S05.E07: Splinter

[CheshireCat]

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Pope confronts his demons with the help of a desert guru; Deran marks his territory as J handles business; Craig struggles with the demands of fatherhood.

Air date: Aug 22, 2021

[Auntie Anxiety]

I keep asking myself why I’m still watching this show. If I’m the last to leave, I’ll shut off the lights.

[iMonrey]

Well, at least the flashbacks have circled back to Pam. That at least makes them somewhat less irrelevant. 

I get the mental anguish Pope is going through, but this little sojourn of his is not interesting to watch, at all. Not interested in Cassandra either.

When Renn told Craig "we have bills to pay" I wondered . . . what bills? These people have literally stolen millions of dollars over the past four seasons. I realize that money had to be laundered and Smurf sort of doled out their cuts from each job, but every last one of them should be set for life. They all own property and two of them own their own businesses. Yet they continue to act like they're one heist away from the poor house. I don't get it. I guess it's just a way to keep the show going but they need to downplay any show of neediness of their parts. 

So Craig's mad at Deran and throws a big party  . . . for underaged kids? What? I don't get it.

[Auntie Anxiety]

If you took out the underage party nonsense and the self-indulgent and uninteresting Pope scenes, you’re left with about 10 minutes of Throwback Janine. 😴 The sad part is that this show used to be so good! I didn’t watch it initially and then binge-watched the first few seasons. I couldn’t get enough.

[Triviatrish2]

Why am I wasting my time watching this show?  ENOUGH with Janine, we know she is a bad ass, please stop showing her every 5 minutes.  Where is the action?    What a letdown, after waiting all of this time.

[Marley]

Popes journey or whatever it is is boring as fuck.

[Crashcourse]

When Pope was staring at Cassandra sleeping, I thought he was going to kill her.  Oh well, at least that would have been interesting to watch.

[topanga]

8 minutes ago, Crashcourse said:

When Pope was staring at Cassandra sleeping, I thought he was going to kill her.  Oh well, at least that would have been interesting to watch.

Honestly, I thought he might drown her in the pool when she called him an angel who’d gone astray.

It was sad to watch how hopeless and suicidal he feels. 
 

8 hours ago, Auntie Anxiety said:

I keep asking myself why I’m still watching this show. If I’m the last to leave, I’ll shut off the lights.

I’m right there with you. I tune in every week, but everything feels so aimless. Every time someone says, “Things are different with Smurf gone,” I nod and high five the air. I didn’t like Smurf as a character, but she was the heart of the show. I don’t what the showrunners were thinking by killing her off. 
 

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

When Renn told Craig "we have bills to pay" I wondered . . . what bills? These people have literally stolen millions of dollars over the past four seasons. I realize that money had to be laundered and Smurf sort of doled out their cuts from each job, but every last one of them should be set for life. They all own property and two of them own their own businesses. Yet they continue to act like they're one heist away from the poor house. I don't get it.

I know, right? Didn’t they get millions from the church robbery? What about when they stole all of the electronic equipment from the concert? Or whatever they stole from Nicki’s military dad and hid in the barrels? Even if Smurf only gave the boys a few dollars after every job, shouldn’t the money be someplace? I know they were robbed when cash was stashed in the walls of Baz’s house (I think), but that couldn’t have been all of the money. I have to admire Jay for at least thinking about the future.

Poor Deran. He might lose the bar and his customers think he killed Adrian. 

 

 

[Crashcourse]

2 minutes ago, topanga said:

Poor Deran. He might lose the bar and his customers think he killed Adrian. 

My memory's shot, what happened to Adrian last season?  

[Auntie Anxiety]

1 minute ago, Crashcourse said:

My memory's shot, what happened to Adrian last season?  

So funny, because I’ve been trying to remember that, too. Then I realized that I’m spending more time thinking about it than the writers spent writing it.

[Crashcourse]

8 minutes ago, Auntie Anxiety said:

So funny, because I’ve been trying to remember that, too. Then I realized that I’m spending more time thinking about it than the writers spent writing it.

So I did a little sleuthing and I found this article.  So he supposedly fled to Indonesia?  (I say "supposedly" because I have a feeling he might not have actually done it.)

https://www.the-sun.com/entertainment/3309536/adrian-dolans-status-on-tnts-animal-kingdom/

[MaggieG]

And now we've met young Billy aka Deran's dad. Who's older, Craig or Deran? I've always thought Deran was the youngest but now I'm confused.

[sugarbaker design]

16 minutes ago, MaggieG said:

And now we've met young Billy aka Deran's dad. Who's older, Craig or Deran? I've always thought Deran was the youngest but now I'm confused.

I'm pretty sure Craig is older than Deran.

I don't know which subplot is worse, Smurf's or Pope's. I did enjoy the young Denis Leary actor, he looked the part. 

[Artsda]

That was a bad party, barely had anyone.

So Deran also is the one they said went to DEA?

 

 

[iMonrey]

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 My memory's shot, what happened to Adrian last season?  

He was nabbed by the feds for smuggling cocaine, they forced him to go undercover and expose the drug cartel, then they found out he was Deran's boyfriend and pushed him further for intel on the Codys. At that point Deran smuggled him out of the country so he wouldn't end up in prison. Deran was going to go with him but changed his mind at the last minute.

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I'm pretty sure Craig is older than Deran.

Yes, Deran is the "baby" of the family, which was an important plot point back in the first couple of seasons. For what it's worth, Ben Robson (Craig) is 37, and Jake Weary (Deran) is 31. Assuming Craig's birth is imminent in the flashbacks, we shouldn't be seeing Deran for another six years or so, so I don't know why they are introducing Billy already.

