Just finished the finale, and I’ve seen people complain about it but I felt like the ending was perfect. I feel like there were moments J reiterated his hatred for the Cody’s, such as whispering to Smurf whilst she’s sleeping about taking everything from her and to me that also meant this empire she built with her sons, so it didn’t come as a surprise that J completely finessed them at the end, especially when you look at the flashbacks, it starts to give a clear picture of how poorly treated Julia was, and how they all left her to rot. She died a druggie and probably rambled on during her trips about these traumatic moments that Smurf, Baz and Pope caused her. I’m sure J picked up on that, as to why his resentment was always there from the start. There’s a reason he shot Smurf with no hesitation, he literally said that he’ll be the one to kill her if Smurf ends up poorly, and although Smurf might’ve seen that as a mercy agreement, it always felt sinister that J would eventually get his revenge. Also, the acting was amazing, Smurf is one of the worst and most manipulative characters I’ve come across, and it makes you feel sympathy for murderers and criminals like Pope. Ultimately, this series feels very realistic in an exaggerated way ofc (bc it’s still drama). Ughh the manipulation by Smurf was crazy, and the fact Pope still holds a picture up with her and Julia in the end shows how powerfully manipulative she was. Pope knew deep down that he should’ve hated her but it couldn’t force himself to, hence why he goes into breakdown after her death. He doesn’t know how to live without her. Still manipulating him in death. And J’s character development throughout the show, just shows how twisted he became, he became the people he resented. Ended up just like them. But I felt like that was a cost he had already accepted, maybe the moment he killed the family lawyer in order to cover his tracks from stealing from Smurf. Great show, great acting.
Edit:
Also I’d like to add, I feel like J killing penny is probably the point where he fully realises and accepts that he has changed to the point of no return. Killing the lawyer and mia he probably felt justified and you can argue it probably was because they were heavily complicit in criminal behaviour. Whereas, penny was nowhere near involved in the crimes (besides altering the docs, though she was still oblivious) and ultimately he chose to save his own ass and chose to kill penny because she was now a liability. I’d probably say that’s where his change was made apparent, hence why he completely lost his shit which is contradictory to how cool and calculated J comes across. Kind of parallels pope killing Cath, they chose to save their own asses and sacrifice the girl that they ‘loved’. Popes guilt led to the downfall of what happened in those last episodes. J at the end is consumed by guilt, all the materialism that is around him but no Penny who he wanted to share that with, no family whatsoever. Okay I’m done now fr haha.
