Animal Kingdom - Dig - Review: "Together Again, If Only for a Moment"

Happy Thursday! I was paragraphs away from getting this review out yesterday, but life happened, as it tends to do. But I've got three more shots to get this out on a Wednesday, and I only plan on wasting two of those shots! Now, let's get into all the fun stuff that happened this week.

Keys to the Kingdom
Last week gave us quite a bit to chew on between episodes. Smurf's plan to pay off Javi went awry when Jake tied her up and stole all of the money. When Smurf didn't show up to the meeting, Javi decided to take the fight to her house where he interrupted a rekindling between J and Nicky. After trying to put up a good fight, J was beaten and shoved underwater before he was forced to tell Javi where to find more of Smurf's money, and Nicky was stolen and dropped off near the place where Smurf and Manny buried Javi's dad. Big stuff.

Also pretty important: Patrick informed Baz that he's going to find out what Baz did to Catherine, because it is obvious at this point that she is dead. It's worth noting that Pope is actually the one who murdered Catherine and Baz has no idea. Just your weekly reminder that Pope viciously murdered Catherine.

While there were some other minor developments, such as Craig getting a catering job as an in for pulling off a wedding yacht heist, they all take a backseat this week as we deal with the aftermath of Javi's attack on the house.

This Week's Prey
We start with J showering after his encounter with Javi. He's clearly a bit shaken, for good reason. While he washes up, Smurf and Pope review Smurf's security footage. Smurf attempts to contact Craig and Deran, but they reject her calls and continue talking through their plans for Craig's yacht heist. Smurf sends Pope to pick them up while she talks J down from wanting to murder Javi himself. She tries to tell him there was nothing he could do against four armed men. She implements her classic two hands on the face strategy to further get her point across. This is not the only time she will use the approach this episode.

Baz picks up Nicky and makes sure she's ok before taking her home. She tells him they wanted his number and she gave it to them to avoid getting hurt, which Baz is ok with. As J and Nicky talk later, we have confirmation that she hasn't been hurt in any way, and we can all breathe a little easier. She understandably wants to know what was going on, but J diverts the conversation. Then, Smurf comes in to ask if she can borrow J. She uses her two-hand approach again to assure her that they'll never let anything happen to her. She sends Nicky off to shower with the promise of some Oxys later, then brings J to the garage. He keeps his gun with him this time.

In the garage, the entire Cody Clan is gathered together fully for the first time in a while, not counting the public event at Deran's bar. With Pope having caught them up on the attack, Smurf fills them in on Javi's grudge. Jake, Manny, Smurf, and Javi's dad, Luis were working a job together when Luis got shot in the stomach. Manny put him out of misery with Smurf's gun, then Jake gave them a place to bury the body in a new housing development. The body and Smurf's gun were buried on one of the plots, and the spot was covered when the foundation for the house was poured. Now, Javi knows all of this and is ready to go to the police. Smurf calls for Javi's murder in light of J's near-death, but the boys suggest simply moving the body to get rid of the leverage. Smurf doesn't think that's good enough, and J wants revenge, but Deran and Craig refuse to continue the conversation while Smurf is in the room. While the talks continue without Smurf, Deran momentarily blames J for not being able to handle the situation like the rest of them would, which of course sets J off. Eventually the decision is reached that Smurf will pay Javi, and the boys will get rid of the body to prevent future issues. Deran and Craig, however, demand payment for their services. Baz and Pope present the deal to Smurf, who is appalled that her sons want her to pay them to keep her out of prison. She reluctantly agrees to the deal, however, and the preparation begins.

Baz and Pope have a quick moment alone, during which Baz tells Pope about the recent encounter with Patrick. Baz says the cops think Catherine is dead, and Pope cautiously asks what he thinks. Pope is treading carefully because, remember, he killed Catherine. Baz admits that e believes Catherine is dead as well. Pope is panicking a bit now. The two split, with Baz going to J and telling him not to let Smurf get him killed, while Pope goes to tell Smurf about his chat with Baz. She also looks slightly panicky.

Up next, we have a new chapter in Baz's life as a father. He drops Lena off with a babysitter, but before she leaves he takes the time to have a quick chat with her about how he's been gone so much recently. He promises that this week they'll have a day that's just the two of them, and just like last week when he wanted to take her to school she asks why. Not in a "Why do I have to spend a day with you?" kind of way, but a "Why do you want to spend time with me?" way. As he returns to his car, he gets a call from Javi about meeting up.

While Pope takes Smurf to scope out which house a dead Luis under it, J and Nicky have a nice connection restarting behind Deran's bar. She mentions how helpless she felt because she tried to use Smurf's gun but didn't know how to work a gun, and said that she never wants to feel that way again. J takes it upon himself to show her the ins and outs of how to work a gun, and things get very close and hands-on when he's showing her how to aim it. Craig sees this and lets it happen a while longer before interrupting and telling them it's time to go. Hopefully he's going to bow out of this fight without a problem since he was mainly just in it for sex and drugs from the beginning.

