Animal Kingdom: An average crime drama with a terrifying leading lady

Animal Kingdom starts with a premise that ought to work. Joshua “J” Cody, 17, loses his mother to a drug overdose and moves in with his grandmother and uncles. The Codys, however, are no ordinary family. They live on robberies, theft and other crimes under the absolute influence of their matriarch, Janine “Smurf” Cody.

Created by Jonathan Lisco and based on David Michôd’s 2010 Australian film of the same name, the American series originally aired on TNT from 2016 to 2022. It ended after six seasons and 75 episodes.

The first season is its weak point

At first, the show tries too hard to convince us that the Codys are “bad” and dangerous. Drugs, sex, muscular bodies, guns, heists, expensive cars, beach houses and men who settle nearly every disagreement with violence are everywhere. In the early episodes, they do little to give the characters depth.

Even when the series tries to provoke, it can seem to follow a formula familiar from Sons of Anarchy and other crime-family dramas. It is well made: the photography is strong, California contrasts effectively with the Codys’ dark world, and the heists have energy. But the first season offers more style than substance. Metacritic recorded a first-season Metascore of 65, and contemporary reviews likewise saw promise in familiar material.

Season two is noticeably better

The series truly begins to win you over in its second season. The characters gradually move beyond stereotypes. The family’s balance shifts, Smurf’s sons question her power, and J proves more complicated and calculating than he first appeared.

The show discovers that its strongest weapon is the family itself: who uses, loves or fears whom, and who will betray the others first. The Greek original cites an 80% Rotten Tomatoes critics’ score for the second season, higher than the first, alongside a stronger audience response. From there, Animal Kingdom becomes much easier to keep watching, even if it never reaches the heights of the finest crime dramas.

Ellen Barkin: Smurf is the series

Then there is Ellen Barkin. Smurf is perhaps its most compelling creation: mother, criminal leader and manipulator, presiding over a family in which love, fear, money and power cannot be separated.

Barkin plays her with minimal gestures. One look tells you that Smurf has already decided what will happen to everyone else. There is, however, an aspect of her appearance that can distract the viewer. In some scenes her face looks unusually taut and almost mask-like, drawing attention away from the scene itself.

That observation needs a clear limit. There has been years of online speculation about cosmetic surgery, but no reliable public confirmation from Barkin of a facelift or a series of operations. In an earlier interview, she said she was opposed to facelifts and did not wish to change her features. We may describe how she appears on screen; we cannot state the cause as fact.

None of this diminishes her performance. Barkin remains the presence around which the story turns. TIME described it at the time as one of the television season’s strongest performances.

More series and film recommendations

Five principal cast members

Actor	Born	Role	Other notable work
Ellen Barkin	1954	Janine “Smurf” Cody	Diner, The Big Easy, Sea of Love, This Boy’s Life, Ocean’s Thirteen, The New Normal
Shawn Hatosy	1975	Andrew “Pope” Cody	Southland, The Faculty, Alpha Dog, The Cooler, The Pitt
Ben Robson	1984	Craig Cody	Vikings, The Continental
Jake Weary	1990	Deran Cody	It Follows, It Chapter Two, Chicago Fire, The Waterfront
Finn Cole	1995	Joshua “J” Cody	Peaky Blinders, F9: The Fast Saga, Slaughterhouse Rulez, Last Breath

Scott Speedman also deserves mention: his Barry “Baz” Blackwell plays an important part in the earlier seasons, though he does not appear throughout all 75 episodes.

Where can you watch Animal Kingdom?

Rights vary by country. As reported in the Greek original of 10 September 2026, all six seasons appeared on Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in the United States; Prime Video also offered episodes and seasons for purchase. The series appeared on Netflix and Prime Video in the United Kingdom, among other services.

There was an important detail for Cyprus: the public Netflix Cyprus page, checked on 9 September 2026, said the title was not then available in the country. Catalogues change, so check directly in your own app for current availability.

Is it worth watching?

Yes, though it is no masterpiece. Animal Kingdom is an average to good crime drama that runs for a long time and repeats its formula. The first season might put you off. Stay for the second and the relationships gain depth, alliances shift, J develops, and the family’s power struggle becomes more interesting than the robberies themselves.

At the centre is Smurf: unpleasant, manipulative, dangerous and impossible to ignore.

Agora rating: 6.5/10

It begins as another stylised crime drama and finally finds its purpose when it starts tearing apart the very family it introduced.