Despite a late introduction to Animal Kingdom, Julia Cody is one of the series’ most significant characters. As one of the few focal women featured in the series, Julia is already a member of a very elite group. As a member of the Cody family, Julia’s influence within Animal Kingdom grows exponentially. Even with a limited physical role throughout Animal Kingdom, Julia is undoubtedly one of the series’ most overlooked stars.
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Julia’s introduction to Animal Kingdom is only for a brief, fleeting moment. Despite never being met as an adult, Julia’s childhood and teenage years are central to the series. Her overdose leaves J (Cole) without a place to go, forcing him to call upon his estranged grandmother Janine, more commonly called Smurf (Barkin). By moving in with Smurf, J is introduced to his uncles: Baz (Speedman), Pope (Hatosy), Craig (Robson), and Deran (Weary), and their life of crime. This lifestyle is one that Julia desperately tried to keep him away from and flashbacks that depict Julia as a child show exactly why this is.
As a child, Julia was reluctant to partake in the thieving Smurf tried to instill upon her and Pope. As Julia aged, Smurf became threatened by Julia and her influence. Like J, Julia was incredibly smart and could have gone on to do well in school if Smurf hadn’t lied about her suspension and persuaded her away from school. Julia’s bond with Pope and romantic relationship with Baz, created a stronger hold on them that Smurf was intimidated by. Noticing how Pope and Baz responded to Julia, Smurf worried that Julia could break up the strong familial business she was working so hard to build. Logically, Smurf may also have been concerned that Julia’s influence would soon reach Craig and Deran.
Throughout Animal Kingdom, Pope was frequently viewed as the outsider amongst his family. In the crime drama’s final season, Animal Kingdom proposes that Julia was the actual odd one out. As Animal Kingdom proved time and time again, Pope was often left behind by the rest of his family. Julia is no exception, having been manipulated and abandoned by each member of the Cody clan at least once. When given the opportunity, Baz loses his feelings for her and refuses to help her during a time of need. Pope tries to help but ultimately causes more harm. Smurf purposely abstains from helping Julia and willingly lies to her in an effort to keep her close.
Smurf’s awareness of the dangers that Julia’s presence proposed not only for her business but her connection with her sons, creates a form of tense jealousy between the two. There are several instances throughout Animal Kingdom that craft their rigid relationship, but none best exemplify it quite like the series finale. In Animal Kingdom’s series finale, Julia is locked inside her family’s home after returning to steal some of their belongings to sell. Here, she is treated like an outsider by her family, especially given her pregnancy. In her final scene, Julia begs Pope to leave Smurf and the Codys behind to come away with her, only to be abandoned by him one final time.
Without Julia, the complexity of Pope’s character wouldn’t exist. Julia is arguably the only Animal Kingdom character aside from Deran, that genuinely cared about Pope’s well-being. She routinely tried to pry Pope away from Smurf and ask him to make his own choices, even though it was rarely successful. Caught between the two, Pope frequently tried to appease both Julia and Smurf, which takes a hefty toll on his character that is explored extensively in Animal Kingdom’s final season. In fact, the guilt that Pope feels about his decisions in regard to Smurf and Julia is what drives most of his actions not only in Animal Kingdom’s final season but throughout the entire series.
It’s not often that a character with as little screen time as Julia becomes such a significant part of its respective series. However, both Scarlett Abinante and Jasper Polish make their recurring stints as Julia in seasons 5 and 6 count. It is through their performances that Animal Kingdom is able to create the tension between Julia and Smurf that crafted the environment J weasels his way into at the very start of the series. For what first seems like an incidental death that will mean very little in the larger scheme of things, Animal Kingdom makes Julia a colossal addition to the narrative and its characters.
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