S05.E01: Red Handed

[CheshireCat]

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The Codys are forced to tie up some loose ends with the cousins and figure out what the family looks like without Smurf.

Air date: July 11, 2021

[pfk505]

Oh god do we really have to sit through young Smurf for another season? Brings the show to a screeching halt every time.

[arachne]

9 hours ago, pfk505 said:

Oh god do we really have to sit through young Smurf for another season? Brings the show to a screeching halt every time.

Mostly I agree, but Pope's "origin story" looks intriguing. 

[iMonrey]

I just don't get the logic here. I could maybe justify this flashback gimmick last season since they were going to kill Smurf off. But now she's gone. This weird split narrative is just disruptive. I guess it would be one thing if they had done this from day 1. There are two simultaneous stories going on, like it or leave it.  But to just change the format of the show in Season 4 is bizarre. This isn't Lost. Flashbacks can be informative if kept to a minimum but the flashback story is being given equal time to the present day story, every single episode. 

And what did we really learn here? We learned that Smurf is training young Julia and young Pope to steal for her/with her. That was covered in the very first flashback. Did we really need all the other crap with her blowing up the car? Seeing that Pope had OCD from childhood - something we already know about him? I don't know if the people who run this show are just in love with the actress playing young Smurf or what. Is she related to one of the producers or something? I've had enough of her.

The shoot-out scene (in present day) was obviously choreographed very intricately and must have been really tough to shoot. But it was so dark it was impossible to tell what was going on most of the time. I couldn't distinguish the Codys from their cousins and didn't know who was getting the drop on who.

I wonder where Angela is and whether she'll be on the show this season. If not, it will be interesting to see how they explain it.

[chick binewski]

33 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

And what did we really learn here? We learned that Smurf is training young Julia and young Pope to steal for her/with her. That was covered in the very first flashback. Did we really need all the other crap with her blowing up the car? Seeing that Pope had OCD from childhood - something we already know about him? I don't know if the people who run this show are just in love with the actress playing young Smurf or what. Is she related to one of the producers or something? I've had enough of her.

We also learned Smurf was giving her daughter alcohol when she was under 10, but yeah - the flashbacks are terrible.

Leila George is the daughter of Greta Scacci & Vincent D'onofrio as well as the wife of Sean Penn. I have to think this may have something to do with her casting based on what we've seen so far.

[Laurie4H]

3 minutes ago, chick binewski said:

Leila George is the daughter of Greta Scacci & Vincent D'onofrio as well as the wife of Sean Penn. I have to think this may have something to do with her casting based on what we've seen so far.

And she is gorgeous also.  Which also might have something to do with it.  I don’t mind the flashbacks since they are homage to the 70’s and 80’s but I hope more is explained to what goes down in present day.  Maybe show Pope and Julia as teens also?

[iMonrey]

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Leila George is the daughter of Greta Scacci & Vincent D'onofrio as well as the wife of Sean Penn. I have to think this may have something to do with her casting based on what we've seen so far.

Interesting. She's competent enough but she's not terribly compelling, as an actress. Plus she looks absolutely nothing like a young Ellen Barkin.

If they wanted her on the show that bad couldn't they have found present-day role for her? She could have played Angela.

Maybe there was a movement behind the scenes trying to launch a prequel spin-off that didn't get a green light so they decided to incorporate the spin-off in the main show. 

It isn't working. I just get irritated every time the scene shifts to a flashback.

[MCMLXXVII]

I don’t love the flashbacks, but I am a bit intrigued at seeing how a sociopath chooses to parent. Like at what point did Julia stop idolizing Smurf, but yet the boys were attached well into adulthood?

[iMonrey]

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I don’t love the flashbacks, but I am a bit intrigued at seeing how a sociopath chooses to parent. 

We've already seen that, though. It's been apparent since Season 1. She has this weird, psycho-sexual, inappropriate relationship with "her boys." You can even see it in this flashback starting early. She sends Julia off to swim and asks Andrew to rub lotion all over her. She's already grooming him in that sick way. 

