Bloodline - S1E4 - Part Four
Previously on Bloodline, ‘Part Three’
Finally we have an episode of Bloodline that doesn’t open in the pouring rain with a voiceover! And I finally get some partial answers to the questions I’ve been asking. After three episodes of build-up we are FINALLY rewarded with a little more information. I have a feeling Part Four will be the episode that got the ball rolling on the rest of the season.
An Explosive Beginning
We open on the water, in the dark in a flashback. Two men are surveying the water with binoculars and asking about the Coast Guard in Spanish. We see below deck there are what I presume to be illegal immigrants looking worried and hot. As the camera pans around, we see our mystery burn/drowning victim alive and with both of her legs. Once the two above deck determine that they are not being pursued, they start the boat, put it in gear and bail out. The boat catches on fire and as the captives below deck attempt to escape through the locked hatch, the boat explodes. At least that is one question answered, even if it poses ten more.
In present day, John and Marco survey the front half of the ruined boat which has been towed to the marina. Kevin comes out (with a beer, and for some reason I assumed it was morning) and tells them the boat was definitely repurposed, but doesn’t provide much help, as usual. After some conversation, John asks Kevin if he’s going to help Danny with their father’s truck. After some complaining (again, as usual) he agrees to help.
Papa Rayburn is still in the hospital or a rehab facility, as he dozes in his wheelchair, he dreams of Sarah laughing and cartwheeling her way across their lawn. He startles awake as he gets a flash of young Danny silently screaming and waving. The silent flashbacks really help build both the mystery and the anticipation around them. As he jerks awake, we see Sally is sitting on a bench in front of him and he tells her that he wants to go home.
At the precinct, John and Marco discuss possible theories about the burned boat. The fuel from the boat matches the markers from the fuel they found on the floating corpse. After ruling out it was just a boating accident, they start tossing theories back and forth and Marco decides to check the burn units of the local hospitals to see if there are any other victims.
Papa Comes Home
As Robert packs his things to go home, Meg has him review his will again now that he is lucid. He is very agitated and tells her that he signed it in the ICU, nothing has changed, indicates he is finished discussing the issue. Being generally awful and not picking up on his clues, and also picking what could possibly be the worst time ever to cover her ass, Meg pushes and suggests that he should work things out with Danny. She then says she’ll file it if that’s what he wants and he yells, “Yes!” Then he grabs the will and tells her he’ll think about it.
Once Robert is settled at home, he and Sally dip their feet in the surf under the stars. Sally tells Robert about Danny saving him and Robert replies “That’s what they told me.” She then tells him about asking Danny to stay even though she knows he doesn’t want Danny there. He tells her whatever makes her happy is fine.
The next morning Danny picks up Robert’s slack yet again and rakes the beach. I am not sure if this a real thing that resorts do, but that has to be the worst job ever. That beach looked huge. Sally brings him a coffee and tells him the beach looks great and that Robert came home the previous night. Danny tells her he should probably go stay with John, and she assures him everything will be fine with him there at the inn.
Meg Gets More Car Sex
Elsewhere in the Keys, Meg and Alec are having more sex in the car. For as hot as everyone keeps saying that it is, why don’t they have the car running with the A/C going? Later in a meeting with Alec and his team, Meg informs them there is no way the locals will allow them to build a landing strip in order to accommodate the resort they want to build, so if that is a dealbreaker, she urges them to pull out of the project. She gives Alec a meaningful look like the future of a multimillion dollar project should rest on how good she is in the back of that car.
Men’s Day Out/Women’s Day In
Later, John’s son is playing in a baseball game as the other men of the family watch from the sideline. Danny starts making inappropriate comments about how if he’d looked like Ben (John’s son) he’d have pulled a lot more tail in high school. After some light ribbing between them all, Robert doses off and again dreams of Sarah, we learn the seahorse charm Danny imagined in the first episode belonged to Sarah. John wakes Robert up and he asks the score like it’s normal to sleep at your grandchild’s baseball game.
