TV Review: Animal Kingdom Returns With A Roar For Season 5
Admittedly, I was nervous for Animal Kingdom Season 5. I am a major fan of this show, and I wondered what it would look like without my favorite Smurf (Ellen Barkin). Love or hate her, she was a dominating force that could violate/ corrupt her children as much as protect and save them. Her love was toxic and ruminated through every storyline for four seasons, and, now Season 5, it still does, even though she is buried.
Premiering on TNT Sunday at 9, Season 5 feels like the ash after a phoenix has combusted. You watch enthralled to see how those tiny shards of burnt feather reunite to become a new Phoenix again. The Cody Boys are trying to become a new phoenix and it gets fierily messy, Why? Because it is easier to share the same enemy than become a better person or, in their case, a better brother. These siblings and nephew understood and united as victims of Smurf, but now that their perceived “big bad” is gone, they can’t help but look at each other to see the harm they have caused against themselves. This underbelly of tension makes Animal Kingdom, Season 5, surprisingly fun, edgy, and nerve-rattling. While I thought I would miss Smurf, I am kind of shook at how the Cody boys do, don’t, and how their strange bond builds a strong storyline to reveal they are really like Smurf.
For me, the core battle aligns between Pope (Shawn Hatosy) and J (Finn Cole); two men that never really liked or trusted each other, in part, because they are the most like Smurf. This season further reveals how calculating J can be compared to his grandma; who was notorious for flipping scripts on enemies and using mind games to become a top player. Meanwhile, Pope has Smurf’s visceral nature; a man who would do anything to keep his family’s path clean. The problem is…….well….is Jay his family? Can two people competing to be the driver actually stay in the same car together? Moreover, are they really driving when new character, Pamela (Charlane Woodard) has gotten all that Smurf left. This dynamic makes Season 5 so surprisingly intriguing and human, especially in terms of grief.
Craig (Ben Robson) and Deran (Jake Weary) have always been my faves and, ironically, Smurf’s, as well, because they were the least like her. They enjoyed her material winnings but they never could grasp or fully embrace her spiritual reckonings that gained them. The loss of her is no different. They toss between a felt relief, and subconsciously continuing the same paths she led them on that they resented her for. Craig is a father, and is determined to be a good one, but a life of crime can be a way easier income then a 9 to 5. Yet, he is uncomfortable with his own baby-mama, Renn, entering her own crimes to support baby Nick. Meanwhile, Deran is living in the shadows of a love that can never be, with Adrian, and the overarching feeling that freeing himself from his maternal chains did not exactly lead him to living his best, authentic life.
I love Animal Kingdom, and I think its approach to Smurf’s death is brilliant testament to the very weird relationships we can have with a toxic parent that loved us in a very dark way. Some move on, Craig, some live in their shadow without knowing, Deran, and some become them in their own ways, Pope and J, but the point is that you can be as defined by someone’s absence as much as their presence. Again, check out Animal Kingdom on TNT Sundays at 9
