S06.E06: Diamonds Are Forever

[CheshireCat]

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The Cody's stage a jewel robbery; Craig and Deran are at odds; in 1992, Julia and Baz spend more time together.

Air date: July 10, 2022

[Goldfish77]

My wife and I just watched an episode of Homicide Life on the Street and Shawn Hatosy was a guest star in his first acting credit.  Two things stood out; first I was originally impressed by the casting of teenage Pope until I saw Shawn at the same age.  Second,  as soon as they showed him as the grandson of a couple that was beat to death with a lacrosse stick, we knew he was guilty because Pope would definitely be capable of such a crime.  

We're curious if we will find out that rest of the Cody's are being set up like Pope by the strangers that are new to their lives

[topanga]

11 hours ago, Goldfish77 said:

My wife and I just watched an episode of Homicide Life on the Street and Shawn Hatosy was a guest star in his first acting credit.  Two things stood out; first I was originally impressed by the casting of teenage Pope until I saw Shawn at the same age.  Second,  as soon as they showed him as the grandson of a couple that was beat to death with a lacrosse stick, we knew he was guilty because Pope would definitely be capable of such a crime.  

Do you mean that young Shawn Hatosy was nothing like the actor playing teenage Pope? I still like that young actor. He's channeling Pope's affect and broodiness as well as his violent outbursts. He even sounds like Pope to me. 

How sad that the CI is betraying Pope. I know he's doing what he has to do to survive, but it's still too bad. And we know what Pope does to people to talk to the cops. 

I was surprised at how smoothly that heist went. There were so many moving parts. The only fail was Deran not getting the custom necklace. Other than that, everything went according to plan or better. That never happens to the Codys. 

And I liked adult Baz for the most part, but teenage Baz is a dick. I don't know what Julia sees in him. Although I guess the only other teenage boy in her life is her brother. 

And agree with other posters who say that we see very clearly how terrible a mother Smurf was. Seeing it every week is getting depressing. 

[Goldfish77]

7 hours ago, topanga said:

Do you mean that young Shawn Hatosy was nothing like the actor playing teenage Pope? I still like that young actor. He's channeling Pope's affect and broodiness as well as his violent outbursts. He even sounds like Pope to me. 

Yes and I agree that the actor playing young Pope does a great job, I just wish I had  not just seen Shawn Hatosy at the same age.

[iMonrey]

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How sad that the CI is betraying Pope. I know he's doing what he has to do to survive, but it's still too bad. 

Have they even explained what the cops have on him to force him into doing this?

I thought the diamond heist was strange. How did they know exactly which pieces would be on display and how were they able to create exact replicas of all of them? The brother who was in on it only spoke in unspecific terms about various pieces. 

We're back to having flashbacks that are totally unnecessary and intrusive. The scenes with Smurf and Billy planning some kind of job at Camp Pendleton, for example - what is the point? Also, I have been rewatching the first three seasons and there are some continuity problems with these flashbacks. Pope and Julia are supposed to be around 18 but it had been established earlier that Smurf kicked Billy out when Pope was a little kid. Deran didn't even remember him when he showed up in Season 3. (Pretty good casting job on young Billy, though.) 

Also, the show started in 2016 and J was 17. That means he was born in 1999. The flashbacks are taking place in 1992 so we're a long way from Julia having J. 

[arachne]

9 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Also, the show started in 2016 and J was 17. That means he was born in 1999. The flashbacks are taking place in 1992 so we're a long way from Julia having J. 

I've been having the same thoughts. Maybe the flashbacks will jump ahead a few years.

Enjoyed that shout-out to The Real World. 😊

Anyone else think that some Cody (I'm guessing Pope) will notice how the box of cereal was turned around?

Personally, I didn't care for any of the stolen jewelry, value notwithstanding. Just too gaudy for my taste. If any of it came into my possession, I'd probably try to sell it.

Edited July 12, 2022 by arachne

[Raja]

13 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Have they even explained what the cops have on him to force him into doing this?

I thought the diamond heist was strange. How did they know exactly which pieces would be on display and how were they able to create exact replicas of all of them? The brother who was in on it only spoke in unspecific terms about various pieces. 

