‘Animal Kingdom’ Season 3, Episode 8 Recap: Pope Reaches His Breaking Point

The Cody boys are in for quite a surprise when Smurf is released from jail earlier than expected. On “Animal Kingdom” Season 3, episode 8, J, Pope, Deran and Craig face some unexpected challenges while attempting to pull off a job planned by an outsider.

On the Tuesday night episode, titled “Incoming,” the heist begins after Frankie (Dichen Lachman) pretends to be a truck driver in order to gain access to a secured tarmac. Once inside, she drops off two packages with J (Finn Cole) and Deran (Jake Weary) sealed inside.

After the two are loaded onto the plane and in the air, J attempts to check if the coast is clear, but realizes Deran’s crate is stacked on top of his.

J eventually makes a hole on the side of his crate, learning they are good to go and the two break out of their boxes. Making their way through the aircraft, the men hold the guard and pilot at gunpoint awaiting the drop-off point.

However, the initial snag in the plan made them lose track of time and they miss the drop-off point. When J and Deran land, they are 48 miles away from where they’re supposed to meet Pope (Shawn Hatosy), Craig (Ben Robson) and Billy (Denis Leary).

Deran begins to panic, worried the pilot will report the heist. He decides it’s best to bury the items they stole in the desert in case they come across anyone as they make their way over to the meet point.

While Deran and J begin their journey, Craig attempts to play peacemaker to Pope and Billy, who can’t stop arguing. After realizing Deran and J are taking too long to reach the meeting point, Craig uses the GPS to track them.

While following the GPS, Billy begins to taunt Pope by telling Craig his older brother used to watch Billy and Smurf make love when he was a kid. Fed up with the continuous insults, Pope reaches his breaking point and leaves Billy stranded on the side of the road.

Meanwhile, J and Deran come across a random house in the middle of nowhere and are met by a woman who offers them water and a ride into town for $10,000. She reveals that as long as they pay up, she won’t tell anyone she saw them.

Elsewhere, Smurf (Ellen Barkin) is on her way home in the back of Pearce’s (Gil Birmingham) car. The detective attempts to get into Smurf’s head by reminding her the only person who really came to visit her in jail was J and alludes he didn’t do so because he missed his grandmother.

Pearce goes on to claim Smurf’s boys have gotten comfortable running her business without her around and probably won’t be sincere when they welcome her back home.

Smurf thanks Pearce for the ride and enters her home only to find Frankie taking a nap by the pool. Frankie introduces herself and caters to Smurf while welcoming her back.

After going back for the money, J, Craig and Pope arrive home and are shocked to see Smurf standing in the kitchen. While Craig seems genuinely happy his mother has been released, J and Pope don’t extend a warm welcome to the newly freed matriarch.

Deran speaks with Craig over the phone and admits he is worried Smurf is going to be upset he didn’t visit her in jail.

He then shares these feelings with Billy, who reveals he briefly took Deran away from Smurf when he was a kid to live in Las Vegas. However, Smurf called the feds on Billy and agreed to drop the charges if he stayed out of Deran’s life.

Billy also warns Deran that Pope is crazy, and someone is going to end up dead at his hands.

At dinner, Smurf asks Craig about Deran, and he informs her he’s been really busy with his bar. She then asks everyone about their day, but when J, Pope and Craig refuse to answer, she realizes they are trying to keep her out of their business and away from their job.

Smurf tells Craig she wants to visit Baz (Scott Speedman) but is told he does not have a grave. She insists that has to change because Lena (Aamya Deva Keroles) needs somewhere to visit her father and so do they.

Smurf makes a toast to her “beautiful boy” Baz and everyone raises their glass. As Smurf drinks to her late son, she glares at Pope from across the table, unaware he knows she’s responsible for Baz’s death.

“Animal Kingdom” Season 3 airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. EDT on TNT.