**Spoilers within if you haven’t seen the show, though we’ll tread lightly with this final season 3.**
If blood is thicker than water, than Netflix’s series “Bloodline” coagulated a long time ago. A show about a proud family dynasty, their legacy in the Florida Keys, and the murder they tried to cover up, “Bloodline,” created by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman — the trio that created “Damages” — should have been a mini-series from the jump.
Instead, the show plodded on for three seasons, still revolving around the local royalty, the Rayburn family and the prodigal son who destroyed the order of things. “Sometimes you know something’s coming,” detective John Rayburn (Kyle Chandler) said in voiceover in the pilot episode setting up the entire show. “You can feel it. In the air. In your gut. And you don’t sleep at night. The voice in your head is telling you that something is going to go terribly wrong and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. That’s how I felt when my brother came home.”
There’s a lot of plot to the overstuffed “Bloodline,” but the story is essentially this: After cheating, manipulating and eventually threatening the family, Danny (Ben Mendelsohn), the black sheep son of the family, is killed by his older brother John, the aforementioned cop, during an argument which turns into fight and a fit of rage. Two more seasons of “Bloodline,” including this final third season, center on the cover-up of the murder by the family’s remaining three siblings, the guilt and panic that engulfed them, and the slow morass of sweaty paranoia and inner torment that consumes them.
Tell me more about “Bloodline.”
The set-up is Shakespearean and as mentioned above, the ousted, prodigal son returns. A family rules over its kingdom (the Rayburns), but after years of exile, Danny — always needing money, a favor or something to abuse the trust of the family — upends what is a tranquil life. Manipulative, scheming, and full of resentment for being blamed for the accidental death of the youngest sister who drowned as a child, Danny has never had it easy.
Danny returns ostensibly to claim his birthright, but really he wants is acceptance and vengeance. He loves his family. He hates them, too. After disturbing the Rayburns who would just rather see him gone again, Danny’s bitterness morphed into something more insidious, eventually turning to revenge that threatened to tarnish their reputation in south Florida. Danny, pushing the family to the edge and its limits, is eventually killed by John during an argument. That was essentially season one. The rest that follows is the emotional and psychological fall out.
Thorough! What was the best part of the show?
Ben Mendelsohn, easily. One could argue he ran circles around the rest of the cast and show. But his death kicks off the first episode (the rest of the first season shows the events that lead up to his demise), and while a bold move, why would you kill off your best character and best actor? Obviously, that was the hook of the show.
The worst thing about Mendelsohn, and it’s not his fault, was the terrible wig he had to sport for his return in seasons two and three because that shaggy hair he grew for the show was long gone. His character’s arch was done, but he had to make cameos through the remaining seasons as a Macbeth-ian ghost (to mixed results), acting as John’s conscience.
And in those later seasons with his brief appearances, he always felt like he had lost touch with the character because he had ultimately moved on and was likely juggling other roles at the same time. I will also say Kyle Chandler really stepped up in seasons two and three and only got better as the show progressed.
So, season two was cover-up of the murder. What else?
There’s another “accidental” murder (groan), this time committed by the youngest brother Kevin Rayburn (Norbert Leo Butz), the hot-headed second fuck up of the family after Danny. And then perhaps, preposterously so, there’s an extremely convoluted storyline of covering up that murder too, including a frame up. Season two and three also centers around the crushing, existential horror of guilt. By the end of season one, all three siblings are aware of Danny’s death and to “protect” the family, they anxiously all collude to bury the truth about his murder, but the consequences carry an incredible cost emotionally.
What’s the worst part of the show and worst part of season three?
Well, the plot blocking for sure. This is a show that should have been one season long or a very strong mini series. Instead, like a lot of shows on Network TV (“The Killing” comes to mind), the show has unbearably stretched everything out, really testing the limits of the audiences’ suspension of disbelief and abusing the audiences’ trust with one frustrating twist after another. And to slow down the narrative and the investigation, the show would constantly introduce new obstacles and intrigue.
Don’t a lot of shows use that technique of plot blocking? That’s screenwriting 101: You must introduce obstacles. Without conflict, there is no drama. You must challenge the protagonist’s goal.
100%. But you must do so in a manner which is believable, credible and isn’t too manipulative. And let me tell you, the writing on “Bloodline” was often underhanded and conniving, and can leave you incredulous. If you treat the audience like fools, they will turn on you, and I don’t even mean just critics. Some audiences won’t be sophisticated enough to understand the mechanics of how and why they’re being manipulated, but they’ll do something much worse: change the channel and watch something else which is probably why Netflix canceled the show. Though, hopefully, the showrunners probably realized you couldn’t string the audience along much further and stretch out the story that much more. Just like the characters in the show, you reach a breaking point.
What about the other siblings Meg and Kevin?
Well, Meg (Linda Cardellini) is falling apart and emotionally devastated by not only the death of her brother, but the death of her ex-boyfriend Detective Marco Diaz (Enrique Murciano) who is also John’s partner in law enforcement(!!). Another thread of the show is Diaz’s growing suspicion about John and the Rayburn family. He catches a few lies and discrepancies in their stories and becomes mistrustful. So, he’s watching the Rayburn family closely and John knows and has to start pushing his already nervous, edgy and scared siblings to be careful.
Not much of a spoiler if you watched the show so far, but Diaz was killed at the end of season two by Kevin in a panic. Diaz was going to take down the family and Kevin — who has a baby on the way — freaks out and bashed him over the head with a marble bauble. This leads to Kevin — also a recovering drug addict and alcoholic — to completely freak out and become exasperatingly desperate in season three.
And Meg?
Meg, she’s mostly AWOL from the season. Her character has mysteriously and suspiciously vanished after the death of Marco Diaz (all eyebrows raised of course). Spiralling, she leaves without saying goodbye to the family and tries to become another person; literally going under another name and cataloging many more full-on, insane lies. She’s living a fabricated life which speaks to how damaged the family had become, how broken she is, and just how much she wants to disavow her entire life and start over. She couldn’t take it anymore. She didn’t want to be a Rayburn.