Bloodline‘s slow-burn approach to storytelling is really bearing fruit in the latter half of its first season. In the first few episodes, the show was good, but it showed the potential for greatness. As if on cue, its first great episode was “Part 6,” which is just about the halfway point for the season. “Part 10” is another damned good installment.
I should warn you up front, this is going to be another review where I just gush about Ben Mendelsohn. Looking back on my Bloodline reviews, I think, as a whole, they’ll read like a several-thousand word paean to Mendelsohn’s mastery of his craft. Danny Rayburn is such a good villain because he’s quiet. His preternatural calm is the most unsettling thing about him, and Danny were a violent man he wouldn’t be as effective. The psychological warfare he wages against his siblings is far more insidious, and Mendelsohn, with his beanpole physique, is far more believable as such a villain. He brings so much to the role that ten episodes in I’m still finding things to be blown away by. For instance, it wasn’t until this episode that I really noticed Danny’s slight lisp – his s words always have a low whistle behind them, as if he has one cracked tooth (Mendelsohn wanted to remove a tooth for his role in The Place Beyond the Pines, so its not inconceivable that he’d do the same to play Danny, which is a much bigger role).
But that leads me to my next concern, which is amplified in the wake of Netflix’s announcement that Bloodline will get a second season: what does that look like without Danny? I’d be 100% less interested in watching that show, the fine performances of Kyle Chandler, Linda Cardellini, Sissy Spacek, and everyone else notwithstanding. I find myself wondering if Danny makes it out of that boat explosion. In “10”‘s opening voiceover, John alludes to not knowing where Danny is. So if season two is just Danny coming back hell-bent on revenge, count me the fuck in.
Okay, with that out of the way, we can talk about the actual episode: it was good! “10” was uncomfortable and tense, and director Michael Morris (Brothers & Sisters) has his camera hover on the periphery of scenes, as though we’re spies who might get caught at any moment. This is especially true of John and Danny’s confrontation in the walk-in refrigerator. The camera hides behind shelves and peers at the two men from odd angles. It’s an invasive form of intimacy, but then again, so are most relationships on Bloodline.
Suspicion cast a pall over nearly every scene in “10.” John can no longer fool himself into thinking that Danny isn’t involved with Eric and Rafi and Wayne Lowry; even Meg is getting suspicious of Carlos, and the end of the episode shows her peering into the shed where Danny retrieves the smuggled drugs. I knew he should have covered those goddamn windows.
Look, I know this review is light on plot details, which is admittedly strange because “Part 10” had more happening in it than do most episodes of this show. The highlight was the DEA closing in on Rafi, with an aim to get him to roll over on everyone in Wayne Lowry’s organization. But Danny manages to sabotage a federal investigation just to pull one over on his brother. “I call the shots now,” he tells John, and he says it the way Danny Rayburn says everything: quietly. Calmly. Never out of control.
A Few Thoughts
- I was glad that Meg finally fessed up about her affair. I don’t think the consequences will be too long-lasting, though; the flash-forwards show John and Danny in the seersucker suits, remember
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I think Kevin drinks more Heineken than water
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Sissy Spacek gets the quietest scenes on Bloodline, and they usually involve reminiscing about Bob while looking at the water, but she sells the hell out them
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