The Breaking Bad/Ozark comparison.
BB didn't have the most interesting characters until late in season two. Even Jesse wasn't fully developed until the 'incident' with Jane when Aaron Paul broke out as an actor IMHO.
I've recommended BB to a couple of people, and they said the same thing, its sloooow. I went back and the first season and a half begin at a glacial pace. Late in season two when Saul and Gus and Mike enter the cast and the storyline is fleshed out then the pace is super charged. I've told them to make it to the end of the 2nd season.
Ozark starts out with a bang and has multiple story lines and characters going every episode. The backdrops are unique characters unto themselves with the stark desert of the Southwest contrasted to the ever-present lakeshore of the Ozarks. Ozark sucked me in from the first show. The writing is fantastic but so is/was the writing for BB but the pace is different.
BB is a much longer series every season had more episodes, so each episode had a lot of time which is good in one way but how many times do you want to hear Skyler nag Walt. It definitely dragged in parts, and it had the single worst episode with The Fly that was plain stupid but if you stepped back the entire series was great.
It's too easy to nitpick or take shots at a single character or episode/plot point when both series are really good.
I don't see Ozark ending on the same note of BB that had a wild west shootout vibe where everything converged. I'm real curious to see how they reconcile all of the loose threads.