Just because it’s summertime doesn’t mean there’s nothing on TV! It probably also helps that the pandemic severely delayed some shows. For instance, I get new Animal Kingdom and Roswell, New Mexico because of it! Not that I’m all that happy that things got delayed, but I’m glad everyone stayed safe, employed, and managed to produce some good television at the end of it all. Let’s get into it then, shall we?
First up is Animal Kingdom, which actually just finished up its third week airing new episodes. No fear, I’ve got a high level overview of everything that’s went down! Admittedly, in hindsight, it doesn’t seem like much. We obviously open with the boys all figuring out what to do now that Smurf is dead. They get her cremated, and while Pope struggles with how to cope with Smurf’s absence and Angela seemingly missing, he basically blacks out and comes to with her ashes all over him. I think Pope is due for a spiral, but it might be building up for a little while yet.
Meanwhile, the first episode centers on the Codys taking care of Jed’s sons who have come back to get the gold Smurf stole from them. In the end, they end up dead, although Pope can’t bring himself to kill the last one. He’s seems to be aware of just how much Smurf has messed up his life and maybe treats this as an act of defiance now that she’s gone. I hope that doesn’t come back to bite him later. Meanwhile, Craig and Deran go on a small job of their own that doesn’t amount to much. In their personal lives, Craig doesn’t want Ren dealing at the house now that they’ve got a baby to look after. That’s actually really smart on Craig’s part, but he’s sort of going at it in the wrong way. Deran on the other hand it handling Adrian gone…poorly. He angrily burns things related to their life together, has some really weird hookups, and gets approached by the FBI agent who was giving Adrian a hard time last season. I said it before, but I hope we haven’t seen the last of Adrian!
Finally, in this episode, all of J’s shady dealings come to light after they go to the wrecked site of a plane crash that has drugs instead of cash. I think J’s secrecy is going to really hurt him or help him come out on top in the end. It’s too tough to tell at the moment. Aside from all the present day action, we are also treated to many young Smurf flashbacks, this time with a young Pope and Julia in tow. We meet her friend Pamela Johnson again, which has even more relevance now that it’s known she’s the sole inheritor of everything Smurf owned. I’m excited to see what happened back in the day that prompted Smurf to owe her big-time in the end.
Now, moving onto Roswell, New Mexico! We get a brief recap and start with our favorite alien trio facing off against Max’s bearded clone who happens to go by the name of Jones. He telepathically lets Max know that he’s a prophet of their species and has maybe come to destroy earth before Isobel and Michael lock him back up in a pod. Fast forward one year later and Max seems to be deteriorating, and that’s probably because he is. Noah’s heart is being rejected by Max’s body, but he’s choosing to suffer in silence rather than waste more of his sibling’s and friends’ time. Liz has been being a scientific genius in California, but is still secretly hoping that Max will show up for her, even though she’s got a very cute co-worker pining for her.
Now that Kyle is single, he’s trying to figure out what the next and hopefully permanent step in his life will be, but that doesn’t mean in the meantime he stops helping Max and Maria. Speaking of Maria, she’s been getting some crazy visions! Not only are they deteriorating her brain, but they also reveal to her a funeral, so that means someone is dying. Alex is back from another stint with the military, and it turns out he’s pursued a relationship with Forrest. Although it seems to be done and over with by the end of the episode, since it’s clear Forrest will be on a book tour and Alex is considering joining something called Deep Sky. It sounds like it might answer lots of alien questions, which to me means his heart is still with Michael. Now, Michael might be single, but he seems to have been really happy spending the last year with Isobel and Max. But a look in his eye makes it clear he’s still in love with Alex.
By episode’s end, we’re pretty well caught up with everyone when the drama starts. Rosa is at a paint therapy session when Wyatt shows up. He recognizes her and shows up at the diner to…kill her?! He seems like he might be wasted or high or something, but seeing Rosa earlier really rattled him. She ends up stabbing him in the neck with some drugs, so we’ll just have to see where that leads next week. I’m sure we’ll get some more visions of that funeral from Maria, too. She ended up having a second vision towards the end of the episode revealing that the person in the coffin is not Alex or Max, who everyone assumed it would be. That would have been good information for Isobel and Michael to have before they decided to wake up Jones in hopes of getting some answers.
Ah! So excited to see these shows back on the air, and I can’t wait for next week’s installment of both of them. It feels like a lot went down in the first episode of Roswell, New Mexico, but it’s basically like reintroducing us to this cast with the time jump (which I was a fan of that decision, by the way). Animal Kingdom also seems to be priming us for some emotional explosions and probably a really bad job by the end of it all. I’m still always curious to see if they’ll end up following more of the plot from the film it’s based off of. Until next week!