Chicago P.D. Season 12 introduced a game-changing new presence in Chief Reid (portrayed by Shawn Hatosy) as the latest shady superior to go toe-to-toe with Hank Voight (Jason Beghe). Cunning, calculative, and elusive, Reid brought a tense dynamic to the series, and his showdown with Voight was quite thrilling to audiences. For longtime crime drama fans, Hatosy’s dark edge might have felt familiar. Long before his turn in the Windy City, Hatosy spent six seasons as Pope, a dangerous member of a California crime family in TNT’s gritty series Animal Kingdom. Widely regarded as one of the more underrated crime shows, Animal Kingdom is now seeing a resurgence on Netflix, and fans should definitely check it out for more of Hatosy embodying morally gray characters.
Hatsoy has recently become one of the more recognizable faces on TV, and that is not only thanks to Chicago P.D., but also his role as Dr. Jack Abbot in the recent breakout medical drama, The Pitt. Unsurprisingly, audiences appear to be wanting more of him, which has led to Animal Kingdom becoming a recent streaming hit on Netflix. The show arrived on the streamer earlier this month and, in a few weeks, has gained enough traction to rank in the Top 10 most-watched shows on the platform, switching positions up and down the charts. Created by Jonathan Lisco, Animal Kingdom premiered in 2016 and ran for six seasons before ending in 2022. Check out its synopsis below:
“After a heroin overdose kills his mom, Joshua ‘J’ Cody (Finn Cole) moves to Southern California to live with his freewheeling relatives. The family’s matriarch is J’s estranged grandmother, Janine ‘Smurf’ Cody (Ellen Barkin), from whom he’s been shielded for years. J soon finds out the reason for the isolation, as Smurf and ‘her boys’ make their living through carefully planned armed robberies and other criminal activities. Prominent perpetrators include Smurf’s three sons: mentally disturbed ex-con Pope (Hatosy), hyperactive drug user Craig (Ben Robson), and suspicious Deran (Jake Weary). In order to stay alive, J must prove loyal to his beguiling grandmother, who rules with a borderline-incestuous love.”
Is ‘Animal Kingdom’ Worth Your Time?
Animal Kingdom was released at a time when there was a saturation of crime shows, and as such, it easily flew under the radar as other shows enjoyed the spotlight. It was, however, an instant hit with the critics, and Season 1 earned a 76% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience loved it even more, and the entire series received an 88% average on the Popcornmeter. Given the above-average scores, Animal Kingdom features enough intrigue to make it a worthy time investment. If it had been released at a different time, with less compitition, the show would probably have received more fanfare and visibility than it did.
Animal Kingdom also stars Ellen Barkin, Scott Speedman, Ben Robson, Jake Weary, Finn Cole, Daniella Alonso, Molly Gordon, and Carolina Guerra. All six seasons are now streaming on Netflix.
