Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 6 recap: Broke from the Box

On this episode of Animal Kingdom, J and Nicky try to work things out, Deran gets advice from his dad and Craig takes back the Cody’s territory.

J and Nicky are not doing so well. She tells him what her father said, and his only way to comfort her is to say “your dad is an asshole.” That’s it, not much for comfort are you J? In the house by herself, Nicky clearly wants some attention and J isn’t giving it to her, but Billy is willing to. Last week on Animal Kingdom she caught doing heroin, now she catches him doing it again but with two spoons this time. There’s only him but two spoons. Foreshadowing? A silent offer? It might have been for his girlfriend but who knows, she tries it later in the episode so I’m going to guess it was the show’s way to foreshadow her ultimate downfall.

Nicky’s doing all the house work Smurf does, except she’s not Smurf, and she’s unhappy about it. Who knew I’d ever feel sorry for Nicky? I must say though she’s not doing a good job with the house work. After an attempt to clean the pool, it’s still full of leaves. You couldn’t scoop up a little more Nicky?

Lena and her uncle Pope

Meanwhile on Animal Kingdom, Pope doesn’t understand fractions. That’s okay, me neither. He’s trying to make raising Lena work by making her breakfast and talking to her about her school work; fractions are scary. He tells her that she has to go to a psychiatrist, even after he admits that a doctor never helped him with his mental disorders. You can tell that Pope is trying but doesn’t know where to start. The way he admits how he doesn’t understand her homework is adorable. They spend the day getting ice cream, when a surprise visit from Child Protective Services scares Pope to death. He’s a master at making neutral expressions, not giving away anything, but you can tell he’s nervous.

When they leave, he tells Lena not to trust them, that they only pretend to care and are not really sincere. “Tell them your happy” he says, it’s the only way to make them go away.

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Territory war in Oceanside

Craig really likes his flashy hat. He’s wearing it no matter how ridiculous it looks, even Deran wants him to take it off. Speaking of Deran and the hat, he might have slept with Linc but he doesn’t seem to want to hang out with him. Craig invited Linc to go surfing and Deran gets a little irritated hearing how his side piece is coming along. But he gets over it pretty quickly and they all go surfing. On the water they run into a group of guys who think they’re the new Codys, which Craig doesn’t like; he knows whose kingdom it belongs to. Except, he’s the only one who really cares.

Someone tells them that the unnamed guys are terrorizing a smoothie bar that the Codys used to protect or something. By the sound of it, the Cody’s do a lot more for their city other than rent buildings. Deran’s like “it ain’t my problem” but Craig being Craig wants to show Oceanside who’s boss. It’s just like Smurf said, “the wolves will come.”

Smurf takes everyone in

J wishes he never called Smurf the day his mom died. Smurf is anxious to get out, after being told about a possible witness linking her to Javi’s death, she’s desperate to keep the amount of control she has left. She’s having more prison trouble coming from another inmate when her protector Tina gets released.

When J comes to see her, she gives him a list of names to go after (the possible witnesses). Then nearly loses her mind when he’s reluctant to go along. After giving him a bed, food, and a home, she wants him to pay her back. Pay her back by doing whatever she says. The men she wants him to go after are the same men who attacked him and Nicky in season 2.

He runs into the comfort of Nicky’s arms, apparently happy to be get the support part of their relationship while also cheating on her. To his credit he did tell Mia they need to stop hooking up. Nicky and J seem to make up and they plan on running away together, something Nicky is very excited about.

The mandatory action sequence

Thanks to Craig they have someone to go beat up. Every episode needs at least one action scene, no matter how out of place it is, like when Craig chased that guy on the roof.

They find out where the new territory grabbers live, apparently they’re a bunch of rich surfers who thought they could take over while the Codys were occupied. The boys break in the house to beat them up. After tying them up and robbing them, they leave, and that’s it. After Craig’s big talk about showing competitors whose boss, that’s literally all they did. The guys didn’t even looked scared, not one of them was shaken up. If anything, they only made five new enemies. I think the scene was used to show how important the Codys are to Oceanside and also give J more kudo points. He saves Deran in the middle of the break-in when one of the guys jumps him. As Pope says afterwards, “sounds like J saved your ass again.”

Deran takes advice from the worst person

Meanwhile, Billy tries killing two birds with one stone. He goes to the bar and tries a second attempt at bonding with his son, even says “hey, what’s up D”, trying to be the cool dad. Then after buttering him up, he claims to have information on a job, but he’s practically useless. Seriously, he knows almost nothing, knows as much as Jon Snow. It’s a company that sells weed and Deran likes how much money they could get, but Billy is the worst source for information. He’s stumped by every question Deran asks. Then to make it worse, Billy shoots heroin right in front of his son! You couldn’t wait a few minutes? I know it’s an addiction but, as Billy would say…dude you need to control yourself.

Nicky shoots herself

J is under a lot of pressure from Smurf and doesn’t know which direction to take. Nicky, desperate for an escape, gets angry about him still doing Cody business. Their former tender moment officially annihilates itself here. He cruelly mentions how her father has every right to hate her, “can you blame him?” he says. You can see the revulsion for herself spread throughout her body as her shoulders slump and her face falls.

Heartbroken, alone and drunk, she shoots up with Billy’s heroin. Dancing with a gun is never a good idea, as perfectly demonstrated here on Animal Kingdom. She hears a gunshot and looks down at her leg, seeing a very large, very bloody bullet wound. On paper this may seem pathetic, shooting yourself while high, but it’s a scene displaying nothing but sadness. She gets shot and no one is there to help. J finds her on the garage floor, and she begs him not to let her die, telling him that she loves him. Looks like she finally got his attention.

Mia’s right, Nicky does not belong in this world. It’s killing her trying to mentally survive. The best thing J can do is break up with her. It’d be cruel to leave her without anything, but in the end it’d be better. She needs a new start, away from the Codys. At the hospital, J sets her down by the door and leaves. I assume he doesn’t want to be caught on camera or be questioned but seeing her weakly call his name as he walks away is hard to watch.

Next: Animal kingdom: What we want to see in season 4

What did you think of this episode of Animal Kingdom? Catch next weeks episode next week on TNT at 9 p.m.

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