S01.E04: Tonight We Improvise

[biakbiak]

Quote

 Marty hires Ruth to pull off a heist. Agent Petty forges a relationship with a member of the Langmore family. Jonah exhibits disturbing behavior.

[PotterOtherP]

This show is overwrought and filled with boring cliches, but it does have two somewhat interesting elements: 1) Kimmy from The Americans as a street smart pro cutpurse, and 2) the criminal parents including their young children instead of trying to keep them in the dark for more contrived drama like every other crime show.

[veronicalodge44]

i've enjoyed each episode more than the last, and this one was no exception (probably somewhat to do with getting to know this world and the characters more, but also the tone is settling in to a nice combination of suspense and dark humour).

 

the reveal that johah is not some budding dexter-like sociopath made marty and wendy's prior conversation darkly funny in retrospect, but the breakfast table conversation was even funnier.

 

and marty's expression when the stripper asked, 'then how the hell are we supposed to make a liveing?' was gold.

[Misstify]

I enjoyed the lesson in Money Laundering 101, and the whole scheme of how Marty and Ruth stole the strip club.  I'm finding a bunch of the added story elements to be a little too much, though.  You don't have to put *everything* in the story (Wendy's brother has a past they don't like to talk about, patrons of the Blue Cat casually chat about owner's sexcapades, FBI agent pays for sex, bobcats, vultures, folksy lethal injections,...)

FBI agent kind of looks like Martin Shkreli.

[Sir RaiderDuck OMS]

11 hours ago, Misstify said:

I enjoyed the lesson in Money Laundering 101, and the whole scheme of how Marty and Ruth stole the strip club.  I'm finding a bunch of the added story elements to be a little too much, though.  You don't have to put *everything* in the story (Wendy's brother has a past they don't like to talk about, patrons of the Blue Cat casually chat about owner's sexcapades, FBI agent pays for sex, bobcats, vultures, folksy lethal injections,...)

FBI agent kind of looks like Martin Shkreli.

I'm assuming they're going for an Orange is the New Black situation where the supporting cast rises up to the level of the main protagonists. This is the time to start fleshing them out bit by bit.

[hincandenza]

On 7/28/2017 at 8:25 AM, Misstify said:

FBI agent kind of looks like Martin Shkreli.

It hit me the other day a while after I'd finished the season, but he kind of looks and acts like if you crossed Richard Thomas with Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth from "Blue Velvet".

[Guest]

The one thing that bugged me a bit here is Marty trusting Ruth.  If she had been able to open the safe, I think she would've pocketed the majority of any valuable goods and just told Marty the rest was what was in there.  

[hincandenza]

3 hours ago, Winston9-DT3 said:

The one thing that bugged me a bit here is Marty trusting Ruth.  If she had been able to open the safe, I think she would've pocketed the majority of any valuable goods and just told Marty the rest was what was in there.  

Huh, interesting thought!  I didn't think that was an issue when I was watching; I had just assumed that he presumably knew that what he was after was something she wouldn't even value or understand, so even if she'd secretly pocketed the bulk of the cash he'd have been fine with whatever remaining cash and other "useless" papers she would have handed over.  After all, the last thing he needs is more cash to launder!

I hadn't considered until just now reading your post that because the actual good stuff was in the false bottom, if she had been able to open the safe, then they wouldn't have pulled the whole safe through the wall, Marty doesn't find the hidden Panama documents, thus he doesn't get the strip club and it's money laundering potential, thus he doesn't further piss off the Snells, and that whole plot line unfolds dramatically different.

[Guest]

Oh, right.  Two good points!  

[iMonrey]

I'm starting to warm up to the show more, but I still think comparisons to Breaking Bad are undeserved at this point. Ruth is no Jesse Pinkman and this show just doesn't have the same humor. That said, it's coming into it's own albeit rather slowly. I might not have had the patience to get this far if there were a whole lot of other stuff on TV right now so the timing of the release was good.

Quote

The one thing that bugged me a bit here is Marty trusting Ruth.  If she had been able to open the safe, I think she would've pocketed the majority of any valuable goods and just told Marty the rest was what was in there.  

Yeah, this. She's done nothing to lead me to believe she wouldn't just take whatever she found and run with it. Even if he was confident she'd have no use for documents and deeds, that doesn't mean she wouldn't just stuff everything into her backpack and run off with it and trash whatever she didn't want. This weird  relationship they're trying to establish between Marty and Ruth doesn't feel very realistic or organic. 

And yes, there's something wrong with their kid. He didn't just cut open the stomach of that wolf (dog?) he was pulling the guts out left and right. Get that kid to a shrink, pronto. 

