Bloodline - New Netflix Show

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Deesky, Mar 22, 2015.

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  1. Part of it is the narrative not being linear for portions and the way they choose to tell the story. The folks from "Damages" used a similar approach.

    I've enjoyed the final season but the hated the "Groundhog Day" styled episode. It was boring and didn't move the narrative forward to me.
     
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  2. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yes, I agree and I have raved about it from the very start. It's an excellent character study with strong performances by all the leads. Part of the problem I think was that it wasn't well advertised at the outset, so not many people were aware of it. Also, S2 wasn't as strong as S1 as at times it felt like the show wasn't totally sure where to go after the death of Danny, but boy did it find its feet in the latter part of S2!

    That's said. Do you know why they wouldn't ever bother trying it? I suspect it might be because they assume it's going to be a slow, soapy type thing with no 'action' so they just move on. But slow doesn't mean boring, certainly in this case. This show has always been great at ramping up the tension until something finally breaks and the consequences lead in unexpected directions.
     
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  3. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    2 people who I knew loved Damages didn't like the first episode and were never interested in it again. They're both female and I think that might have something to do with why they loved Damages but didn't like Bloodline. They loved the 2 main women from Damages. And I don't think they could handle the domestic arguments and fights on the first episode. It was just too dark overall for them.
    With friends who didn't give it a chance yet I think it's because, like you said, they assume it's going to be slow and boring.
     
  4. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I find that really funny. They didn't like Bloodline because of family arguments which apparently made it 'too dark', but loved Damages which had some really gruesome scenes and themes!

    I also liked Damages, though it did lose steam fast after the first season.
     
  5. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    They both left the room during the first episode. I asked them both tonight and neither and neither remembered why or cared. I don't get it.

    The thing about the Florida tax exemption really annoys me though. Here in BC there's so much crap being filmed everywhere with all the tax breaks and weak Canadian dollar.
     
  6. BLUESJAZZMAN

    BLUESJAZZMAN I Love Blues, Jazz, Rock, My Son & Honest People

    Location:
    Essex , England.
    I agree. If you look at some of the overrated crap that is currently doing the rounds, Bloodline stands head and shoulders above most of the rest. It's almost a classic. Murder/Mystery/Suspence. The only problem I can see that it may have encountered is that a lot of of the viewing public will make a decision after the first 3 or 4 episodes. As much as I love Bloodline I must admit that it is a really slow burner and can see how some viewers may have switched off. For me it was never a problem but I can see how it might have hit the ratings.
     
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  7. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    The 9th episode I found frustrating due to exactly what you stated: it didn't push the narrative and when it's a penultimate episode it kind of left me a bit worried. Are they going to wrap this up sufficiently? Is there time ?

    I thought it ended well. Ben Mendolsohn has talked that there might be a movie or a 4th season if some other streaming service picks the show up but I wouldn't hold my breath. I'm going to miss this show. It was very powerful and had great performances.
     
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  8. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yeah. The last four eps kind of took a detour into the twilight zone. There were some good moments there, but overall I think they dropped the ball.

    After the trial, it seemed like they started another season with the drug running subplot and the various hallucinations/guilt trips. Also Meg leaving like that left a big hole in the family dynamic and I have NFI what the whole Ozzy Delvecchio plot was about?!

    I would have much preferred if they carried trough the dynamic of the first half of the season with a cat and mouse approach between the police investigators/prosecutors and the Rayburns. Still, pretty decent, but it could have had a stronger ending.
     
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  9. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I honestly think that with the show being cancelled and the season truncated from 13 to 10 episodes, they had to make some writing decisions on some characters that probably would have had more defined plot arcs if the show could have continued.

    The Delvecchio thing just seemed like they couldn't figure out what to do with him so he just became this kind of weird soothsayer guy. His exiting the show the way he did made little sense (his presence in show itself really didn't make much sense; what was he doing?). Also, I absolutely agree that having Meg leave for almost the entire series was a bit bizarre. It left most of the heavy lifting to Chandler (which he pulled off well) but there were definitely some major plot holes and plot logic at the end. I think things just got too rushed in terms of trying to finish it up.
     
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  10. BEAThoven

    BEAThoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I enjoyed the first few episodes of this season, but... Meg is written out with a "five months later," a reference to "so sorry that Meg drowned at sea," and the the family just vaguely referring to it as though it had no consequence or no lasting emotional impact?

    It feels as though the creators filmed a lot more storyline thinking there would be many more episodes, but had to either sloppily edit to fit an abbreviated season or collapse storylines that were supposed to be spread over more seasons.
     
  11. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    I don't think it's ever assumed Meg "drowned". She is just presumed to have left and no one knows where she is; hence Sally getting the call and believing it's Meg on the line though nothing is heard. She also becomes a suspect in Marco's murder due to her absence but if she drowned it would be a moot point as she's dead.
     
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  12. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I hear you, but I don't think that was case. IIRC at the end of S2 no one knew if there would be a S3 for some time, so no work/filming would have taken place until S3 was approved. And when it was approved, they knew they had ten eps, so they had plenty of time to plan the season out. I mean, somewhere in the middle, ep4/5, there was plenty of draggy material that could easily have been trimmed to benefit flow and to allow more time for a better constructed story to play out.

    I think they just didn't know how to wrap things up and so spent time on diversions like Ozzy and even Roy (and his heart attack, wtf?), tooth infections, extended guilt trips, old friends we never saw before coming back to visit, etc. First 60% of the season 9/10, last 40%, 4/10.
     
