Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom has cemented itself as TNT’s flagship drama with its first eight episodes. Complicated character development and incredible plot developments have propelled Animal Kingdom to be Tuesday’s must watch show. “Man In,” the eighth episode in Animal Kingdom‘s freshman season, easily trampled past episodes as the best installment of the summer drama. “Man In” seemed to unveil the true focal point of the series-Baz. Warning. Spoilers wait ahead.

Baz (Scott Speedman) started the series merely as a supporting character. He ranked behind J (Finn Cole), Smurf (Ellen Barkin), and Pope (Shawn Hatosy) as the series lead. Even Deran (Jake Weary) surpassed Baz’s importance with his intriguing development as the runt of the litter and a closeted homosexual. However, Baz slowly crept to the front of the stage to steal the spotlight from the other Codys. After all, Baz is the current mastermind behind the Cody’s latest heist and calls the shots since Smurf does not seem like her usual self.

Read more

Check out the sneak peak below:

“People will definitely be talking about it,” actor tells TheWrap’s Stuart Brazell about what’s next on his hit TNT series

Tensions were indeed flaring on the episode 'Man in.' This posts contains spoilers.

Tensions soar as the Codys prepare for the their big heist. Also, Catherine gets a shock and must make a big family decision, and the police put pressure on J.

I am in the middle of packing and moving, but will get the review up from last nights episode sometime before the weekend is up. xo.

Check out the thirty-six second clip of The Codys discussing the next heist and whether or not they should include someone else other than family in.

The bold and intense TNT drama series Animal Kingdom, inspired by the critically acclaimed Australian film of the same name, centers on 17-year-old Joshua “J” Cody (Finn Cole), who moves in with his morally questionable relatives in their Southern California beach town after his mother dies of a heroin overdose. Thrown into the deep end of a family ruled by Janine “Smurf” Cody (Ellen Barkin), that makes their living through carefully planned armed robberies and other criminal activities, it turns out that joining her boys – level-headed Baz (Scott Speedman), mentally unstable Pope (Shawn Hatosy), middle son Craig (Ben Robson) and overly suspicious Deran (Jake Weary) – comes with enough danger and excitement that it puts all of their lives at risk.

During this exclusive phone interview with Collider, actor Shawn Hatosy talked about why he wanted to be a part of Animal Kingdom, making Pope a layered character, the way their environment has shaped this family, Pope and Smurf’s relationship, working with Ellen Barkin, and what it would take for Pope to get to a healthier place.

This Tuesday on Animal Kingdom Season One Episode Six titled Child Play was like a huge roller coaster ride. And I enjoyed every second of it. So with that being said, the recap below contains spoilers and in no particular order: except the beginning.

The episode starts off with Pope sitting in a jail cell, his arms are crossed, he looks annoyed: I actually have a picture of this in the gallery ha. But as I was watching this specific scene, I wondered—what the hell did he do now? But apparently he failed a drug test. I was like: wait—what? A drug test, I didn’t remember him doing any drugs, but then it dawned on me: Mama Smurf has been crushing his medication pills for the last couple of episodes. Hmmm. Bingo! So that showed up,  and his parole officer let him out with a warning: if he does it again, his ass will going back to prison and will stay for the remainder of his sentence. Ouch.

Baz on the other hand was hanging out with Nicky’s dad, getting to know him, etc etc. And if you know Baz by now, his smooth talking and bubbly personality always comes with a motive. Well at least that’s what I’ve noticed so far. I mean think about it, he is the one that always comes up with the next heist, right? And boy was I right, because Deran and Pope ended up robbing Nicky's house later on that night while she was on a date with J and her family. (more on this later)

Speaking of J, the moment he found out that the house was robbed, he knew The Codys had something to do with it. Not trying to cause anymore trouble for Nicky, he broke up with her, lied and said she broke up with him and now Baz and Mama Smurf do not trust him. Bummer, I thought he'd play it off longer, but this family is smarter than we think.

