Bloodline (Season 3)
It seems that Bloodline is a show that somehow divides audiences. It’s never been a ‘flagship’ series for Netflix in the way that House Of Cards or Orange Is The New Black has been, and it’s not an inclusive production, by any means. Only one of its 33 episodes has been directed by a woman, and only three women writers have ever been employed by the show. But, this is a tour de force by cast members Kyle Chandler, Ben Mendelsohn, Linda Cardellini, Norbert Leo Butz and Sissy Spacek.
Bloodline is the very definition of the term ‘slow burn TV,’ with its many twists and turns unfolding at a carefully measured, deliberate pace. Season 1 introduced us to the Rayburn family – pillars of the community in Islamorada in the Florida Keys, and owners of the holiday resort, the Rayburn House. Sally (Sissy Spacek) and Robert (Sam Shepherd) are parents to the Rayburn siblings. The eldest, Danny (Ben Mendelsohn) is the troubled ‘black sheep’ who moved away; the second-eldest, John (Kyle Chandler) is a respected local police detective; the youngest son, Kevin, (Norbert Leo Butz) runs a local boat workshop; and the youngest daughter, Meg (Linda Cardellini) is a lawyer. Each has their own lives, but remains connected to the family.
It’s through the roles they play within the family that their characters are revealed, as their eldest brother Danny returns home for a family celebration at the beginning of season 1. As those initial 13 episodes gradually unfold, we realize that none of these Rayburns are the upstanding citizens their community believes them to be. Long-buried, dark secrets rise to surface, causing the simmering tension to bubble over in unexpected and disturbing ways, and eventually, violence erupts. Season 2 deals with the aftermath of that violence, as figures from Danny’s past arrive in Islamorada and rock the boat even more vigorously. The show then becomes about the Rayburn siblings’ desperate attempts to preserve their fragile status quo, amid more unsettling revelations and violence.
This third season takes the Rayburn family in a very different direction, however, possibly because the creators – Glenn Kessler, Todd Kessler and Daniel Zelman – were writing from the knowledge of this being Bloodline’s last hurrah, after the announcement of its cancellation. The opening episode picks up right where season 2 left off – with John Rayburn fleeing the Florida Keys. The almost ethereal tone these first moments strike really lays the foundation for the rest of the season – which is essentially a portrait of a man watching his carefully manufactured reality crumble around him as a result of his own actions.
This is the crux of Bloodline’s third season – where season 1 floored us with an absolutely towering Kyle Chandler performance, and season 2 had that character tugging dangerously at his ‘good guy’ mask, season 3 is a study in character deconstruction. Chandler gives us a John Rayburn who’s circling the drain and has alienated everyone he might once have called upon for understanding. As his family continues to fracture, John loses his grip on everything – including reality. This gives rise to what is possibly the most divisive episode – the penultimate of the series – in which a hospitalized John experiences an almost Groundhog-Day-like psychosis.
While some viewers felt this to be a bizarre ‘filler’ episode, this is the kind of bold narrative move taken by a show that knows it’s ending. As Bloodline has consistently tugged at our consciousness like the Islamorada tide, so too has Kyle Chandler crafted a performance – ending in season 3 – that is worthy of repeated viewing.