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If you are missing that gut wrenching feel that Sons of Anarchy used to give you while rooting for the criminal ilk, I think I found a wonderful show on TNT that will fill that dirty, feel-good void that SoA has left in your hearts.
The show is called Animal Kingdom and it is a wonderfully dirty, sexy ride from the wrong end of the lawman's gun!The show is based off of the 2010 Australian movie of the same name. And if the Aussie film is any indication of how good and dirty this series could get, well, I'm looking forward to it.
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Animal Kingdom starts out when a heroin overdose kills the mother of teenager Joshua "J" Cody (Finn Cole). After that, he moves in with his estranged grandmother and uncles.
His grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody (Ellen Barkin) and "her boys" make their living through various criminal activities.
Her boys include Smurf's right-hand man Baz (Scott Speedman) and her three sons: mentally disturbed ex-con and oldest son, Pope (Shawn Hatosy), the drug user and fearless middle son Craig (Ben Robson), and the ever-suspicious baby of her sons, Deran (Jake Weary).
When J moves in with the family, he's easily accepted but not trusted by the family gang. But before you start worrying too much about J, he shows and proves how adaptable he is to the lifestyle he finds himself surrounded by.
Other cast includes Daniella Alonso, Molly Gordon, Nicki Micheaux, Dorian Missick.
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Like Sons of Anarchy, we follow this family as they pull off their heists, but unlike SoA, this family has it's own dysfunctional mode of operations. Pope and Craig seem off their rockers as they push various actions to their limits, even at the apparent risk to their other family members.
But the grandmother is the one that runs the family with an iron rule.
All while they deal with threats from the cops, competitive criminals and even from within the walls of their very own home. We may have started following J, but at some point, we suddenly realize what a complicated scenario Smurf and her grown criminal children are.
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They've constructed the story in such a way that we quickly find ourselves rooting or worrying about some of the family members while a few others, we wish they would just get put down, but they're family, so that isn't going to happen.
The show feels like a mix of Sons of Anarchy meets Point Break as each actor portrays his role to a very convincing level. We watch Smurf run her family with an iron rule, and she reminds me of Gemma from SoA.
Craig sort of reminds me of Jax to some degree. Sort of.
Either way, I've watched the first four episodes, okay, I binged the first four episodes, and this show fills that void that Sons of Anarchy left when it came to a close. We've got the crime, the family and even a fair dose of skin, much like SoA.
It's possible that the world is right again now that this series is on the air. I love rooting for evil. It's a guilty pleasure of mine.
Oh, BTW, just in case you had not heard, Kurt Sutter is working on a spin-off of Sons, based on and tentatively called "The Mayans," focusing on the Oakland-based gang. Sweet, huh?
(YT Link)
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