On Screen: “The Waterfront”
The Waterfront
Watching Kevin Williamson’s crime drama “The Waterfront” inevitably evokes memories of “Ozark” in which a Chicago accountant (Jason Bateman) skimmed money from a Mexican drug cartel and was forced to flee with his dysfunctional family to the Ozarks.
In “The Waterfront,” mounting debt caused by “overfished waters, environmental quotas, gas prices” forces the Buckleys, a prominent coastal Havenport fishing family, to return to their shady drug-running past.
As their saga begins, a cocaine hand-off at sea goes sour, resulting in the death of the trawler’s crew who were working for Cane Buckley (Jake Weary). Cane has been running the family’s seafood operations while his womanizing, whiskey-drenched father Harlan (Holt McCallany) recovers from another heart attack.
Cane’s mother Belle (Maria Bello) manages their fish house restaurant, while his estranged, recovering-addict sister Bree (Melissa Benoist) — who burned down the house and lost custody of her sulky teenage son Diller (Brady Hepner) — has hooked up with hunky DEA Agent Marcus Sanchez (Gerardo Celasco) whom she met in rehab.
Gruff, patriarchal Harlan smuggled drugs for years — like his father before him. But Cane’s gone straight — until the Buckleys face financial failure and must deal with corrupt Sheriff Clyde Porter (Michael Gaston) and diabolical, deranged drug kingpin Grady (Topher Grace) to preserve their legacy.
Complicating matters, shrewd Belle is suspicious of recently hired bartender (Rafael L. Silver), whose references don’t check out, and plans to sell Harlan’s prime waterfront property to a real estate developer (Dave Annable).
Meanwhile, Cane’s coping with unresolved feelings for his high school sweetheart (Humberly Gonzalez), much to the distress of his wife (Danielle Campbell).
Creator of “Scream,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Vampire Diaries,” showrunner Kevin Williamson juggles innumerable instances of Southern gothic deception, betrayal and graphic torture.
Filming in Wilmington and Southport, he based the series concept on true events and familial experiences in North Carolina’s fishing industry.
Problem is: there’s little urgency to the soapy plot, the dialogue is stilted, and the superficial characters never really develop beyond first impressions.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Waterfront” hooks you with a fishy 5. All eight episodes are streaming on Netflix.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.