Baz and Javi meet up on the beach and begin discussing a new deal to end everything. During the discussions, Javi reveals his truth of the events surrounding his dad's death, claiming that Smurf shot Luis in the back of the head and dumped him in a hole. Which version is the real version? Your guess is as good as mine. The discussions continue, and memories of Pope, Baz, and Javi hanging out together are brought up, as well as memories of Baz's dad beating him and some saltiness from Javi that Smurf took Baz in, but not him. Eventually, a deal is worked out and Javi reluctantly agrees to accept 200k in light of the damages to Smurf's home and the treatment of J and Nicky.

The boys, minus Baz, all meet up with Smurf in the garage as she describes where in the foundation the body is buried. Nicky pops in and Smurf tells her they're not quite finished yet, prompting Nicky to give an "I'm a big girl and I deserve to know" speech. Smurf once again implements her two hands on the face approach and tells her she's absolutely right, but that they'll include her on the next big thing, not this big thing, then sends her off to pack a bag to sleep somewhere else for the night. Baz then pulls up and tells Smurf she needs to pay Javi as the boys depart to begin the body retrieval. Baz and Smurf move their talk to the kitchen where Smurf informs him that Jake took all the money she had. Baz begrudgingly offer to loan her the money, but she tells her she needs to pay it back before the boys notice any money is missing.

The boys show up at the house built on top of Luis, disguised as a gas and electric company. While Craig and Deran tell explain to the woman living there that she must evacuate the house due to a gas leak investigation, Pope offers to help fix up J's leg, and also tells him that killing Javi wouldn't make him feel any better. He should know a thing or two about how killing someone makes you feel because of the whole murdering Catherine thing. Once the woman has exited her home, the boys begin cracking open a giant hole in her basement as they search for the buried body. Aside from the entire neighborhood gathering in front of the woman's house with concern, the boys make it out of the house without creating too many waves. They promise the woman that someone from dispatch will send another team to fix the hole in the basement, and then they leave. Is somebody actually coming to fix this woman's hole?

Meanwhile, Baz and Smurf meet up with Javi in the middle of nowhere where absolutely nothing could go wrong. Baz leaves Smurf in the car as he presents the money to Javi, imploring him to just take the money and get out of there. Javi, of course is not really a great listener. Smurf gets tired of just sitting there, so she hops out to throw her two cents in, though her contribution to the conversation is anything but helpful. She hurls insult after insult at Javi, saying she never took him in because he was "worthless and stupid." If there's one thing we may have learned about Javi, it's that he can have a bit of a temper. Enraged, he pulls his gun out to shoot Smurf, only to be shot in the head by the man he brought with him. Smurf gives the man the bag of money and where he'll find the rest of what he's owed, tells him to get rid of the body, and thanks him for his services. Baz later accosts Smurf for her actions and promises that he won't be around to help when this comes back around. Smurf assures him it won't, however, as Javi's crew wanted him gone as well and were very quick to accept money for his death. She tells Baz that Javi was never going to stop, and that even though Javi may have been like family, he wasn't family. She then, for the final time this episode, implements the two-hand technique and lets Baz know that he is certainly family.

Our weekly experience with Codys ends with all of them on a cliff disposing of Luis's body and the gun that was used to kill him. They all face out at the ocean, ready for what may await them next.

Animal Instincts
I can't get over how much I'm enjoying this season. There are so many developments and nuances each episode that always leave me wanting more. It's been a while since the entire Cody Clan was working together towards one common goal, and it was refreshing to see that well-oiled machine going again. Sure, they had to discuss it at length beforehand and Deran and Craig demanded payment, but in the end, they were all working together. Smurf proved once again that she is a force to be reckoned with. She will get her way no matter how she has to do it. I of course expected Javi to die at some point, but certainly not before the season finale. I'm pretty sure I physically jumped in my seat when he got shot, and my jaw was just kind of hanging there as I was coming to understand what Smurf had arranged. You'd think everyone would know by this point not to mess with her. Jake better be literally underground in another country living under a female name, because I'm pretty sure that's the only way Smurf won't be able to track him down and exact some revenge.

I'm very happy to see that Nicky came out of this physically unharmed, and I'm more than excited to see who she's going to be by this time next season. My guess is that she will be an extreme asset to our boys in future, and she will never again find herself in the position she was in with Javi's men. Defenseless Nicky is going to be a thing of the past. I'm thankful for this, because I was second away from pushing her off a bridge myself during the first few episodes of the season. I love the way she's coming into her own.

I'm also very happy to see Baz taking another step forward with Lena. Perhaps the revelation that Catherine is really, truly dead will push him to be the father he should have been all season.

Favorite Sights
The beginning of Nicky's evolution.
Baz moving forward in his parenting life.
Smurf and Pope panicking about the Catherine situation.
The poor woman who now has a giant hole in her basement.
The sneak attack on Javi!
Smurf's calming hands!

We've only got three more episodes this season! What are you looking forward to as the season winds down? Do you think we'll get a better glimpse of bad-ass Nicky before the season's over? Sound off in the comments below!