We're back to having flashbacks that are totally unnecessary and intrusive. The scenes with Smurf and Billy planning some kind of job at Camp Pendleton, for example - what is the point? Also, I have been rewatching the first three seasons and there are some continuity problems with these flashbacks. Pope and Julia are supposed to be around 18 but it had been established earlier that Smurf kicked Billy out when Pope was a little kid. Deran didn't even remember him when he showed up in Season 3. (Pretty good casting job on young Billy, though.) 

Also, the show started in 2016 and J was 17. That means he was born in 1999. The flashbacks are taking place in 1992 so we're a long way from Julia having J. 

At this point he is just a snitch. The detective works another county so maybe he isn't from Oceanside when he was asking what she got him into with the Cody's.

I have no ideal why she poked Pope by turning the cereal box during her illegal search.

I think that Julie seduction of Baz was showing her getting in the way of the family business. But Smurf was still proud of her daughter using her tools to get her way.

[Marley]

They did mention Billy kidnapping Deran which they did say happened in the early seasons. I agree tho complete waste of time.

I thought this was a really boring episode tho. I wish this show would just get to the point.

Adult Baz was a bit of an asshole so doesn’t surprise me young one is.

The heist was weird it seemed like they could’ve been caught so easily with this one. Just obviously switching out jewels. Wouldn’t the guy have cameras or did they get rid of those somehow.

Why is Craig being such an asshole. I’m over his bitchy behaviour. Can he just get killed now pls lol.

[Crashcourse]

When Julia was letting Baz hold her hands on those rocks while she leaned back, I kept yelling, "Julia, you stoooopid!" even though I knew she'd survive.  Baz was an asshole and wish she'd kicked him in the nuts and left him there.

[Marley]

They need to speed up the flashbacks or something because they are dragging again.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

Answer to the flashbacks is the FF button!  Their upbringing and poor parenting has been well established, on with the grown ups!

[Dowel Jones]

As an occasional plumber and landscape irrigation repair guy at my own house, I can certainly relate to Pope and Craig frustration - "Dammit, it's too long!"

Despite the absolute absurdity of that jewel heist, I rather enjoyed seeing a pretentious 'influencer' getting taken down.

Did the cop actually plant a bug/camera, or did she just switch the cereal box and pop the microwave to screw with the Codys?

[I Want My MBTV]

1 hour ago, Foghorn Leghorn said:

Answer to the flashbacks is the FF button!

That's what I did pretty much all of last season and it worked out fine except I do feel like I missed a few things I sort of cared about, mainly where Baz, Craig and Deran came from.   For me it was like all the sudden there was Baz then I see a little toddler Craig then a reference to Deran and I'm like "were they here all along?".  Also, I missed when/how Smurf started getting called Smurf and how she had so much power with the police - so yeah, a few important things :-)  I'm not going to go back and rewatch though.

I think the actors playing Julia and Pope are both doing well (I thought the ones portraying them as little kids always did a good job). Baz is fine I guess but I just don't see him growing up to be Scott Speedman.  But I agree with the poster above who thought grown Baz was kind of a dick too.

Not really sure how this can end other than with them all in jail or in a ditch.   Not that most of them don't deserve it.   They have murdered people (Pope and J for sure and I can't remember about Craig and Deran) so not like they don't deserve it.   It's funny watching them at some of these heists when they're doing the stuff like the plumbing and what not - they're actually very good at that stuff and some can be smart (if crazy).  Who knows what they could have ended up being if not for Smurf.   Then again, I guess we wouldn't have had a show about a bunch of well adjusted people! 

[MCMLXXVII]

I was also wondering how the Cody’s acquired all their plumbing/ electrical/ carpentry/ trucking  knowledge, did some of them attend vocational school when not surfing or lounging around the pool? 😂

I would think J at least would have a Ring camera feed to his phone, but it looked like the security system had not been updated at least since the beginning of the series.

I guess Smurf is the ultimate “cool mom” until her job is messed up. I’m kind of surprised more neighborhood kids aren’t hanging around the house.

Edited July 12, 2022 by MCMLXXVII

[MaggieG]

I laughed at Craig throwing himself on the car to cause a distraction. That influencer was a tool.

I wonder if the flashbacks are going to introduce a young Catherine. We know Pope was in love with her when they were young and she ended up with Baz. Didn't Pope also burn her house down? 

[TooMuchRealityTV]

4 hours ago, MaggieG said:

I laughed at Craig throwing himself on the car to cause a distraction. That influencer was a tool.

