MoeBird

The finale wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Having low expectations made it more enjoyable. The acting was superb, especially Weary's (Deran) and Hatosy's (Pope). I'm not happy the writer's let J make it out with his life, let alone with the money. I'm not going to lose any sleep over it, but J didn't deserve to live, especially after killing Penny. I couldn't get past Smurf's hair, though. Dark roots were definitely NOT in style back then. There is no way a fashionista, like Smurf, would have ever let her roots grow out like that. How hard would it have been for wardrobe to get Smurf's hairstyle straight? Certainly, any woman on the set over the age of 40 should've known better.

It was pointed out at the end of last week's discussion (too late to respond) that I was mistaken about Craig not killing anyone. I completely forgot that he killed the men who kidnapped Nick. But, to quote Arnold Schwarzenegger from True Lies, "they were all bad." Still, I agree, Craig will be killed. If the character took a life, their life will be taken in the finale. Where I have to respectfully disagree with you, is that the series has been "similar" to the movie, "just changing a few things around." In the movie, J is a good kid trapped by a wicked family. Smurf's even alive at the end of the movie, and not nearly as sinister as she's portrayed in the series. In the movie, Pope is the out-of-control psychopath. In the series, J is the evil, diabolical and cunning psychopath who is willing to take the life of any human being, innocent or otherwise, who gets in the way of destroying his entire family ... for greed.

I have very little faith the writers will give AK fans a farewell episode to remember ... let alone tie up the plethora of loose ends. The whole production of AK, especially since the flashbacks started, has just been lazy, lazy, lazy. Even the casting between the young vs. today's main characters, as someone posted earlier, wasn't given much, if any, thought. Young Smurf (Leila George) doesn't look anything like Ellen Barkin, not to mention the obvious frame difference. Barkin is average height w/ a petite frame, whereas George is 5'9", which is tall for a woman. The only similarity is the blonde hair. Fortunately, George is an excellent actress. (The FX series "The Old Man" did an excellent job with its casting of young vs. old characters.) Anyway, the miscasting in AK has driven me crazy since the flashbacks started, which just adds fuel to my laziness claim. I do believe, or at least hope, my "Fed Sting" theory holds true and that Penny, Vince (the biker dude), the two bar owners, the guy who made the surfboard (and possibly the cop who busted Pope) are all undercover Feds who have been working the Military Base heist. How in depth the writers will go w/ my theory, I don't know. In fact, the writers may have just thrown most of those characters in just for filler's sake and their "big" reveal will be that Penny is Morgan's daughter. Who knows with this show? I keep gravitating back to the convenient store and restaurant robberies. Especially with all the security cameras nowadays, how hard would it be to "immediately" track down a couple in an open-top jeep with a baby in the back seat; or, two very large, easily-describable, men on motorcycles? It's not like Craig, Ren or Vince went into hiding afterward. No, they all just went about their merry way as if nothing happened. But, again, who knows with this show? I will say this much, Pope cannot get away to live happily ever after with Amy. As much as we may have come to sympathize with his character, Pope is a multi-murderer. I think he would rather die than go back to prison, though. So, for Pope's sake, I hope he's able to finally "rest in peace" without killing anyone else in the process (unless it's J). I wouldn't mind if Pope takes out J, which may or may not be his own son. (I know I wrote earlier that Pope isn't J's dad, but the "original sin" comment has me rethinking the possibility.) J, another multi-murderer who strongly suggested taking out a child (Lena) to cover his tracks, has to be "put down." J is pure evil. I'm certain J either gave mom Julia the fatal heroin dose, or did nothing to try to save her life -- He either made it happen or let it happen. J's a true psychopath and the most sinister of them all. Billy's not a snitch ... but, I was surprised that he wanted to perform actual work and cover the bar for Deran. If we do see Billy in the final episode, I hope it's because he's trying to help his son escape. But Billy is Billy. He may have even been the one who stole the money. Will Billy find redemption? Did he agree to help the Feds in an effort to protect his son? Only Craig and Deran can make it out alive. They're the only two who haven't killed anyone. Their lives were doomed from the start, and they don't know any other way to live ... other than Smurf's way. Craig tried to go straight and sober, but it didn't last long. I'll give it to Deran for opening the bar. At least he tried and succeeded. And then we found out this season that Smurf prevented Deran from winning and being on the surfing circuit so she could keep him home to do her "jobs." Poor kid. If anyone should get away, it should be Deran. Sadly, I fear the writers are going to give us more of a "soap opera" finale with who's whose daddy instead of a crime-based ending. Regardless, I think the final episode will leave us all disappointed.

