Ozark - Tonight We Improvise - Review: "Money Laundry 101"

Marty and Ruth work together on a job while Petty gets interested in the Langmores, and Jonah studies vultures. Oh, how exciting life in the Ozarks can be!

The fourth episode of Ozark opens with Marty's voice giving the viewer a crash course on money laundry. Since we last saw him, he's been busy getting more information about the strip club, which he really wants to get his hands on. In the meantime, Wendy tries to talk to him about an idea she had to participate in the family money laundry business, but Marty is not listening. It's a trend his character is developing, he gets focused on one thing and one thing only, not particularly paying attention to anything else, beside his kids.

If noticing that Charlotte is getting older men's attention bothers Marty, it's Jonah that really worries him in "Tonight We Improvise." Marty sees his son cutting open a dead coyote, which in all fairness really is cause for concern. He talks to Wendy, but she dismisses it, and we learn that she does so not because she does not care about that type of activities, but because she has a brother with a troubled history, and she worries it might be a thing that runs in the family. They finally agree to talk to Jonah, only to find out that he has been cutting dead animals open in order to study vultures. Indeed, that's why the birds keep lurking around the Byrde's house!

Aside from family issues, Marty continues to look for a way to get the strip club, and he enlists Ruth to assist him. He asks her to steal the club's safe and she obliges, but not without negotiating what's in it for her first. At least the heist is entertaining to watch, and in the safe Marty finds a document who is going to fix his "ownership of the strip club" problem. Meanwhile, Petty is still hanging around The Blue Cat a lot, observing Marty, and he develops a strong interest in Russ Langmore, and spends some time with him.

Trust is an issue that stamped this episode, with most of the characters watching others, scrutinizing dishonest behaviors. Rachel (Jordana Spiro) seems a little suspicious of Marty's phone conversations in Spanish, and Charlotte is upset with her parents for not being really honest with her and Jonah. This episode also shows that those who do not do what they are supposed to get punished. It's the case of the strip club owner, Bobby Dean, who dies for losing the club to Marty (which introduces yet another bad guy to the show, as if we were running out of them somehow). It is also a threat to Marty, who gets a phone call from Del, who is not satisfied with Marty's performance in the Ozarks so far.

The episode ends the same way it started, with Marty giving the "Money Laundry 101" speech, only we find out it is not addressed to the viewer, but to Jonah. In an effort to be more transparent with his son, when Jonah catches him litteraly washing money, Marty tells his kid how to be a good crimminal, in a scene that does not seem to be forecasting anything good. We'll see how these new developments work out for the Byrdes in the next episode.