I wonder if the flashbacks are going to introduce a young Catherine. We know Pope was in love with her when they were young and she ended up with Baz. Didn't Pope also burn her house down? 

It's too bad we got all those seasons of young Smurf flashbacks. Had they started the flashbacks a few seasons ago in '92 we could have seen Catherine/Pope/Baz and possibly Lucy (I think she said in an earlier season that she loved Baz since she was a teenager). They could possibly gone up until Julia has J. As it stands I'm not sure how much more backstory they have time for. We are already almost halfway through the season.

[Marley]

I think Pope burned Catherine’s house down and killed her whole family minus her in it right?

[sugarbaker design]

22 hours ago, Marley said:

I think Pope burned Catherine’s house down and killed her whole family minus her in it right?

Right, Pope is a mass murderer.

[sugarbaker design]

On 7/11/2022 at 7:35 PM, Dowel Jones said:

Despite the absolute absurdity of that jewel heist, I rather enjoyed seeing a pretentious 'influencer' getting taken down.

I'm sure the jewelry was insured, so if anything the influencer was inconvenienced.

[featherhead]

Did Pope forget that he confessed murdering Katherine to Amy and that's why their relationship ended? Why would he call her? 

Even though he's a mass murderer, for some reason I still have a soft spot for him. Freaking Smurf!

[iMonrey]

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That's what I did pretty much all of last season and it worked out fine except I do feel like I missed a few things I sort of cared about, mainly where Baz, Craig and Deran came from.   For me it was like all the sudden there was Baz then I see a little toddler Craig then a reference to Deran and I'm like "were they here all along?".  Also, I missed when/how Smurf started getting called Smurf and how she had so much power with the police - so yeah, a few important things :-)  I'm not going to go back and rewatch though.

You missed nothing. We briefly saw Baz as a child last season, in one scene. He was in the background, playing on a swing or something while Smurf talked to his mother. That's it. No reference or explanation for how he wound up living with Smurf. In fact, back in Season 1, we met Baz's father, an abusive alcoholic living in a trailer and fresh out of jail. They never mentioned Baz's mother or what happened to her. The implication was that Baz ran away from home because his father beat him.

We haven't seen younger versions of Deran and Craig until this season. Smurf announced she was pregnant (with Craig) at the end of last season, and it was implied Jake was the father. We also met young Billy last season but they were a long way off from having Deran. 

They origin of "Smurf" as a nickname was in Season 2 - when she tracked down the guy who abandoned her and her mother after a gas station robbery gone wrong. He'd given her that name as a kid because she spent so much time in the swimming pool she turned blue. I'm not sure why she would willingly go by that, though, since she hated that guy so much she tracked him down and killed him.

They've never explained how she managed to get crooked cops help her out/work for her/be in her debt.

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I was also wondering how the Cody’s acquired all their plumbing/ electrical/ carpentry/ trucking  knowledge, did some of them attend vocational school when not surfing or lounging around the pool? 

That's really the most unrealistic thing about the show. Pope and Julia were high school dropouts; I don't think Deran or Craig even went to school. Their vast mechanical knowledge is unexplainable and pretty absurd, they seem to know how to do everything from unhitching the cab of an 18-wheeler to operating a crane and they have every power tool known to mankind at their disposal.

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They have murdered people (Pope and J for sure and I can't remember about Craig and Deran) so not like they don't deserve it.  

Neither Craig nor Deran have killed anyone, as far as we've seen.

[Dowel Jones]

11 hours ago, sugarbaker design said:

I'm sure the jewelry was insured, so if anything the influencer was inconvenienced.

To be sure, but I was thinking more of the public humiliation of showing off all that "precious" jewelry only to find out that it was fake.  And I'll bet he'll have a hard time convincing his girlfriend that the main piece is really real.  "Honest, sweetie, would I lie to you?"

[sugarbaker design]

8 hours ago, Dowel Jones said:

To be sure, but I was thinking more of the public humiliation of showing off all that "precious" jewelry only to find out that it was fake.  And I'll bet he'll have a hard time convincing his girlfriend that the main piece is really real.  "Honest, sweetie, would I lie to you?"

Good point!  I hadn't thought of that.

