‘Animal Kingdom’ Season 3, Episode 9 Spoilers: Smurf Exploits Baz’s Death [RECAP]

Smurf is still settling back into life as a free woman, but on “Animal Kingdom” Season 3, episode 9, the Cody boys will struggle to keep their original leader from reclaiming her place as the head of the family.

On the Tuesday night episode titled, “Libertad,” Smurf (Ellen Barkin) takes back control of the Cody home, and J (Finn Cole) decides it’s best to give her some space by staying in a hotel for a few nights.

After having some fun with Mia (Sohvi Rodriguez), he is summoned to return home by Smurf, who needs to take care of legal matters. When J arrives, he apologizes for talking down to Smurf while she was in jail.

She empathizes with him by telling him she understands he was under pressure. However, she is more interested in the fact that her checking account is low and wants to know whether the money from the heist will be used to pay the family’s bills. J then assures Smurf he will use his cut to help out financially.

Elsewhere, Lucy (Carolina Guerra) finds Pope (Shawn Hatosy) and tells him now that Smurf is out of jail, she’s going to blame her for Baz’s (Scott Speedman) death.

Lucy is concerned she will be accused of her stealing Smurf’s money and admits she is worried the Cody matriarch is going to send Pope to kill her.

She then warns Pope if he doesn’t deal will Smurf, she will be forced to take matters into her own hands.

Back at the house, Smurf calls over her lawyer so J can sign back over all of the businesses she put in his name while she was in jail. Once business is handled, Smurf calls a family meeting, which Deran (Jake Weary) refuses to attend. At the sit-down, Smurf tells the boys Lucy stole $7 million from Baz and promises to give them an equal cut of the money if they go down to Mexico and steal it back.

While J, Pope, Deran and Craig (Ben Robson) decided to give Smurf a percentage of their heist money rather than go to Mexico and steal from Lucy, Billy (Denis Leary) tries to reconnect with Smurf. He tells her he tried to convince Deran to visit her and spoke of how much he admires J. However, prior to his visit, Billy praised Deran for not going to see Smurf and also expressed his dislike for J.

After a bit of flirtation, Billy persuades Smurf to let him take her to the bedroom and show her some of the things he’s still capable of doing. Although Billy believes he has weaseled his way into Smurf’s good graces, she figures out he only wants to see J because the teen is holding his cut from the heist.

On the other side of town, Deran walks into his bar to find Ox (Phillip Garcia) bleeding from a gunshot wound while another friend explains they tried to pull off a job Deran previously told them about.

Worried the cops will be called if they take him to a local hospital for a gunshot wound, Craig suggests they call Linc (Damon Erik Williams) for help. Linc arrives and is upset when he learns Deran lied about the severity of the wound.

Linc explains Ox needs to be taken to the emergency room, but Deran insists they only need Linc to patch Ox up so he can make it down to a hospital in Mexico. After Linc tends to Ox’s wounds, he makes it clear he wants nothing to do with Deran.

Upset that Linc no longer wants to see him, Deran blames Craig for chasing the only good person out of his life and leaves the bar. When Deran goes to catch some waves, he receives a surprise visit from Smurf, who makes a final plea asking him to go through with the Mexico job. Although Deran refuses to steal from Lucy, he agrees to show up at the cemetery, where Smurf brought a burial plot for Baz.

Later that night, Smurf makes a visit to Pedro (Reynaldo Gallegos) and hands him an envelope full of money. She tells him to consider it a payment if he takes a trip down to Mexico for her.

Meanwhile, Pope receives a visit from child services and is informed the current living situation is not in Lena’s (Aamya Deva Keroles) best interest. As a result, she will be taken away, and a judge will decide the next steps in a court hearing.

The following day, J, Pope, Deran and Craig meet Smurf at the cemetery where she announces she brought everyone in the family burial plots. This includes J’s mother, who will be moved from her original gravesite so she can be with her family forever instead of scattered somewhere.

Smurf tells her boys she thought about them every day while she was in jail and just wants them to decide on a headstone for Baz. She then asks them to take the time to discuss amongst themselves what arrangements they would like to have when their time to die comes.

Smurf’s effort to keep their family together, despite how her boys have treated her, seems to have an emotional impact on them as they watch her walk away from them appearing to be alone and heartbroken.

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