Animal Kingdom

I adore the show's premise. The actors do a fantastic job, and I particularly love Ellen Barkin's portrayal of Smurf, especially when she emotionally seduces her sons (and Jay) with tender moments, home-cooked meals, and emotional comfort while also psychologically castrating them and placing them in dreadfully hazardous circumstances. Such dishonest statements are the components that drive people insane. It is crucial to her character that she feel in control of her emotions and that the programmer maintains her as a strong sexual woman.

Smurf being a powerless and/or ugly figure interferes with our interest with this character. I believe it was a mistake to keep her locked up for such a long period, or to not find a means for her to keep up her air of dominance and control when confined. (She need to have at least had a sexual relationship with the warden or some significant local authority to keep her grounded in her own environment.)

I believe that subjecting Smurf to getting cancer is a poor mistake, once again for the same exact reasons as previously. In order to determine if one with such a severe personality/character issue may be affected by outside circumstances, it would have been more fascinating to observe HER response when one of her children became really ill.

In Season 4, the flashbacks of Smurf's early life are terrible and take the audience's attention away from the plot. There are so many more original methods to explain her and her background to the spectator.