Bloodline

[flyonthewall2983]

Bloodline

[domino harvey]

I'm three episodes into Bloodline and that might be enough. Every episode so far follows the same tired pattern: seemingly endless interactions between uninteresting asshole family members slowly, slowly, slowly doing whatever they're doing in that episode, capped with a "shocking" flash-forward showing a violent surprise that seemingly counters everything we've seen previously. For the first episode it made sense: set up the stakes and then surprise the viewer with where the show is actually going. By episode three it became all too apparent that the show is withholding a lot of information for no reason than to provide arbitrary twists (presumably) episodes later. This isn't good narrative or suspense or remotely clever. It's just arrogant and contemptuous of the viewer. If you ever watched Parenthood and thought it would be a lot better if every character was horrible to each other and had no discernible personality traits beyond cookie cutter soap check-marks, then good news! I will monitor binge-watchers' reactions to see if all this nonsense adds up to anything resembling a satisfying whole before devoting more time to all of this, and I would advise others to do likewise

[flyonthewall2983]

I finished the 2nd episode (going to do a slow burn on this one, maybe just two a day) but I can sympathize with what you're saying. It's pretty similar to what was done with Damages (the creators of which are also behind Bloodline), specifically the fast-forward stuff which was utilized well enough there but it feels like "been there done that" here.

[flyonthewall2983]

Having watched a few more episodes I can say that that pattern breaks off by the time of the 5th episode, which might be the best one I've seen so far.

[flyonthewall2983]

Bloodline renewed for S2

[domino harvey]

Seriously?! Did you ever end up getting through it?

[flyonthewall2983]

Yes. I'll reiterate that the pattern you described breaks up by the 5th episode. The story takes some compelling detours (it's use of flashback is a little more effective than the flash-forwards at times) and throws a few red herrings here and there to make things a little more interesting. It certainly has some flaws, but it's not without it's positives too. If the 2nd season knows where to turn right where they should have turned left a few times during this first one then it'll be an improvement and maybe become a great show. Maybe.

[domino harvey]

Sony will be releasing the first season on Blu-ray

[Lost Highway]

I gave up on this after four episodes. It struck me that it has the look and feel of "quality cable drama series" but not the substance. Despite a fantastic cast, beautiful cinematography and the languorous pace these things require, it struck me as insubstantial and repetitive, nothing more than a soap opera with cliched characters and the flashback/forward hook of Damages, which always was a bit of a con and made things look worse than they turn out. There never would have been another season if it had made good on its teasing.

I felt the same about The Affair btw, another soap masquerading as "quality cable drama" with portentous flash forwards and a narrative gimmick, which got inexplicably hyped and then showered with awards. I'll take Empire over this turgid stuffy any day, a prime time soap which is not ashamed of the label and which knows exactly what it does and does it with a degree of self-awareness and wit.

[therewillbeblus]

Just found this thread- while I haven't watched this since it ended, I'll speak up to say that the first season alone is one of the best depictions of family dynamics I've seen, period. The repetitiveness doesn't strike me as a flaw, unless you're looking purely for entertainment, because patterned behaviors are authentic in this kind of closed family system. This is a show that dares to sit in the muck of deep-rooted roles and dysfunctional behaviors that characters are only barely conscious of, if at all. Mendelsohn's perf as a self-destructive black sheep is one of the best acting jobs I've seen as well, and as to the nature of the time jumps/withholding, I think their function is manipulative in a very conscientious way

SpoilerShow

We see a dead Danny in the first scene of the first episode, as well as characters finding themselves in rough situations at the start of eps only to fill in the details, though the purpose doesn't strike me as contemptuous. By removing the focus on 'surprise' tension of where we're going to end up, the creators bring all the energy to the 'how' and 'why' which subvert superficial plotting and instead revolve around these individuals' roles within the family system, and how their agency is compromised by the expectations and conditioning of these roles, including their resentments and beliefs towards specific people (and, over time, how they desperately need to relate to their environments based on their upbringings).

Even though I didn't love the last two seasons quite as much, the place this ends with Kyle Chandler's ignorance to his own moral failings and ingrained belief that he's incapable of surrendering becomes objectively unraveled, while he continues to show enhanced narcissism as his subjectivity doesn't match what we see. This is a show where the family members who look good on the surface are the most ethically-deranged and refuse to become self-aware to their immoral rationalizations, while the character who is the most destructive is actually the one who is most in-tune with himself and others, but knows that he cannot demonstrate acts of harmony safely in public. Perhaps I have a bias as a family therapist, but this is an incredibly realistic portrayal of families' subtle toxins placed into a loud and colorful suspense narrative. If you're looking for another Breaking Bad kind of intense plotting, the show may not meet those expectations because it's a psychosocial drama disguised into that formula to test and expose the weak threads in the deceptively-glamorous quilt.

The show doesn't seem to be saying that people suffer and cause harm because of fight/flight us/them circumstances alone, but because of the deeper, invisible psychologies that have been shaped by our social contexts and that define our behaviors more than any of us would like to admit