Gary McCurry reviews the seventh episode of Bloodline…
My first surprise from ‘Part 7’ was that the words “Directed by Tate Donovan” appear during the opening credits. A strange thing happens when you know the director for other means than directing, especially in television, you focus more intently to the method they use to capture the action. We see many over the shoulder or side profile shots here with the camera jumping around to catch reactions. Let’s get into my reactions.
Prepare for spoilers.
As Kevin sits in front of Detective Potts to answer questions, we realise the weight this moment still holds many years later. Watching the two episodes that Detective Potts was, as I’ve said previously was a struggle. Having the knowledge now that these moments were vital, you get why it played out like it did. Having hoped it wasn’t all for nothing, I’m relieved it wasn’t. Danny continues to play them over, listening to the lies his family tell about his injuries.
The Rayburn’s piling problems onto Danny is a turn from how the season opened. We assumed all troubles with the family stemmed from him, now we’re not so sure. A great shift from the common thread. He wants to “get what’s mine. Do what I gotta do.” This means continue sending money made from schemes with friend, Eric O’Bannon (Jamie McShane) to an, as yet unknown destination. We even get a smile heavy montage of him collecting payments from the completed work. As soon as you see a happy montage, you know that the end is nigh. True to form, this work dries up and Danny isn’t planning to rest on his laurels, he follows Eric to a meet in order to discover the guy he’s been helping out and then offer his services. A path explained as suicidal by Eric in an earlier conversation.
Although, the montage is a touch on the nose, the motivation that drives him to that point is developed naturally. A skill that Bloodline masters with ease. Ben Mendelsohn’s character has a firm grasp on what he wants to achieve and distractions like his brother, Kevin spending a drunken night with his kinda, sort of love interest, Chelsea O’Bannon won’t steer him off track.
As you may have noticed, this is a Danny spearheaded episode. Other sub plots continue to expand around him but they lack the depth given to the central storyline, which of course makes sense. You have Meg working (and presumably quite well) on a criminal case of a previous Rayburn resort employee. Doesn’t add much other than to give Linda Cardellini screen time which I’m all for. We have a line from Kyle Chandler’s character, John saying “he doesn’t understand women” and you can’t help but think that the writers don’t either.
As well as his night with Chelsea, Kevin is pushing forward with his purchase of the boat yard and this installment ends with him being attacked by none other than Eric O’Bannon. Yup, that’s going to cause a lot of trouble.
Home straight now. You get a mix between the strange, like John Rayburn suddenly becoming the bad cop who throws ex-criminals against walls and the suspense, like Danny’s plans and the stockpiling of paychecks. Soon enough we’ll get all the answers and I’m pretty sure It’s not going to be as cut and dry as we think.
Gary McCurry – Follow me on Twitter
https://youtu.be/8HTiU_hrLms?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
Originally published May 7, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
