Bloodline (season 2)

It is quite fitting that Bloodline, a show about the influential Rayburn family being torn apart by its ostracised eldest son, also happens to be the black sheep of the Netflix original series. It might be rooted more in soap opera territory, but it’s not as bingeworthy as its more high profile counterparts like House of Cards or Orange is the New Black, nor does it boast their whip-smart writing and satirical streak.

Yet season 1 proved to be a slow burner – a family noir that crept under your skin, set against the lush backdrop of the Florida Keys. Giving said creeps in a mesmerising performance was Ben Mendelsohn as Danny Rayburn, the afore-mentioned runt, whose misdeeds and machinations led to the twisted finale that was heavily foreshadowed throughout the thirteen episode run.

However, the disposal of the series’ most vital player at the end of the first season means the second has a big void to fill. The show’s creators appear all too aware of this. In fact, the biggest criticism that can be levelled at Bloodline’s second run is that it still relies a little too heavily on Mendelsohn in the form of tenuous flashbacks. This is unfair on the rest of the cast, especially when there are enough talented actors playing characters that easily rival Danny in the screw-up stakes.

If “we’re not bad people, but we did a bad thing” was the first season’s tagline, then season 2 goes to substantial lengths to prove that the Rayburns are in fact very bad people. Sissy Spacek’s matriarch feebly tries to make up for past failures by bringing in more estranged family members (or are they?), Norbert Leo Butz’s aimless, coked-up Kevin is the last person who should be having kids right now, while Linda Cardellini’s Megan uses her legal acumen to ruthlessly take down external threats to the Rayburn well-being.

Top of the bunch is Kyle Chandler as John Rayburn, the erstwhile moral compass of the show, now hopelessly spinning out of control. Chandler makes John’s transition from straight-laced citizen to accidental criminal wholly believable and the season’s best scenes are the ones where he is visibly struggling to hold it all together.

The final episode’s rather abrupt ending hints at difficulties in the screenwriters’ room, but the renewal for a third season means there are hopes that all loose ends will be convincingly tied up. Black sheep? Scrappy underdog, more like.

3/5

Orange is the New Black (season 4)

Hardcore fans might argue that OITNB is a series that defies genre but truth be told, the team at Netflix have often struggled with finding the right balance between tragic comedy and tongue-in-cheek prison drama (just look at its list of Emmy awards and nominations for proof). Here’s to season 4 then, easily the show’s best so far and the one that finally manages to address the equilibrium.

Not many shows would put a humorous spin on a body dismemberment scene to the sound of a Papa Roach tune, but OITNB does just that in episode one. The laughable panty-smuggling storyline from season 3 gradually grows into a tense, more scarring subplot. And the bumbling guards from previous seasons are swiftly replaced with dangerously aggressive war veterans, who are responsible for the season’s darker developments.

But what OITNB excels at is fleshing out its large ensemble of vibrant characters. The show’s always been something of an equal opportunities employer, meaning that actors in walk-on roles eventually get the chance to shine in their own episode. Even Taylor Schilling’s Piper Chapman, usually the most tedious inmate of the bunch despite being the closest we get to a protagonist, goes through one hell of a narrative arc.

The latest residents at Lichfield also get a look in, especially Captain Piscatella, an imposing man-mountain that could’ve easily turned out to be a one note villain, but instead feels like a fully-rounded individual thanks to clever writing. In a rather more controversial move, the show dares us to buy into a renewed relationship between a one-time rapist and his victim – the fact that you never quite know whether you should be enamoured or disturbed by this is a testament to the creative talent involved.   

And then there’s the ending. To give away details would mean to deprive you from a viewing experience that ranges from distressing to bittersweet over the course of two impeccably paced episodes. By the time the season ends on a nail-biting cliffhanger, OITNB feels like it has finally become the complex dramedy it was always meant to be. Season 5 has a lot to live up to.

5/5

Ghostbusters

No one’s arguing that Ivan Reitman’s Ghostbusters needed a makeover. Hollywood is facing a serious shortage of creative ideas that shows no sign of stopping any time soon and Paul Feig’s attempt to remake a beloved ‘80s movie is yet further proof of this theory. Thank Zuul then that this oestrogen-driven vehicle is surprisingly good fun and far more entertaining than some of the male-dominated blockbusters we’ve had to endure of late. The gags are snappy, the bustin’ is zany, all while paying respectful homage to the original movie and even its animated series. It’s far from becoming a classic, but the four seriously funny leads have earned their jumpsuits and the keys to that all too familiar firehouse building.

 4/5