Any Ozark fan knows that the series has a knack for keeping you on the edge of your couch — especially when it comes to its characters’ ever-changing alliances. Whether you’re friend, family or foe, you just never know where you stand in the seedy world of money laundering.

In Season 1, one of the most crafty and intimidating teenagers to ever grace the screen, the ruthless Ruth Langmore (Julia Garner), and her stiff boss Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), form an unlikely partnership that lasts nearly three seasons (forever in Ozark years). Unfortunately, alliances are as brittle as bones in Ozark, and in the show’s fourth season, the two find themselves on opposite sides.

“She doesn’t want to be a Langmore. She thinks it’s wrong,” Garner mused about her character early on in the show during a panel discussion with Deadline in 2020. “She wants to be a Byrde, secretly.” But when she realizes the Byrdes aren’t any better than her own, and they heartbreakingly betray her trust, she sets off to find her own identity (spoiler alert: with heroin queen-pin and Ozark local Darlene Snell).

Chris Mundy, executive producer and writer of Ozark, shared with Deadline last year about how the core of the show is really about the Byrdes versus the Langmores and how their conflict pushes the series forward.

Marty and Ruth have come a long way. The first season of the series kicks off with Ruth’s many plans to kill Marty (electrocution by boat was an interesting choice), but the savvy teen, sensing an opportunity, decides to work for him instead. Thus began the mentor-mentee relationship fans have come to root for. And the two actually make an efficient pair, both sharing an aptitude for laundering money and navigating life-or-death situations.

Now that Ruth’s partnering with Darlene (Lisa Emery), who knows what will come of her fractured relationship with Marty. Several theories suggest some pretty wild ideas: They either fall in love, or maybe Ruth is still working for Marty undercover. The fanfic writes itself.

Despite being frenemies on screen, Bateman praises Garner’s talents. “Julia has an innate vulnerability to her that runs as a really interesting juxtaposition to her ferocity,” Bateman shared with The Hollywood Reporter in 2020. “She’s as sweet as she is sour, as much of a beauty as she is a beast, and her ability to toggle between those polarities...  the writers write to that.”