Animal Kingdom 6×3 & 6×4 Review: “Pressure and Time” & “Inside Man”

Episodes 3 and 4 of Animal Kingdom season 6, titled ‘Pressure and Time’ and ‘Inside Man’ respectively, showed the Cody men planning to make a lot of money in the present. While the flashbacks showed Janine trying to connect with Julia.

I was provided with free screeners of ‘Pressure and Time’ and ‘Inside Man’ for review. The opinions I have shared are my own.

The two-episode premiere of the final season of Animal Kingdom had the Cody men basically trying to run their criminal empire with a clean slate. As far as Joshua’s concerned, there’s no need to work with anyone they had worked with before. And that included taking up the opportunity to get back at Gia after she refused to continue working for the Cody men after Smurf’s death. While the revenge plot was a success, ‘Pressure and Time’ showed the Codys having to deal with the aftermath.

They were able to steal a lot of stuff from Gia, including some very expensive diamonds. However, no one was ready to buy said diamonds from the Codys because they were instantly recognizable. But Joshua, being the type of person who doesn’t know when to give up, decided to shave the diamonds to make them unrecognizable.

I liked the scene where Joshua went to sell the diamonds to a new character named Eddie Pham. I’m here for young criminals offering each other some much-needed competition. Their initial interaction was quite well-acted. Eddie really made Joshua nervous when he called his brother Arthur (a diamond expert) to analyze the gems Joshua wanted to sell.

Also, the moment Joshua realized how much money Eddie had, I think it was clear that he was going to have his uncles rob the place. Joshua’s seen how it’s possible for family members to turn on each other. You just had to push the right buttons. So, it made sense for him to reach out to Arthur and have him be the inside man to gain entry into Eddie’s establishment.

I’m looking forward to seeing how the Codys will manage to pull such a heist. As evidenced by Craig’s little scoping mission in ‘Inside Man’, Eddie’s place is way too tight when it comes to security. He’s got motion sensors on the stairs, guards, and hidden cameras everywhere.

Coming to the rest of the Codys, Craig continued to be a mess. I get that he’s sad about not being able to be close to his baby son Nick. And yes, I want him to remain sober and find the support he needs from the new character named Vince. But the Craig-centric scenes are just boring to me. Here’s hoping he gets something interesting to do as the season continues.

We got introduced to Deran’s quite handsome new love interest in the two-episode premiere. ‘Inside Man’ had Deran’s boyfriend (I refuse to remember his name! Let’s call him Chad) trying to get Deran to open up emotionally. Chad’s been putting two-and-two together and came to realize that Deran’s got a lot of influence over Oceanside. I couldn’t help but laugh when Chad asked Deran out on a proper date. I mean, I get that he wants to feel closer to Deran but it’s better for Chad to not get too involved.

The instant Chad asked Deran if he had ever been in a long-term relationship (Deran finally mentioned Adrian!) and where his mother was, I knew Deran had had enough of the whole thing. Deran taking out his frustration by beating up a homophobe right in front of Chad was such a Deran thing to do. Deran’s not into opening up. Being with Adrian was easy for him because Adrian grew up with Deran and knew what the Cody family was like. Deran’s just not ready to divulge into that part of his life with Chad or any other new love interest that might come his way. Deran and Adrian really do belong together!

I think this is likely the last we have seen of Chad (which makes me glad I didn’t bother to remember his actual name). So, yeah, good riddance! I’m still holding out hope for the season six finale to show Deran deciding to leave the country and running off to be with Adrian.

Now, the Cody I don’t see surviving the final season is Andrew. Detective Louise Thompson is closing on him. I liked how the writers handled Louise. I get that her boss isn’t a fan of how she does her work, but she needs to play dirty to take down criminals like the Codys. The fact that she reached out to Lena was a very surprising move. I loved it! She’s also got her own inside man to try and get dirt on Andrew. As I said, I’m here for Louise. We don’t get to see a lot of female detectives doing such things on TV.

Coming to the flashbacks, ‘Pressure and Time’ had Janine wanting to get close to Julia. Janine’s frustrated about Julia not being willing to be part of doing crimes as a family. Julia’s smart and Janine wants to use her daughter’s skills to rob other people. Being Janine, she thought that the best way to get Julia to come over to the dark side would be to entice her with riches. Due to her still being a teenager, I think it made sense for Julia to be attracted to her mother’s way of life when Janine offered to give her an expensive car. Julia knew the car was stolen but she couldn’t help herself.

While I liked seeing the two spend some fun time together, I also felt a bit sad because we know things aren’t going to work out well for Julia in the future. Julia dying of a drug overdose was what led to Joshua being picked up by Smurf in the first place, all the way back in the season one premiere. I guess the upcoming flashbacks will show Julia going back to butting heads with Janine, leading to Janine pushing Julia deeper into doing drugs to keep Julia out of her way.

We also got to see a young Andrew getting enamored by the church. I take it that’s how he got his nickname Pope? Understandably, Janine’s not a fan of Andrew wanting to be part of a religious institution. I’m looking forward to seeing how she will force Andrew to stop going to meet Father Kirby. She’s already upset Andrew by suggesting they should rob the church.

What did you think of ‘Pressure and Time’ and ‘Inside Man’? Do you think Andrew will survive the final season?

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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