Bloodline

I saw a preview for Bloodline when I went to a movie. I really had no idea what it might be about, all I saw was Kyle Chandler, and I got a similar feeling to the show the way I did when I saw True Detective.

If you read my review of Out of the Furnace, you know how pumped I am for the second season of True Detective and I'm almost considering re-watching that entire season just because I'm having some withdrawals of that show. Maybe its the fact that its a crime thriller-drama set in the south, maybe its Kyle Chandler but there was something in the trailer for this show that I was very interested in.

I mean take a look at the trailer, tell me it doesn't sound at least a little bit interesting.

So Bloodline is the story of a family in the Florida Keys that owns a glamorous hotel. Its a luxurious bed and breakfast sort of place, perfect for honeymoons and vacationing. This inn is mainly run by Robert Rayburn (played by Sam Shepard) and Sally Rayburn (played by Sissy Spacek). These two have four kids. Three of them have stayed in the keys and made their lives around the family business.

First you have John Rayburn (played by Kyle Chandler), a detective with the county police department in the area. He's the second oldest of the family. Then you have Meg Rayburn (played by Linda Cardellini), the third in the family. She is also the family lawyer and proprietor of the family will. Then there's Kevin (played by Norbert Leo Butz) the youngest son. Kevin is a local fisherman and has a bit of a temper.

And then there is the oldest son of the Rayburns, Danny (played by Ben Mendelsohn). The black sheep of the family. Danny has not been home for years. The circumstances of his exile are left pretty vague in the beginning and are developed as the show goes on.

The first thing right off the bat that I didn't really expect from this show was such an accurate representation of family and the interactions that go along between the members of a family.

The Rayburns are not your typical sitcom family, they have problems that seem very reasonable and they know each other very well and I got that feeling from the very beginning from all the siblings. Everyone has the family in mind and everyone wants to do right by the family but everyone has their own way of doing that.

For example, John is the responsible one in the family. Though he's not the oldest, he is the one the family goes to when they need a leader. Being as he is a cop, this makes sense and I can believe this dynamic within the family. Meg is the only female in the family. While she is not the youngest, she probably is closet to the parents in her work as their lawyer and is the closest tied to the business. She sets her self up as the mediator, the person who only wants peace and isn't ready for a confrontation. Again, I can believe this. And Kevin is immediately set up as the hot head. While he is the most confrontational, you can tell he has the family put first. He may have a alternative way of doing things but he is hot headed so I believe that.

And then Danny comes in as the black sheep, the one who nobody ever feels belonged and the dynamic is perfect. All of these characters are situations I have felt in my family with 3 other siblings and while they're a little too stereotypical at some points, they are relatable and thus are interesting.

And then you have the parents who are suppose to have formed their 4 children and I really like how they set these two up. At certain points you want to totally blame them for the way these people treat one another but at the same time its just a family dynamic and these two are trying as hard as they can and are put into different circumstances that are difficult.

Now, you may be thinking, this doesn't sound like much of a substitute for True Detective. Where is all the crime? Where is all the intrigue and violence? Well, you're half right. This show is not really a crime drama. At least not right away. Which brings me to the main problem I have with this show. This show is slow as molasses. Its so focused on this family dynamic, and this family getting used to their black sheep brother returning home and whether or not he will be able to stay or not.

Now where the intrigue and where the drama really comes from is the flash forwards this show has. The tagline for this show is, "We're not bad people, we just did a bad thing".

And what they do is a bad thing.

The return of Danny into this family really does bring a lot of problems and its not just the friction that comes with the family dynamic. Danny is a little bit more of a complicated character than he immediately lets off to be.

I have to applaud Ben Mendelsohn in his performance because prior to this I had never heard of the guy. Suddenly I'm hearing of all these other movies he is in and I'm interested in seeing more of him. But in this character, he rides this fine line of being a character you really pity, and a character you just down right hate. He's manipulative. He's cunning. He's also very charismatic and ends up just playing games with his siblings that drive them to their limits.

And while all the characters have their interests in the family business and they're looking out for their parents, they have their own story lines that interconnect and throughout it all, its almost as if Danny is conniving for everything to fit into his plan masterfully.

Danny is not your mustache twirling antagonist though. He's very much a person who has had a difficult life and in the end thinks he is the victim or the good guy in all of this. And that my friends is the sign of a great villain. I don't want to say he's the absolute villain of the show, but he's complicated.

Netflix is doing a very good job at creating these fascinating characters. From Frank Underwood in House of Cards, to Wilson Fisk in Dare Devil, and now to Danny in Bloodline.

Unfortunately, the show suffers from a horrible flaw that I have already brought up. Its slow as all hell.

I don't know if they're going for a feeling of the Florida Keys or if that was on purpose, but my lord, this show was so very difficult to stay awake through because the first few episodes are boring... drop dead boring!

Granted, the show does pick near the end and does get really good. And part of me can't really knock the show for being so boring in the beginning because its just setting up the background for the climax which is really great. Its just something that I can't totally recommend the show because it was really just a slow as hell beginning.

While the end of the show is fantastic, you have to wonder if its really worth the slow as hell beginning. The performances are really well done, especially in Ben Mendelsohn and Kyle Chandler.

Overall, Bloodline takes a while to get going. I can't promise the ending will be totally worth the slow beginning, but if you are used to watching slow dramas about families, you might like Bloodline.

Those are my thoughts on Bloodline. What do you think? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 in order to get updates on movie news and reviews.

I'll leave you with this. Here's a random kind of fun video about people coming together and singing. Enjoy!