For that matter I don't know why they're doing boring flashbacks for a character who died last season either.

Edited August 24, 2021 by iMonrey

[Lone Wolf]

On 8/23/2021 at 5:07 PM, Crashcourse said:

When Pope was staring at Cassandra sleeping, I thought he was going to kill her.  Oh well, at least that would have been interesting to watch.

He got hungry and went back for that turkey sandwich.

But being Pope, he was no more capable of just going to the fridge and getting it than he was of taking his clothes or shoes off for a nice, refreshing dip in the pool.  Instead, he had to stand there by the bed like a desomorphine-addled zombie. 

FTR, I get it - the pool reminded him of Smurf's ashes and taking off his clothes would have made him vulnerable (exposed him, if you will) to Cassandra.  Still doesn't make it any less ponderous...

Edited August 27, 2021 by Lone Wolf

[Lone Wolf]

Hard to get riled up over the "where's Andrew and Julia" drama when we've seen them as adults, although finding them home and safe didn't stop Young Smurf from stuffing her gob with pizza.  Never would have pegged Ma Barker as a stress eater.  Maybe she was just hungry from burning all those calories during the surfing lesson.

Renn, Renn...only on this show could one person kick the ass of one and physically intimidate two other people who are (presumably) at least as big and strong as the first person (notice how politically correctly I phrased that?).

I sincerely hope that the Deran/Sun Of The Beach confrontation remains antagonistic and doesn't morph into a meet-cute situation like a bad rom-com.

That's all I've got.

[Dowel Jones]

The liquor store scene brought a laugh.  Say, mister, can you buy us some beer?  Been there, done that, as a young'un.

Why would the distributor short Deran's order?  Did he screw up and not know it?  And it makes no sense for the SOB owner to go to Deran.  He didn't pay for his shortage; why try to get it back from Deran? And sorry, Deran, owning a dive bar doesn't mean owning the customers.  Everyone goes to the new place, at least for awhile.  That confrontation is setting up for something, for sure.

Janine runs into her trailer, hugs and kisses Julia, and then pats Andrew on the arm.  Gee, why would he turn into a sociopath later on?

J:  "Did he find it?"  Duh.  Dumbest question ever.  "Yeah man, he found 20 kilos of cocaine in the back room, but we made bail the same afternoon and came back to the crime scene...."

 

[Joimiaroxeu]

So is this chick from the commune already "in love" with Pope or did she just not want to commit murder?

Heh, now Craig's baby mama wants to be a gangster after one job. Sure, Renn. 🙄

Okay, young Billy did not age well if he grew up to be Denis Leary's Billy. Guess the drugs really took a toll, lol. The actor had Leary's mannerisms and way of speaking down pat though.

Is Deran going to start a beach bar war over some booze he basically stole?

What was up with Craig and Deran trying to get J to drink?

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Why would the distributor short Deran's order?

I don't think he did. Deran likely couldn't afford his usual order so he tried to act like it was the distributor's mistake. He got away with it because the distributor is scared of him. However, it appears that the owner of the other bar (who got shorted because of Deran's lie) isn't going to play along.

[chick binewski]

On 8/23/2021 at 8:07 PM, Crashcourse said:

When Pope was staring at Cassandra sleeping, I thought he was going to kill her.  Oh well, at least that would have been interesting to watch.

I'm thinking Pope is only on this 1,000 yard stare vacation to murder someone. Now that Cassandra's ex showed up Pope may have a different target?

On 8/24/2021 at 12:01 PM, iMonrey said:

Assuming Craig's birth is imminent in the flashbacks, we shouldn't be seeing Deran for another six years or so, so I don't know why they are introducing Billy already.

For that matter I don't know why they're doing boring flashbacks for a character who died last season either.

Another guess on my part - Smurf slept with Billy as a means to get more info on Max but the actress who plays young Smurf can't capture duplicity well. That's the only thing I can come up with for bringing in Billy out of sequence, setting the tone of their relationship.

Or the writers simply forgot whose dad is whose and I'm giving them too much credit.

On 8/26/2021 at 10:12 PM, Lone Wolf said:

I sincerely hope that the Deran/Sun Of The Beach confrontation remains antagonistic and doesn't morph into a meet-cute situation like a bad rom-com.

I know but I think the angry forearm-grab close-up begs to differ. 

[FozzyBear]

On 8/29/2021 at 7:39 AM, chick binewski said:

I'm thinking Pope is only on this 1,000 yard stare vacation to murder someone. Now that Cassandra's ex showed up Pope may have a different target?

Another guess on my part - Smurf slept with Billy as a means to get more info on Max but the actress who plays young Smurf can't capture duplicity well. That's the only thing I can come up with for bringing in Billy out of sequence, setting the tone of their relationship.

Or the writers simply forgot whose dad is whose and I'm giving them too much credit.

I know but I think the angry forearm-grab close-up begs to differ. 

Yes! That is what’s bugging me about her performance! It was taking me so long to figure out because it’s not a bad performance but it isn’t clicking for me. You’re absolutely right, she’s doesn’t play duplicity well. And Ellen Barkins Smurf was all about the mental chess game. Young Smurf is more of a smash and grab. Lots of guts but no real plan. Present day Smurf didn’t even make breakfast without a plan. Young Smurf doesn’t seem too bright while present day Smurf out thought everyone. It’s not a bad performance but it’s so disconnected from present day Smurf that I’m having trouble getting invested in it. I could still see making the story about how young reckless Smurf because the methodical Smurf of the series but so far it’s still not happening. Maybe if this actress was better at portraying “thinking” it would help. But I just don’t think those sort of quiet, subtle shifts are her bag so I hope the writing starts helping her out.