As the game is taking place, we flip flop between it and scenes of the ladies of the Rayburn family having an afternoon cocktail and catching up. Kevin’s wife is present, and apologizes to Sally for not visiting the hospital. Meg gives her a knowing look and then they all toast to Robert’s return home. As the afternoon passes, Meg tells Kevin’s wife that she knows what happened and that if she needs someone to talk to, she’s there for her.
John drops Robert off at the inn and asks if he remembers asking them to decide if Danny stays or goes before he had the stroke. Robert remembers and John admits that he lied to Danny and told him it was Robert’s idea not to let him stay. He apologizes to his Dad for lying. Robert seems nonplussed and responds, “Hell, we all lie.”
Kevin and Danny are at the marina working on the truck and Danny is getting frustrated at not being able to make it start. Kevin agrees to take a look at it while Danny returns to the inn to give the Welcome Tour. Kevin teases Danny about needing a shower before the tour and Danny rides off on his bike shouting playful insults back at Kevin.
If Meg Can Make It There, She’ll Make It Anywhere
Meg meets with Alec’s lady minion regarding the project and she informs Meg that he has decided to pull the project. She then offers Meg a job at her law firm in New York because she’s been impressed with her work. Meg says that she doesn’t care much about the law, but that she does like to help people, and she gets to do that here, and it’s also where her family is. The minion asks her to at least consider the offer and they chat over their meals like old friends.
Later Meg and Alec discuss the offer and he insists that he did not ask her to offer Meg a job. After assuring her that she was offered a job based on her own merits because they were all impressed with her talents, he asks her if she is interested in taking it and moving to New York.
A Break in the Case
John and Marco seem to have gotten a break in their exploded boat case. Marco tracked down the fuel to the station it was stolen from the previous week. A break for our boys in blue does not necessarily mean a break for Danny, but for now he’s safe… or is he? The owner of the property says that the security cameras on his building haven’t worked since he bought the place. Eagle-eye John, however, spots a security camera on the building next door pointed in their direction.
They review the footage back at the precinct and the images are very grainy and despite John’s desires, they cannot be sharpened because this show does not take place in the same realm of all other cops shows where things can magically be made crystal clear with the click of a button. They can make out two men, and since I know it’s Danny, I can see that it is Danny, but I am unsure that John picked up on that before the footage runs out.
Danny The Tour Guide
Danny is at the inn giving a welcome tour to some new arrivals. He’s doing a surprisingly good job for looking like a swamp rat 99% of the time. As he shows the family around the property, the two young girls spot some flowers growing out of a tree and they all venture over to see them. As Danny tells them that his mother is responsible for planting the flowers there, he notices Robert standing on the balcony above with his ever-present ukulele. He gets them to wave to “Papa Rayburn” and then continues on the tour.
As they walk away, Robert strums his ukulele absently and remembers Sarah. She runs up the beach in the sun and the image is interrupted by a boat breaking through the water toward the camera. We then get another quick glimpse of young Danny screaming Dad silently in the flashback.
Kevin Isn’t Having Your Shit
At the marina, Kevin approaches a twenty-something douchebag taking pictures of the marina and asks him what he’s doing back home. The kid tells him that he’s come home to help his mom list and sell the property. Kevin asks if they have had any interest and the douche tells him that there have been some developers looking to take over the property. Kevin states that he would like to also make an offer and the kid laughs in his face and asks him how he’s going to make an offer when he can barely keep afloat. Kevin tells him that he’s doing just fine as the douchecanoe walks away.
Back at the inn, Kevin pops in for a beer with Robert. As he chats with him, he tells Robert that he really missed him while he was in the hospital. Robert just listens as Kevin tells him that he thinks that Danny is doing a really good job and that Kevin believes he might have actually turned himself around this time. Robert promptly changes the subject to ask Kevin when he’s going to have a son. Kevin laughs it off and says, “We’re working on it.”
It’s Aliiiiiiiivvveeee
Later that evening, Kevin and Danny work together again on the truck. After some tweaking and fixing, the truck finally turns over and the two celebrate their success laughing and drinking. I loved that over the course of the episode Kevin started to come around to Danny when the entire series so far, he has basically been seething over Danny’s return. The next morning, we see that Danny slept in the back of the truck.