I think Pete is out of the picture. The writers didn't leave enough time. I think the "Big Con," not the one J's pulling over on his uncles (which was made quite obvious) is the one the Feds are pulling over on the Codys. There's one other semi-prominent character from the beginning of this season you're forgetting about -- the big biker dude (I can't remember his name) who befriended Craig!!! Besides Penny, who's working with the Feds for the unresolved Military heist, I also think he's undercover with the Feds. Notice how Ren and Craig got off Scott-free after they robbed the Convenience store; or, how Craig and the biker dude just whisked away after robbing the restaurant? Those would have been easy crimes to solve, but the Feds told the police to back off. (The robbery was just to get Craig to trust the biker dude.) So, now we have the Feds covering J and Craig, but what about Deran? Well ... we should not forget about the two guys who opened up their bar next to Deran's, nor should we forget about the surfboard that mysteriously disappeared from Deran's bar. I think that whole fight scene was a lead up to getting that surfboard, and whatever listening device was attached, into Daren's bar. The end of AK won't be about criminal versus criminal, it's going to be about the Cody's getting their comeuppance. And the reason I think it's the Feds is 1. It was a Military heist (so it has to be the Feds); and 2. They're the only ones with that much undercover power, and a court order grand enough, to search, seize and record to the extent they have. (Who knows? Maybe the cop who bugged the Cody's house is a Fed, too.) At least that's the way I would have written it.

I don't think Pope is Lena's dad, nor do I think he's J's dad. I don't care how lazy the writer's are, Penny is nothing in the legal world. Lawyers would not, under any circumstances, leave any estate planning to an assistant who's not even a paralegal. Attorneys have to sign off on anything and everything. I also think there's far more than $5 million in the estate. There may be only $5 million in the account J transferred from, but all those ocean properties themselves, never mind the apartment complexes, add up to far more than $5 million. Also, I don't think Billy would screw over Derran. I just think Billy may have put some precautions in place just in case J screwed them over. J wants his uncles caught, or dead, period. Billy knows this and will protect Derran. Of course, Pope's confession would not hold up in court. He asked for a lawyer. Anything he said after he asked for a lawyer, which included his confession, is inadmissible in court ... Even if he did confess. He did so after he asked for a lawyer. Lazy writing.

I do think my first hunch is right, though, that the Feds have been monitoring the Codys since the military heist. And, remember, Penny's fictitious-husband is in the "military" of all things. I don't believe for a minute she's married, nor does she have an addict for a sister. Like I posted earlier up, J planted drugs in the cars, and most likely a tracker too, but it won't matter when they get to the border. Those canines will sniff out the drugs and Craig and (possibly Darren) won't know what's coming. I don't think J will show up at the safe house. In the end, he wants his uncles to know that he screwed them over. And, even if they all got out, they'd never be able to come back to the States to track J down. The only saving grace for Craig is if he takes one of the "fake" diamonds to his fence to have it set in an engagement ring. The fence will tell him it's a fake. I'm not counting Billy out. Billy doesn't trust J for a second. He may even take a bullet for Derran, in one last show of love for his son. In fact, Billy may have given them a tad bit of disinformation about the prison, just to trick J and save Derran. I do think they're all dead in the end ... unless Billy pulls through for Derran and he's able to make it to the beach and find Adrian. Of course, the writers could take the lazy way out ... all the unnecessary filler for the past two years! Geesh!

I'm also going to add one more theory: If Penny isn't working with/for the Feds, she could be the daughter of the Attorney that J fed to the sharks.

Okay, so I agree that J has transferred the money from the Cody's bank account into his. He left $10 so the account wouldn't be closed. I also agree that J is using the tracker to get Pope caught, and not to help him escape. I even agree that J tampered with the cars, but I think J hid a large amount of drugs in the vehicles for the cops to find at the border. (Drugs from a past episode that were stolen and/or buried that weren't accounted for.) Shoot-out ensues at the border. Where I don't agree is with respect to Penny - A law office would never let a paralegal, never mind a mere legal assistant, handle a multi-million dollar estate. They just wouldn't. Sure, Penny could type up the papers for the attorneys to review, and she may even be a Notary; however, a Notary can ONLY confirm/verify the person signing the documents. They have no legal authority, except to the signature. (I hope you know this is not how a law office functions.) In addition, it was way too convenient that Penny happened to have a sister with drug issues, just like J's mom. I think Penny is working with/for the Feds, who have been tracking the Cody clan since they robbed the military base. J's bank account was probably frozen by the Feds the minute he transferred the money (since Penny was aware of what he was doing). In the end, J will get nothing, but jail time or death. J's a murderer. He killed the attorney by feeding her to the sharks. And, besides killing Smurf, a part of me thinks J killed his own mother. As for the rest - Pope, Darren and Craig - they will most likely be killed in a gun battle. Although I wouldn't mind if Craig and Darren make it out alive, they won't. The only way the writers would let any of them live is if they were bringing back the show, or they planned on a future movie reboot. Neither seems plausible at this point.