S05.E13: Launch

[CheshireCat]

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The Cody family uses all their tools, tricks and vehicles to pull off the job of their lives and settle all scores; a deadly secret from the past is revealed.

Air date: Oct 3, 2021

[TooMuchRealityTV]

Okay, I am surprised the boys pulled that job off. Things seemed a bit sloppier than the boys usual work. Of course, the people they robbed have seen their faces and are likely looking for them in an area where the Codys are a known entity. So maybe this comes back to haunt them.

I'm not sure I needed to see the Pete/Pope eye thing. We know that Pope is a dangerous dude. Maybe they could have cut away right before Pope goes in with the pliers. Too much blood for me.

We already know Smurf is a bad mother. So seeing that she's gone all Fagin and makes the kids pickpocket isn't surprising. We already know she is the worst. I'm sure the show will continue these flashbacks during the last season, because why not waste more of our time, but I hope we at least get teenage Pope/Julia/Baz and less Smurf empire building.

Finally, I was not expecting Catherine to ever come up again. Color me surprised. I didn't remember Pope buried her with her things, including ID. Dumb move. So in addition to the people they just robbed of 1.2 million and possibly vengeful gang members the boys are now up against the law.

Not the worst episode this season, but that's not saying much.

[Marley]

Seriously 99% of the flashbacks could’ve been cut and we would’ve got to the same place we got with them taking up half of every episode. Is Craig the next kid? I forget the order of the boys. I think it’s Craig. Why couldn’t they have at least time jumped in the flashbacks if we were going to be forced to watch them all season.

For some reason I feel like that guy who works at Deran’s bar is law enforcement or something. I forget when he came around but things seem off.

They pulled off the job but everyone saw their faces so they didn’t do that good of a job. I feel like it would be easy to find them. Pete is part of a gang right? Or at least works with one. It wouldn’t be that hard for actual gang members to take on 4 guys.

Did not think Catherine would pop up again actually. I should’ve known tho cause they did a flashback to the final scene she had with Pope before the episode started. Hearing about her just reminds me how good the show used to be tho.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Liked the boys working as a team, haven’t seen that this season.  

So I guess we are all sick of saying it but the flashbacks are a WASTE OF TIME!  The only thing that I twigged on was Julia saying picking wallets wasn’t fun anymore.  Might explain her not being part of the family as she got older.    

Agree something is up with the guy at Deran’s bar.   He is getting screen time for a reason.

Pope taking the eye out was a bit graphic even for J!  And I couldn’t believe he still had the blood on his hands/arms when he got to the house!  Pope has OCD with cleanliness so seemed weird.

I kind of recall Pope getting rid of the suitcase with her body but could be wrong.  It seemed out of character for that to be missed by Pope.  He seems a stickler for detail.  Wonder now if there are fingerprints.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2021 by Foghorn Leghorn

[TooMuchRealityTV]

6 hours ago, Marley said:

Seriously 99% of the flashbacks could’ve been cut and we would’ve got to the same place we got with them taking up half of every episode. Is Craig the next kid? I forget the order of the boys. I think it’s Craig. Why couldn’t they have at least time jumped in the flashbacks if we were going to be forced to watch them all season.

For some reason I feel like that guy who works at Deran’s bar is law enforcement or something. I forget when he came around but things seem off.

I think the next kid is Craig, followed by Deran.

I agree the guy at the bar may be up to something. He seems to be a bit hesitant at times. He took a good long look at that money and Deran and didn't pocket it right away. I wouldn't be surprised if he's an informant.

[iMonrey]

It's nice to see the show is still able to pull off impressive heists. All of those scenes worked really well. It just made the flashback scenes all the more intrusive, though. Think of how much better this episode would have been without them. I was so hoping the people who owned that house would return home and bust Smurf's ass. Basically it was just  her blasting music and dancing around. Like we really needed that. 

I don't think this thing with Pete is going to blow over. He's got a lot of gang members at his disposal and there are only four Cody boys. Now that Catherine's body has been found I'm guessing Pope will wind up either dead or in jail by the end of the next season.

Speaking of which . . . it looks like they've already started filming, since they showed previews for it. Little wonder, while they've got the cast there, might as well get it out of the way before another round of Covid shuts everything down again. It was weird in that little snippet seeing Shawn Hatosy walking around talking about how the story was ending.

