I didn't like season 2 and was content not watching season 3. Then COVID hit and I exhausted most of the other good shows on my list and some coworkers said Ozark season 3 was better than season 2, so I reluctantly gave it a shot.
This show is still terrible for all of the same reasons:
I hate most of the characters. There isn't really a protagonist or an underdog for me to root for. Maybe Ruth is supposed to be the Jesse Pinkman character here? I really don't care if they all die, starting with Wendy.
The writing is horribly inconsistent:
-In season 2 Charlotte was fighting for emancipation and now she is magically back in the family business without much of an explanation.
-Wendy made a big fuss about getting a 2nd casino and hotel at the expense of getting an FBI investigation brought upon them, only to never mention that 2nd casino in the last 5 episodes of the season.
-Wendy made a push to win Zeke back from Darlene, only to suddenly drop it when court didn't go their way.
-Marty says he's gonna flip and FBI agent, then he just kinda strings her along and does basically nothing of value.
There's always a new big problem every 1-2 episodes, then instead of actually resolving it or incorporating it into the overall plot, they just cast it aside and move onto a new problem.
Aside from the inconsistent writing, the large scale plot requires too much suspension of disbelief. You can't convince me that the head of a Mexican drug cartel would want a partial share of a Missouri riverboat casino for relatively small scale money laundering operation, and that he would then spend his time chatting on the phone with Wendy of all people. And that somehow Marty and Wendy Byrde can end a cartel war remotely by providing a single FBI agent with some dirt on a single hit and then the U.S. military sweeps in and eliminates Navarro's rivals, all in one episode and all off screen. Yeah because the U.S. military has a long history of quickly and efficiently ending drug wars. That's the biggest plot issue currently, but the writers wanted to raise the stakes and this is where it took them.
I don't even need to complain about Ben. As bad as he was, he would be tolerable if the above 3 complaints were 50% better. If this show was a shitty BBQ joint, Ben would be the bad potato salad. Hardly worth mentioning when the brisket and sausage are poorly cooked.
I'm out for season 4. Or maybe I'll write a similar rant in a year if we are still living in a pandemic and I still need ways to waste my abundant spare time.