Bloodline, Netflix’s noir family drama, is all wet. Not in the idiomatic sense—it’s quite engrossing and addictive—but in Bloodline, which unearths the gothic secrets of an esteemed Florida family, there is literally water, water everywhere. The upstanding Rayburns are the proprietors of a picturesque, Florida Keys inn overlooking the ocean, where on mild days, there’s a damp breeze and a postcard panorama in every direction. Unfortunately, these are not mild days for the Rayburns. Monsoon season intensifies just as eldest brother Danny (Ben Mendelsohn) makes his dreaded return to the family fold, as if a cumulonimbus is walking him on a long leash. For the Rayburns, the torrents portend anguish and despair. But for Netflix subscribers, a massive rainstorm would be a blessing, a cosmic permission slip to hunker down for a weekend and do nothing but watch Bloodline.
Kyle Chandler stars as John Rayburn, the family’s ballast and designated peacemaker. He takes those roles seriously, even though they leave him saddled with thankless tasks like going to the bus station to retrieve Danny, who has returned to celebrate their parents’ 45th anniversary. The brothers exist at opposite poles. John is a family man and an unassuming but confident sheriff, the type of guy who takes great pride in his invariably moderate speaking volume. Danny is a rumpled gadabout with a criminal streak, and when he’s not passing through the Keys to shake his folks down for money, he gets by with manipulation and studied charm.
Danny initially pretends his homecoming is free of ulterior motives, but it isn’t long before he reveals his agenda to John. He wants to move home for good and join the family business, but he needs John to make the case to their hesitant parents, Robert (Sam Shepard) and Sally (Sissy Spacek). Robert isn’t convinced Danny is ready to straighten up and put down roots, so he defers the decision to John and his other siblings, Meg (Linda Cardellini) and Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz). The Rayburns’ turmoil over whether to welcome Danny back occupies the bulk of Bloodline’s pilot, underscoring the depth and severity of the wounds Danny has inflicted. It’s also a reflection of Danny’s general shadiness. He isn’t just a ne’er-do-well, he’s a ne’er-do-right, ever in search of novel ways to disappoint his loved ones.
Bloodline has the trappings of a novelistic family saga, but it isn’t the type of show that compensates for its sedate pace by being especially observant. The show’s creators, Todd Kessler, Daniel Zelman, and Glenn Kessler, also created Damages, the legal thriller with a twisty, non-linear structure that could be as exhilarating as it was irritating. The creators have discouraged comparing Bloodline with Damages, but that’s a tall request. “We’re not bad people,” says John in a weary voice-over, “but we did a bad thing.” By the end of the pilot, which is beautifully directed by Johan Renck, the audience sees what bad thing the Rayburns did through a series of teasing flashbacks. (Hint: There are corpses involved.) All that’s missing is the motive, which Bloodline will reveal as it unfurls its tandem narrative with each episode building to a tantalizing cliffhanger. Bloodline’s structure makes comparisons to Damages impossible to resist. The differences lie in Bloodline’s swampy milieu and more literal familial themes, a combination that evokes John Updike trying his hand at pulp fiction during a beach vacation.