[SuzieQ]

While the flashbacks are tedious and not really telling us anything we haven't already figured out, this was a much better season finale than last year.  Heist was sloppy, but still a good watch.  We see the start of Julia's substance issues, but for Christ" sake, hope they do a huge time jump with them next season to go full circle.  With how dragged out the flashbacks have been, they have a lot of ground to cover.

[sugarbaker design]

54 minutes ago, SuzieQ said:

We see the start of Julia's substance issues, but for Christ" sake, hope they do a huge time jump with them next season to go full circle. 

Reportedly next season is the last season, so a parallel storyline about teen-age Andrew, Baz and Julia (and Mama Smurf with a new actress in a supporting role) would be very interesting.  It might answer the 7 year question:  Who is J's daddy?

[iMonrey]

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Reportedly next season is the last season, so a parallel storyline about teen-age Andrew, Baz and Julia (and Mama Smurf with a new actress in a supporting role) would be very interesting.  It might answer the 7 year question:  Who is J's daddy?

I doubt very much they will get rid of Leila George, unfortunately. For whatever reason she's got her hooks into this show. But there is certainly a more interesting - and relevant - story to tell if they insist on doing these flashbacks with her. 

Smurf did tell J that Baz was his father. But not until after Baz was dead, so her motives are suspect. J outright asked Baz if he was his father and Baz basically said he either didn't know or didn't care and that J shouldn't either.

I'm more interested in knowing how and why Julia became estranged from the rest of her family. There has been a lot of speculation but they have never really explained it. In the pilot episode, J's old neighbors show up at Julia's funeral and try to get him to come back with them, reminding him that his mother never wanted him to have anything to do with the Codys. That seems to suggest that Julia's exile was self-imposed to get J away from Smurf and/or her brothers.

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I think the next kid is Craig, followed by Deran.

Yes, if we are going by the actors' ages, Pope is 45, Craig is 37 and Deran is 31. Young Pope in the flashbacks doesn't look 12 though does he? Probably they are fudging the ages a tad. 

[Emily Thrace]

4 hours ago, iMonrey said:

I don't think this thing with Pete is going to blow over. He's got a lot of gang members at his disposal and there are only four Cody boys. Now that Catherine's body has been found I'm guessing Pope will wind up either dead or in jail by the end of the next season.

The thing is Catherine's body alone even with his dna on it doesn't condemn Pope. Baz makes too much sense as viable suspect with motive. They would need an eyewitness or something that ties Pope directly to the burial site if they actually want to get a conviction. Otherwise all Pope's lawyer would need to do is bring up Catherine's cheating boyfriend with a violent family history and you have reasonable doubt.

[Dowel Jones]

3 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

It might answer the 7 year question:  Who is J's daddy?

Cameo from Sean Penn?

[sugarbaker design]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

I'm more interested in knowing how and why Julia became estranged from the rest of her family. There has been a lot of speculation but they have never really explained it. In the pilot episode, J's old neighbors show up at Julia's funeral and try to get him to come back with them, reminding him that his mother never wanted him to have anything to do with the Codys. That seems to suggest that Julia's exile was self-imposed to get J away from Smurf and/or her brothers.

Julia's self-imposed exile or escape, depending on one's perspective, might be tied up with J's paternity.  Baz isn't the only possibility - it's quite possible Pope is the father.

[arachne]

The way the cops identified Catherine's body is one more example of how the writing on this show has deteriorated. If you must have a plot twist involving Catherine, she could have been i.d.'ed thru dental records. (Teeth don't decompose as other body parts do.) Having watched the show from the start, there's no way I believe Pope would leave paper behind!

While nobody deserves to be robbed, I agree with the Codys that keeping a million-plus in cash inside a storage container -- that's beyond ignorant.

I chuckle a bit at the idea of Pope or Craig running their own "businesses." They have their talents, but entrepreneurship is not among them.

Significant that Deran has given up on leaving the "family business." His bar will be one more front like the others.

