# Animal Kingdom (2016)

> A teenager moves in with his volatile criminal family in a Southern California beach town after his mother's fatal overdose.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/58278

## Facts

- Seasons: 6
- Episodes: 75
- Episode runtime: 50 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Jonathan Lisco
- Network: TNT
- Cast: Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Shawn Hatosy, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Sohvi Rodriguez, Christina Ochoa
- TMDB rating: 8.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5574490/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: gritty, tense, emotionally raw, atmospheric

## What critics say

Audiences broadly acclaim Animal Kingdom as a tense, character-driven crime family drama, with its strongest seasons praised for dark family loyalty and performances.

## Synopsis

Animal Kingdom (2016-2022) is an American crime drama series created by Jonathan Lisco for TNT. Seventeen-year-old Joshua J Cody is pulled out of his grief after his mother dies of a heroin overdose and moves in with a relatives' criminal clan in a Southern California beach town. The household is ruled by matriarch Janine Smurf Cody, whose right-hand Barry Baz Blackwell runs the money and calls the shots. J must navigate loyalties among the volatile brothers Andrew Pope Cody, Craig and Deran, each of whom pulls him toward a different kind of danger. The engine of the series is the family business itself: robberies, drug dealing and sudden retaliations that keep threatening to tear the household apart while its members protect one another. Spanning six seasons, it is one continuing serialized story rather than a case-of-the-week format. Set in present-day suburban Southern California, the show has a gritty, sun-bleached atmosphere and a tense, emotionally raw tone. Fans of Sons of Anarchy, The Sopranos and Ozark will find resonance in its portrait of criminal kinship and the cost of loyalty.

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