[I Want My MBTV]

On 7/13/2022 at 1:38 PM, iMonrey said:

They origin of "Smurf" as a nickname was in Season 2 - when she tracked down the guy who abandoned her and her mother after a gas station robbery gone wrong. He'd given her that name as a kid because she spent so much time in the swimming pool she turned blue. I'm not sure why she would willingly go by that, though, since she hated that guy so much she tracked him down and killed him.

Thank you for all the info!  I did actually remember this it was just in the flashbacks with adult (if you can call her that) Smurf I only heard her referred to as Jeanine and never saw or heard anything where she decided to go by the badass name of Smurf :-)

[Marley]

Deran killed that one guy I thought. Colby I think.

[iMonrey]

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Deran killed that one guy I thought. Colby I think.

Who was that? I vaguely remember them having to get rid of a dead body from Deran's office behind the bar but I can't remember the circumstances.

[showme]

On 7/11/2022 at 11:12 AM, iMonrey said:

I thought the diamond heist was strange. How did they know exactly which pieces would be on display and how were they able to create exact replicas of all of them? The brother who was in on it only spoke in unspecific terms about various pieces.

The brother made the replica, and J told him he did a great job after the heist.

It is no small feat, I am surprised that the older brother was able to make all the intricate fakes without arousing suspicions at their highly surveilled production site.

Edited July 17, 2022 by showme

[Cementhead]

These last 2 episodes used the Pham brothers as stand-ins to foreshadow what happens when one brother betrays another and when Arthur Pham told J; after having just betrayed his brother 'I thought this would feel good but it doesn't,' I was feeling all kinds of ominous dread coming our way.  

The tensions are really starting to build with 3 good story lines -- what happens between Julia & Smurf, what happens to Pope and which Cody betrays his brother (all signs point to Deran and Craig obviously since they've been fighting for what seems like 2 seasons now.)

The story line I am dreading the most is Pope.  The writers this season are giving us the closest we are ever going to get to a happy-ish, almost even at peace Pope and then they are going to make us watch him crash and burn.  Am I feeling protective and affectionate towards a murderous character who has done all kinds of terrible things to other people?  Yes, I am, but that is thanks to the brilliance of the writers for capturing the complexities of this character and the amazing Shawn Hatosy.  Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the rest of the brothers because the writers have dropped the ball HARD on writing anything meaningful or poignant for them to do other than to roll around fighting, sulk and drink beer.  This is one of the few shows I have watched where I have liked the entire cast and haven't been annoyed by somebody so it's such a shame that most of these guys have just been reduced to one note characters with not much substance.  They certainly didn't start out that way but here we are.  When you have to dedicate half of every episode to Leila George, this is where you end up.

I echo those of you who are having a hard time watching the Smurf flashbacks this season because they are so uncomfortable. There was one scene in either this episode or the one prior where she got so close to young Pope's face and the scene got so quiet and still that I literally cringed and said out loud "please don't kiss him, please don't kiss him..." WE GET IT, SHOW.  The mother / son dynamic is twisted.  WE KNOW.  You've told us already.  100 times.  The flashback episodes have always annoyed me but this season I am really starting to resent them because they are stealing precious time away from the present day story and the characters I am really invested in.  Every "baby" uttered by Smurf = nails on a chalkboard.  Once or twice an episode would be more than enough.   

Speaking of the useless flashbacks, when Smurf and young Billy were doing whatever it was they were doing at Camp Pendleton (besides using up precious screen time) I asked my husband; who does not watch this show to guess which actor young Billy was supposed to be and he guessed Denis Leary immediately.  That is some pretty spot on casting!

[Joimiaroxeu]

The snitch who the detective put on Pope is going to get him made by the Codys. He'll be lucky if Pope doesn't kill him. Or the detective will be lucky if the kid doesn't snitch on her.  

The bar called 48/14. Okay. It's a bad joke if you have to explain it, fellas.

Ditto comments upthread, that guy playing the flashback Billy is definitely good casting. He has Dennis Leary's vocal inflections down pat.

No, Pope, you should not call Amy. She's probably working some kind of deal with the cops. Does J not know about what happened with Amy because if he did I doubt he'd be encouraging Pope to have anything to do with her.

These guys are floundering without Smurf, especially Craig and Pope. It's just a matter of which one will get caught first.

I think Smurf was lowkey mad Julia got Baz before she did.