TNT’s Animal Kingdom
6×04: “Inside Man”
Directed by Amyn Kaderali
Written by Vanessa Baden Kelly

* For a recap & review of 6×03, click here.
* For a recap & review of 6×05, click here.
Pope’s reconstructing an old skateboard deck with new parts. He asks J about how much they’ll make on the new job. He needs “like $50K” in order to build a proper skatepark. J suggests making the skatepark a non-profit, that way they’d be able to push dirty money through it to clean their cash. Meanwhile, Deran’s fucking his new friend Ryan. When they’re done his fuck buddy says Deran has a name around town: “Everyone knows you.” Ryan wants more out of Deran than just a good fuck. He’d like to go somewhere nicer than the back room in a bar. Deran’s still not totally okay with his own sexuality; you can see it in his face when he kisses a man, it’s still foreign to him despite the fact he’s been with plenty of men over the years.

At Craig’s place, he’s in bed with Brittany when Vince turns up, who’s stopping by to check in on his new friend. Vince thinks Craig’s idea about moving away is a good one. He knows that old places bring old attachments. He also tells Craig “shit has to change” with sobriety, and sometimes you have to let things go to change. Vince is a proper positive influence in Craig’s life, despite the criminality. Then there’s J out looking at property with Penny. She’s got a building and a lot with an intended plan, though J suggests a better one to make her more money. She offers dinner to thank him.
Flashback to a younger Smurf when she found Baz and Julia together working on the computer a little too closely. Mom broke it up, of course. She didn’t know where Pope was until Julia told her he’s gone to church. So apparently religion was a thing in Pope’s life before adulthood. We see Janine talk to Baz about a job. He offered to help her out, along with Pope and Julia. The weird psychosexual relationship between Baz and Janine was already at work here. The same as it was with Janine and Pope. She was curious if Pope was going to church because of a girl. When he got back that day he was questioned about his preferences in women by mom. She didn’t want church brainwashing him because that was her job to do. Some time later, Pope’s church group was intruded upon by Baz, sent by Smurf to keep an eye on him. Back in the present, Dt. Louise Thompson keeps on digging into the death of Catherine, however, she gets pushback from other cops. It seems Louise has a reputation that precedes her. Although it could be a reputation just amongst male cops since misogyny and sexism are rampant in the police force.

The boys all meet up at the skatepark, admiring Pope’s work. Craig isn’t exactly happy to be sitting around with J and Deran, so after a few questions he heads off on his bike with a pissy attitude. A kid takes a spill on the half pipe. J and Deran question whether Pope has insurance, which, obviously, he doesn’t, and they make a good point that if anything happens to someone that person could potentially sue Pope and win. Then all their assets, which are tied together, could be in jeopardy. Speaking of assets, J and Deran later talk about stock options later, wanting to put their money to work rather than let it sit around.
Off Craig goes to the big meet with Eddie Pham. He claims to be looking for rings. Eddie suggests a palladium ring, and Craig’s pretty quick to go forward with the purchase. So first they have to get Eddie’s brother Arthur to start working. It’s quickly shown that Eddie likes to put his older brother down brutally in front of others, which Craig notes. All the while, Craig tries to get as much info on Eddie’s process as possible. A bit later when Craig’s sitting around alone waiting, he takes a chance to look around further and he’s caught by Eddie and security. He gets himself kicked out despite his protests about preparing to spend $50K. Craig takes what he knows back to the boys. He at least knows there are cameras everywhere and Arthur’s treated “like dog crap.” He thinks they ought to look for a different job instead. J believes that Arthur is a way in because of him being an isolated brother in the family.

At the skatepark, a few guys beat up a kid. Pope tosses out the kid who gets beat up: “They don‘t respect you.” He says either fight to stay, or leave. So the kid takes his board, swings it into one of his attackers, and makes clear he’s staying in the park. Job well done, Pope! Teaching the children. Elsewhere, Craig plays cards with Vince and his friends. They talk about “temptation” and making changes in life. Is Craig leaning genuinely towards a change? He’s getting sick of dealing with his own family. Probably a shitty time for Deran to show up half drunk. He asks Craig to have a chat outside. He isn’t happy Craig’s not more involved with planning the job. Craig says Vince is the only one looking out for him. But Deran’s angry in general about Craig not being around as much. “I don‘t even recognise you anymore,” he tells his brother. Instead of talk any further, Craig walks away; again.
J surprises Arthur for a talk. He tries honesty, explaining plainly that he wants to rip Eddie off. He thinks Arthur should help. Why be loyal to someone who publicly humiliates him? Arthur claims he’s partners in the business with Eddie, however, he’s living in a regular house while his younger brother is living in the lap of luxury. J gives Arthur a phone, telling him to call when he’s ready to look out for himself.
Flashback to Smurf serving up a plate of homemade cookies. She explained there was a job to do, despite Pope being on probation. She offered them all $1,000 each. She said they were planning on breaking into “God‘s house.” Pope didn’t react well, running off. Julia was pissed off at the suggestion they should rob a church, and that Smurf purposefully tormented her brother. Ole Baz didn’t do much except tow the line for Smurf since he had nowhere else to go.

Later, Deran tells J they should go ahead with a trust of some kind, and that Craig will come around to the idea eventually. The two of them are under a bridge somewhere waiting for Arthur to arrive, and soon, the man shows up. Arthur says he can’t get them into the store since security even checks him. He explains there’s an armed courier used every time, the same ones, so any kind of change in couriers would alert Eddie. Arthur says there’s a party Eddie’s involved in coming up that could net them $750K. He can get them the location for a cut, to which J and Deran agree.
We see Deran getting progressively drunk on a date with Ryan. He isn’t talking much, though. He sparsely answers his fuck buddy’s questions about relationships when pressed. He tells the blunt truth about his mother without revealing too much of the actual details, stopping short when Ryan asks where his mom is now. When Deran goes to the bathroom he runs into a homophobe complaining about a couple gay guys at the restaurant bar, one of whom is Ryan. So he pretends to play along with the homophobe and gets Ryan to go outside, convincing the homophobe they’ll do some violence. When Deran lures the man outside he kicks the shit out of him. He undoes his belt buckle before Ryan tells him to stop. Quite the date night!

At the skate park, the kid who got beat up talks to Pope and he’s offered a little work tomorrow.
Then we see the kid’s actually under the thumb of Dt. Louise. Oh, damn.