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  13. modrevolve

    modrevolve Forum Resident

    So in the end, I guess everyone got what they deserved?
     
  14. Yeah I agree with you but it's possible that they had a number of story arcs over further planned seasons they were going to do and felt that they needed to resolve them as quickly as possible to pull the strands together for the last episode. Even if episodes were dragging, that doesn't mean they hadn't planned for that episode--the writing for the episode sometimes turns out different when it actually is produced. Sometimes you don't know until you finish the episode that it just didn't work and you're only budgeted a certain amount per episode. By the time they found out it wasn't going to work, the episode could have been in the can.
     
  15. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    Yeah, I didn't even really understand the whole John drowning during the scuba thing. It was clear there wasn't anyone with him when the incident happened. How was he saved? Was he hallucinating? Wasn't that Sarah's seahorse necklace that he was going after and dropped it? But we're to understand that Mike saved him? But he's nowhere to be seen in the scene and we never see him again afterwards? Why bring up the tooth thing with Kevin? It had zero to do with anything other than to show us Kevin has used a lot of cocaine in the past and has been under stress? It established nothing and was not brought up again.

    Then we get to the whole trial thing. The Rayburns are going to be able to just flat railroad Eric O'Bannon into taking a plea deal for 30 years? The evidence and testimony isn't going to show that there's reasonable doubt that he might have committed the murder? Aguirre knew a lot of what Marco knew and he doesn't come forward with any of it? He lets John walk after John's confession? Does someone that has committed a murder on a police office get a 30 year plea deal and, if so, do they get to go out on the road and do a work detail? Is that something that would happen?

    Too much stuff that doesn't make sense here or is left unresolved. I agree that the last half of this series was not done well at all.
     
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  16. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
    The free-diving stuff completely lost me as well.

    And why did Ozzy do what he did at the end? That made no sense to me. I really like the part in the first episode when he was getting taken for a drive and ended up killing the guy.
     
  17. Luckless Pedestrian

    Luckless Pedestrian Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    S3 ends with a whimper after the bang of S2. What a train wreck! So many questions, so many WTF moments, as has been pointed out. Episode 9 was such a disappointment, a dull and plodding failure; all the momentum was gone after that.

    So this keeps bugging me, wasn't John running for sheriff against Aguire in S2, whatever happened with that? I was expecting Aguire to be a big factor this season since he became a bitter enemy of John in S2; But Aguire just disappears after aggressively questioning Kevin in the hospital, then retires & lets John skate?

    Also, Roy seemed to be maliciously using and setting up Kevin since they became "partners" in S2 ... so how was Kevin suddenly "like a son to him" just before he drops dead???
     
  18. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I think it was just used as a fakeout. You know, an out of the blue condition that would potentially affect Kevin's believability on the stand (which never happened). They further fueled the fakeout with hints that Kevin might relapse into drinking again or abuse painkillers to mask his pain - but, nope, it never played out like that. It just came across as a cheap tactic.

    There were other such fakeouts, like the time O'Bannon gets a nosebleed in the police truck. What was the point of that? Or the fakeout with the slow moving truck and being assassinated when the steps out.

    Also, Aguirre in just about every scene comes across as being suspicious about the various Rayburns' accounts of what happened and their alibi's, including the fakeout scene with John's visiting buddy, Mike, meeting with Aguirre handing off documents.

    Very poor form there. It's clear they didn't have vision how to end this thing.
     
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  19. BEAThoven

    BEAThoven Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I'm trying my best to be diplomatic here, but... man... the ladyfriend and I just watched episode 8... I feel this series is just trading on red herrings and twists now... the "dramatic" now trumps any clever or intriguing story lines... these characters moves are just not adding up... If you told me there were three sub-episodes between episode 7 and episode 8, that would make more sense...

    Kevin is a "son" to Roy?
    Ozzy commits suicide in the back of the car... because of his "visions"?
    Mike just shows back up in town to kiss John's ex-wife and do "something" with Aguierre?

    Man, Netflix lost its Florida tax credits and we, the audience, lost all sympathy for any of the Rayburn's cover-ups and characters.
     
  20. Deesky

    Deesky Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Yeah, the mind is boggled. I read an interview with the showrunner about the last season and he said that they had five/six seasons planned out but when they learned this would be the final season, they, inexplicably, decided to shoehorn in those themes into the final season while still initially maintaining continuity with S2. Madness! No wonder if felt like they started another season half way through S3 and no wonder the back half of the episodes made no sense.
     
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  21. Humbuster

    Humbuster Staff Emeritus

    Agreed. Really liked this series, and the first half of Season 3, but the last half just felt "out there".
     
  22. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    The thing with Mike kissing Diana was a flashback. That happened several years before the present time of the show.
     
  23. GodShifter

    GodShifter Forum Member

    Location:
    Dallas, TX, USA
    The slow moving truck thing was orchestrated by John so Eric would not show up for his mother's funeral. If he had, he would have been assassinated (hence we see him being shot down in a 'this would have been his future had he showed up'). Remember when Chelsea remarks that there was a van of "news reporters" that she chased off? Those were the assassins sent by Roy to kill Eric had he shown up. John effectively thwarted the assassination by having the police van not make it to the funeral. The nose bleed thing made no sense whatsoever. I have no idea what that was about.
     
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  24. Brenald79

    Brenald79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Canada
  25. hbbfam

    hbbfam Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chandler,AZ
    (A) we started season three last night
    (B) Glad I stopped reading these posts on the last page
    (C) Since none of you thought to do the 'spoiler alert' I will have to avoid this thread for coming weeks.
     
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