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Regulo Akers
The series finale will undoubtedly be one of those polarizing events where people either appreciate its straightforwardness or lament how things ended. I'm still working through my own feelings about it, so brace yourselves and grab a snack for a long review; you've been warned.
Essentially, we got exactly what we envisioned without them leading us astray. J set out to destroy his uncles and take it all, seeking vengeance on behalf of his mother, and he followed through with that.
So it's fitting that if we literally started the series with him alone, we'd end it that way, too. In hindsight, the ending stays the course even if we viewers veered off of it along the way. And there's something worth appreciating about that.
Yes, I know some of you thought that the "Julia is alive" theory was full-blown absurdity, but the formulaic nature of television writing has conditioned us always to expect the unexpected, however outlandish. And that's so much the case that any alternative genuinely leaves you conflicted.
The cinematography was wonderful, and I genuinely have to give kudos to the director and director of photography because there wasn't a single scene that wasn't shot beautifully, carefully, and with intention.
The acting was sublime throughout the hour. Everyone gave it their absolute all and poured their hearts out into every scene, with that sense of awareness that this was the end. Seriously, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, this series has some fo the most underrated talents on the air.
Of course, Hatosy has been a masterclass for the entirety of this series. And I won't even pretend as if I won't follow that man to any and every project onward and maybe even the gates of hell if he led me there.
Robson perfectly nailed Craig's resignation to his fate and that distinctive eldest sibling vibe as he convinced his in-denial baby brother to let him go, allowing him to spend his final moments with Deran appreciating the beauty of where they live (fitting for the pair who ate, slept, and breathed Oceanside) and making promises of a better life for Nick.
Cole put forth some of his best as we got to see J unravel in a way that we haven't witnessed in some time. The confrontation with Pope was filled with so much scorn, pain, and hatred that you felt it to your core..
And Polish and Csolak have performed superbly as the Cody twins. Julia begging Andrew to come with her at the moment that served as Pope's original sin brought things together and juxtaposed with J's bitter, vengeful tirade shaped his revenge plot even for those who weren't J fans or supported his venture.
J's plan fell into place perfectly. Apparently, he always intended to exact revenge on his uncles on behalf of himself and Julia. Still, he probably thought he'd get more time and money out of the experience before he did it.
Pope going to prison, in one of the most contrived and irritating ways (I'll just never get over the Thompson shitshow or stop being bitter about her glaring status as a one-dimensional plot device that never gets some comeuppance), is likely what prompted J to go into action.
And if he was ever conflicted because of some kinship with his uncles, Deran and Craig's unironic boasting about "family first" and how their family wasn't one without Pope reignited J's hatred and hurt.
Initially, it made you wonder why he even bothered to help them put together this prison break plan if he was going to betray them, but it was an almost fool-proof way of setting them up and taking them down.
J never intended nor expected Deran, Craig, and Pope to get out of that hotbox holdup at the safe house alive. In all his years with his uncles, it was an oversight that he underestimated them in that regard.
Technically, they all managed to escape that, and the subsequent deaths resulted from other factors. In an alternate world, J would've had to face his uncles, who weren't as easy to kill as he thought.
But we don't get alternate endings, and we don't get happy ones either. As much as you root for and love the characters, this series was never designed for some happily ever afters. They may be our guys, but they aren't good guys.
Even the family mantra of getting everything they want and nothing they deserve comes with some awareness that they don't deserve good things. You don't live their lifestyles and believe you'll get peace and happiness; at the very least, you know it'll come at a cost.
But in some ways, the season felt a bit aimless as we led up to this as if the final episode was locked in and everything leading up to it was up in the air or biding time until we got to it. Biker sober buddies, disappearing dirty cops, one and done Lena sightings, missing surfboards, Tommy heists -- they were just, whatever they were.
Pope's breakout was exciting, and it was an adrenaline-inducing rollercoaster as the cops closed in on them. Pope, forever the protector and his brothers' keeper, took his stand against the cops so his baby bros could escape.
