When Frankie first rolled into Oceanside in the third season of Animal Kingdom, she looked like just another piece of driftage. She was hanging onto Billy—Deran’s estranged, junkie father—and living out of a beat-up car. If you were watching back in 2018, you probably wrote her off as a side character meant to flesh out Billy’s chaotic return.
But then things got weird.
One minute she’s foraging for greens in the backyard, and the next, she’s orchestrating high-end heists involving sculpture theft and international Hawala networks. It’s one of the most jarring character pivots in modern TV history. Honestly, it’s also one of the most debated topics among the show’s cult following.
Who actually was Frankie? Was she a brilliant grifter playing a three-year long-con, or did the writers just realize Dichen Lachman was too good to waste?
The Billy Connection: Was It All a Ruse?
The biggest hurdle for fans is the "how." How does a woman who knows billionaires and high-end fences end up as the "ride-along" for a guy who steals credit cards from bowling alleys?
The show subtly hints that Frankie was always the real deal. She mentions that Billy wouldn't stop talking about Smurf. For a professional middleman—which is what Frankie eventually reveals herself to be—a woman like Janine "Smurf" Cody is a white whale. Smurf had the muscle (her sons) and the reputation, but she was old-school. She stayed local.
Frankie brought the "new world" to the Codys.
By using Billy as her entry point, she bypassed the Cody family's natural paranoia. If she had shown up in a sleek black SUV with a job offer, Smurf would have smelled a cop or a rival. But showing up as a homeless addict? That’s camouflage. It allowed her to sit by the pool and observe the family dynamics before making her move.
Why Frankie Still Matters to Craig's Arc
If you look at the Cody brothers, Craig was always the "blunt instrument." He was the muscle, the adrenaline junkie, and the guy most likely to screw up a simple plan because he wanted to go surfing.
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Frankie changed that.
She saw something in Craig that Smurf never did: potential beyond being a pawn. She treated him like a partner. For the first time, Craig wasn't just following his mother's orders; he was looking at floor plans, talking to fences, and thinking three steps ahead.
- She introduced him to the "art" of the heist.
- She gave him a taste of the high life that wasn't just cheap booze and dirt bikes.
- She pushed him to realize he could lead a crew without his brothers.
This relationship was messy, though. While they were "together" in a loose sense, Frankie was never quite as invested as Craig was. She was a ghost. She’d disappear for months and then pop back up with a job that required the boys to risk their lives.
The Smurf Power Struggle
One of the most intense scenes in the later seasons involves Frankie trying to pay Smurf her "cut" for a job the boys did behind Smurf's back.
It was a total power move that backfired.
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Frankie thought she was being professional. She thought she was showing Smurf respect by bringing her into the loop. Smurf, however, saw it as a violation of her territory. You don't come into Smurf's house and use her "tools" (her sons) without asking permission first.
That friction defined Frankie’s later seasons. She was essentially a "Young Smurf" figure—independent, manipulative, and incredibly smart—but without the anchor of a family. This made her dangerous. It also made her vulnerable.
What Really Happened with the Hawala Heist?
By Season 5, the Frankie we knew started to crumble. The cool, collected international thief was suddenly "hard up."
She brought the Codys the Hawala job—a complex heist involving moving money through unofficial channels. But she was scared. She was worried about a guy named Vladik. This was a side of Frankie we hadn't seen: someone who was actually in over her head.
Some fans hate this. They think it ruined the "mystique" of the character. But if you look at the reality of the criminal world Animal Kingdom portrays, nobody stays on top forever.
Frankie’s "contacts" were drying up. Her reputation was taking hits. By the time the Hawala job was finished, she took her cut and basically vanished. She realized the Cody family was a sinking ship after Smurf's death, and being the smart operator she is, she got out before the hull snapped.
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The Dichen Lachman Factor
It’s impossible to talk about Frankie without mentioning Dichen Lachman. She has this specific, ethereal energy that makes you believe she could be both a homeless wanderer and a high-stakes thief.
Lachman has a habit of playing these types of roles—see Severance or Altered Carbon—where she says very little but commands the room. In Animal Kingdom, she used that to make Frankie feel like a puzzle that was never quite solved.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Writers
If you’re revisiting the series or studying character writing, Frankie is a masterclass in the "Enigma" archetype. Here is how to actually view her role in the grand scheme of the show:
- Look for the subtext: In her early scenes with Billy, watch how she watches the boys. She isn't high; she's scouting.
- Analyze the Craig/Renn/Frankie triangle: Frankie represented the life Craig could have had as a professional, while Renn represented the reality of who he was.
- Study the "Middleman" role: Frankie proves that in the world of crime, the person who finds the job is often more important than the person who pulls the trigger.
Frankie didn't get a big, dramatic death scene or a "happily ever after." She just... left. In a show where almost everyone ends up dead or in prison, that might be the biggest win of all. She played the game, got her money, and walked away from the Cody curse.
Basically, she was the only one smart enough to realize that the "Animal Kingdom" eventually devours itself.
Next Steps for You: To see how Frankie's influence directly led to the series finale's outcome, you should re-watch the Season 4 heists specifically. Pay attention to how Craig begins to question the family's "local" mindset—that seed was planted entirely by Frankie. You can also track the evolution of the Hawala heist in Season 5 to see the moment she realizes the Cody brothers are no longer a safe bet for her business.