Animal Kingdom Season 5 Finale Recap: [Spoiler]’s Darkest Secret Is Unearthed
Charlie Mason
Editor
Season 5 of Animal Kingdom may have ended with the Codys riding so high that they clinked beer bottles and broke out their traditional toast (“May we all get what we want and never what we deserve!”). But what they didn’t know was most definitely going to hurt them in the series’ sixth and final season: As “Launch” concluded, the authorities dug up evidence of what Pope would probably agree is the worst crime that he ever committed. Read on, and we’ll go over all the gory — seriously gory — details.
‘YOU’RE THE QUEEN OF OCEANSIDE NOW’ | In the episode’s ’80s flashbacks, Janine continued campaigning to be named (Worst) Mother of Year by telling Julia that they should pack up and go with Andrew to Disneyland. Oh, wait, “we can’t,” she corrected herself, “’cause you made a mistake” while pickpocketing on Mommy’s orders. After giving Jake the boot for questioning her unique parenting style, Janine took the kids to what would eventually be their home to live large while the owners were out of town. When Julia, fearing that the house’s actual residents might return, expressed difficulty in getting to sleep, Janine handed her a glass of booze, which she began to drink ever more quickly after Mom broke the news that she was expecting. “Is Jake the daddy?” asked Julia. “Does it matter?” replied Janine. Chug, chug, chug…
In the present, Craig refused Frankie’s offer of “that tea that smells like ass.” He didn’t need it, he said. Overnight, he was done detoxing and right as rain, so much so that nah, he didn’t need to sleep. “What have I done?” said Frankie’s expression. As the complicated hawala heist got underway… damn, it was impressive. It had more moving parts than a clock. Deran dressed as a cleaner and took a skiff out to be the getaway boat. Pope, J and Craig broke into a delivery truck in order to make it past port security. Frankie followed to keep Deran abreast of their progress. Once the truck driver opened the trailer, the Codys jumped him, and J took over behind the wheel. So far, so good.
‘GOOD LUCK CATCHING THAT BOAT, BITCHES!’ | Once J had driven to the shipping container in which the hawala stashed his bank, he let out his uncles and kept watch. Meanwhile, Deran observed Blaise and his crew of juvenile offenders drawing away from him the port police — a little early but basically as planned. The big problem arose when a forklift driver noticed smoke coming from a shipping container in which Craig was trying to break into the hawala’s safe. The guy was about to double back and tell hawala Wyatt when boom! J backed into him with his delivery truck, thus buying his uncles a few precious minutes. By the time Wyatt approached the container, gun drawn, the Codys were ready for him: They knocked him down with the door and took off with his loot.
That is, they took off — except for J, who had to fight to get away from the gun-toting forklift driver and dodge the shots fired by Wyatt to jump off the pier for pickup by Deran, who by then had already retrieved his brothers. “You’re dead!” hollered Wyatt. But, in fact, not a single Cody had gotten so much as a flesh wound. In no time, they’d eluded the seafaring police and made it back to Cody HQ. There, Frankie took her cut and cut out — like, immediately. (So we don’t even get to meet the Vladik that she was so scared of?) Pope insisted that they stick to their old routine of chowing down after a heist, so while Deran ran by The Drop, Craig was tasked with picking up grub. As for Pope, he and J would go put the $1.2M they’d scored in the storage unit that they treated like Fort Knox.
‘NICE TO MEET YOU, CATHERINE’ | At the bar, Deran gave Tommy a wad of cash and a promotion to manager as a thank-you for sticking around. Tommy did not, as I expected him to, whip out a badge and say, “That’s nice, but you’re totally under arrest.” Instead, he was just kinda like OK when his boss told him to place a $30k booze order every two months — in other words, launder money through The Drop. At Craig and Renn’s, he refused to let her girlfriend pick up her and Nick’s stuff. “Tell her to call me,” he added, “or I’m gonna throw her s—t out.” Aw, Craig, you sweet talker! After depositing the dough from the heist, Pope took J to Pete’s so that he could impress upon Smurf’s old cohort how displeased he was that he’d stolen from them and lied about it — by ripping out the dude’s eye with a pair of pliers! “You get us our share of that coke money by the end of the week,” Pope ordered, “or I’m gonna come back here and take pieces of you till there’s nothing left.” Yikes squared.