The series' best fraternal dynamics were highlighted well and given their space to sucker punch you right in the feels. Deran and Pope's bond has been top-tier in the last two seasons, and it was devastating when Deran freaked out, blaming himself for trusting J and getting them into this mess, fearing that they would all die.
But Pope got through to him, reassured him, and reminded him that he'll always take the hits for them. The idea of leaving Pope behind when they did so much to get him back had Deran especially ready to crumble, and it just hits you how close they two are and how much Deran relies on his brothers.
Deran was every bit the baby brother as his brothers sacrificed to spare him, reassure him, or save him. It makes you reflect on who Deran will be now that he's the lone survivor untethered with his brothers gone. You could almost see the shift in Deran after he made his promises to Craig before he died.
And it makes his death, with its fittingly Viking feel set to Jon Foreman's hauntingly perfect "The Ocean Beyond the Sea, a tough one. Craig has cheated dath so many times from his rampant drug use, criminal activities, and reckless bike riding that it was easy to buy into the notion that he could be invincible.
He also has a kid who will never know him and a woman who loves him. But they weren't lying about "family 'til the end" because the most compelling love story dynamic has always been that of these brothers.
Maybe that's disappointing for fans who expected some Deran and Adrian reunion or something more concrete with Deran's vague ending, but you can't fault the finale for focusing on what has always been Deran's closest bond.
It also puts Deran in an interesting and unexpected position. He went from an uncle who cared nothing for his nephew or Renn to the guy who took a bullet for this baby and will now raise the child like his own.
But that's also the only thing we can draw that connects some of this to J's motives. We'll never know if Deran and Craig realized J's betrayal was rooted in vengeance and payback. And there's something unsatisfying about that.
Instead, it reads as confirmation bias that J was a problem, and there was no fault or actions on their part that may have played a role in any of this. Craig died before processing anything beyond J betrayed them because J is just doing J shit.
And Deran tearfully walked away from his brother's corpse, likely not even considering the irony of him taking in, raising, and protecting one nephew the way the family should've done with J the whole time.
And while Deran and Craig aren't by any means to blame for every single thing, as they were younger when things happened with Julia and J was born, it doesn't excuse the years when they were old enough to know better or how awful they were to J when he moved in.
Deran's chapter has an open ending; fascinatingly enough, he's at his most interesting in this state of life. I suppose if any of the Codys were to make it out of this finale alive, I'm slowly coming around to why it would be him.
But they also meandered and dragged. The eight-year flash forward to a strung-out, pregnant Julia put us where they needed things to be for the finale, but there were shades of background from then we could've seen.
Some flashbacks prior to that point would have been nice, though. It also would've helped with the evident tension between Smurf and Baz after that job. By then, you could tell that Baz was no longer caught up in Smurf's spell and regarded her with thinly veiled disdain. His reaction to taking a five grand cut of a $60K haul was glaring.
But then, outside of serving as a foil and conflict for the twins or Julia and Smurf, Baz has spent the entire season lost in the plot. Despite Darren Mann's efforts, young Baz has been a one-dimensional character who took a backseat to the Cody trio dynamic and is not much better off than young Craig and Deran running around in the background.
Earlier jumps in the flashbacks could've expanded on when Baz had his own turning point with Smurf. There was a story there, and it could've been interesting to see, especially to draw parallels between J and his presumed father.
Smurf's callousness with her daughter just reached new lows. Loving addicts is hard, but Smurf pushed her daughter into this since childhood. She's the one who introduced Julia to gateways to addiction from the time she was a child. To hold it against her as a teen is sickening.
And Pope had become closer to the version of him we know. It felt like whatever innocence and joy Pope had left was lost after Julia. Pope making the bullets all by himself with such precision while wearing his trademark black t-shirt instead of the light-colored polos and other things he used to wear was telling.
But he also fell right back into that loving brother who needed his sister role once Julia sobered up and told him about J, how much she missed him, and how great an uncle he would be. The sad part is through Lena, at least, we know that he would have and could've been.
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