[tennisgurl]

These flashbacks aren't really telling us much we don't already know about Smurf and her creepy attempts at parenting, but I do think that watching the origin of tiny Pope is somewhat interesting, even if, again, its not really anything new. Also interesting that tiny Julia caught on pretty early that Pope has issues and really needs some help, but Smurf just blew her off, both because she likes Pope as her baby attack dog, and because she doesn't really care about her kids so she would never give up her lifestyle for the sake of them. This is back when she at least pretended to care about Julia, before she got older and became a "threat" to her, and even now her rolling joints for her mom and slipping booze into the drinks she gives her certainly does explain more about Julia's future as a drug addict. But really, I spent most of the flashback wishing we could get back to the main story. I might get more interested in them if we flashforward to the kids growing up though, that could be a bit more interesting. 

I do like how the flashbacks are shot though. They have a very breezy yet gritty feel that a lot of low budget 70s movies about various criminals and people living on the edges of society had. 

The main story had a lot going on, setting up a lot of things going forward and tying up some lose ends as we head into the show post-Smurf. 

[topanga]

5 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

These flashbacks aren't really telling us much we don't already know about Smurf and her creepy attempts at parenting, but I do think that watching the origin of tiny Pope is somewhat interesting, even if, again, its not really anything new. Also interesting that tiny Julia caught on pretty early that Pope has issues and really needs some help, but Smurf just blew her off, both because she likes Pope as her baby attack dog, and because she doesn't really care about her kids so she would never give up her lifestyle for the sake of them. This is back when she at least pretended to care about Julia, before she got older and became a "threat" to her, and even now her rolling joints for her mom and slipping booze into the drinks she gives her certainly does explain more about Julia's future as a drug addict. But really, I spent most of the flashback wishing we could get back to the main story. I might get more interested in them if we flashforward to the kids growing up though, that could be a bit more interesting. 

I do like how the flashbacks are shot though. They have a very breezy yet gritty feel that a lot of low budget 70s movies about various criminals and people living on the edges of society had. 

The main story had a lot going on, setting up a lot of things going forward and tying up some lose ends as we head into the show post-Smurf. 

I agree with other posters that what we saw of Smurf is no different from last season. I did like seeing Pope and Julia as children and learning their origin stories. But the flashbacks are far-less interesting than the present day events. 

I still have a desire to know more about Julia — I know the character was never really part of the main story, other than her fatal scene in the very first episode, but she looms like a ghost in this family — at least she did for the first few seasons. 

Jay clearly is the next leader of the family — IMO, he’s the only one with enough intelligence, self-control, and vision for the job. Even Smurf recognized that. But there’s already growing resentment among the brothers that this young and “outsider” relative is trying to take Smurf’s place. J has a bit of a cruel streak—they’d do well not to get on his bad side. 

I’m guessing that they’re going to continue doing jobs — otherwise, I don’t know what would make the present-day story interesting. But what about the times they all said they wanted to quit doing jobs for Smurf? What about their desires to do something else. Deran has his bar, Craig talked about settling down with his girlfriend and new baby, and Jay is smart enough to get a regular job. I don’t know what Pope would do, but I’m sure he’d find something. 

 

 

[Artsda]

I think the only thing I got from the flashbacks was Julia being more of a parent to Pope, her being the one to go to Smurf and point out Pope needs to stop the moving and it's not good. 

I liked the boys coming together to fight the cousins and the dark scene although it was hard to figure out who from who.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Finally got around to watching this. Guess I'm in for the season since it's the last one. Not a fan of the new version of the theme song though.

Of course those cousins couldn't be trusted. At least the Codys had the advantage of knowing their home turf better than the prepper freaks.

Little Julia knew Pope needed the stability of a home. She just didn't know the word for it. Guess she and Pope were lucky Smurf didn't leave them at a bus stop or something.

Wonder which of Codys will still be alive at the end, if any of them?