As the Codys reconvened at the house, Pope hilariously told Craig and Deran that he’d talked to Pete… as he washed blood off his hands. Over dinner, Deran threw to J to pitch his idea of laundering money through businesses rather than properties. Though J wasn’t prepared to give a detailed PowerPoint presentation, he got Craig and Pope on board. And Deran, of course, had already started. “I thought you wanted to keep [the bar] separate,” said Pope. “Not anymore,” Deran replied. And in the final moments of the episode and the season, police swarmed a construction site at the Cabrillo Circle Development: Catherine’s body had been found. What do you think, Animals? Considering that Pope’s DNA would have to be on the victim, is there any way out of this for him? On your way to the comments, grade the finale and the season in the polls below.
Very satisfying finale. Frankie was smart to get out.
It didn’t seem like she got much of the cut, just that tiny stack of cash. What’s up with that?
$1.2 million split 5 ways is $240K each, so with straps of $100s where each strap is $10K (100 notes per strap), she got 24 stacks. That fits into a duffle bag for sure, so it seems right to me.
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I think the bigger question is how she’s getting her cash out of the country? Maybe she needs to find a hawala who deals with large transfers!
We wondered the same thing. She can’t just carry that duffle on a plane!
I’m already pumped for the finale season……why can’t they show it NOW!!😣 Pope u idiot! Cat’s body is now gonna be the end of him, now that lady detective has info on all of them. There’s going to be ALOT OF HEAT coming their way. Glad they pulled off the heist, the endgame is about begin……and I can’t wait!!!
A redeeming factor for the boys might be that the forthcoming lady detective is supposedly as crazy and screwed up as them, YAY!!! 😝
CANT BELIEVE WE HAVE TO WAIT A YEAR!!!
For some reason I didn’t get how the skeleton with the luggage and her DL in it linked them to the Cody’s? Maybe I was just tired…
It didn’t initially…but as soon as they run her name, they’ll see that her husband was Baz & they’ll be aware of his connection to them.
Unless she and Boaz weren’t legally married. We don’t know that they were.
It was her passport. Catherine and Baz were married. I’m sure they will make the connection shortly.
I think it would be justice for Pope to return to prison as the series ends, book-ending his return from prison as the series started.
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As much as I “root” for J, he also needs to face justice: he’s much more like his Uncle Pope than his uncles Craig and Deran, and if there was true justice J would suffer a leg bleed and fall overboard in shark infested waters at series end. But that won’t happen.
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Obviously I can’t predict how the series will end – this whole season was nothing like I thought it would be – but I’m hoping Craig commits to a 12-step program and succeeds one day at a time, and that Deran heads out to reunite with Adrien and finds happiness. These are my wishes for the series finale. And I can’t wait to see how wrong I am…
I agree with you about Pope and about Darren and Craig. It’s too bad that Smurf imbedded this behavior in her extremely smart grandson, Jay. Great ending for the season!
I think J is going to end up with everything at the end . Pipe has been my favorite character but I feel something terrible is going to happens to him in last season .I canning wait and I definitely hate that it’s ending . Pope has played a amazing character and does a wonderful job playing his part .
J’s not like Pope.
Pope is crazy; he’s all over the map.
Not a multiple personality, but might as well be. He’s done terrible stuff, but he cared about his niece (even if he did kill her mother– and he regrets that, confessed it to Baz).
J, otoh, is a sociopath. He showed a little emotion recently, shocked by Pope mutilating Pete, but normally he shows no emotions or resource, will betray or kill anyone.
That’s remorse, not resource!
J has lots of resource.
“[J is] much more like his Uncle Pope than his uncles Craig and Deran”. I stand by this.
I agree with you. In fact in the end I thonk we are going to find that Pope is actually J’s father. From the first episode it has always been hinted he raped Julia.
Naw, Baz is J’s father. I believe it was S2 or 3 that Smurf told him that he’s his real dad. Pope is Lena’s father {Cat’s} kid.
Baz is Lena’s and J’s father.
Pope is J’s mother’s twin. That puts them pretty close in blood.
It only makes Pope his uncle. There is potential for the twin factor to create an emotional bond but not in this family.
J has to kill pope. Just like the movie
Sad to see little Julia start with the booze knowing that it will eventually lead to harder stuff in the future. And how she never wanted to do this stuff and you can start to smurf realize she won’t be able to control her like she can Andrew (Pope).
Smurh is a ho and terrible mother. Iwish guy would have stuck round who told her stop making kids criminals.
I love this show, wish it wasn’t going to end after 1 more season.
Yes, yes, yes. And, I want some flashbacks of Smurf or better still, I want Smurf share with her boys the good and the bad that is coming their way.
As much as I don’t want them to start killing off the remaining regulars, they kind of have to if they want to stick to the original premise. But they may have moved past wanting to do that? J’s gone way too far down the road to be a sympathetic last survivor at this point. He’s not a guy flirting with a criminal lifestyle and still making his choice, he *is* a hardened criminal at this point. If J ate a bullet before the end of the series, it would feel like he has it coming. Deran’s kind of stolen his place as the sympathetic one, the one who’s maybe trapped into this lifestyle and the one we want to get away.
