Table Read - He"s In | Animal Kingdom | TNT
If gritty crime dramas with hunky men and mommy issues are your thing, theres a good chance youre going to go crazy for Animal Kingdom. Loosely adapted from the 2010 Australian film of the same name though more closely resembling a TV version of Point Break than anything else TNTs Animal Kingdom is steeped in California noir goodness. Theres coke, neon lights, sunny beaches, weed, robberies, violence, and Ellen Barkin. What more could you ask for?
The premiere certainly gets right down to business, with paramedics showing up at an apartment and responding to a woman dying from a heroin overdose while her son sits on the couch with a nonchalant look on his face. Its obvious hes been here before, though this time is different. The boy is Josh, a.k.a. J, and this time his mom, Julia, doesnt recover. After she dies, J ends up calling his grandmother (Ellen Barkin), known affectionately as Smurf, for a place to stay.
Smurf comes to pick up her grandson, and smuggles away some drugs while shes at it. As J is about to leave, hes confronted by his moms dealer, whos asking for money hes owed. J doesnt tell him his Mom died, but he doesnt pay him either. Its a small moment, but one that leads to a bigger turning point later in the episode.
When J is brought back to his grandmothers place, we get a glimpse at the life she and her sons are living. Theres a pool, nice cars, plenty of TVs, and money lying around the house. It seems like theyre living the dream, especially compared to the relative squalor J was used to, but its clear that everythings not exactly on the up-and-up. Still, Js uncles set him up in a room, bring him a TV, and give him some money to buy new shoes.
As it turns out, Js extended family are a bunch of criminals, mostly running robbery jobs. Smurfs in charge and her boys do the grunt work. Smurf wants to bring J into the fold for the next operation, which is set to go down in a few days, but her boys arent so sure. They dont know a thing about J and arent sure if they can trust him.
Still, the uncles are trying to make J feel at home, in their own twisted, criminally inclined way. They take him surfing, where they intentionally p**s off other surfers before getting J to pull a gun and show that hes manly enough, that he can hold his own with the big boys. J is clearly reluctant, but what choice does he have?
Back at home, J discovers the room hes staying in isnt exactly his. It belonged to Pope (Shawn Hatosy), another one of Smurfs sons, who was sent to prison for three years for robbing a bank. Hes back home now and not entirely excited to see J in his room. The feeling seems mutual. J is wary of the man and so is Smurf, whos fairly reserved for someone whose boy just got out of prison.
When J isnt spending time being slightly mystified and terrified of his uncles, hes hanging out with his girlfriend, Nicky. After some foreplay that J isnt into (ya know, because of the whole dead-mom thing), they start talking about his moms death and where hes living. As the episode progresses, its hinted that Nickys about to get roped into this criminal lifestyle alongside J, if shes not careful.
NEXT: New, stolensame difference
Source: http://www.ew.com/recap/animal-kingdom-series-premiere
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