Loved the toast at the end: "May we get what we want -- and never what we deserve!" How I long to work that into a conversation one day. 😈

Edited October 4, 2021 by arachne

[SoCal Mema]

5 hours ago, iMonrey said:

It's nice to see the show is still able to pull off impressive heists. All of those scenes worked really well. It just made the flashback scenes all the more intrusive, though. Think of how much better this episode would have been without them. I was so hoping the people who owned that house would return home and bust Smurf's ass. Basically it was just  her blasting music and dancing around. Like we really needed that. 

I don't think this thing with Pete is going to blow over. He's got a lot of gang members at his disposal and there are only four Cody boys. Now that Catherine's body has been found I'm guessing Pope will wind up either dead or in jail by the end of the next season.

Speaking of which . . . it looks like they've already started filming, since they showed previews for it. Little wonder, while they've got the cast there, might as well get it out of the way before another round of Covid shuts everything down again. It was weird in that little snippet seeing Shawn Hatosy walking around talking about how the story was ending.

Shawn Hatosy tweeted that Season 6 is already in the can. 

[rhygirl720]

1 hour ago, sugarbaker design said:

Julia's self-imposed exile or escape, depending on one's perspective, might be tied up with J's paternity.  Baz isn't the only possibility - it's quite possible Pope is the father.

I've been thinking this for a while. It certainly explains the estrangement.

[Marley]

I’ve always had a sick feeling something happened with Pope and Julia and that there’s a chance he’s J’s dad. Maybe one of his weird blackouts. It’s disgusting but Smurf is fucked and made her kids really fucked up too.

[Raja]

9 hours ago, Marley said:

I’ve always had a sick feeling something happened with Pope and Julia and that there’s a chance he’s J’s dad. Maybe one of his weird blackouts. It’s disgusting but Smurf is fucked and made her kids really fucked up too.

That was the first impression they gave when Pope was with his return from prison gift prostitute 

[sugarbaker design]

I don't know if this is a spoiler so I'll tag it

Spoiler

In the previews for next season, at the very end of the clip there is a brief shot of the actress currently playing Smurf, but she does look older, and her hairstyle is much blonder and closer to the style of Ellen Barkin's Smurf.

 

[Crashcourse]

I'm kind of glad Ellen Barkin is gone now, because just based on the way young Smurf fucked up her children, I would truly hate the sight of her now.

[MaggieG]

On 10/4/2021 at 9:35 AM, TooMuchRealityTV said:

I agree the guy at the bar may be up to something. He seems to be a bit hesitant at times. He took a good long look at that money and Deran and didn't pocket it right away. I wouldn't be surprised if he's an informant.

I kept thinking him and Deran growing closer was going to lead to them hooking up 🤷‍♀️

20 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Yes, if we are going by the actors' ages, Pope is 45, Craig is 37 and Deran is 31. Young Pope in the flashbacks doesn't look 12 though does he? Probably they are fudging the ages a tad. 

According to the Animal Kingdom Wiki, Craig is next followed by Deran who's the youngest. Wiki also said Craig is the sexiest brother and I can't say I disagree 😂. Also, Janine is not showing in the flashbacks, she may know she's pregnant but how is she sure it's a boy? Lucky guess? I wonder if Craig will ever find out if Jake is his father.

19 hours ago, SoCal Mema said:

Shawn Hatosy tweeted that Season 6 is already in the can. 

I follow Ben Robson on Instagram and he also said they're done filming.

[iMonrey]

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They would need an eyewitness or something that ties Pope directly to the burial site if they actually want to get a conviction.

Lena. She was in the car when Pope buried Catherine. I think she was asleep, though. 

I would have to go back and re-watch to be sure, but I do think Pope buried Catherine's suitcase with her, because she was just about to split town.

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I follow Ben Robson on Instagram and he also said they're done filming.

Wow, that's fast. It makes me a little nervous it's going to feel rushed. I guess it's easy to get the present day scenes out of the way when they are cut in half because of the flashbacks though.

[NYtoFL]

I can't wait to see next season.  Really hoping another network picks up, and they do not kill all the boys off.   What I want to see -

1.  The boys get away with the robbery.  We find out that J figured out that they had a one hour window where the afternoon sun hit the security cameras and they had too much glare.  Port security says the cameras were more for nights.  The guys who had guns and tried to stop them turn out to be on Vlad's payroll.  Police convinced inside job -- who else would know the money was there.   They try to help Vlad find them, but they only had a good look at J, and no one knows him. 

