The Season 1 finale of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage has set up big changes for the series going forward.

The relationship between Georgie’s (Montana Jordan) in-laws will change now that Jim (Will Sasso) has sold the tire shop. Connor’s (Dougie Baldwin) relationship with Chloe (Kara Arena) is progressing. Mandy’s (Emily Osment) new job has the potential to bring her success, while it could also bring about the inevitable end of the titular couple’s marriage.

One of the biggest changes going forward is Georgie and Ruben (Jessie Prez) becoming business partners by pooling their resources to buy the tire shop.

It would be hard to argue against the fact that without Ruben, Georgie would never have been able to buy the shop and, as a result, would never have become the Georgie we meet in The Big Bang Theory, the one with a successful Dr. Tire franchise.

That makes him a pivotal character in Georgie’s life, with their partnership a touchstone moment in the creation of Dr. Tire, which makes his absence in the greater Big Bang Theory universe confusing.

In the Season 1 finale of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, Jim McAllister decides to sell the shop to Fred Fagenbacher (Matt Letscher), an auto parts magnate and Audrey’s (Rachel Bay Jones) ex-boyfriend.

Georgie asks for 48 hours to come up with the money to match Fred’s offer, and Jim agrees. After striking out with the bank and with Meemaw (Annie Potts), Georgie is finally able to secure a loan after Mary (Zoe Perry) offers up the Cooper home as collateral.

It’s still not enough to match the initial offer until Ruben, who also approached his family for the same reason, comes in with the balance, making them partners in the business. Given how each comes in with the fates of not only themselves but their respective families on the line, their partnership isn’t just business: it’s personal.

Their relationship to date hasn’t been explored in the series, and the (criminally) few times we’ve seen Ruben have shown that what they have borders on antagonistic.

Now that Ruben will presumably appear more often, the new season will see the pair figure out how to work together, not only to make the business a success, but to thwart whatever plans Fred has to take them down. Success, as we know, never happens overnight, and the potential hazards that Fred represents make success an even dodgier prospect.

That makes their partnership a necessity not for days or months, but conceivably years. As a result, their relationship can’t possibly be limited to only when they are in the tire shop together. They will become deeply connected, two men whose lives are inextricably linked, who have no choice but to trust that the other has their back.

That trust is built by learning about one another, and that takes time. Knowing how deep they will be in each other’s lives, for what has to be years, makes it even more confusing that Ruben has never been heard of outside of Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage.