Animal Kingdom

OK so the movie was absolute class. Sheer genius in every sense. But the thing is it was never going to reach the mass market.

This show is both fun, dark and exiting. Yes the material is very similar to the original movie, but it's not trying to be something different. The masses won't watch the original movie because it's Australian and too heavy. Haters are gonna hate, but I would urge them to remember that very little material is original out there. Nowadays almost everything is an adaptation. This the perfect adaptation for the mass market who simply don't want to sit through one heavy, dark as hell feature, they want a recurring show, they want to get to know the characters. If this does its job properly it will have viewers turning to the feature film in between the first and second season...

As you can tell I loved this adaptation as much as i loved the original feature, almost more because it was fun. I want fun. I want well executed television and I felt that I was given just that.

I advise you try it out for yourself. You're either gonna switch off or turn back on so what's the worst that can happen!?

The show itself starts strong during the first 4 seasons. Unpredictable, raw, risky and includes great main characters. But who really steals the show are Smurf and Pope. Amazing from the beginning till the end.

My third favorite is J, who shows a great transformation during all the seasons. I'm not going to spoil anything but probably is the great acting surprise here.

On the other hand, the show is not perfect because of season 5. The worst one. Boring, slow and with no tension. You can skip and go from 4th to 6th.

Season 6, is an amazing trip to conclusion. It shows how Game of Thrones, Dexter new Blood should learn from here how to give viewers a real conclusion.

So, overall one of my favorite shows ever. A must.

I remember watching Fin Cole since his days on Peaky Blinders and while he physically looks the same, he certainly shows his skills throughout this show. It's hard to work out what he actually feels about his family but the hatred at times shines through, especially knowing they lived a mile away and didn't do anything to save his Mum. Smurf cast her out of the family and J has never forgotten that. As the show moves through the seasons and you become more involved in the show and characters, I found myself liking Pope more and more. At first he seemed really creepy, especially standing over J's girlfriend in the bedroom but the more you learn about Pope, the more you feel for him.

I REALLY like this show :)

It's hard to put into words just how much I love Animal Kingdom. It's such an incredibly underrated show. It's about J Cody (who's mother died of a heroin overdose) and has to move to Southern California to live with his Uncles who are 3 troubled brothers and their crazy mother who make a living doing armed robbery's and other criminal activities. Jay doesn't really like them because they never talked to or helped his mom (their sister) and he blames the family of her overdose. He gains their respect over time and become one of the leaders of the family. This show will have your heart pounding from all the excitement throughout the entire series. Once you start watching you're going to want to binge it as fast as you can.

This show starts out as a trashy, glossy, action-packed and very, very watchable entertainment. Successful bank heists are celebrated with a sky-dive, for no other reason than to have a very cool skydiving sequence set to pumping music.

The genius of this show is that it very, very gradually starts to deepen, uncovering layers to the main characters and slowly revealing their depths and complexities. It does this so gradually that you don't even realise it until realise you're watching some of the most beautifully-drawn characters on TV for a long time.

It then becomes as much a character- study, and a character-driven drama - as it is an action-packed heist show. The issues, plotlines and brilliant twists and turns are consistently unpredictable and original.

Some of the heists stretch credulity - as action sequences often do, but the whole thing is so skillfully-woven that it doesn't matter - you happily buy into the lack of believability in the heist/action sequences, because they're so well integrated into the brilliant character studies and first-class storytelling.

The casting is perfect - everyone is bringing their A-game but Shawn Hatosy is astonishing and Ellen Barkin is hitting a career best.

It's a Breaking Bad-level achievement, possibly exceeding it at times. One that flew under the radar.