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Pope’s DNA should be all over (and inside, if I remember correctly) Cat, right? They can try blaming it on Baz, because Baz is dead, but it probably won’t hold up. Pope’s probably going to end up in jail.
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Craig’s the real question mark for me. I wonder if he’ll survive the series.
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I hope they move the timeline forward in the Janine flashbacks to after she’s had Deran. They were soooooooo slooooooowwwwww this season.
Yes ive read they will show young deran and young craig in season 6 .
am weary of the flashbacks. Get up to speed. J is tha Man. ie male smurf. Pope is like a weapon for J to utilize. Should be an entertaining finale.
Loved the show from season 1, episode 1. I miss smurf though. Wish she didn’t have to exit!
Popes DNA is on Catherine’s body and will probably get him investigated if not arrested!
I’m going to watch the episode where he killed her
Is it? I have my doubts. Pope is way too OCD to ever let that happen. Also, the boys are notorious for bleaching the crap out of everything after a job. I too need to watch the ep again. Also, this in no way excusing Pope killing her.
I hate when the recap includes something that spoils the big cliffhanger… in this case, showing the Cath scene and thus making it obvious she was the body they found. It would have been much more surprising without that. It makes sense they are bringing that plot back though since I believe it was reported that next season’s flashbacks include teen Baz/Pope/Julia, so Cath would be around. It ties it all together. Maybe we will get real confirmation of who is J’s dad… and perhaps see Lena again?
It would seem like they would have to make a notable jump forward through the past to get to where all four children are turning up in the flashbacks.
Figure there will, at least, be a six or seven year gap between the twins and Craig.
This season is underwhelming hopefully the final season will be better. I don’t understand why fans have to wait until next summer to see it? The romance is gone this season the sex appeal is gone. Smurf is gone. Ellen Barkin made the show exciting without her it is just dry. Nothing really exciting happened until very end when Catherine body discovered.
What on earth are you taking about the entire episode was exciting you weirdo
I know it’s not likely but I would love for Baz to be alive. I can’t think of any plausible way since why would he have been protected? But hauling out the autopsy pics a few eps ago felt maybe like trying too hard. (I know the actor is busy but could just be a cameo). I still like J. Maybe the most impressive thing about this show is how the writers have kept him largely silent. (I don’t think Finn Cole gets enough credit for his performance). The whisper to Smurf was powerful but then he actually got to kill her and I think he became the dog that caught the car. It was his moment to walk away and he chose not to. Looking forward to final season and kudos to writers – I did not think they could navigate the vacuum created by the sudden absence of Ellen Barkin but they did a great job
Agree about Finn! And the writers. They do a great job showing not telling. Janine’s death flipped all the bros around before having them regress to the mean. In addition to Pope spinning out, Deran went from being even keeled to being a mess and Craig seemed to be getting his act together. J might have left after Deran hit him and Craig tried to drown him (maybe lol) but Pope clearly decided to make him the new Baz (though I think he’ll become the new Smurf – hope not!) Some complain that this season moved slowly but this was a smart unfolding after Smurf’s death. Ending with the great port heist. It seems like the women on the edges were manifesting Smurf qualities, especially Renn. And Frankie is so unlike her usual confident self I feel like maybe she has or is on her way to selling the guys out – again. And I can’t imagine we’ve seen the last of Pamela and her kids. Honestly don’t see how some people found this season dull, except for the Ellen Barkin fanboys. (No shade! Barkin is approaching 70 and still has it going on!)
I forgot, how did Baz die?
Mia shot him…
Mia shot him per Smurf and later J shot Mia for killing Baz (and for robbing J).
WHATEVER. This whole season was a friggin’ DUD! They threw Smurf out FOR NOTHING and tap danced the whole season away, thinking we wouldn’t notice the fact that they didn’t have a plan for any of these dopes we were left with. Yeah, yeah we caught a whiff of something promising (very little, very late) when the cheese started to slide off of Pope’s cracker and we day dreamed a psychopath was born but then watched him go home and hang out in the kitchen. They could’ve given us such a killer “Pamela Johnson” too. The ideas we all imagined, the WOMAN that Smurf would have admired so much as to choose her to inherit her home… The writers had this one being served to them on a silver platter. They could have written a legendary character and blown us all away. Well they didn’t. Flashbacks that should’ve been used to show us the “Ride or Die” bond built between Smurf and Pamela instead just lead us to nowhere but young Smurf selling some porno DVDs in a parking lot… I’m so disappointed, I wish I could sue those losers in a court of law. They took something magnificent and brought it down to the level of some old TJ Hooker episodes. I’m left numb after seeing the end of their 5th season. The only thing that would put me back on top, the way I used to feel after each and every episode for 4 solid seasons would be to be somewhere tonight laughing and enjoying myself, having a drink with Ellen Barkin.
