You gotta hand it to Netflix – they’re not content to rest on their laurels. Their original programming slate has gotten so admirably diverse in the last few years, from House of Cards to BoJack Horseman to The Fall to Richie Rich, that it appears as though the streaming giant can do anything. Their newest offering, Bloodline, isn’t perfect, but it’s an insidious slow burn that sucks you in – and it’s pilot episode, “Part 1,” ends on a hell of a hook.
Bloodline centers around the Rayburn children: John (Kyle Chandler), Meg (Linda Cardellini), Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz), and the eldest, Danny (Ben Mendelsohn), whose reappearance in sunny Islamorada, FL threatens to upend everyone’s lives. Danny has long been the prodigal son, and everyone expects him to ask for money or a handout or something along those lines. Bloodlines sunny Florida vistas give everything the bright sheen of a Carl Hiaasen thriller, although there’s more substance to the show. Beach reading this is not, as it puts some heavy questions on the table, like when is it okay to give up on family.
One small complaint (and I mean small). The setting of Islamorada is almost too idyllic, the kind of paradise that’s just begging to be spoiled. And it looks like that’s where Bloodline is heading, because “Part 1” makes judicious use of flash-forwards showing John dragging an unconscious Danny through a rainy swamp. They’re both wearing what look to be matching seersucker suits, too, so I’m really curious to see how that barbershop competition went so south so quickly.
Kyle Chandler is reliably great, in one of two roles he always seems to be cast in. When “Part 1” started, I wondered Coach or Cop? It’s cop! John and Danny are really the only Rayburns who we get to know in “Part 1,” but like I said, this show is a slow burn (you’ll notice I haven’t done much plot recap).
And make no mistake – Kyle Chandler may be top-billed, but Ben Mendelsohn is absolutely the star of Bloodline. Danny sets everything in motion, and Danny is the catalyst for everything that comes next. Mendelsohn has been on the cusp of stardom for years now, and that waiting has paid off with this role. He absolutely crushes it, which should come as no surprise if you’ve seen his brilliant work in Killing Them Softly or The Place Beyond the Pines. He’s Australian, with an impeccable American accent, which isn’t that relevant, but serves as yet more proof of how deliriously talented Mendelsohn is. Danny Rayburn has an air of quiet menace about him, but also a sense of sincerity when he asks John to talk to their father (Sam Shephard, great in his few scenes) about Danny possibly returning to Islamorada to help run the family hotel.
In “Part 1″‘s most heartbreaking sequence of scenes, the Rayburn children, at their father’s behest, decide whether to allow Danny back into the fold. John convinces them all to say yes, but the next day Danny is found naked on the pier, having partied too hard the night before. While out fishing with Danny, John tells him that their father’s answer was no. Chandler and Mendelsohn sell the hell out of this scene, and really get to the core of their characters’ relationship, which is a damned impressive feat in a pilot episode.
But great performances are not enough to make me recommend Bloodline. (We’ve all seen family dramas before, yes?) “Part 1” took a long time to build up steam – a good portion of it took place at the Rayburns’ party – but really stuck the landing. In the flash-forward, we see John deposit his unconscious brother on a boat in the middle of nowhere. “We’re not bad people,” he says in voiceover. “We just did a bad thing.” He douses Danny in gasoline and throws a flare at the ground. Roll credits.
Yeah, I think I’ll be coming back for “Part 2.”
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