TNT’s Animal Kingdom
Season 1, Episode 10: “What Have You Done?”
Directed by John Wells
Written by Jonathan Lisco

* For a recap & review of the penultimate Season 1 episode, “Judas Kiss” – click here
* For a recap & review of the Season 2 premiere, “Eat What You Kill” – click here
 After what Pope (Shawn Hatosy) has done to Catherine, we’ve come to the season finale. What will Baz (Scott Speedman) do if he finds out? Because you KNOW he’s going to. Can Mama Smurf (Ellen Barkin) contain what’s about to happen? Or will the Cody Boys tear themselves apart from the inside?
Now that Lena’s mom is dead, she’s with Smurf. Although the matriarch has other things on her mind. Such as Josh (Finn Cole) “banging” his teacher. She doesn’t want her boys loving anyone but her, though disguises it as concern for their family business, trouble at school could make things bad for everyone.
Meanwhile, Baz is searching for Catherine, as Pope goes about his day – doing work around the house, lying to his adopted brother. The story is Catherine took money from Smurf – true – and then took off somewhere – not true. But Baz is too smart for this to slip away from him completely.
 Detective Sandra Yates (Nicki Micheaux) and Patrick (Dorian Missick) are all over J. They want him to stick close to the family. However, they’ve got no idea at all what it’s like living under the roof of Janine Cody. Whatsoever. The most interesting part of a wildly interesting series is seeing young Josh between a rock and a very, very hard, dark place.
The other interesting part is that Baz is being leaned on by Smurf, as he tries to figure out what’s happening with Catherine. He questions his daughter about what went on. She talks about a man driving “mommy‘s car” and that’s really all he can get out of her before Smurf interferes. And she knows what happened, even if Pope didn’t expressly tell her; she made it happen.
Craig and Deran (Ben Robson & Jake Weary) are out sitting in the SUV, watching the money. For his part, Craig decides to rail a bit of blow, whereas more level-headed Deran sticks to weed.
So where’s the treachery end? If Baz discovers exactly to what end Smurf has been working this whole Catherine situation, that cannot ever be made right. For anyone who’s seen the original film: will Hatosy’s Pope meet the same fate, but at the hands of Baz? Or will Speedman’s Baz meet the same fate as his Joel Edgerton counterpart and leave the rest of the Cody Gang to go on about their lives? Hard to tell just yet. Either way, it’s why I love this series even more than the movie. Because there is a chance for Jonathan Lisco and the writers to expand upon the original story, characters, plots.
Also, even Pope – the one who murdered Catherine – seems uneasy with the way Smurf is playing things. She’s got Baz convinced maybe Vin (Michael Bowen) could be involved, after showing up the other day.
And don’t forget about Navy Lt. Commander Paul Belmont (C. Thomas Howell). He’s positioning himself for a “bigger cut” of that big, warm robbery pie that he helped facilitate. This may start to spell trouble for the man.
Pope goes to the docks to track down Vin. He claims there’s a job for him to get in on. This only leads Vin into the arms of Baz. Fuck – how is Pope planning on playing this one? He stands by and tries not to watch or listen to his bro beat on the guy; a guy who knows nothing.
Simultaneously, the GPS on the money blows up the radar. Craig and Deran are off. They get into the truck hauling their barrels and start to remove the money, only the driver isn’t stopped long. When he gets going, this starts a huge mess and an almost Three Stooges-esque moment or two with the brothers. Hilarious. Tragic. They wind up having to assault the driver, sticking him right inside one of the barrels. That’s a solution… I guess.

Over in the midst of torture, Baz gets no answers from Vin. To top off the betrayal, Pope isn’t just doing a horrible thing to Baz. He’s further turning his back on Vin, the man that looked after him in prison and saved him from who knows what.
Then the truth comes out from Josh: he tells Smurf about the cops, plain and simple. They’re waiting for a text to come raid the house once the money’s there. Slippery Janine has him do exactly that. When the police arrive everything is normal, the big happy family sit out by the pool. Like nothing’s happened. Everyone is zip tied and held at gunpoint. At the same time, Baz is all alone at home and Pope is leaving a bloody, broken Vin at the hospital; could cause problems.
Dt. Yates and Patrick are at odds, as she wants to tear the place to bits. He cautions against anything too harsh. They wonder where Josh is, assuming he’s in danger. No, he shows up. And he’s shoving everything right down Yates’ throat, having recorded a conversation between him and Alexa Anderson (Ellen Wroe) after she “raped” him. Whoooooa. Josh Cody: resident bad ass. Turns out J remembers Yates from pulling fast and loose shit with his mother.
Josh (to Dt. Yates): “My mom, she hated them, but she hated you more. In the end, she‘s a Cody, and I‘m a Cody, too.”

After the cops clear out, Belmont turns up. He’s eager to get the money. A little too eager. He reminds me of Morrie in GoodFellas, always pushing. Janine makes it clear he has to relax until the time is right. She orders him around, as if he’s another one of her boys. Moreover, he’s a first time criminal, he doesn’t know the right way to go about things. He continues to let his life slip away, that old, good life of his – his daughter Nicky (Molly Gordon) is snorting blow and sleeping with Craig. He doesn’t bother to step in. Not such a great dad after all.
Smurf scolds Josh for keeping secrets so long. Last straw, although it seems like he’s a Cody for life at this point. “Play your cards right, you can do well with us,” says grandma before gifting him a gun.
Pope had doubts about Josh, which are now dashed. He’s curious if perhaps Catherine wasn’t saying anything either. So little boy Pope is pressuring his mother for more money, he wants to get away from her. He has finally begun to see the utterly heinous manipulation of Smurf, clearer than ever before. He killed Catherine, but she put the entire thing in motion, goading him towards the act. They have a tense confrontation. Pope perceives the entire situation as Smurf not wanting Baz to leave her side. He feels used to get the “dirty work” finished.

Pope (to Smurf): “You‘re sicker than I‘ll ever be”
 Remember the guy with the car, the one involved with Smurf’s mother back in the day? Well, ole Janine is still following him. The whole time she feels her past right there, fresh in her mind. Then she approaches him in his driveway, pulling a gun on him to blast a few holes in his chest. To leave him bleeding out on the ground, just like he did to her mother all those years ago. A nasty death for him. Might be a little deserved.
Everyone’s getting what they deserve. Or at least, some people. The Codys remain relatively untouched. For now.
Either way life at the Cody residence isn’t all sweet. Josh has his uncle Craig banging his ex-girlfriend, both of them eating together at breakfast with everyone. Pope’s still leading Baz around by the nose, as the now single father is left dealing with a motherless daughter.
And Mama’s just killed a man.
All their secrets are ready to implode the family tree. It’s all waiting for us, next season.
 Loved the first season. Really great writing, each episode became better than the last. Again, as a huge fan of the original Australian film, I’m impressed with what they’ve done in this adaptation. Season 2 can only mean bigger, better things. Plus, I’m glad they didn’t leave off on a cliffhanger. This leaves things wide open for them, they’re not totally tethered to anything that’ll make it hard to continue the story.