Some shows make it just that bit harder to press ‘stop’.
From the creators of Damages, Bloodline is one of them; a drama that’s so easy to become so invested in, you can lose an entire evening to it, and then lose the next morning telling everyone how good it is.
A dark family drama and mystery uncoiling, like a python in the thick Floridian heat, Bloodline has rapidly become one of Netflix’s strongest original dramas.
With the first season released on Digital HD and DVD on Monday 21 March, if you haven’t seen Bloodline yet, here are five reasons you should start…
It has one of the strongest openers we’ve ever seen
Thank goodness you don’t have to wait until next week for Episode 2 like the the old days, because the Season 1 opener pulls you right in and gives you every reason to remain around the coveted Rayburn family table, ending with (without spoiling it) a cliffhanger you won’t see coming.
As the show opens, the Rayburn clan live a seemingly idyllic life on the Florida Keys’ Islamorada, but then the prodigal son and black sheep of the family Danny (Ben Mendelsohn, more on whom later) turns up one bus stop early. Suddenly his apparently well-intentioned arrival back in the Keys – and the later discovery of a body – threatens to expose his family’s dark past and, as John Rayburn’s monologue says, that ‘bad thing’ they did. It soon becomes clear their dynastic life is built on mistrust, lies, and personal demons.
The tension is almost palpable, the intrigue constant, and neither relent. Bloodline capitalises on its strong and mysterious start, as we watch secrets being uncovered, piece together events through fragmented flashbacks and flash-forwards, and watch characters evolve into distinctly unpleasant – but compelling – people over 13 episodes.
Ben Mendelsohn is terrific…
It’s no surprise that the phrases ‘Ben Mendelsohn’ and ‘Emmy’ keep cropping up close together when people talk about Bloodline (Mendelsohn was subsequently nominated for both an Emmy and a Critics Choice Award). As Danny Rayburn, a mercurial personality whose supposed intentions to help the family are undercut by deepening criminal involvement, he gives a performances that is frighteningly distant.
He’s laconic but calculating, to the point you’re not sure what direction he’ll take next. Which is of course how you’re meant to feel: as the audience we’re another uninvited member of the family, just as unsure about who to trust as everyone else.
…and he isn’t the only one
Bloodline‘s a show of ensemble suspicion, and there’s some serious talent in the cast, which only makes the family’s dark past and unpleasant future more compelling. Renowned playwright Sam Shepard is the Rayburn patriarch Robert, Sissy Spacek his wife Sally. Already it feels like a show that’s put thought into who should be stood on the beach, talking about the importance of family.
Of their four children it’s their son John, played by Kyle Chandler, who feels like the anchor, both for the viewer and his family. Chandler’s a reassuringly familiar face to fans of Friday Night Lights, but don’t expect to take to him like you did to Coach Taylor, or . When John says in his narration ‘We’re not bad people, but we did a bad thing’, he isn’t kidding. No spoilers, but by the time you reach the final episode, you’ll appreciate just what a great performance Chandler has given.
It looks as good as it is
When you think of Florida you don’t immediately think of noir. It is, after all, the Sunshine State. But Bloodline practically makes the place a character of its own; one that is unpredictable and isn’t as pristine as you’d expect. It implies the same threat as that of a broken window or the watching stranger.
Through the beautifully muted palette you can almost feel the diffused sunlight and salty humidity of the Florida Keys leeching out of your screen. Even the most beach idyllic setting, with the breeze wafting through the palms, has an air of tension about it, like a tropical storm waiting to break.
It’s all shot with a cinematic eye for detail, and an almost documentary style that gives the whole thing a great immediacy for the viewer. It also reinforces the notion that the well-to-do Rayburns, who’ve built their fortune from the geography of the place, can’t detach themselves from it. The Florida Keys are like another member of their family, and just as easy to be wary of.
There’s more to come
No sense in investing a weekend bingeing a show you’re hooked only to find out that you’ll never see a trace of it again.
Just eleven days after becoming available on Netflix, Bloodline was officially renewed for a second season. Which means there’s never been a better time to catch up on/reacquaint yourself with the show before we explore the ramifications of a certain character turning up out of the darkness at the end of Season 1…
> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.
Season 1 is released on Digital HD and DVD on Monday 21 March.
Have you started watching Bloodline yet? Let us know below…