In the exploded boat department, a man doing some morning fishing off of a bridge spots another floating corpse that has obviously also suffered burns. Marco and John assume that the body is from the same boat and then finally determine that this was an immigration run gone bad. While this is happening, Eric O’Bannon gets a call from one of the men we saw on the boat at the beginning of the episode about another run. This man is Hispanic and has Justin Timberlake ramen noodle hair. He should be executed for that alone, much less for blowing up a boat full of innocent immigrants.
At the inn, Robert reviews his will at his desk before tossing it back into a drawer. He then takes his ukulele outside to the pier with him. He passes Danny getting the two girls from earlier set up for a snorkeling lesson. Danny jokes that they are scared to Robert and he says that he doesn’t blame them. Meg joins him on the dock and asks him if he’s made a decision regarding his will. He says he’s close and then plays her a little song and they share a nice Daddy/Daughter moment.
The Boys Go Joyriding
Later the boys all take a ride in the newly repaired truck. Robert drives as Danny rides shotgun. Kevin and John ride in the back of the truck and they cruise down the road have a grand time. Danny rides with his face to the open window, eyes closed and soaking up the moment. He smiles as they roll down the road.
Once they return, Robert tells Sally that he is going to meet the boys at the bar for a drink. Before leaving he asks her if she’s done any thinking about the will. She gets annoyed and tells him that she doesn’t want to discuss it because neither of them are dying and it’s not necessary. Robert leaves and meets Danny at the bar and informs him that Kevin and John won’t be joining them.
For Real This Time Danny… GTFO
At this part of the episode my unease with Robert became true dislike. Danny and Robert sit at a table with beers and Robert says he enjoys the fact that they can be straight with each other. Danny asks what is going on and Robert tells him that he wants Danny to go and never come back. Robert tells him that bad things seem to happen whenever he’s around.
Danny starts to argue, says he doesn’t want to leave, so is Robert kicking him out? Robert frantically replies, “I’m not!” Danny whispers back, “I’m your son,” in a hurt voice. Robert gives Danny a check and tells him to leave and get a new start. Danny says he is too old to start brand new and shoves the check back across the table. Robert seems confused and asks Danny if he wants the money.
At this point, Danny’s entire face and demeanor change. He says that this has turned into a negotiation and that the amount is not enough because he knows he’s not in the will. He tells Robert to show him what it’s worth for him to disappear. Robert yells, “I am showing you!” Danny once again tells him that it’s not enough and that he will leave for a price. Robert rips up the check and tells Danny to come up with a price and he will wire the money the next morning.
Danny holds out his hand to indicate that it’s a deal and Robert refuses to shake it. Danny springs forward and whispers forcefully, “You will never see my face again,” in Robert’s face and then storms off. Robert buries his face in his hands and we get another flashback of Sarah and Danny as kids. Robert is running up the beach with Sarah in his arms, she has obviously drowned and he is attempting to revive her as he yells for Danny to go get help. Young Danny scrambles toward the house as Robert returns his attention to Sarah. Back in current time, Robert scrubs his face with his hands and tosses the check into the reeds before the credits roll.
This episode has been the first that has engaged me further than just being interested in the backstory and characteristics of all of the members of the Rayburn family. This episode really had some interesting moments and some plot points that had me wanting to hit the button to play the next episode before the 20 second countdown from Netflix was up. Even though we did get a few answers this week, I am still left wondering:
- It seemed to me that the boat was purposefully blown up, but what could the benefit in that be?
- Where are all of the rest of the bodies? Did they make it out to sea or will they also come floating up in a day or so?
- Is it Danny’s fault that Sarah drowned?
- Is Meg going to leave the Rayburn clan behind and move to New York?
- Why does everyone in this family seem to be drinking whenever we see them?
- When is Kevin going to come clean to the rest of the family about his crumbling marriage?
- Will Danny actually attempt to leave?
My money is on the fact that Danny has no plans to leave even if his father pays him off. We already know that despite his best laid plans, this whole thing ends badly for him. I am really hoping we get some idea in Part Five about what Danny is doing/has done that is so bad. Join me this weekend as I recap Part Five we find out what happens with Danny after this standoff with his father.
