The 13-episode fourth season of Animal Kingdom aired during the summer of 2019. It does a lot to both tie up loose ends and advance the story forward. Some of the storylines are closed out in ways that you may not expect, and others are set up going into the final two seasons of the show. The fourth season is all about the continued friction between the characters, especially after Baz is killed. Pope is still the only one who knows that Smurf had Baz killed, and Mia has so far managed to keep J in the dark about the fact that she pulled the trigger. Mia and J definitely start to distrust each other more as the season goes on, and their relationship is anything but solid. There is also a power struggle between Pope and J for who will take over when Smurf is out of the picture. For her part, Smurf continues to stir up trouble between everyone. Things are also complicated by Julia's old friend (and Pope's old flame of sorts) played by Emily Deschanel (best known for her role on Bones, which is a 180-degree difference from this role) who is freshly out of prison and manages to weasel into the Cody's affairs. The show also manages to provide more of Smurf's backstory through the use of flashbacks to the 1970s, with young Smurf being played by Lelia George, who does a great job making the character her own yet channeling Barkin's version of the character so well at times you can totally buy that they are the same person. It gives glimpses into how Smurf ended up the way she did, yet still leaves a lot open to be told of Smurf's life.
The DVD set is a three-disc set. It is a very basic MOD release. It does have English captions, but there are no extras to speak of. So, the only reason to get it is to add to your existing collection if you purchased the first two seasons on Blu-Ray and the third season on DVD. Otherwise, you are not missing anything just streaming it.
Overall, the season is very good. There is still a lot of violence, sex, and drug use depicted on the show, and it pushed the bounds of what can be shown on basic cable. But, that has been the case since season one, so it is nothing new for the show. The acting and writing are very good, and I think the show benefits from having shorter seasons as it is able to tell a concise story without having to drag things out to fill in 22 or 23 episodes. If you have been a fan of the series up to this point, you will probably like this season as well. On the other hand, if you did not like the prior seasons all that much, this one is probably not going to make you change your mind about the show.
The DVD set is a three-disc set. It is a very basic MOD release. It does have English captions, but there are no extras to speak of. So, the only reason to get it is to add to your existing collection if you purchased the first two seasons on Blu-Ray and the third season on DVD. Otherwise, you are not missing anything just streaming it.
Overall, the season is very good. There is still a lot of violence, sex, and drug use depicted on the show, and it pushed the bounds of what can be shown on basic cable. But, that has been the case since season one, so it is nothing new for the show. The acting and writing are very good, and I think the show benefits from having shorter seasons as it is able to tell a concise story without having to drag things out to fill in 22 or 23 episodes. If you have been a fan of the series up to this point, you will probably like this season as well. On the other hand, if you did not like the prior seasons all that much, this one is probably not going to make you change your mind about the show.
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