A lot happens on Bloodline. It might be the show’s best-kept secret. In its best episodes – “Part 17” among them – Bloodline is able to maintain its languid pace while engaging in some deceptively propulsive storytelling. “Part 17” works incredibly well as a Bloodline episode for many reasons, chief among them being that it’s so damn tense.
This is a show – like Damages, the previous project to come from Kessler, Kessler, and Zelman – that thrives when its characters have to wallow in the muck. It’s all about painting yourself into a corner and trying to weasel your way back out. The reason Bloodline doesn’t turn into a Dexter clone is because, unlike on Dexter, people don’t always get away scot-free. Danny Rayburn is dead, for Christ’s sake, all of his manipulations and machinations having proved useless after he put his brother’s back against the wall.
And for a long time this season, it looked as though Kevin was poised to become the “new” Danny, whatever that means. Kevin can certainly fuck up like Danny, but he’s not clever or ruthless enough to make his problems someone else’s problems.
But John is.
Season two of Bloodline is really taking a hatchet to the character of John Rayburn, and it’s a pleasure to watch. (“Pleasure” might be the wrong word.) Kyle Chandler is rising to the challenge, and in doing so comes close to making John his most definitive role to date (but let’s face it, he’s always gonna be Coach Taylor). He plays John as haunted and unmoored. It’s an unshowy mental breakdown, but it’s undeniably effective. Look at his body language when he talks to Marco before the Wayne Lowry raid: he seems to be a passive participant in his own movement. Then he asks Marco “You think I’m a good person, don’t you?” and it sounds like John Rayburn doing a John Rayburn impression. There’s precious little left of the man currently seeking the office of Monroe County’s top cop. Once more he sees Danny, who asks him, “When’s it gonna end, John?” Even dead, Danny remains the show’s best villain.
For as much as I loved all the stuff with John, “Part 17” did suffer a bit from Bloodline‘s usual pacing problems. All too often the show will jam a long conversation scene into the middle of an episode, and while that isn’t necessarily the kiss of death for momentum, here it works to the show’s detriment.
Sally and Nolan’s mother, Evangeline (who goes by Eve), finally meet, and it’s nowhere near as engaging as the first meeting between Sally and Nolan himself. Andrea Riseborough (Oblivion) plays Eve like a less malevolent version of her son, but her intention is clear: she wants money. She’s not above demanding it from Sally, or pretending to work at the hotel so she can scam guests out of their credit card numbers. I’ll be honest, a con-man plot isn’t going to do a lot for Bloodline, and Eve might have worked better later in the season, after we had more time with Nolan.
But that’s really my only major qualm with “Part 17.” The episode was Bloodline in its truest form, almost a distillation of its basic formula. It was slow, engaging, tense, dour, and imperfect. There have been better episodes than this one, and I’m confident there will be more in the future, but “Part 17” was a striking balance of everything that makes Bloodline what it is.
A Few Thoughts
- RIP Wayne Lowry. I will seriously miss Glenn Morshower’s performance.
- I’m not crazy about the alcoholic subplot, because they generally lead to tedious getting-sober subplots, but Linda Cardellini is doing fine work. She set the tone for the show moving forward: “I’m not even mad at you. I’m just fuckin’ scared.”
- I wonder if Kevin and Meg see Danny as often as John does.
- Hey Diane, maybe you could be more vague the next time you want to confront your husband. Sally “said some things,” huh? What a bombshell.
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