Season 2 (2016)
Created by: Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, Daniel Zelman
Starring: Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, Norbert Leo Butz, Jacinda Barrett, Jamie McShane, Enrique Murciano, Sam Shepard, Sissy Spacek, Chloë Sevigny, John Leguizamo
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| Bloodline Season 2 - Will John do it again? |
Netflix's well casted, family drama centers on the Rayburn family, where everyone has a secret. With their black sheep brother Danny out of the picture, what happens now? The siblings cope with the aftermath and Danny's son.
Verdict
Season one was fairly self contained. It was a slow burn that became addictive during the second half. I couldn't see how they could make a decent follow up with season two. Either way, after season one, there was no way I wouldn't watch.
This season is a slight step down. It spins a similar web, but doesn't provide a payoff. Ben Mendelsohn really carried season one, and while we see him in every episode this season, it's just not the same. It's an attempt to keep a breakout star in the show when he's not really there and it doesn't work. Chandler fills the role well, but he can only do so much.
This is another slow burn, but not enough happens. We're teased that something might happen or somebody knows something that's going have a major impact, but then nothing happens and the situation disappears. This setup and lack of payoff plagues the season. Season one teased the murder that would happen in the last episode and Danny's past which helped, but this season doesn't have either to fall back on.
The last two episodes are very good. Do they make the season worth it? No. Nobody significant dies. I was on the fence about this season, until the last episode where we get no resolution. It's a giant cliff hanger that is unwarranted. When the credits rolled, I double checked to make sure there wasn't an episode eleven I missed. With no conclusion, this season felt like a waste with multiple abandoned plot lines. Watch season one and stop there.
Skip it.
Review
The camera angles and story unfold very much like a movie. This is a production that takes it's time to craft the end result.The problem is the pacing doesn't keep up. It's okay for a movie to tease us until the end, it's only two hours. When a series does it for ten hours it just gets boring. We're continually brought to the brink of a major turning point in the plot, and then nothing happens and we go back to normal.
I wonder if the creators were told they needed to stretch this into a second season so they added the son aspect right at the end. That would explain the problems that plague this season.
Episode 1
I had forgotten season one concluded with a boy claiming to be son to Danny (Ben Mendelsohn). The family is dealing with the cover up, and Danny does show up in the episode in a flash back.
It's a solid episode that sets up a lot of plot lines and maintains tension. This is not a show you can just jump in to. You need to have seen season one, definitely.
John (Kyle Chandler) is concerned that Danny's son, Nolan (Owen Teague), knows something that could implicate the family. He tries to accept Nolan, but he's wary and doesn't want Nolan around his kids. Nolan tells John he wasn't in Miami in September when the Rayburn clan was covering up a murder, but it turns out he was. Does he know something?
John investigates Nolan's mother Evangeline Radosevich (Andrea Riseborough), and Nolan is working with Danny's old pal Eric O'Bannon (Jamie McShane).
Matriarch Sally Rayburn (Sissy Spacek) asks John to tell her what's going on. It's hinting at Danny's murder, but I don't know how she would know anything. John sidesteps and promises to update her on Danny's case.
Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz) is digging into the drugs the family lifted off Danny. Meg (Linda Cardellini) is working and drinking hard at her new job in New York. She finds out that her dad was paying off Evangeline Radeosevich.
Diaz (Enrique Murciano) enlists Kevin for theories on what happened with the boat in which Danny was found. John gets mad at Kevin for providing theories instead of playing smart. As John reminds, him they're going to have to deal with this indefinitely. Little does he know Kevin was high.
Wayne Lowry who is the easy suspect in Danny's murder, confronts John with a tape and demands the investigation drop him as a suspect, indicating he may have some evidence to blackmail John. It would also derail John's plans to run for sheriff.
Episode 2
John's in a tough spot. Lowry wants to be dropped as a suspect and he has incriminating evidence by way of Danny.
John has to balance the negative publicity of his family with running for sheriff while trying to tank the Lowry investigation. Lowery could tank John's entire life.