When that guy was telling the strip club owner the story about the redneck and the hillbilly, I was expecting it to end with some great punchline. Instead they just kill the guy and the guys goes "dumb redneck." That made me laugh for some reason. But I still want someone to write a good punchline for that story!

[ganesh]

I like the show so far. I agree having the whole family in on it was a fresh narrative choice, and I like the topic of money laundering because it shows a side of crime not really shown on tv crime shows. Breaking Bad touched on it, but it wasn't the main focus of the show. I'm concerned that the kids are going to blow the cover though. 

I don't think beyond Skyler buying the car wash that there's much of a comparison to Breaking Bad. This show started with Marty already in the money laundering trade, whereas Walt made the choice when circumstances were thrust on him. 

I love the setting, and don't know much about the area, but I would totally vacation there. I do like that the show isn't going the "dumb locals" route. 

I'm enjoying Bateman's typical dry delivery.

The bickering between the family was getting a little grating, but it looks like it's dying down now that everyone is settling in. 

[Armchair Critic]

Looks like I'm a year late to the party, don't know if anybody is still reading but anyway....If I was Marty I wouldn't trust my wife, and I guess now that he sees she has been calling her lover's number he will keep on his toes. I had thought already that it would be dumb to call him because they would try to track you down, so when the dead lover's son called it didn't surprise me. 

I figured the guy chopping wood was pissed because he had a mean look on his face when the strip club guy came in but then put on a smile. The guy getting killed that way I didn't see coming though.

[PrePreBabylonia]

On 2017-08-13 at 7:20 PM, ganesh said:

I like the show so far. I agree having the whole family in on it was a fresh narrative choice, and I like the topic of money laundering because it shows a side of crime not really shown on tv crime shows. Breaking Bad touched on it, but it wasn't the main focus of the show. I'm concerned that the kids are going to blow the cover though. 

I don't think beyond Skyler buying the car wash that there's much of a comparison to Breaking Bad. This show started with Marty already in the money laundering trade, whereas Walt made the choice when circumstances were thrust on him. 

I think Breaking Bad and Fargo are similar in that the protagonists already had that ruthlessness deep within them, it just took circumstance to trigger it out into the open. But Marty is different - yes, he was already involved in the criminal world but since it was white collar crime, he was insulated from the violent surroundings. He seems to be handling the erupting violence fairly well, other than the insomnia. It seems like his wife's unfaithfulness has hit him harder. Definitely a different type of character.

On 2018-08-18 at 12:48 AM, Armchair Critic said:

Looks like I'm a year late to the party, don't know if anybody is still reading but anyway....If I was Marty I wouldn't trust my wife, and I guess now that he sees she has been calling her lover's number he will keep on his toes. I had thought already that it would be dumb to call him because they would try to track you down, so when the dead lover's son called it didn't surprise me. 

I figured the guy chopping wood was pissed because he had a mean look on his face when the strip club guy came in but then put on a smile. The guy getting killed that way I didn't see coming though.

I've just started watching myself, Armchair Critic, so I will probably be seeing you in the later episode threads. I like the show but I'm not binging so it will take me a while to get thru it. Unless it turns into Must-see TV. 

[Armchair Critic]

1 hour ago, PrePreBabylonia said:

I've just started watching myself, Armchair Critic, so I will probably be seeing you in the later episode threads. I like the show but I'm not binging so it will take me a while to get thru it. Unless it turns into Must-see TV. 

I think it gets better as it goes along. And I noticed you added another Pre to your name.

[PrePreBabylonia]

31 minutes ago, Armchair Critic said:

I think it gets better as it goes along. And I noticed you added another Pre to your name.

That's what I've heard, and the second season is supposed to be really good.

Yes, I had to do something. I was locked out of my account and it wouldn't let me get back in. I think it had something to do with originally registering with a yahoo account and recently yahoo was sold to ~ Verizon? AOL? something that they no longer wanted to accept. I tried using the PreBabylonia but it told me it was already taken. Too bad. I can't access my previous messages and it makes me look like a newbie with posting. I should have gone back to my TWoP name - Babylonia. I think this has happened to other people here. Bannon shows up as a guest and I can't like his posts.

[Kel Varnsen]

I just started watching this show and while there is a lot I like there are some weird things that kind of bug me or make me ask questions. 

Like based on Marty's Money Laundering 101 speech how can the $8 million he tried to give the cartel guy in the pilot possibly be clean. Like how can that guy possibly deposit it in a bank when it is brand new fresh money that he basically extorted from someone by threatening to kill his family.

Plus for all Marty's smarts how did he not figure that if a small town strip club owner is doing some crazy level money laundering through Panama, that maybe there is something bigger going on.

Also when Marty was negotiating with Ruth I really wanted her to say that she could just rob the safe by herself and give him nothing.