Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 8 review: Why Billy left … per Billy

Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 5

“I tried.” These are some of the words that Billy said on Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 8 during what was, at least in our mind, his latest half-hearted approach to show that he was a good father and not a complete and utter failure in all aspects of his life.

What he wanted to show to Deran in the conversations at the end of the episode was that he made some notable attempt to cart him off from his crazy life with Smurf, but she got him facing possible kidnapping charges and that’s why he bailed. Whether or not you want to believe that is a completely different story.

Most of the episode tonight was themed around watching Smurf have a wide array of different conversations with various characters, who all found out at different times that she was out of jail. Frankie was the first, and Frankie (obviously knowing her deal) bent over backwards in order to be kind to her. Meanwhile, at the end of the episode all of the Cody Boys did their part in order to keep their mouths closed as to the job that they just executed — a complicated arrangement that led to them skydiving out of a plan with weed money. Unfortunately, things didn’t quite go according to plan, which led to J and Deran having to give a woman $10,000 in order to drive them to a meeting point.

We gotta say that out of all of the operations on Animal Kingdom, this is probably the one that felt the most like a heist in Grand Theft Auto. It was absolutely crazy to watch (great production values for TV), and to go along with it, very much intense from start to finish.

With most of the boys together, Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 8 was actually rather straight-forward. There weren’t too many detours or side stories beyond all of the various nonsense with Frankie and Billy, who in the middle of the job was kicked out of the car by Pope over his relentless needling. We do think that eventually, Billy is going to drive a wedge between everyone that it causes chaos, and really that’s what we are looking forward to now. There are only a few episodes left this season, and this episode mostly felt like a way to set many of them up with Smurf out and the weed job being done.

CarterMatt Verdict

While we’d say that this episode didn’t have a huge emotional high point near the end — save for maybe Smurf wanting a grave for Baz — it may have still bee one of the best of the season. The execution of the weed job is something only a show like Animal Kingdom could pull off, and it’s stuff like it that shows why the audience continues to come back … and why there is also a season 4 renewal already.

Related Read more news on Animal Kingdom, including more details on what’s next

What did you think about Animal Kingdom season 3 episode 8 overall? Sound off right now in the attached comments!

Also, remember to like CarterMatt on Facebook! You don’t want to miss some other Animal Kingdom updates coming up in the future. (Photo: TNT.)

Love TV? Be sure to like Matt & Jess on Facebook for more updates!