Wowee, what a ride that was. Where do we even start? There was so much that happened, along with a ton of setup for where season four is headed. I couldn't be more excited for this show right now. Due to my excitement and the fact that last week's episode will be directly next to this one in the "Animal Kingdom" tag, we will forego my normal refresher of the previous episode and jump right into this week's finale.
This Week's Prey


And now for our boy, J. After J and Mia start their morning breaking in the new apartment (probably not for the first time), J meets up with the man who runs the bowling alley he has now purchased, though he claims to just be a guy working for the new owners. He tells the man the new nightly deposit plans and tells him to prepare the finances for him to look over later. That night, Smurf greets J as he's coming home by telling him that Morgan died from an apparent boating accident. Morgan also apparently stole three properties from Smurf under layers of holding companies and with a stolen notary stamp from an old guy. She says that Morgan is Smart and asks J if he's that smart before warning him to careful. When he asks why, however, she spins it as a warning to be careful with Mia (who she was able to meet earlier that day when she went to talk to her guys) to avoid unplanned children. Mia, by the way has been taken on a drive as punishment for not staying away from J when she was told to. The next day, this drive comes to an end in Mexico where she is made to murder Lucy. Seeing Lucy onscreen always makes me nervous since you never know what she's going to do, but I absolutely did not expect to see Mia in Lucy's back seat ready to blow Lucy's brains out. It was the first time I've truly been shocked in a while. As this murder is taking place, J works on covering his tracks by grabbing all the paperwork he's been storing in an old car and burning anything potentially incriminating before Smurf can get her hands on it. When Mia returns from Mexico, she finds a man in her apartment who says he heard she was dead and asks if she's missed him. I'll assume this is the man whose mom we saw confront Mia in an earlier episode. After they have some naked time that Mia is 100% not into, she tells him he needs to leave because the place belongs to a guy she's working and he'll be back soon. Before he goes, he asks if she'll be cutting him in, to which she responds "Don't I always?" I don't know if I trust that she won't betray J, but I definitely trust that she's not going to be giving this guy anything. Another thing I trust is J's plan for Smurf. After looking at the watch she got him engraved with "For J. My Very Smart Boy. Smurf", he goes into her room and whispers into her sleeping ear that he's going to take absolutely everything from her. If anyone can, it's J. Upon exiting the room, he meets eyes with Pope who is just standing creepily in the hallway. You know, like Pope. They say nothing to each other, and Pope returns to his room. What does that mean?!
Animal Instincts
Despite wishing the final shot was a little more of a cliffhanger, this was an excellent finale. There were plenty of payoffs, raised stakes, and even a couple shocking moments with Lucy's death and seeing Amy again. I was completely invested in every scene of this finale and am already dreading the wait for next season.
After three seasons of seeing J's motives/loyalties flip back and forth, we can finally say for sure that his ultimate goal is to take Smurf down. It's always been a possibility, but watching him whisper it into Smurf's ear and finally confirming it was so satisfying. I was really hoping to see her eyes slowly open when J walked away. Even though we didn't see that, however, I'm still pretty positive Smurf heard everything he said, which could really be J's biggest mistake so far. With everything Pope knows and has been through, I'm not sure if Pope would be an asset to J's mission or an enemy of it. I could see it going either way, honestly.
Speaking of Pope, man that breakdown was painful. I was shocked to watch him show up at Amy's and even more shocked to see her actually want to comfort him. Maybe now that she's had time to process and realize he's just really, really, really, very, extra damaged, she'd be open to getting back together with him? I don't advise it, but at the same time I really like their relationship, mainly because it was so good for Pope.
Some things I'm excited about for next season: seeing if Amy comes back; seeing how serious things get between Frankie and Craig, and if Renn will show up to say, "Yo, it's actually your baby, Craig"; watch J and Smurf passive-aggressively fight for power; watching J confront Mia's old/new man; whatever happens with Adrian's drug bust, and I really hope they won't make a deal with him to go free if he turns on the Codys.
Favorite Sights
Lucy's death
Deran and Adrian
Pope and Amy
J's promise to Smurf
Frankie's job
What did you think of the finale? Were you excited to see Amy again? Which plot point are you most excited for next season? Sound off in the comments below, and I'll see you next season!