TNT’s Animal Kingdom
6×06: “Diamonds Are Forever”
Directed by Mark Strand
Written by Shukree Hassan Tilghman

* For a recap & review of 6×05, click here.
* For a recap & review of 6×07, click here.
Pope’s leaving Auge in charge of the skatepark while he’s taking care of the job. Auge compares the skatepark to Field of Dreams since people keep showing up there. Meanwhile, Taylor’s off meeting with Dt. Thompson. He’s mad that she didn’t tell him about the Codys, that they’re “people you don‘t screw with,” and he hands over photos/videos of the house he was able to get while he was there. He tells Dt. Thompson that they’re going to be out of the house for a couple days, which is why he had to leave. That might give the detective an opening. But is she doing everything above board?
J meets with Arthur, hearing that Eddie will be bringing a bunch of jewellery to the party. He doesn’t give the brother much info about how they’re planning to get the haul out of there. Best to keep those things secret. At home, Craig receives a visit from Deran. He suggests they should go inside together, but Deran doesn’t think that’ll work. It’s more of the brothers butting heads over the plan. Deran insists Craig just makes sure there’s enough time for him to do his thing inside the house. This tension between them isn’t a good omen for the job. At the bar, J and Deran get together to meet the men looking to open their restaurant. J thinks the men should offer them 5% to not rock the boat. The guys want to know what they’ll get in the deal. They’re not happy to go as high as 5%, and J keeps raising the percentages until one of the men agrees to the 5%. Deran also makes clear the restaurant/bar will have to host a surf competition that Son of a Beach used to host when it was in that spot. No more negotiating happens; the deal’s done.

Another flashback shows Janine having another bang with Billy. She asked him about getting into Camp Pendelton, a Marine Corps base. He wasn’t so willing to give up any info, not wanting to mess up his access to the waves over there. This pissed Smurf off: “You don‘t get to say no to me.” It’s never a good thing to have Janine Cody mad at you, in the past or in the present.
At Brock’s mansion, the paparazzi are flocking, along with Craig posing as one of them. Pope and the rest of the boys are in their own positions, as Deran makes his way inside under the guise of being the fire inspector. Pope and J are with the septic truck and checking out schematics. The uncle questions his nephew whether they could actually “be legit” someday. J thinks it’s a necessary evolution for the family. Pope replies: “Organisms that don‘t adapt to their environment don‘t survive.” So they seem on the same page. Inside the mansion, Deran has a close look at the jewellery being displayed for the “Ice Party.” He scopes out all the lighting and sound equipment, too.
While the Cody family are out, their house is invaded by a sneaky Dt. Thompson. She’s definitely not doing things by police procedure. She makes sure to turn off the circuit breaker, so she won’t be caught looking around the place on any cameras. She checks everything, from the kitchen to the bedrooms. She sees the ordered perfectness of Pope’s life, kind of as if he’s still in jail keeping a cell tidy; there’s the cereal in the kitchen and the clothes in the closet. She also looks through a shoebox full of photos and other items, including pictures of Catherine and her daughter.
A flashback shows Baz and Julia at the beach together. They were clearly getting more romantically involved. Baz engaged Julia in a game of trust, hanging her by the arms backwards over a rock on the shoreline while she closed her eyes. “See, it feels free,” Baz said. He briefly let go and then quickly held onto her again. They laughed together. Then they kissed. Julia didn’t want to rush things any further than kissing just yet. Back at the house, Smurf tried to get Baz closer to her. She wanted him to help with the latest job at Camp Pendelton. Good way to keep him away from her daughter, which is surely the plan. That did not stop Baz and Julia from being together. They found the time anyway, despite it interfering with Smurf’s latest work. Fantastic needle drop here with Nine Inch Nail’s cover of “Physical (You’re So)” by Adam Ant while Baz and Julia have sex for the first time. When Smurf got back to the house she found Baz cleaning the sheets. She was mad about the Camp Pendelton screw up, and absolutely subtly mad about what she knew was happening between her daughter and Baz.

Soon the mansion has shit overflowing the toilet, courtesy of J and Pope with the septic truck. At the gates outside, Pope’s given entrance to go in and take care of the plumbing problems. He has to take care of the toilet “Vesuviusing feces,” but security gives him a hard time at the door until Hannah comes by and brings him in to the problem. A dirty part of a jewel heist here involves shitty toilets. Pope slips the fake jewellery made by Arthur into the toilet tank, then he slips out of there prior to the big party commencing. Simultaneously, Deran’s messing with the power. Outside at the gate, Craig manages to slip past security and get into the garden while Brock pulls into the driveway. And J’s working on the pipes, as Deran’s ready to switch out the jewellery back in the mansion. In the driveway, Craig gets himself in front of Brock’s car making it look like he’s been injured. He refuses to move until an ambulance is called for him.
There’s a massive scene outside with people from the party going out to gawk. It’s a great distraction, allowing Deran enough time to finish his part in the heist. He’s able to grab all the pieces right before Eddie gets there to show off his work to Brock’s girlfriend, the birthday girl; that is, except for one. Deran gets caught by Brock when trying to slip the last necklace away. He has to go without it, sneaking back to the bathroom where he prepares the jewellery for its journey into the pipes. Not long until the shitty jewellery slides out to freedom, into the hands of J and Pope. The Cody family always finds intriguing ways to do a heist, even if they involve NASTY work. Soon, this latest job is done, and nobody is the wiser.
The Cody lads look over their score. Craig bitches at Deran for missing the last necklace, alone worth about “100 grand.” The brothers’ relationship continues to devolve. Craig gets pissed when he hears word of the “restaurant deal,” even though he hasn’t been around enough to know what’s going on. Things get worse after Deran calls his brother a bitch. A fight begins, just like when they were kids beating the life out of each other. As adults, it’s a bit more violent, but still the same old tensions; two brothers can’t talk to each other, so instead they fight, sucker punching one another, kicking each other in the balls. It ends with Deran on the ground bleeding and Craig riding off on his bike. And nothing was solved.

At night, J meets with Arthur, letting him know how the job went. Arthur doesn’t seem happy about the whole thing. “I thought this would feel good; it doesn‘t,” Arthur tells J. It feels good enough to J and his family, even though there’s lots of in-fighting between Deran and Craig. At home, Pope decides to bet on some happiness and calls Amy. He leaves her a message about how it was nice to see her again. He asks if she’d like to get together some time. After he’s done he talks with a wounded Deran, handing him some frozen food to ice his wounds. Pope offers his brother a little food; he’s kind of like the new Smurf in some ways, looking after his family in her absence with food. This is when Pope notices the microwave’s clock blinking, realising the power had to have gone out at some point. He doesn’t make much of it. He couldn’t possibly guess a detective was inside their home.