TNT's Animal Kingdom wrapped its fifth season with a big reveal. While fans initially celebrated that all the Cody boys lived, the discovery of Catherine Blackwell's body in the finale's final moments teased serious trouble for the Cody family and particularly Shawn Hatosy's character Pope. Just recently recovering from the trauma of Smurf's death, Pope faced some significant turmoil in Season 6.

Catherine's body coming to the surface in the Season 5 finale led to a new case. That gave Pope plenty to worry about until his own demise in the Season 6 finale. The events leading to his fate, in turn, brought Catherine's death full circle in Animal Kingdom's final season.

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Who Was Catherine Blackwell on Animal Kingdom?

Catherine Blackwell (Daniella Alonso) in Animal Kingdom Season 1

Daniella Alonso's Catherine Blackwell debuted in Animal Kingdom's first season alongside the rest of the Cody family. Married to Smurf's adopted son Barry "Baz" Blackwell (Scott Speedman), Cath provided some much-needed humanity among the gang of experienced criminals. Mostly removed from her husband's life of crime, she focused on raising their daughter Lena. However, Baz wasn't the only man in love with Cath; Pope also remained smitten with her from childhood, which only made Cath's death all the more heartbreaking.

Cath met her demise at the end of Season 1. Believing Cath was talking to the cops -- or would eventually -- Smurf convinced Pope to kill her as a means of protecting the family. Pope obliged, although it wasn't an easy thing for him to do. As such, Cath's death continued to haunt him throughout later seasons and drove a wedge of resentment into his already twisted relationship with his mother. After killing her, Pope buried the body somewhere in the desert, where a construction crew unearthed it during Season 5's finale.

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How the Discovery of Catherine Set Up Animal Kingdom Season 6

Pope (Shawn Hatosy) wearing sunglasses on the beach in Animal Kingdom Season 5

After Smurf's death, Pope made great strides in improving himself. Instead of acting as the family's unstable "clean up crew," he grew into a leadership role and kept his brothers -- particularly Craig (Ben Robson) -- on course, as opposed to the other way around. However, the discovery of Catherine's body threatened to undo all of Pope's hard work. Before their respective deaths, Smurf and Baz were the only two people to know about Pope's involvement in the murder. His brothers and nephew remained in the dark. Therefore, finding out that Pope essentially backstabbed Baz on Smurf's orders created tension among the remaining Codys.

Aside from family drama, Pope's connection to Cath put all the Codys in danger. Since Season 1, the Oceanside Police Department, the FBI and the DEA had all tried nailing the infamous crime family with no real luck. As such, each Cody wore a giant target on their back and linking the family to a murder created a prime opportunity to monitor them and pull them in for questioning. For law enforcement, it was a means to an end. Get one of the Codys on something legit, and the rest would crumble. Detective Pearce (Gil Birmingham) tried using that tactic on Smurf in Season 3 and Det. Sandra Yates (Nicki Micheaux) tried it on J (Finn Cole) in Season 1. Sure enough, Catherine's murder case reopened with a new detective -- Louise Thompson (Moran Atias) -- taking the lead.

While the situation certainty spelled danger for the Codys, it also offered the opportunity for Animal Kingdom to reintroduce Lena. Since entering the foster care system and being adopted, Lena's storyline dropped off. Given Pope's soft spot for his niece, including Lena in Season 6 offered a more complex and emotionally-driven narrative. She played an integral part in the case, informing Louise that Pope was the last to see her mother. While Louise didn't have enough evidence to cuff him for murdering Catherine, she did have enough to bring him in for assaulting Taylor. Without doubt, the emergence of Catherine's body filled Season 6 with suspense and drama.