I get Kevin isn't in the best frame of mind, but are we really setting him up to start selling drugs? Nobody believes Kevin and the real estate investor are going to work out. He's beyond broke and this is a relatively easy score. It's going to put him in the same spot as Danny, and Kevin is no where near as smart as Danny. Kevin has been a liability since day one. Would John kill Kevin? Once you kill one family member, it's tough to stop, right? It would be hilarious in a very dark way. I'm secretly hoping that happens.
John calls Meg down to Florida. A case Meg handled could blow back on the family, because this entire show is a powder keg poised to sink the entire Rayburn family.
Kyle Chandler has filled Ben Mendelsohn's shoes for season two with a very strong performance. We didn't see this in season one because Chandler was playing a one note character.
Episode 3
John officially announces he's running for sheriff.
Kevin manages to sell a key, but the second time isn't as smooth. The buyers taze and then question him. It looks like they might off him, which would be a smart move. Who will kill Kevin? At this point it could be a couple of people.
John gets a call about a body. I'm assuming Kevin. It's not. It's Kevin's buyer who was tortured before being killed. Turns out Lowry's boss did it.
Nolan is supplying Ed O'Bannon with food and information. Is Nolan O'bannon's kid? What's the link? He's definitely Danny's kid.
The Danny flashbacks feel like a feeble attempt to maintain a breakout star and not commit to the story that unfolded in season one. Danny robs a drug store and that's how he meets Ozzie (John Leguizamo).
Kevin's buyers tried to sell the drugs to Lowry's associate which puts Lowry in hot water. It also got the would be sellers dead. Now Lowry knows that someone stole some drugs prior to the DA seizing them. Will anything come of this?
Three episodes in and nothing has really happened. We're teased about what could happen, but that's it.
Sally chat's with John's wife Diana, offering excuses for Danny. She wants to know the truth, but the scene seems like pointless filler.
John catches up to Eric O'Bannon. Danny introduced Eric to Nolan to look out for him. Three episodes in and the lack of any kind of event is frustrating. Season one was a slow burn much like this, but at Mendelsohn made it bearable. That and we knew someone was going to die in the last episode.
Episode 4
Nolan told people he saw John in Miami. That's bad for John as he was covering up Danny's murder. Kevin is on the run trying to make things right because he's an idiot that's high. Of course his plan doesn't work out. How did this guy ever get a business?
Nothing happens to Kevin, Lowry buys more time from his bosses, and now John is further under Lowry's thumb. Well done Kevin.
John has started having visions of Danny. It's just a bit too much and another obvious attempt to shoehorn Mendelsohn into the show.
Nolan's mom Evangeline is in the picture and meets Sally. She reveals to Sally that Robert had been funding her. Sally dismisses her so Evangeline steals a credit card number from one of the guests. Nothing ever comes from that.
Meg's New York job isn't working out due to her Florida stay. She's let go. I wonder if Meg would kill Kevin? Somebody needs to do it. Kevin is the true black sheep of the family.
John's become an errand boy for Lowry. The thing is, Lowry's not going to let go of John once he's sheriff. It's all the more reason to use and manipulate. The more power your contact has, the more power you have. John doesn't commit. He sells Lowry out. That's bound to throw a wrench in John's plans. It's better to face it now than let it snowball.
Lowry's dead. The cops assume Lowry's people did it, but this had to be John. He had to control the outcome to assure he wouldn't be brought down by it. Was it his communications contact that did it? The contact told John that he "owed him." That implies it's more than just providing communications.
Wait it was Carlos? The former employee of the Rayburn's? Why does this show back away from any meaningful choices. It allows all the characters to weasel out of everything.
Episode 5
Meg gets Kevin a deal on his DUI, but I think we all know he's going to ruin it.
John meets with a campaign manager, but instead employs Meg as his campaign manager. The incumbent sheriff keeps Danny's murder open despite Lowry's death just to help his campaign.
John can't drop out of the race. He needs the power to find the tape that could put all of the Rayburns away.
While Lowry's house and business have been searched, the tape with the evidence against John hasn't shown up.
Diaz is looking into Danny's murder, which of course John doesn't want. It would make the show much better if Diaz actually found something. O'Bannon is starting to think Danny's murder is mysterious as well due to a text sent to his sister.
