is forced to relocate his family from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks after a money-laundering scheme for a Mexican drug cartel goes disastrously wrong. As Marty builds a new criminal operation to keep his family alive, he and his wife Wendy become entangled with local crime bosses, law enforcement, and the cartel itself, turning their desperate plan for survival into an increasingly dangerous struggle for power.