I had read some really good reviews about Bloodline, and I really liked Kyle Chandler when he was Coach Taylor on Friday Night Lights. So I thought I would try Bloodline.
I like watching the actors involved in the show. There's Kyle Chandler, Linda Cardellini, Sissy Spacek and Ben Mendelsohn, in addition to Steven Pasquale (John from the Good Wife). All of them feel recognizable, but also like real people. They feel charismatic and fascinating to watch.
But the plot. Ohhh. My eyes keep rolling almost of their own accord. There's some ominous voiceover narration, and images of a storm and bodies, but it feels very much like a brief clip for a movie trailer, with little attachment to the show itself. The tension in the first episode is over Danny bringing his new girlfriend to a family celebration and he wants her to sit at the family table. Lots of heightened feelings about that. I suppose it's supposed to feel "real", but it also feels like regular family gatherings where I thought we'd be watching some sort of thriller/suspense with a mystery at the front of it.
Kyle Chandler (John Rayburn) is a sheriff, and there's a burned body that turns up. I keep watching every week hoping for some horrific serial killer or sex slavery conspiracy, but it's not that kind of show it seems. Instead we have one brother trying to buy a boat slip while dealing with a looming divorce. Aging parents that need care. How to deal with a formerly irresponsible son who now wants to help those parents. How to deal with who will run the family business. A lawyer taking on a new client but hasn't practiced criminal law, so worries whether she's capable while feeling energized about a new challenge. The lawyer also has a file she hasn't followed up on for years and now worries it will come back to bite her. dum dum dum (ominous sounds).
I guess it's real to life, but it feels very like the premise of Seinfeld, and I find myself asking why I'm watching. And yet I am still watching. I keep thinking there must be something more (it almost forces me to create elaborate conspiracy and plot theories just because I think there must be something!). Roger Ebert used to quote his partner Gene Siskel in evaluating whether the show was better than watching the same actors sitting around having lunch. Bloodline is probably not. But I guess the state of my TV viewing is such that I'd enjoy watching them having lunch, so I'm still watching.
For the sake of justifying my time viewing it, my conspiracy theory is below (spoilers through Ep. 6):
Meg has serious mental health issues. She's always been jealous of sister Sara, doesn't want pictures of her around or anything. She's involved in a self destructive affair, and flips on and off, from one mood to another, often with memory breaks. She doesn't have any clients at all to speak of, and mostly plays at being a lawyer. Her Dad set her up in a law office, and is basically her only source of work, trying to keep her stable. When she was young, she murdered Sara in a fit of jealousy, and her father covered it up... feeling in part responsible. I suspect her father was sexually abusing Sara, and Meg (in a messed up way) was jealous of that.
Danny suspected his father abused Sara. While Dad was covering up the murder (probably by staging a drowning and failed rescue) Danny wandered along and tried to save Sara, not knowing she was already dead. Dad made Danny feel that he was responsible for being unable to save Sara, and tried to manipulate his memory into thinking it was all his fault. He drove that home with physical abuse.
John was old enough to understand some of what was going on, but bought the story that Danny was responsible for Sara's death, and sided with his father. Danny has finally remembered enough about the events to realize that he didn't fail Sara, but believes his Dad killed her. He trusts Meg, and (I predict) he'll disclose his suspicions to her, she'll murder him, and John will be involved in covering it up, making it look like a drowning, and as though Danny was responsible for the illegal immigrants burned in the boat, and died himself in a similar boating explosion. John will feel he has to do this to protect the name of his family and his Dad's memory, but will need to resign as sheriff. Kevin will drink his life away at the boat slip.
More likely actual outcome:
Sara died by accident. Dad hit Danny when he was mad and broke his arm. Danny is still upset about how the family treated him, but wants to forgive, though he expects apologies in return. Danny is involved with the illegal immigrants and/or drugs and dies in a way that implicates him. John feels he needs to cover up for his family by hiding the body, covering up the evidence and letting everyone believe Danny just wandered away again, and must lie to his mother so she won't know.
Huh. Both scenarios sound more exciting than actors eating lunch, but somehow the experience of viewing doesn't feel like that.
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