Before robbing Nicky's family, originally it was supposed to be Craig and Deran. But in the middle of playing pool, Mama Smurf walks in, mind you Craig wants to go hang out with Ren instead, and since Deran knows this, he gives her a hard time, but ends up backing down. I mean Craig tried, but failed. It was too cute. Mama Smurf immediately makes the decision to swap out Craig for Pope. 

Later, Craig is chilling with Ren and her cousins, drinking and drugging. Eventually getting some, *clears throat* you know what from Ren. And when its all over, she admits to him that she knows he's the one that robbed her. Not giving him enough time to explain, her cousins come in, hits him a few times and then ties him up. They make up this fake heroin solution, threatening to inject him with it. Craig practically freaks out when he thinks its real. They do end up injecting him with it, but end up telling him that it was fake and then asked him for $6, 800 to make up for what he did to Ren. He agrees, calls his mama, she comes in and pays the debt. Oh and she gave them his bike too, for misbehaving. 

At the end, J visits with his teacher late at night. I think he's had enough. And at this point, just really needs someone to talk too. Poor J.

All and all, the episode was amazing and a must see.

Quote of the Day: "You misbehave, you lose your toys." Smurf.

Viewers might be unsure about his character on TNT’s “Animal Kingdom,” but Scott Speedman is OK with that.

The series — based on an Australian film of the same name — is about a family of young men living a life of crime and grit. They’re led by their mother, played by Ellen Barkin, who goes by the name of Smurf.

“You’ve got these hyper-masculine characters, but really they’re mama’s boys,” said Speedman, who plays the oldest son, Baz. “They’re really under the thumb of their mother, and it creates interesting, compelling scenes to play.”

Speedman said of his character: “Outwardly he seems like the good brother, or maybe the one who has it together.”

“What the writers are doing,” he said, “is really playing with people’s perception of the characters, so who you think is good is not necessarily so, and who you think is on the outside of good or most evil has definitely the most moral code of all the brothers.”

Speedman, 40, said his character does some terrible and morally dubious things.

“I think as a younger actor, you worry, ‘Are audiences going to be able to take this or not?’ But I think I’m at a certain place, and I think audiences are certainly ready for these types of characters on mainstream television.”

Being on a series where actors are allowed to push the edges of the envelope appeals to Speedman.

“These guys are edgy, dark, blue-collar guys, so they’re gonna be swearing and getting into all sorts of things. (On) my first show, if you drank, you had to have something go wrong to connect the dots there; something bad had to happen. There was a moral lesson. It’s been fun to test those (boundaries).”

Speedman, who played Keri Russell’s longtime crush Ben on “Felicity” and appeared in the “ Underworld” films with Kate Beckinsale, said he’s amused by co-star Barkin.

“She’s one of the fellas. She’s a Bronx girl, so street-smart. She’ll be with all ... (the) boys and she’ll be right there giving insults better than anybody else.”

- Credit: Dispatch.com

EPISODE 1 Pilot

According to deadline.com, Animal Kingdom has been renewed for a season two, so more of: Joshua 'J', Smurf, Baz, Deran, Craig, and Pope. xo

An upcoming heist is planned and Joshua "J" Cody discovers the intense nature of his estranged grandmother in the series premiere of this crime drama about a teen plunging into danger when he moves in with his wild relatives in a surf community.

After a heroin overdose kills his mom, teenager Joshua "J" Cody moves to Southern California to live with his freewheeling relatives. The family's matriarch is J's estranged grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody, from whom he's been shielded for years. J soon finds out the reason for the isolation -- Smurf and "her boys" make their livings through carefully planned armed robberies and other criminal activities. Prominent perpetrators are Smurf's relatively level-headed right-hand man Baz and her three sons: mentally disturbed ex-con Pope, hyperactive drug user Craig, and suspicious Deran. In order to stay alive, J must prove loyal to his beguiling grandmother, who rules with a borderline-incestuous love. -- Wiki and Google