Who killed baz on animal kingdom: In the Season 3 premiere, Animal Kingdom lost a vital Cody member, and the TNT series went to great efforts to conceal Baz’s true killer.
TNT’s Animal Kingdom premiered in 2016 and follows 17-year-old J (Finn Cole) as he adjusts to living with his estranged criminal family, lead by his no-nonsense grandmother, Smurf (Ellen Barkin).
The show is now in its fifth season, and it has already killed off a few notable characters. No one’s death in Season 3 was more startling than that of Barry “Baz” Blackwell (Scott Speedman). Not only did the killer’s name remain a mystery for a long time, but there is more than one correct answer to the question of who killed Baz.
Baz is introduced as one of J’s more level-headed uncles in Animal Kingdom, but he is subsequently revealed to be J’s father. When Baz was 12 years old, Smurf adopted him, rescuing him from an awful environment and, ironically, enlisting him in her criminal enterprises.
Given Baz’s intelligence, he soon rose through the ranks of the matriarch’s family, surpassing even Smurf’s biological children. While Baz begins as a popular favourite, his self-centeredness and selfishness lead him down the path of villainy swiftly. Baz’s decision to steal from Smurf ensures his fate, along with cheating on his wife and neglecting his daughter.
While Baz’s brothers are all for breaking free from Smurf’s strangling grip, Baz takes things a step further by ripping apart Smurf’s secret storage container, which they were initially unaware of.
He unearths millions of dollars in cash and valuables, including the watches Smurf claimed she had destroyed. Baz is said to share the money equally among J and his brothers, yet he appears to keep some for himself.
Smurf has a counter-argument to Baz’s accusation that she is skimming from their work and essentially stealing from them: she plays it smart because no one else will and saves it all for her family’s future. Despite this, there is drama, with Baz plotting to flee to Mexico with Lucy (Carolina Guerra) and frame Smurf for Javi’s (Alex Meraz) murder. The plan works, and Smurf is sentenced to prison.
However, Baz’s luck runs out in Season 2, Episode 13, “Betrayal.” As Baz and Lucy prepare to leave for Mexico, an unknown assailant dressed entirely in black shoots Baz four times in the chest.
Baz succumbs to his gunshot wounds in the tragic Season 3 debut. While Animal Kingdom fans speculated about probable culprits, they didn’t have to wait long for a response. Mia Benitez (Sohvi Rodriguez), Pete Trujillo’s niece and J’s love interest, was revealed as Baz’s murderer in Season 3, Episode 3, “The Center Will Hold.” Mia didn’t act alone; she simply carried out a Smurf-ordered hit.
The person responsible for Baz’s killing is also a bit of a mystery in Animal Kingdom. Smurf’s involvement isn’t formally established until Season 3, Episode 11, “Jackpot,” despite her affiliation with the Trujillo gang, which had protected her while she was in prison.
Smurf meets with Lucy to discuss terms after a chaotic capture of Lucy’s brother Marco to recover her stolen goods leads in Pope’s (Shawn Hatosy) captivity. Smurf ultimately admits she arranged the hit on Baz in exchange for Pope’s safe return. She also blames Lucy, alleging she “poisoned him against his own family,” in true Smurf fashion.
Except for Pope, who reluctantly but characteristically protects his mother’s secret, none of the Cody boys learn of Smurf’s role in Baz’s death. Mia finally admits to J in Season 4, Episode 8, “Ambo,” that she killed Baz on Smurf’s orders just before her death.
Overall, Baz’s death is one of the most shocking scenes in Animal Kingdom. Although executive producer John Wells claims that the destiny of Baz in the source material, the acclaimed 2010 Australian film of the same name, was planned from the start. However, this does not make Baz’s death any less tragic. Mia may have fired the gun, but doing so on Smurf’s orders adds to the tragedy of the situation.
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