After the very first season concluded, it was very clear that Julia Garner’s Ruth Langmore was the standout character on Ozark. Given the dark, relentless nature of the show, it required a character who could call attention to the twisted nature of the story. While the Byrdes slowly begin to lose their humanity as they continue in their dark venture, Ruth begins to open up and notice the consequences of her actions. Although she adds a bit of comic relief now and then, Ruth ultimately becomes the heart of Ozark.
Despite being snubbed for the first season, Garner came back to the Primetime Emmy Awards to win the award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for both Season 2 and Season 3. Last night, she capped off her run on the show with another win for Ozark’s last season. It was the only award Ozark took home; despite the high expectations that fans had for the series finale, Ozark fizzled out with little fanfare. While ambiguous endings can work under the right circumstances, Ozark failed to bring the characters’ stories to a meaningful conclusion.
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While the last season of Ozark may not be remembered fondly, Garner’s third Emmy win was completely deserving. Even when the show did its best to discount Ruth’s impact, Garner brought the same strength, humanity, and wry sense of humor to the role that had made her so endearing in the first place. The issue with Ozark Season 4 is that it’s so focused on plot mechanics that the characters don’t have the time to simply interact; Ruth is the one who has to bear the consequences of the Byrdes’ maliciousness and is the victim of some truly devastating tragedies. Ruth starts off Season 4 in a state of mourning. At the end of the previous season, Wendy Byrde (Laura Linney) had sacrificed her brother, Ben Davis (Tom Pelphrey), in order to appease their lawyer, Helen Pierce (Janet McTeer). The Byrdes barely have time to grieve in Season 4; instead of taking the moment to remember Ben, the family instantly begins questioning each other’s motivations. Ben’s death is essentially an example that Jonah (Skylar Gaertner) cites when he references his mother’s insanity.
It’s Ruth who is actually heartbroken. A slow moment in the episode “The Beginning of the End,” where she recovers Ben’s ashes, is the perfect change of pace from the show’s nonstop momentum. Alliances on Ozark are often forged out of pettiness, but Ruth decides to team up with Darlene Snell (Lisa Emery) to achieve justice. By undermining the Byrdes, Ruth is allowing the community to get vengeance on the family that has subjected them to countless tragedies. However, we see Ruth coming to grips with her relationship with Marty (Jason Bateman). Ruth first joined Marty because she wanted to improve her circumstances, and in many ways, he became a strange father figure to her. Although the show tries to go back to the status quo, Garner doesn’t allow Ruth to forgive Marty completely. There is a fiery resentment in all of her words to Marty, even when she agrees to sell Darlene’s heroin to him.
We also see Ruth fulfill the role that Marty never did; she actually tries to keep her family together, even when she disagrees with them. Ruth’s actions, however twisted, are always for the good of the Langmore clan. Ruth doesn’t understand why her brother, Wyatt (Charlie Tahan), would want to marry Darlene, but she agrees to protect her brother’s lover. Unfortunately, this ends up having disastrous consequences. The volatile cartel enforcer Javi Elizonndro (Alfonso Herrera) murders Wyatt out of spite, pushing Ruth over the edge. Ruth’s fiery confrontation with the Byrdes for their role in Wyatt’s death in “Sanctified” is one of the most purely emotional moments in the entire series; in a blind rage, Ruth swears she will kill Javi, no matter what.
Although the first half of the season characterizes Ruth as a powder keg ready to explode, she gets some time to simply reflect on her loneliness in the second half. Ruth is truly left without any allies; she’s divorced herself from caring about people because it seems like everyone she loves is taken away from her. There’s a bizarre moment in “The Cousin of Death” where Ruth runs into Killer Mike in a restaurant; it’s a very distracting celebrity cameo, but Garner is able to turn it into a moment of reprieve where Ruth can discuss her passions.
Garner emboldens Ruth’s humanity as she fights for her independence. Working to undermine the Byrdes’ casino, Ruth tries to gain legal custody of Darlene’s son and expunge her criminal record. She even gets a moment to make amends with Wendy; they both admit that they are in part responsible for putting Ben in danger. It’s another strange moment where Garner takes questionable character motivations and still gives a moving performance. The failure of the series finale, “A Hard Way To Go,” is that it doesn’t make a concise argument for the Byrdes to escape justice. It’s unclear if they’re truly a family that will stick together no matter what, and the show never seems to allow them to truly become villains. However, it’s clear what the collateral is for their activities. Ruth is killed as the Byrdes return home. She pays the ultimate price for putting her faith in other people. Garner shows that Ruth isn’t less intelligent than the Byrdes; she’s just not as ruthless.
What is the legacy of Ozark? Will it be hailed as one of the great shows of its generation, or will it be dismissed as yet another Netflix project that failed to live up to its potential? Although opinions may vary, Garner’s impact on the series can never be discounted. Even if Ozark becomes little more than a stepping stone in her career, Ruth Langmore isn’t a character that we’ll forget anytime soon.
