Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 7: The Cody's plan a job

On this episode of Animal Kingdom, J gets tired of being Smurf’s errand boy and Deran takes the lead on their next heist.

Billy is desperate to get this weed heist going on Animal Kingdom. He’s also trying to poison Deran against J, and it looks like it might be working. Pope appears willing to tolerate Billy breathing living air for the time being but is still grumpy about it. I think it’s fair to assume Pope knows a lot about Billy he’s not sharing. Just being a loser doesn’t seem bad enough for Pope to hate him this much.

As for Nicky, she has officially left the show. Her father comes to pick her up. He also gives J a harsh string of insults, calling him a dirty project boy who Nicky only felt sorry for. The update on Nicky’s condition is that she went in the ICU after losing a lot of blood but pulls through. I don’t know if she’ll come back for a real goodbye but for now, she’s gone and Mia is closing in. Mia appears after Nicky’s father leaves to make heart eyes at J for a nanosecond, but I’m not falling for it.

Mia is cold-blooded, I don’t think she likes anything about J that isn’t his house and a fridge full of food. Whether he knows this or not doesn’t seem to matter, he moves on from Nicky pretty quickly.

Farewell Nicole Belmont. You were not my favorite character, basically my least, but farewell all the same.

The next heist

Without Baz or J, Deran is in charge of the next job but because it came from Billy, no one considers it reliable. Pope especially doesn’t like the risk involved, and he doesn’t like Billy’s involvement either. Deran seems confident in his ability to lead the way though, even if no one else is. In fact, he’s too confident, which means it’ll all go to Hell in the next episode.

Pope wants Billy out of the way so to keep him distracted they put their best man on the job, that’s right, Craig. The middle Cody is already pretty trusting of Billy, and his weird girlfriend, Frankie, and doesn’t mind running errands with them. An errand run that turns into a beach outing with some insightful conversations.

Smurf has trouble in prison and J doesn’t care anymore

The woman Smurf framed for having heroin in her cell goes back to gen pop and the gang protecting her refuses to get in the way of something that it her mess. Smurf’s new enemy, Alvarez was her name, finds a way to be her new cell mate, and Smurf ends up with a black eye. It does nothing to defer her dominance though. Behind bars or not, she is not going to let anyone tell her off.

J, still reeling from what happened to Nicky, tells Mia to stop the payment going to Smurf’s protection fund. He’s being pulled in a hundred different directions, and it’s too much. Smurf is making demands, Nicky is gone, Deran is requiring his full attention, Craig is always pestering him; he’s about to crack. He has no more love for his grandmother, if he had any at all. When he goes to visit, he tells her off and lets just say we know where Pope gets his crazy eyes from. “If I stop coming, you’re going to die in here”, he tells her. His way of saying that no one but me cares, and I don’t even care. Her eyes could have melted the skin off his face.

Lucy has a tip on Baz

Lucy has been absent up until now. She went back to Mexico after Baz’s death but seems to be the only person looking for Baz’s killer. She brings Pope to a man who claims he has news of a woman up in Oceanside who paid someone to murder her son. The tip seems very solid. A rich white woman put out a hit on her son who stole from her, and he was shot in his driveway. It’s too perfect and too exact. Pope doesn’t believe it, and neither do I.

If Smurf had Baz killed and Pope found out, Smurf wouldn’t last the season. Later episode synopsis says the Codys have a showdown with Lucy, so the tip is probably fake. We all know it was Mia who pulled the trigger, but who knows what’s going on with Lucy and her crew. Remember she took Baz’s money and never told his brothers about it. We’ll see Lucy later in the season, but based on the weird look her brother gave Pope, I’m going to say he knows something. Her brother was always a little shady anyway.

Deran, Adrian and Linc

Deran must have hit his head. Adrian finally reemerges in an awkward moment when he runs into Deran and Linc having lunch. “Adrian is a…surfer I sponsor”, is how Deran introduces him. Okay…yeah, sure Deran. Of course, Linc sees right through this but Deran promises it was a long time ago. Deran must live in dog years or something. I think he’s forgetting that he and Adrian slept together just a few months ago! Then at the end of the episode he goes over to Adrian’s and after promising that he’s only having fun with the motocross star, the two share an incredibly tender kiss.

Deran’s playing the field, telling his side-piece they’re exclusive, while sharing everything with his main boyfriend. It’s not set up to be like a love triangle, more like Deran is taking his father’s advice and dating as many men as he can, but why take that loser’s advice? He’s not exactly a good spokesman for the fun life, he looks like a run down muppet. Pope is right, get rid of Billy!

On top of all that, Adrian reveals that he’s flying out in a few days to complete the rest of the surfing tour and that the jet lag is slowing him down. He’s now taking drugs to stay awake, cocaine to be exact. Why must everyone in this show succumb to drugs?

Smurf gets out and the Cody’s plan a job

Janine Cody doesn’t bow to anyone and she’s not waiting around any longer. During a meeting with Pearce, she decides that she wants to give up her sons for a shorter sentence. But it doesn’t work out because as it turns out, Pearce doesn’t have anything but speculation, much to her amusement. Those snake eyes see right through him and know he’s full of it. Turns out she’s right because just hours later, Smurf walks out of prison like the boss that she is. Pearce even gives her a ride home. As she’s walking out of prison with that trademark Smurf grin, the boys are miles away getting ready for their heist. Wearing bullet proof vests and gear, they’re ready to get right into the action next week.

Next: Animal Kingdom recap season 3 episode 6

It’s getting crazy! The next episode is going to be all heist and Smurf sneering at everyone who didn’t visit her in jail.

What did you think of this episode of Animal Kingdom? Are the Codys over their heads? Leave your comments below. Catch the next episode Tuesday night at 9 p.m. on TNT

Home/Drama

Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 7 recap: The Cody’s plan a job

By Rachel Roth | Jul 11, 2018