Animal Kingdom 4×12 Review: Ghosts

The penultimate episode of Animal Kingdom season 4 made such an impactful decision during the closing few minutes that I don’t know what to expect from the finale. Also, where will this show go when it comes back for the fifth season? ‘Ghosts’ changed the entire game!

I was provided a free screener of ‘Ghosts’ for review. The opinions are my own.

Trigger Warning: This review mentions sexual assault in the opening paragraphs. 

We got an explanation about why Smurf wanted to hit Jed’s money for her last job. It turns out Jed (the brother of Smurf’s dead boyfriend Colin) tried to sexually assault her while she was pregnant with Colin’s kids. That particular scene made me want to see Jed die.

When Jed was introduced, I thought he was just someone creepy like Pope (Jed’s nephew). We all know Pope has a habit of stepping into a person’s personal space (regardless of gender) as an intimidation tactic. However, he would never even think of sexually assaulting anyone. Jed, on the other hand, isn’t only okay with doing so but is also someone who beats his wife. That’s why I was glad to see Smurf shoot Jed in the present timeline.

As for Smurf, stealing gold from Jed’s bunker was supposed to be her swan song. She was hoping to die during the mission and was clearly disappointed when Pope saved her. Say what you want about Smurf, even though she hasn’t been the best mother (she was more of provider than a caregiver), I liked how she wanted them to have a whole lot of gold after she died.

Yes, Smurf died in ‘Ghosts.’ She didn’t want cancer to take her to the hospital just to wither away. Being Smurf, she had a plan to go out on her terms. However, after Pope saved her, she tried to make him shoot her. The entire scene was quite intense and Joshua ended up being the one who put a bullet in her head.

As far as my opinion goes, I wanted Smurf to be the last to die. For poetic justice, I wanted Joshua to take everything away from the Codys while Smurf helplessly looked at him. With Smurf gone, I do feel this show has lost a big part of the reason why numerous viewers tuned in every week. Let’s see how this series continues without her.

Some thoughts and questions:

• With Smurf having told Joshua about Adrian, do you think Joshua will go ahead and kill Deran’s boyfriend?
• Is Joshua going to begin making plans to kill all his uncles?
• I still don’t know why Angela is alive.
• Joshua has made certain mistakes. He is still a kid, after all. Is he really capable of taking everything away from his uncles?
• We will be getting more scenes with a younger Janine and her kids in the fifth season. So, that’s good.

What did you think of ‘Ghosts’? Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

Twitter

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary