The series revolves around the inhabitants and culture in the Appalachian Mountains area of eastern Kentucky, specifically Harlan County where many of the main characters grew up.
6 days earlier, Raylan (Timothy Olyphant) delivers Jody Adair (Chris Chalk) to Sharon (Aja Evans) and her partner Mitch (Kevin Daniels).
Boyd (Walton Goggins) and Ava (Joelle Carter) attend a swinger party hosted by Tillman Napier (David Andrews) in order to find anyone that could fit Drew Thompson's real identity.
Boyd meets Lee Paxton (Sam Anderson) and Gerald Johns (Ned Bellamy), who want him to dispatch one of the attendees in order to benefit from government funds.
Jody holds a knife at Jackie's throat but she smashes a glass on his head, forcing to escape by jumping through a window and landing on Kenneth's car's rooftop.
In December 2012, Sam Anderson joined the series in the recurring role of Lee Paxton, "a rugged and manipulative funeral director who crosses paths with (and confides in) Boyd.
"[7] In its original American broadcast, "Money Trap" was seen by an estimated 2.15 million household viewers and gained a 0.8 ratings share among adults aged 18–49, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Club gave the episode a "B" grade and wrote, "One thing you learn straight away when reviewing Justified for the first time: There are a lot of characters on this show, and nearly all of them are worth talking about, and that means tracking down names and trying to remember who did what when, and it can just be a huge pain in the ass.
"[11] Kevin Fitzpatrick of Screen Crush wrote, "Suffice to say, it wasn't hard to figure out after season 4 premiere 'Hole in the Wall' that we'd be seeing Jody again, though 'Money Trap' seems especially self-aware as an episode designed to dance around the Drew Thompson mystery with a side-story.
"[12] Alan Sepinwall of HitFix wrote, "'Money Trap' wasn't as busy as last week's episode, yet parts of it – particularly on the Raylan vs. Jody end of things – still felt more rushed than they needed to be.
"[15] Dan Forcella of TV Fanatic gave the episode a 4 star rating out of 5 and wrote, "For maybe the first time in three and a half seasons watching Justified, I thought to myself, this doesn't make much sense at all.
"[16] Jack McKinney of Paste gave the episode a 9 rating out of 10 and wrote, "I would be remiss if I didn't also mention director (and co-executive producer) Don Kurt and writer Chris Provenzano.