Tom Pelphrey as Ben Davis on Netflix’s Ozark season 3.
Ozark season 3 may be my favorite season yet and part of that is because of the beyond brilliant performance by Tom Pelphrey, who gave his heart and soul to his portrayal of Wendy’s brother, Ben Davis.
**Please note major spoilers have been left out for your convenience.**
It’s not easy being the new character on a show, especially when the characters are already so fantastic. However, Ben Davis certainly makes his presence known when he shows up to stay with the Byrde family.
What I really enjoyed about Ben was the way he was able to elevate other characters on the show. His connections with Ruth and his sister, Wendy, really developed their own character transformations, which I thought was so clever and thought-provoking.
We learn that Ben suffers from bipolar disorder and begins to make some drastic decisions when he starts developing romantic feelings for our girl, Ruth, which worries Wendy. Wendy has seen Ben at his worst before and doesn’t want to go down this dark path again, especially since the entire family is walking on eggshells while working for the drug cartel.
I’ve never really liked Wendy that much before, but her interactions with Ben made me change my mind. We finally got to witness some truly believable and emotional moments with Wendy and I’m not sure that we would have seen them without Ben on the show.
Ben has some fantastic and chilling moments on his own as well and isn’t afraid to shatter the lies and secrets being told in town. While his measures and actions may be beyond extreme at times, you can tell that he really has a big heart and cares about both Ruth and his family. He wears his heart on his sleeve, but he also believes in loyalty and integrity. He is honestly one of the most interesting characters I have seen on a show in a long time.
It’s not always easy to portray someone with a mental illness, but Tom Pelphrey really does a great job. He doesn’t overdo things or overact. He just simple embraces the role to the point where you really think that he is Ben Davis, which deserves a lot of recognition. I honestly think that he deserves an Emmy nomination for this role. He’s that good.
Season 3, episode 9 will tug at all of your emotions. I mentioned how powerful this episode was during my spoiler-free review of season 3, but Pelphrey’s performance is so real and heart-wrenching. I was crying my eyes out during this episode and I am still thinking about it even now. That’s how epic it was.
Family can sometimes be more complicated than anything else in the world and yet we still want to do everything we can to help the ones we love.
Bravo, Tom Pelphrey! Thank you for elevating an already fantastic show into something even greater.
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Best,
Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl
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