The stress of waiting to see when Pope gets hauled in for Cath’s murder is damn near unbearable.
The jewelry heist was front and center for the majority of Animal Kingdom Season 6 Episode 6, but there was more progression in Thompson’s shady investigation into Pope.
And Deran and Craig had their annual brawl while those 1992 flashbacks continued to shift perceptions of Julia.
It was all hands on deck as they dove into this jewelry heist, complete with costumes, undercover positions, and close calls.
In hindsight, Craig was probably right about sending two of them inside to collect all the pieces. While it would’ve been hard to do that because of the nature of security, they could have cut down half the time with more hands and gotten that gaudy cross that was probably worth more than everything combined.
Deran already stood out enough wandering around in that LAFD uniform, and it’s no wonder other staff members lingering didn’t see him making all of those switches.
Sometimes things just don’t work out, but the job went as smoothly as it could have.
Backing up the toilet was genius, and you couldn’t help but chuckle at one of the patrons appalled by the sewage as Pope went in to handle business. Even he didn’t want to go anywhere near that toilet.
Flushing the jewels down the loo so that J and Pope could snag them through the pipes was clever. And they got a great haul.
Craig was probably the highlight of the heist. Getting hit by a car to buy them time takes some real commitment, and one got a hearty chuckle out of his shtick as a lawsuit-happy paparazzi.
Surprisingly, Arthur didn’t betray them, but he wants no part in anything else. J’s smirk when Arthur said it didn’t make him feel good felt like he was amused that he got this brother to turn as he did.
J wouldn’t know what that feeling is like as he gets as much of a high as everyone else.
He was coming across on top of his game without Penny to distract him. He and Deran are downright diabolical together, and things work best when they’re working together as a unit, planning things, and making moves.
Interestingly, J has wormed himself into this perfect position where his uncles don’t mind falling his lead and seem to trust his judgment and respect his vision.
He and Deran were the perfect, intimidating duo, sitting there like a mini-boss and an enforcer striking that deal with the new guys running that cheesy-sounding diner.
J: Everything went perfectly, your brother even picked up the fakes. He didn’t bat an eye. You should be happy, you did a good job.
Henry: Lose my number. I thought this would feel good; it doesn’t.
J is all about the money and using every opportunity that presents itself to them and every avenue to make money or launder everything they steal.
Ironically, he’s dismantling Smurf’s empire bit by bit, but he’s recreating a new one, lucrative, playing the All-American game of becoming legitimate and untouchable via all of their business.
It’s something that Smurf never would’ve done, and the boys couldn’t pull off on their own. The five percent they’ll get from the new diner and their control helps them adapt to the ever-changing Oceanside. Resistance is futile, and it seems Deran and Pope are starting to understand.
Deran was hesitant about the initial plan to work over the guys, and he hates all these new people in Oceanside, but he trusted J and understood how it would pay off for them.
And he can still maintain his position as Oceanside’s protector as he negotiated how this new business can and will serve the community there. Now the diner will have to orchestrate, execute, and host a surf competition or else.
It gives them goodwill with the locals, makes their business amenable to its environment, and the Codys profit from it, too.
Deran should’ve told Craig their latest plans, but he’s punishing Craig for not being attached at his hip and having a life outside the family.
He couldn’t wait to spill the beans about Craig’s illicit activities with Vince and the bikers. Deran always lives up to his status as the youngest of Smurf’s brood because he does classic “baby” stuff, like tattling and sneak attacking to get the upper hand in a fight.
Pope: You guys straight now?
Deran: I don’t know.
Pope: You two have been fighting since you were six.
The brawl between Craig and Deran was long overdue. And frankly, Deran earned that ass whooping. Maybe now that the two have blown off some steam, they can clear the air and squash their beef.
We learned that they’ve always fought each other. It must just be how their relationship works. Pope was so unfazed by the two of them and their antics that it was hilarious.
And he totally fell into Mom mode afterward with Deran, getting him ice packs and something to eat and making sure he was good.
But it also made you think about how Deran was the most active in ensuring Pope was okay during Animal Kingdom Season 5 and their relationship. Their relationship is one of the most underrated, which makes their brotherly moments all the more endearing.