Kevin goes to a rehab program, but hasn't hit bottom where he thinks he needs it. Nolan starts working for Kevin.
Nolan and his mom have to be casing the Rayburn family.
Episode 6
Evangeline is now pressing John and his family.
John wanted to run a clean campaign, but with the deficit they're facing Meg confronts Aguirre's wife about an unreported domestic dispute. Meg gets a hospital report from Chelsea O'Bannon and releases the information to the press. Meg feels guilty and confronts Aguirre's ex-wife, and then she doesn't feel so guilty. Diaz helped cover it up. That's not completely contrived.
Meg is confronted by an investor to the Rayburn campaign, Gilbert, and brings up questions of how a young man with no money bought ocean front property and built a resort. He's referring to her father. We get no answers.
Aguirre is also looking into Danny's murder. He's kept the case open to bolster his campaign and trash John's family name. Now he's looking into it with Diaz.
Evangeline is targeting John's daughter Jane. She takes her shopping and lets her rebel a bit by drinking coffee. She goes off at a family dinner, criticizing everyone for how they're treating Nolan and how they paid Evangeline and Nolan to stay away. Sally pops her one and John sees. Maybe John will off his own mother. Wouldn't that be a twist?
Ozzie punctures John's wife Diana's car tire. He makes some veiled references about how John's reputation could be affected by Danny's troubles. John pulls fingerprints from the tire iron and find that Ozzie and Danny were arrested together. John gives Ozzie a message through multiple punches.
Kevin has defaulted on his loan for the boat yard. He's going to take care of it but how? His machinations end in failure. He's drinking behind closed doors and make a good case that this season should end in his death at the hands of the family. That's what they do, right?
Somebody is going to die at the end of this season, it's just a question of whom.
Episode 7
At some point the dam has to break and all of the plot threads have to spill over to create a new normal. Nothing has happened this season. The plot becomes more muddled, but none of the characters are worse off.
There's a rift between Sally and John's wife Diana after the Jane incident. John and Diana keep telling Jane she doesn't know the whole story, but they don't explain. Diana may have a realization that John was involved in Danny's murder, but I doubt that will go anywhere because in this show nothing ever leads to anything.
Diana confronts John. His excuse for everything is work, when he's out late, when his hands are bruised, and when he's lying. She wonders what happened between John and Danny. She was afraid for John, but she should have been afraid for Danny. John tells her no one else knows and that they're safe. It's a lie, but just one of those inconsequential little white lies.
Aguirre is pushing Diaz to re-interview the Rayburn family. Diaz tells John he doesn't want to, but he's got to be suspicious especially after what O'Bannon implied.
Kevin interviews with Diaz. He's on the verge of a breakdown. He feeds a story that Rafi brought the boat to his yard.
Diaz's interview with Meg doesn't go as well. She later talks to Diaz about what happened and reveals the truth about how she, John, and Kevin lied to the cops at the behest of Sally to protect their dad when they were kids. Shes pushes Diaz to pick a side, the Rayburns or Aguirre. They make out because how else would we know he's Rayburn loyal?
Episode 8
Sally and Nolan take a trip to Miami to relive Danny memories. Sally discovers that Robert at least met Nolan once as there is picture proof. Sally wants to meet Evangeline again.
Ozzie is looking to blackmail the Rayburns and cash out. The campaign donor calls it routine and tells Meg to pay him off.
Meg is trying to find investors for Kevin which is a dead end. Kevin's harassing another potential investor. Where did he get a business plan? This is a tease. We know Kevin can't sustain anything. The investor's plan is to buy it outright from Kevin. It would save Kevin, but he's never been one to make smart decisions.
Meg's search yields some potential. Kevin is willing to sell everything. He just wants to fix boats.
Diaz is checking up on Meg's story. He still has a girlfriend despite romancing Meg. Her story can't be confirmed. Diaz also wants to sit down with John and fill in Danny's timeline.
John bites back, tells Diaz he's been protecting Diaz from the media. Diaz doesn't buy it. John spins it as Diaz is Meg's spurned lover, but Diaz doesn't back down.
