Marty is attempting to prove himself as the world's greatest table-tennis champion, to escape his meagre mid-century New York City circumstances and achieve a dream he's locked on to, seemingly more out of desire to achieve it than a particular love for the sport. And just as he's presumably blown up some natural athleticism into a monomaniacal quest, all of Marty's misdeeds across the film escalate.
And from the first opening sequence that breathlessly follows Marty from the cramped shoe store in 1952 New York City, where he is the best (and most irritating) salesman, into the dark stockroom where he and his married girlfriend Rachel (Odessa A'zion) have sweaty, hurried sex, it's crystal clear that the signature frantic energy that has characterized the Safdies' movies like Good Time and Uncut Gems all comes from Josh.
"She kind of breaks bad in the show, and we go to some uncomfortable places for audiences that I think will be really fun to explore, almost in the vein of Walter White from Breaking Bad or Tony Soprano."