TNT’s Animal Kingdom
5×10: “Relentless”
Directed by Loren S. Yaconelli
Written by Bradley Paul

* For a recap & review of 5×09, click here.
* For a recap & review of 5×11, click here.
Deran and J get talking about a new potential job, stemming from him going to see the guy Adrian’s sister is using to send money. He’s shut things down with the sister, now he wants to use this to make a bit of cash for the family. Things are slowly settling between Deran and his nephew, considering they recently kicked the shit out of each other.
Flashback to young Janine, Jake, and Manny pulling a truck heist. They were able to boost a ton of VCRs and other electronics. All in a day’s work for the gang. Love the contrast between Janine in her younger days and her boys today trying to make it without her. Manny and Janine went trying to sell off the VCRs wherever they could, wheeling and dealing; Manny even offered to toss in a porno tape to boot. Later Janine brought a cut of her jobs to Max. He wasn’t happy to hear Janine was doing jobs outside of his turf and not offering tax. A troubled working relationship.

In current day, Craig’s drinking and getting fucked up with his young pals, trying to use it all as a way to dull the pain and forget thinking about Renn, what may or may not happen with them. At the bar, Deran’s discovering he’s getting his liquor inventory confiscated by the Liquor Board. Probably has something to do with Son of a Beach. That’ll surely create another wonderful situation somewhere down the line. Across town, J’s scoping out the money sending operation at the liquor store. He starts figuring out the whole operation as best he can. Most of the folks this guy helps are people sending money to loved ones in need. Is that really the type of place the Codys need to be robbing? Then again, there’s a lot of things the Codys need to be doing and they already aren’t doing them. Such as: get therapy.Off goes Pope, looking to be rid of the truck. Except he can’t get any help from his pal Ralphie, who says there’s no more doing business. Apparently there’s “heat” on the Cody family. Ralphie heard from Pete Trujillo that the word is they have to stay away. Shit, man. Nothing’s getting any better, in any sense of the word, for the Codys. Not that Craig’s doing anything to help himself by flipping off a motorcycle cop at a red light, before leading the officer on a chase through town. Craig is very lucky that he’s so handsome, because, man, is he ever dumb. Or maybe he’s just reckless. He does manage to get away from the cop, too.

We also see Deran finds out Agent Livengood is behind his bar’s problems.
How much worse can it get? Deran meets with the cop on their payroll, asking why there was no heads up. The cop says it didn’t go through the department because it’s DEA. He claims things will blow over; eventually. Not good enough for Deran, who’s got to make a clean living. So the cop’s going to try to do what he can, though it isn’t much. Rocky start for the Codys and this cop. Elsewhere we see that Pope’s causing waves with Pete and his people, stirring shit up. NOT! GOOD!

Family meeting back at the house. Craig’s not around, so the others talk about his situation a bit. Then J asks about the bar and Deran tells them about Agent Livengood jamming things up. Soon Craig gets there for the meeting, railing a bit of coke while his nephew and his brother talk over the next hopeful job, robbing the liquor store hawala. J wants to get Frankie in on things to help them out, to find a hawala with a bigger bankroll than the liquor store guy. This gets Craig’s back up. He’s generally going off the rails, too. But Craig does go to see Frankie, where she offers him the most comfort he’s had since Renn left with their son. And he finally gets a bit of rest for the first time in a couple days. What a messFlashback to Max trying to scare young Pope and Julia, but getting nowhere with the boy. He told them to pass on a message about the money he’s owed: “Time‘s up.” A thoroughly awful human being. Back to current day, Pope and J have chopped up the truck themselves, in lieu of getting any help from their usual source due to Pete, and they’re able to get rid of all the parts without much hassle. Pope talks with his nephew all about his disdain for “unforeseen obstacles” getting in the way of things that need doing. He and J have started to see life in a lot of the same ways. Not that it’s a thing to be celebrated; they’re mostly seeing eye-to-eye on probably murdering somebody.

The cop calls Deran with news, but he wants to present it to the Cody family. Now we see he’s working with Agent Livengood. Goddamn! This is going to get serious very soon, given that the cop’s arranged to meet the Codys in a couple hours.
The uncles and their nephew get together later at the bar, waiting for the meet. Then in strolls the cop with Livengood. The DEA agent says it’s the “last chance” for the family to save themselves. He’s pissed off at the Codys and he wants Adrian back, or else they’re going to go to prison. He isn’t fucking around anymore, threatening to take away everything the family owns, from their homes to their businesses. In the midst of Livengood pontificating he gets a bullet in the head, courtesy of the cop. Holy shit. A federal agent shot to death; that’s bigger than anything the Codys have been involved in, and that alone is saying something. Plus, the cop wants more money. This has made everything so much more complicated.