Pope tossing out his Discovery Channel jargon and factoids and applying it to their lives was quintessential Pope, but he genuinely seemed impressed by what J was doing and proud.
It’s like he has the sliver of hope that after his entire life on the wrong side of the law, as some birth rite, because of Smurf, there’s a surreal opportunity to grift the legal way, find success, and be set for life.
But that’s what makes this Thompson situation so taxing. We can see that Pope is in a happier place. He’s finally free of Smurf, becoming his own person, pursuing things he loves.
He awkwardly asked J for advice about Amy, then he went for it, calling her and hoping that they’d have a nice date and get reacquainted.
Pope can see the life he wants in front of him, and it’s within his grasp, but he has no idea that his past is coming to haunt him, and it’s in the form of a devious cop who doesn’t go by the books fixated on him.
You can tell that Taylor didn’t want to help Thompson. Aside from probably appreciating that Pope was nice to him, he’s heard about the Cody reputation, and he’s afraid.
However, he wasn’t afraid enough to keep his mouth shut or withhold information from Thompson. I get that they didn’t have to show Taylor skulking around the Cody home while the guys weren’t there, but it still would’ve been nice and added to the intensity of all of this if they showed it.
Instead, we know via his meetup with Thompson that he went into the house anyway, took pictures of the entire layout, and somehow managed to capture photos of Pope plugging in the code to the gate too.
Pope: What you were talking about earlier, you really think we could be legit?
J: Eventually.
Pope: You mean like suits and shit?
J: No, no, it’d still be what we do, just in a different way.
Pope: But why?
J: Because I think we’re going to have to.
Pope: Organisms.
J: Huh?
Pope: Organisms who don’t adapt to their environment, don’t survive. Just look at the Amazon.
Taylor was able to do more than most of the Codys’ enemies over the years. It’s a stretch. It was way too easy for him to access all of this information undetected and even for Thompson to get inside and find incriminating items. Pope, especially, looks a bit foolish for not picking up on anything.
Thompson entering their home without a warrant and going through only Pope’s stuff was asinine and irritating. I’m guessing she wants to use what she found to justify a warrant. It also felt like she was deliberately messing up things to taunt Pope.
She noticed how orderly and meticulous everything was. Nevertheless, she still put the cereal box back on the shelf backward just for kicks.
Surprisingly, Pope didn’t notice anything off sooner, especially that cereal box.
Perhaps it was easy to assume that one of the guys did it. However, the microwave (and likely other appliances) resetting because of the power on the one day they weren’t home, directly after a strange kid who has been missing since slept in the garage, is way too suspicious.
Did anyone else find it strange that Pope also kept a memento box there?
Something tells me that Thompson will look into the church next, leading her to Amy.
Meanwhile, in 1992, Smurf can’t contain her hatred and jealousy toward Julia.
Smurf is so oddly territorial with Baz, and their relationship has so many questionable undertones that it’s not surprising that she hates Julia for “taking Baz away from her.”
Julia has Baz’s attention, and he even puts Julia ahead of Smurf when he bailed on the Pendelton job with Billy and had an impromptu date night with Julia.
Smurf looked like she was about to lose her shit when she saw Baz changing his bed linen, and she put two and two together. And she was staring at Julia like she could tell that her daughter was no longer a virgin, therefore officially making her some form of competition or a genuine threat.
Don’t you ever let it happen again.
Smurf [to Baz]
It’s so sad to see Julia’s origins, but it’s also nice to see how she truly was versus how others described her. Julia was more than some wayward addict.
She wasn’t some harlot that Baz implied that she was, which makes their romance frustrating to watch because most of the time, it seemed like Baz only wanted to get in her pants, but even if it was a deep connection and romance, at some point, he turned his back on her.
Over to you, Animal Kingdom Fanatics.
What are your thoughts on Thompson’s latest move?
Do you think Amy will be Pope’s downfall?
Sound off below.
You can watch Animal Kingdom online here via TV Fanatic.
Jasmine Blu is a senior staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.