Animal Kingdom 5×4 Review: Power

Animal Kingdom season 5 episode 4, ‘Power’, showed Deran trying to run things his way while Pope’s mental health continued to grow worse. Also, an adult Pamela finally appeared.

‘Power’ was all about Deran Cody stepping up and trying to cement himself as the leader of the family. Even though his plan didn’t work, it was still a whole lot of fun seeing Deran try and act tough without thinking things through.

The episode opened with Deran coming back from a surfing session and meeting Agent Livengood at the beach. Even though Adrian ran to Indonesia during the previous season, the current season still has him continue to have an impact on Deran’s storyline. Livengood knew about Adrian being in South East Asia. Apparently, he’s been visiting internet cafés to stay in touch with his sister, even asking her to send him pictures of his nephew. Adrian’s clearly homesick and according to Livengood, it’s only a matter of time before Adrian decides to come back to the USA. He also knew about some (*cough* Deran *cough*) sending Adrian money.

Adrian needs to get a hold of himself. He’s acting as if he’s been in hiding for more than a year. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he’s been in Indonesia for only a month or two, right? You would think, considering how much trouble he’s in in the USA, he would see sense and keep a low profile. Sigh!

That’s exactly why I don’t want him coming back or being close to the Cody family. Adrian’s clearly not built for such a dangerous life. Being in Deran’s life is only going to get both of them hurt. Smurf was already ready to have Adrian killed if Deran hadn’t helped him run away. I’m okay with Adrian being part of Deran’s narrative arc, but he needs to keep his distance. Until Adrian’s name is cleared or Deran strikes some kind of deal with Livengood, I’ll be happy with Deran and Adrian not meeting each other until the season finale. And even then, I want those two to be off living together in another country.

With the ever-existent threat of Livengood arriving at the Cody house with a search warrant and possibly finding the drugs the Cody men stole in the previous episode, I liked seeing Deran trying to be proactive. He always goes into high gear when it’s about saving Adrian. However, it would do Deran well to take a deep breath and think things through. He came across as a brat in this episode and embarrassed himself in front of two people. Like, Deran, gurl, you need to chill.

He finally made Joshua show him the bowling alley. The way Deran casually told Joshua to sell his condo made no sense to me. Furthermore, I loved Joshua’s expression when Deran told him to take the drugs out of the house and hide them in the ventilation system of the bowling alley. It’s a good thing Joshua didn’t agree with Deran’s suggestion.

As for the people he embarrassed himself in front of, I liked Pete kind of dragging Deran. Pete’s got a point. Deran’s been obvious about his lack of interest in the Cody family businesses. He even wanted to step away from everything in the previous season and start a new life with Adrian. Seeing him now trying to be the leader didn’t come across as the badass move he thought it was. Pete didn’t have time for his shenanigans and he calmly told Deran to figure things out with Joshua.

A similar thing happened when Deran decided to meet Pamela. I don’t know about you, but I thought Joshua or Pope would be the first ones to encounter Pamela. Seeing Deran take the lead came as a surprise to me. Pamela’s not someone you can play around with. I loved how she made that incredibly clear to Deran.

The title of this episode, ‘Power’, made a lot of sense during Deran and Pamela’s conversation. According to Pamela, power can be taken or it can be earned. She knew Deran didn’t have it in him to take power from her. So, Pamela gave him an opportunity to earn it. I’m looking forward to seeing what type of job Pamela offers the Cody men and if they will follow her rules or not.

In a sense, perhaps the Cody men do need another strong woman like Pamela to replace Smurf in their lives? They can hate her just like they did Smurf. But she could be able to keep them in line. Also, Pamela’s not sure why Smurf wrote her into the will. It could be possible Pamela’s lying. Maybe this was all Smurf’s plan to see which one of the Cody men was capable of earning parts of the criminal empire she built and it was Pamela’s task to test them? I’m just throwing this theory out there. Let’s see what happens.

Anyway, with Deran wanting to be the leader and continuing to grow annoyed by Joshua, you know a fight between uncle and nephew is drawing close. And I can’t wait to learn the outcome!

As for the rest of the characters, Joshua needs to rethink his strategy. Picking a fight with Deran isn’t going to end well for him because we all know Craig will side with Deran. What Joshua needs to do is reach out to Pope. I liked seeing Joshua pick Pope up from the hospital, but I rolled my eyes when he left Pope all alone outside the old empty lot Pope used to live in as a kid. Also, Joshua deciding to let Natalie throw a party at the house was a bad move. Read the room, Joshua. Read the room.

Craig’s fight with the existence of electric scooters was funny. He’s being a great father to Nick. Here’s hoping he can handle the drug-selling business situation with Renn a lot better. Also, seeing him talk to Frankie and getting her to lower her commission to 2% per transaction was nice. However, I can’t help but think Frankie’s planning something. There’s got to be a reason behind her agreeing to Craig’s terms.

Pope’s role in ‘Power’ was the most emotional. He’s been experiencing memory loss and wandering around trying to find his sister. According to Dr. Franklin’s diagnosis, Pope’s going through Dissociative Fugue due to being incapable of dealing with Smurf’s death in a healthy manner. Distancing himself from stressors can help, but what can he do when the biggest stressor is Joshua? 

I liked Pope snapping at Joshua at the end of the episode. According to Pope, Joshua shouldn’t have shot Smurf in front of them. And while I understand where Pope’s coming from, the fact remains that Smurf would have shot Pope if Joshua hadn’t acted during that intense moment.

Pope needs someone to talk to. But his options are limited because he can’t spill secrets about his criminal family during therapy sessions. Pope’s behavior is making him a liability and I wouldn’t put it past Joshua to kill him if need be. Fingers crossed, Deran steps in to support Pope.

Some other thoughts and questions:

• Smurf needs to actually lock the bedroom door when she’s hooking up with other people. The scene where young Pope saw her and Jake doing the deed was incredibly uncomfortable.
• Poor Pope never asked why Smurf had him on medication for all those years.
• Craig found a babysitter for Nick. Here’s hoping that young man doesn’t get Nick hurt.
• Joshua not telling Deran about hiding the drugs at Pete’s and allowing him to take a 20% cut is likely going to bite Joshua later on.
• I guess Smurf wanting to stay at Oceanside with her kids linked to finally owning the house she once broke into with Colin.

What did you think of ‘Power’?

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.

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