Family is a complicated thing. They can tear themselves apart and put the pieces back together.
‘Bloodline’ tells the story of family and tragedy. The secrets of the Rayburn family come back to haunt them when the oldest son, Danny (Ben Mendelsohn), comes home.
He’s the bad sheep of the family and has never been able to get his life together. Not that any of the Rayburn children are perfect, well John (Kyle Chandler), comes pretty close.
John has always taken care of the family from when he was a kid. Now he’s a detective, happily married with two kids. His life is pretty perfect, until his brother Danny comes back to town.
Meg (Linda Cardellini) may look perfect from the outside, but she’s not. Career wise she’s very successful, she’s a lawyer. Love wise, she’s never been able to settle down. She has a great boyfriend, Marco (Enrique Murciano), who is partner’s with her brother John. They’ve been dating five years and haven’t tied the knot yet. It probably has something to with her commitment issues. In one of the opening scenes she’s seen having sex with a man that isn’t her boyfriend.
Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz) is having problems of his own when his brother comes home. He’s separated from his wife, but he hasn’t told anyone yet. He also has a bad temper that gets him in trouble.
The family all comes to together to celebrate the anniversary of their parent’s hotel.
Sally (Sissy Spacek) and Robert (Sam Shepard) run a successful hotel in the Florida Keys and are celebrating 45 years of business and Robert is being honored with a pier being named after him.
The Rayburns are upstanding citizens in the community. The name commands respect, but they have a secret from their past that is about to come back and haunt them.
This secret will tear them apart and threaten to ruin the entire family.
In the first episode you get to see glimpses of where this dark secret leads them. It leads to John putting Danny’s body in a boat and setting it one fire. It won’t be till the 12th episode that you find out why and how this happens.
The 13 episode first season has a lot of twists and turns while you get to know the Rayburn family and especially Danny.
I didn’t like Danny almost from the moment he arrived in the Keys, as the show went on, he kept rubbing me the wrong way. He seems like he can be charming. He seems like he’s damaged from what happened when they were kids. He seems like he’s lost his way, but maybe there is no saving him at this point.
It becomes harder and harder to sympathize with Danny as the story goes on. I really enjoyed Ben’s portrayal of Danny. He really made you want to hate this guy. He also made you a little scared of Danny too. The oldest Rayburn keeps you on your toes. You never know what he might do next.
Sally never gives up on Danny, she even sides with Danny at times. She’s convinced he’s doing better. The rest of the children try their best to shield their mother from the truth, but it’s just more lies that will haunt the family.
‘Bloodline’ is very addictive, each episode ends leaving you hanging and wanting to know more. The way the story is laid out, it gives you pieces from what happens and walks you through the whole story until it all comes together.
The show is filled with a lot of family drama, suspense and mystery. I was drawn in from episode one and enjoyed every episode after.
The only complaint I have about the show is the language. For some characters it made sense for them to be swearing all the time, but not everyone had to swear that much. Just because you can write it into the script, doesn’t mean you have to.
I don’t know if there will be a second season. The story leaves it open for the possibility, but it could easily end on the note that it did. ‘Bloodline’ ends with just another aspect of the Rayburn family legacy. The legacy is secrets and lies.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRnS8FkcXNk]