2.  Hoping we find out that they dug up and reburied Catherine's body with stuff that the dirty cop had touched.  Set him for a murder charge.

3.  Deren moves to Thailand to be with his Boyfriend.  J goes to college, they buy businesses. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

Julia knew Smurf was lying about the "new" house. Poor kid was just was not about that thieving and squatting life.

$1.2M doesn't seem like a lot to me for the level of risk they took pulling that heist. It was in broad daylight with a lot of witnesses. Who knows what the random cell phone may have captured as they were scramming from the crine scene?

Pete fcuked around and found out. Smurf may be gone but Pope the Enforcer is not. Hope the Cody boys are ready for war though. On at least two fronts since the guy they just stole from will be coming after them too. Plus the  coppers will be hunting down Pope because of the body they just found.

So did that guy Smurf killed not have any neighbors? Or family who'd miss him? How does Smurf just move lock, stock, and barrel into the guy's house and not raise any red flags? (ETA: Read elsewhere that the house isn't Max's. Nm. It's still curious though how she just moves into a house that doesn't appear to be vacant.)

The Cody boys are back, baby! For the moment, anyway. Plenty of trouble is heading their way.

I hope the producers do the right thing by Ellen Barkin and bring her back next season for the show's finale. She's the main reason they got this far, IMO. 

[Auntie Anxiety]

So exactly how many episodes were wasted on the Pam(?) story, just because the writers needed to add a meaningless heist into the show? That entire plot line has become a distant memory.

[Raja]

6 hours ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

 

$1.2M doesn't seem like a lot to me for the level of risk they took pulling that heist. It was in broad daylight with a lot of witnesses. Who knows what the random cell phone may have captured as they were scramming from the crine scene?

 

I just assumed it was $1.2 million each. If Frankie at her age  can retire and disappear on $240,000 why haven't I put in my retirement papers?

[Dowel Jones]

Considering the Andy Dufrene 'blew town with $375,000 of the warden's money' and ended up with that POS boat in Mexico, you're wise to stick around.

[Joimiaroxeu]

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I just assumed it was $1.2 million each. If Frankie at her age  can retire and disappear on $240,000 why haven't I put in my retirement papers?

They clarified via the dialogue that it was a total of $1.2M and each Cody and Frankie got about $240K each. I think Frankie is headed to South America where presumably the cost of living will be much less. She can likely get by for a while but for sure she'll get back into the life when she's tired of living poor. Or just bored.

[Crashcourse]

Yeah, Frankie wouldn't have settled for just $240k if each Cody got $1.2 million. 

[fellini]

It looks like Andrew is now in charge.

[iMonrey]

Quote

So exactly how many episodes were wasted on the Pam(?) story, just because the writers needed to add a meaningless heist into the show? That entire plot line has become a distant memory.

Yeah that really went nowhere. It seemed like initially it was something they wanted to use to tie the flashbacks to the present day story, but then both stories just sort of moved past the character. 

[Auntie Anxiety]

Looks like the actress who plays Young Smurf is getting divorced from Sean Penn after a year of marriage. Now she’ll have time to get some desperately needed extra acting lessons, I hope.

[Kristi800]

About the only thing I'm tuning in for these days are the flashbacks, but think they could have found someone else to be Smurf. I know it's a journey, but don't see her as young Smurf. 

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ETA: Read elsewhere that the house isn't Max's. Nm. It's still curious though how she just moves into a house that doesn't appear to be vacant.)

She didn't buy it yet, she just picked the lock while the current owners are away because she didn't want to take the kids to Disney. Julia has Smurf's number at a young age (which Smurf HATES) and loves that she takes care of Andrew. Sad to see the beginning of her addiction, which her mom fostered. 

The rest of the heist stuff drives me crazy. They're always screwing things up and yet somehow manage to get what they want with so much damage left behind. They just get away with stuff somehow...but maybe not. This last one was a mess.

Lena was there with Pope (which is strange that he would do that since he protects innocents), although she was mostly asleep, but she asked if her mom was dead. (recently listened to the only AK podcast and reminded me of a few things!).

RE: J's dad. Why doesn't he just do a DNA test, which seems to be easy enough these days! And it would be interesting if they did a 23&me analysis to see who their other family members are!