This seemed in its first two seasons to be a most promising show. Leading with Sam Shepard and Sissy Spacek as Robert and Sally Rayburn, it has a great cast, Ben Mendelsohn, Kyle Chandler, and Norbert Leo Butz particularly stand out, but there are no weak acting performances. The setting is the Florida Keys, and the story line taps into Southern Gothic elements and into the prime time soaps of the 80s such as Dallas and Flamingo Road to draw inspiration. Lots of long-buried but not forgotten family secrets and lies swirl around, creating intrigue, mystery, things that happened long ago, but still loom large.
We tend to like the John Rayburn character (played by Kyle Chandler) the best, but as the show progresses we can see his flaws and feet of clay. Indeed, every character in this show is fundamentally flawed. Probably the Chelsea character played by Chloë Sevigny is the best person in the story.
It appears as though show runners Glenn Kessler, Todd A. Kessler, and Daniel Zelman believed they had five or so seasons to tell the tale of the Rayburn family, and they plotted for it to unfold over that kind of time frame. The viewer could see where they wanted to go, into the secrets and lies of Robert (who, exactly, is Beth Mackey?), as well as the secrets and lies of Sally (what is her relationship with Roy Gilbert?). Lots of little Easter eggs hidden here and there to be returned to at a later time, but never done, because Netflix pulled the plug on the series before they could. There were so many threads and not enough time.
It's not too much different from what HBO did to David Milch with Deadwood, when HBO just pulled the plug. Milch never even tried to wrap it up, but here the show runners made a weak effort to wrap it, but then gave up trying. Too much to tell, and not enough time.
Watch it and enjoy it. it's good enough. it's just way too short and maddeningly incomplete. Attribute that to Netflix and their business decision.
We tend to like the John Rayburn character (played by Kyle Chandler) the best, but as the show progresses we can see his flaws and feet of clay. Indeed, every character in this show is fundamentally flawed. Probably the Chelsea character played by Chloë Sevigny is the best person in the story.
It appears as though show runners Glenn Kessler, Todd A. Kessler, and Daniel Zelman believed they had five or so seasons to tell the tale of the Rayburn family, and they plotted for it to unfold over that kind of time frame. The viewer could see where they wanted to go, into the secrets and lies of Robert (who, exactly, is Beth Mackey?), as well as the secrets and lies of Sally (what is her relationship with Roy Gilbert?). Lots of little Easter eggs hidden here and there to be returned to at a later time, but never done, because Netflix pulled the plug on the series before they could. There were so many threads and not enough time.
It's not too much different from what HBO did to David Milch with Deadwood, when HBO just pulled the plug. Milch never even tried to wrap it up, but here the show runners made a weak effort to wrap it, but then gave up trying. Too much to tell, and not enough time.
Watch it and enjoy it. it's good enough. it's just way too short and maddeningly incomplete. Attribute that to Netflix and their business decision.