I agree! Feels like they dropped the whole Pamela story half way through. Maybe they lost the actor? Very slow and uneventful season.
I thought for sure this last heist was somehow gonna be Pamela’s orchestration. Or at least Frankie was working for Pamela.
But looks like J asking Pamela’s daughter to work for him was the end of that loose end.
I think the new bar manager will turn Deran in and he will survive. They both have a look of being gay. Maybe he will turn him in.
Craig will get killed for sure.
I did like the way the brothers came together at the end of the season here. Pope seemed to overlook J trying to work things on his angle to the top of the family which was cool. With the drug money and with the business plans. I think he just chalked it up as them doing there thing till they all came together. I like the story line that Popes aggression brought them all back together as the leader.
I love this show been watching it from 1st episode already cant wait til next season I love the scores they do on the show its an adrenaline rush cant wait to see what happens I hate to see the show end
Animal Kingdom rocks
Well said.
Keep it going but pope has to be the new Smurf of the gang because he is the only one who has the nerves and sence to do it right.
Entire season was awful. They didn’t close any of the storylines. No consequences for anything they did this season. Where’s the militia dude they let live in episode 1 or 2 after the gold. You pulled out Pete’s eye. That’s not over. They robbed some serious gangsters this season and even the Mexican cartel. Nothing came back on them at all. Unrealistic.
Then the awful flashbacks that we did it need at all this season. They stopped the present day story from moving to where it needed to be.
Or these are the storylines and cliff hangers to resolve in the final season.
Edge of my seat! Another fantastic job done by the Cody’s, I love that they always have a Plan B that works out. That is what I watch the show for. Again, I am so glad Pope is back doing what Pope does best. I thought Pete would be a dead man but this is way better!! This time the Janine flashbacks were in the way, and I don’t understand whose house that is or how she found it. (Is it Max’s house?) I don’t get why Pope buried Catherine with her ID. I dread next season because I know one or more of the Cody’s are going to die. But death is better than prison. What a long year this will be…….
why would you cancel a great show, wish you would think it over
PLEASE DON’T CANCEL THE SHOW!
Totally love it! Ugh…just to think we have to wait a year to see those handsome Codys men!
Pleasure consider cancelling!!!
Sorry “reconsider ” canceling the show!
Ratings haven’t been great.
At the rate they are trending they may not have a 6th chance season. May e straight to video
What I would like to know is when Janine took over the vacationing residents house while they were away, how did she wind up staying there forever? Did we miss something with this or did she make them “go away” somehow. I seem to recall this coming up one season but can’t recall what she said.
it was max’s house
No, it’s not Max’s house…
Smurf said something to the effect of the people are gone for the weekend, but I’m going to get this house for us. I read it as she hasn’t “done” anything yet, but she plans to.
I do not want this show to end. What can fans do?
Got a whole juicy season left to go!
YAY!
The finale was done so well. Frankie’s fear felt very real. I was nervous watching it. The attention to detail and the extreme stunts were amazing. I will be sad when it is over next year.
The finale and the episode before it were excellent – back to basics. There was no need at all for a Janine flashback in the finale. It was nothing but a distraction that disrupted the flow of the action. The house crap could have been showed at the beginning of next season. I have loved Pope’s evolution to top dog. Well done Shawn! I am a little disappointed that Deran gave up on getting out. Bring on the final season!
I disagree with peoples point about the flashbacks in the finale being distracting. Thought it clearly showed how Julia didn’t want any part of that criminal life from an early age which will eventually lead to skirt cutting Julia off as we see in season 1. Even with Julia drinking the alcohol thoight was smart as it was the start of her addiction.
It offered absolutely no new insight. We already knew from day one that Julia is an addict. We also saw her drink a fast food drink from Smurf filled with alcohol. The heist and their ‘win’ was way more important. Like the majority, I hate the flashbacks. If they are kept, make them shorter and not disruptive to the current time story lines.
Love love love the Cody’s🖤
I don’t think Pope is going to make it out of the series alive. He’s too unstable to have a normal life and if he is faced with going back to prison I could easily see a suicide by cop situation. Or possibly suicide by J, he’s cold enough to do it.
I think you’re right about Pope not making it. I think the Trujillos will make life so difficult for the Codys that J will sacrifice Pope to put an end to it.