It turns out Nolan set Danny's restaurant on fire. He was mad that Danny didn't seem to care about the restaurant or Nolan. It might have been in attempt for insurance money. In essence Nolan set everything into motion.
Episode 9
Alright, we have two episodes to wrap this up. It hasn't been bad, but there's been a lot of teasing about game changers and there has yet to be a game changer. The last two episodes can save this or ruin it.
Diaz is charging full steam ahead against John, and O'Bannon gives him a key piece of information. John was lying about the last time he saw Danny. Diaz asks Jane a few questions about the necklace.
How did O'Bannon get the sea horse necklace? Did he see John kill Danny? John left it on the beach. O'Bannon could be pivotal. O'Bannon went back to the beach. He didn't find Danny, but he did find the necklace.
Diaz is now being investigated about the lack of an incident report over Aguirre's situation. Aguirre tells him to finish this case. They're going to give O'bannon immunity for everything.
Whatever happened to Lowry's cassette tape? That was a big deal that's been abandoned.
Sally has Nolan and Evangeline stay at the inn. Meg happens to see Ozzie and Evangeline together. It's rather contrived.
Kevin gets an offer on his boat yard, and Gilbert wants him to be in charge of operations. How will Kevin screw that up?
What is Gilbert's deal? He's throwing money left and right at the Rayburns, and a businessman doesn't get to where he is by throwing money away. He has to want something.
Looks like some illicit activities are occurring on the docks courtesy of Gilbert.
John leaks to Internal Affairs that Diaz may have covered up for Aguirre. John tries to scare Diaz off the case, but he doesn't work. John breaks into Diaz's desk for the case files. He discovers O'Bannon is getting immunity. Will John kill again? He, Meg, and Kevin are all implicated in the murder and are accessories.
Episode 10
Diana kicks John out of the house. O'Bannon shares his story with Diaz. The show is primed to explode. If it's going to happen, it has to be this episode.
Aguirre and Diaz can't grant O'Bannon immunity while Diaz is being investigated by Internal Affairs.
Ozzie goes to O'Bannon demanding to know what he's giving the cops, but O'Bannon's sister chases Ozzie off. John witnesses everything as he's trying to figure out whether he should kill O'Bannon.
John sees an opportunity to frame Ozzie for the murder of O'Bannon.
Kevin is in the thick of things. Looks like Gilbert is a drug smuggler. He's bringing in boats late at night, and upgrading the security.
Diaz talks to Internal Affairs and doesn't implicate himself. Aguirre's wife is up next, and she recants her story.
Kevin tells John that he and Meg did nothing. John responds that they had a choice. John reminds Kevin that Kevin threatened to kill Danny himself. They all point fingers at each other. Each one of them claims to be righteous, and none of them are. Meg and Kevin claim it's all John's fault. John claims they wanted the same thing and he saved them all. It's a very good scene. It makes you hope that all of them get caught and end up in jail.
John breaks into Ozzie's car to frame him, but he doesn't wear any gloves... rookie. Meg calls Diaz, pleading for mercy, but Diaz shuts that down.
Nolan wants to confess to John that he set fire to the restaurant, but he finds Diana instead.
Gilbert's lieutenant detains Ozzie, while John detains O'Bannon. John's playing 'let's make a deal', but O'Bannon is not buying it. The show wants us to believe that John will shoot O'Bannon with Ozzie's gun, but is it going to subvert that expectation? He doesn't do it. Is this show going to do anything. Each character gets right to the edge of the precipice and then they back down. Every time.
Kevin goes to Diaz's house to confess all. Will he? He does, but Diaz doesn't let him weasel out of responsibility. Diaz doesn't even want to hear about it. Did Kevin really think his sob story would relinquish him from all responsibility? Finally the idiot gets his comeuppance, but then Kevin bludgeons Diaz, presumably to death. Kevin's going to jail, unless he kills himself first. What happens to the rest of them? Aguirre will still hear O'Bannon's story.
Meg confesses to her mother Sally.
WHAT!! That's it. That's a non-ending. Of all the things we could get, we get nothing. This family has skirted danger the entire season. I grew tired of the show holding out, and never having any consequences for the characters. I waited all season, and they gave us nothing. All set up, no payoff. Atrocious.
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