Animal Kingdom 3×2 Review: In the Red

June 6, 2018 Farid-ul-Haq
Animal Kingdom Season 3 Episode 1 In the Red Review
Deran and Adrian in Animal Kingdom Season 3 Episode 2 ‘In the Red’ (Image: Screengrab)

This week’s episode of Animal Kingdom season 3 was all about giving the Cody family a wake up call about their finances. ‘In the Red’ also showed Adrian coming back and that’s all that matters!

I was provided a screener of ‘In the Red’ for review. The opinions are my own.

First of all, congratulations to Animal Kingdom season 3 for getting the highest series rating for its premiere. ‘The Killing‘ got a 0.7 rating in the 18-49 demo and 1.61 million live viewers. Such a demo rating is impressive considering the performance of the previous two seasons. Here’s hoping the high numbers continue to stick and more people tune in for this amazing show on a weekly basis.

Coming to the events that transpired during ‘In the Red,’ we got a time jump. It was only a few months and allowed the characters to deal with Baz’s death as well as help them move on. I enjoyed seeing Deran (Jake Weary) running jobs on his own.

Compared to the first season, Deran has certainly grown a lot. Actor Jake Weary recently talked about what fans can expect from the character moving forward. During the series, we have seen him standing up to Smurf and beginning to make a new life for himself. Of course, he is still a Cody and we will most likely see him stealing stuff with his brothers considering the family’s current financial state. However, it is still nice to see him trying to create a separate space. Also, Adrian came back this week!

Now, I know their relationship is problematic. But you can tell Deran cares deeply for him and continues to do his best to make up for what he put Adrian through. Those two are my endgame.

‘In the Red’ revealed the burden Smurf left on J’s shoulders. It is obvious Smurf sees him as her successor even if it makes J’s uncles dislike him. But J is also a kid and he can’t keep the Cody family afloat without some help from his uncles. It will be interesting to see how he manages to make his three uncles work with him to save the family’s money.

I enjoyed the interaction between J and Smurf when he went to visit her in jail. His uncles have lived a privileged life while J has seen hardships. That’s why Smurf knew he had saved some cash. It was an awesome scene which felt real, talking about how not having money when growing up changes how you handle a lot of cash on your journey toward becoming an adult.

Pope’s scenes with Lena were also interesting. Even Lucy showed up with a police report about Baz’s murder and handing it over to Pope. I have my suspicions about Lucy, but I don’t think she would go as far as killing Baz. She should give the Codys their money though. None of the brothers are going to forgive her for stealing it. Unless Lucy took the money to keep it safe from whoever killed Baz? There are so many questions I want answers to!

The scenes I didn’t necessarily enjoy during ‘In the Red’ featured Craig. The gang he got in trouble with during his stay in Mexico better show up down the line. I say this because unless the gang has a larger role to play in the story, introducing them makes no sense to me. Craig could have shown up all beaten up at the end of the episode and nothing would have changed.

Some thoughts and questions:

  • Smurf trying to find a job for her sons to pull while in jail was fun. She is always thinking of something.
  • Do you think we will get to see more of Deran and Adrian this season?
  • Are you a fan of J and Mia hooking up?
  • Nicky should rethink her priorities. Things are changing at the Cody residence.
  • Deran has been watching Adrian’s surfing competition! He also cooked breakfast for Adrian! My heart!

Did you watch Animal Kingdom this week? What did you think of ‘In the Red’? 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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3 thoughts on “Animal Kingdom 3×2 Review: In the Red”

  1. I am nothing short of impressed with Deran. Had you told me during season 1 that by mid-season 2 I’d start to like him, I never would have believed it. I couldn’t stand him in season 1. Not even a little bit. And then he started to change during season 2-he matured and started to get his priorities in order. And I started to change my opinion of him which I think caught me off guard at bit because I wasn’t expecting it. And he loves Adrian. I do believe he loves him. Hope D continues to treat A well.

    I wasn’t too into Craig last night but I’m hoping the incident by the pool is the beginning of something interesting. I don’t trust Renn. I think she’s up to something and possible involved with the guys at the pool. (Note: Every time I think I can guess what is going to happen, I’m almost always WRONG! lol)

    Pope. How I love him. I know, I know. I know I’m supposed to hate him because he killed Catherine but I just can’t. I can’t do it. OK, don’t laugh at me but for a minute, I actually thought the reason Lena didn’t want to go to school was because she got her period. (See what I was referring to above? I think I know what will happen next and I’m almost always WRONG! lol) I was just waiting for that to happen and then I thought for sure Lucy would help her. For a second there, when Lucy gave Pope the police file, he kind of gave her a look and didn’t sound too annoyed with her like he usually is. Wonder if those two might, shall we say, “Enjoy each other’s company” at some point? I can kind of see Pope sleeping with her as an “f-you” to Baz for being with Catherine. Well, an “f-you” to the memory of Baz, I should say. I just loved when Pope whipped out the pamphlets for the schools and told Lena to choose one. He loves her. He is all she has now. I would like to see her uncles pay a bit more attention to her. Deran and Craig never bother with her. I’d like to see some interaction between them.

    Glad J slept with Mia. Nicky grew on my nerves last season and I”m not quite sure why. I had always liked her but something about her began to annoy me last season. Maybe i’ll get over it, who knows. On an unrelated note, the girl who plays Nicky (Molly Gordon) reminds me of Jenelle from MTV’s Teen Mom. (appearance -wise)

    I’ll tell you what. Ellen Barkin is rapidly becoming one of my favorite actresses. She’s incredible in this role. She truly is. Not just her acting, but even her facial expressions are spot-on. I’m still not sure if I love Smurf or hate her from last week’s scene when she casually mentions to J that he must be having a rough time since losing his father! Holy crap, I had to rewind that two or three times! She just casually dropped that bomb while staring J down.

    Can’t wait to see Denis Leary!

    LOVE this show!

    1. Thanks for such an awesome comment ^^ … yeah, Deran’s character growth has been amazing and I hope it continues to be better as S3 progresses. I’m looking forward to seeing how his father’s entry will change his life. And yes, to Deran and Adrian! They don’t have to settle down right now. But I think the show has made it obvious those two will end up together at the end.

      I think, other than Pope, Deran does care for Lena. He shows up for those weekly dinners, lol 😉 But yeah, would like to see him be more involved in Lena’s life.

      As for Pope. He is a dangerous guy, but he is incredible with Lena! Yeah, I can see him getting it on with Lucy for a night, but then again I don’t think Pope is the kind of person who would be sexually attracted to a woman unless he has genuine feelings for her.

      I hope the new people Craig met in Mexico have a bigger role to play because if not then those scenes were just filler.

      Hahaha. Yeah, Nicky needs to figure out what to do with her life. I don’t see Mia and J lasting, but still if J is going to end up with Nicky, she needs to step up her game or at least have her own personal arc this season.

      Yup! Ellen Barkin is everything as Smurf.

  2. The Craig storyline was the weakest for me.
    This episode overall was a mere way to have them all broke and working together again. It just felt so cheap. I’m not enjoying this season that much honestly. We are indeed missing either annoying Baz or horrible Smurf to glue things together. The interactions between the rest are not that compelling.
    I get what they are trying to do with Pope but not really getting there (For me)

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