Ozark season 3 made one big mistake with its drug kingpin
Ozark season 3 spoilers follow.
"Wendy, this might have been the best thing that could have ever happened," said Marty (Jason Bateman) to his wife and business partner at the horse farm.
The accountant had not long been released from a cell in the bowels of Omar Navarro's mansion.
Related: Everything you need to know about Ozark season 4
"I spent a decade afraid of something and when it finally arrived, it wasn't at all what I thought it would be, and I wasn't who I thought I would be."
The title of episode four, 'Boss Fight', could be a reference to the ongoing war between the Navarro cartel and the Lagunas. But it could also allude to a boss fight in a video game – the ultimate showdown. Marty's biggest test yet.
And he passed. The protagonist didn't lose his head, literally or figuratively.
He lived to see another day, facing off against Navarro (Felix Solis) and finding a way to save his own skin and those of his family, with a little help from Maya Miller (Jessica Francis Dukes).
The FBI special agent had stuck a red flag on one of Navarro's bank accounts, knowing that it could be a viable lifeline for someone who would know exactly how to disable it – and it was.
Marty, never really one to display much emotion, gained a fresh steeliness following his ordeal. His self-assuredness strengthened and his ability to remain cool in the face of extreme pressure crystallised.
The Byrde patriarch, previously tempted to accept Miller's plea deal, was all in, his commitment to Navarro rejuvenated after rediscovering the part of himself that wanted to win, whatever the contest.
Marty had seemingly become less afraid, not more.
But so, too, did we, the viewers.
Before season three, the drug kingpin remained faceless, a name to be feared or revered, depending on where you stood.
But in the drama's latest chapter, we met him for the first time and... he was just a man. No horns or scales. He had hands rather than talons. His physique was unassuming, even diminutive. His hair and beard were tinged with grey and his brow creased – signs of mortality, contrary to the somewhat otherworldly, live-forever qualities that powerful, formidable people so often exude.
Navarro had all the same tools at his disposal to inflict maximum damage, but seeing him in the flesh rendered him lesser, his omniscience and omnipotence diminished.
We had met him one time too many and with that, the mystique was shattered.
It's a similar situation in It Chapter One. The mythology of Pennywise is more terrifying than the dancing clown we're presented with, and the more we're exposed to him the less horrifying he becomes.
The power of the unseen is one of the greatest weapons in any horror film, and Navarro also benefited from that distance.
The series had to introduce him eventually, of course. Marty and Wendy had ascended the ranks, proving themselves indispensable to the crime boss, whereas others, such as Helen (Janet McTeer), had fallen short of expectations. Their growing influence warranted an audience with the puppet master himself.
But it should have held back, biding its time until the point of no return.
One of Ozark's greatest assets is the mounting tension that has steadily ramped up over the course of its three seasons. Like Breaking Bad, a series which has heavily influenced the Netflix show, it understands the power of patience, knowing when to hold back and when to advance.
But with two more seasons potentially on the cards, according to showrunner Chris Mundy, Ozark was too eager to lift the curtain on Navarro.
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