DVD/TV Series Review: Animal Kingdom: Season 6

 

+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the prior seasons, but no major giveaways from season six+++

The sixth season of Animal Kingdom aired during the summer of 2022, and consisted of 13 episodes. This season is all about reveals. It picks up sometime down the line from the discovery of Catherine's body by the police at the end of Season 5. The cops in Oceanside officially consider it a cold case, assuming either Baz or Smurf killed her, and with both of them being dead, were not looking too heavily into the case. That is until a new cop takes up the case and starts looking at Pope. 

The show jumps back and forth between the 1990s, where young Smurf, played by Lelia George, is completely fucking up the teenaged versions of Pope (played by Kevin Csolak, who mirrors Shawn Hatsoy's performance perfectly), Baz (played by Darren Mann), and Julia (played by Jasper Polish), and the present in which J is acting as the de-facto leader of the family. 

In the past, we see the events that led J to hate Smurf and the entire family, and in the present, it is revealed exactly how much he hates them. We also see the events that led to Pope being arrested for bank robbery, which was the crime he had just been released for in the show's first season. I won't say too much about how things play out, but the show does provide some closure, but some things are not tied up in nice bows. For example, we never get a concrete answer as to whether Smurf actually had an incestual relationship with any of the kids, but it is strongly hinted that she did at least with Pope. Of course, that is not something that they ever could have filmed in the flashbacks since the kids were supposed to be in their teens, but Lelia George played Smurf just as creepy and skeevy as Ellen Barkin did.

For those who get the DVD, it is mostly a MOD set with the 13 episodes spread across three discs. It does have one bonus feature, which is an 8-minute-long series retrospective that includes interviews with members of the cast and crew and has some behind-the-scenes footage from the final season. 

Overall, the season is good. I think the material in the flashbacks is a bit better than the material in the present day, but Shawn Hatsoy (who also directs another episode this season) carries every scene he is in. Lelia George really nails young Smurf and does a great job portraying an absolutely horrible character that ruined all of her kids' lives.  I cannot say that everyone will love how the series ends, but if you have been a fan of the show up to this point, it is definitely worth seeing how it plays out.