So the story starts with this family called the Buckleys who runs a fishing business in North Carolina, but they're also secretly smuggling drugs. The dad, Harlan, comes back to town after being sick and finds out his son Cane has completely messed up their drug operation. Three guys are dead, and someone stole a boat full of cocaine worth a fortune. Right from the first episode, you know this family is in deep trouble.
What makes it really complicated is that every single person in this family has secrets. The daughter Bree is actually working with the DEA because she's angry at her brother Cane for making her lose custody of her kid. The mom Belle is having an affair with some real estate guy named Wes while trying to save their family land from being foreclosed on. And Cane's ex-girlfriend shows up in town, which makes his current wife Peyton jealous and angry.
The first episode ends with this corrupt sheriff named Porter basically threatening the family and almost setting Peyton (Cane's wife) on fire in public. That's when you realize this isn't just about drugs - there's this whole web of corruption and violence in their small town.
As the story goes on, we learn that the Buckleys have been dealing with this crime boss named Grady, who is played by Topher Grace. Now, Topher Grace is usually in comedies, so seeing him try to be this scary drug lord is really weird. He's supposed to be terrifying but he just comes off as ridiculous most of the time. Grady wants the Buckleys to handle way more drugs than they can manage, and he's completely psychotic about it.
The violence in this show escalates really quickly. Harlan ends up killing Sheriff Porter with a screwdriver to the head, which is supposed to mirror how Harlan's own father was murdered years ago. The show keeps doing these parallels where the past repeats itself, but it's not subtle about it at all. Belle, who seemed like just a worried mom at first, turns out to be really good at helping cover up murders and disposing of bodies. She's actually scarier than her husband in some ways.
There's also this subplot about Harlan having a secret son named Shawn from an affair years ago. Shawn just graduated law school and comes to town not knowing who his real father is. Belle figures it out and keeps the secret until she finally tells Harlan near the end. It's one of those twists that's supposed to be emotional but feels kind of thrown in there.
The family keeps getting pulled deeper into this criminal world. Bree, who's been sober, starts using drugs again and almost overdoses. She's been working with this DEA agent Marcus, but their relationship gets really messy because she's attracted to him and he's supposed to be investigating her family. The whole thing becomes this weird mix of crime drama and soap opera romance.
Meanwhile, the bank is about to foreclose on their land, and Belle is desperately trying to make deals to save it. The real estate guy Wes, who she's been sleeping with, ends up being the one who buys their mortgage and threatens to take everything away. So Belle's affair doesn't just complicate her marriage - it threatens to destroy their entire livelihood.
The show introduces this other criminal family called the Parkers, led by this guy Jeb Parker who's played by Giancarlo Esposito. Turns out Jeb is the one who ordered the murder of Harlan's father decades ago, so there's this whole generational revenge thing happening. The Parkers offer to help the Buckleys deal with Grady, but only if they agree to work for them for a year. It's basically trading one crime boss for another.
Everything builds up to this big confrontation on boats out in the ocean. Grady kidnaps Bree and her young son Diller, and Harlan has to go rescue them. There's this whole action sequence where Cane and his half-brother Shawn sneak onto Grady's yacht to plant explosives. Grady shoots Bree in the leg and throws her overboard, but she survives by grabbing onto a life raft that her son had secretly prepared.
The climax has Cane finally shooting and killing Grady, and the whole family comes together to save Bree. It's supposed to be this triumphant moment where they've defeated their enemy and saved their family, but it doesn't feel earned because the writing has been so messy throughout the whole series.
Now let me tell you what I actually think about all this. The show looks absolutely beautiful. The coastal North Carolina setting is gorgeous, with all these shots of boats and docks and ocean views. Every scene feels sunny and warm, which creates this weird contrast with all the violence and crime happening.
The acting is really uneven. Holt McCallany, who plays Harlan, is genuinely good. He makes you believe he's this tough guy who's also a loving father trying to protect his family. Maria Bello as Belle is also strong - she makes this character who could have been just a worried mom into someone who's actually the most dangerous person in the family. When she's on screen, you can see her calculating and planning even when she's pretending to be innocent.
Melissa Benoist does well as Bree, especially in the scenes where she's dealing with addiction and trauma. You can feel her pain when she talks about losing her son, and her anger at her brother feels real and justified.
But then there are performances that are just awful. Topher Grace as Grady is the biggest problem. He's supposed to be this terrifying crime boss, but he comes across like a kid playing dress-up. When he's threatening people or being violent, it's almost funny instead of scary. The show tries to make him quirky and unpredictable, but he just seems like a cartoon character.
A lot of the supporting actors are really stiff and unnatural. They deliver their lines like they're reading from a script, and many of them can't do convincing Southern accents. It's distracting when you're supposed to believe these people have lived in North Carolina their whole lives but they sound like they're from anywhere else.
The writing is where the show really falls apart. The dialogue is terrible - characters constantly explain their motivations out loud instead of showing them through their actions. Someone will literally say something like "I have to protect my family" or "I can't let them destroy us" instead of just doing things that show us how they feel. It's like the writers don't trust the audience to understand what's happening.
The plot moves way too fast and crams too much drama into each episode. Every episode has to have a shooting, a betrayal, a secret revealed, and a romantic complication. It's exhausting to watch because nothing has time to breathe or feel natural. Characters make huge decisions based on things that just happened five minutes ago, and their relationships change completely from one scene to the next.
The show also has this problem where it can't decide what tone it wants. One minute it's trying to be a serious crime drama like "Ozark" and the next minute it's like a soap opera with all these romantic triangles and family secrets. Then it tries to be an action movie with shootouts and explosions. None of these elements work together - they just clash and make the whole thing feel messy.
The violence is really over the top and often pointless. There are so many scenes where someone gets shot in the head in slow motion, and after a while it stops being shocking and just becomes ridiculous. It feels like the show is trying to be edgy and mature by showing all this blood and death, but it's actually kind of juvenile.
What's frustrating is that there are good ideas buried in here. The concept of a family fishing business being used as a front for drug smuggling is interesting. The setting is perfect for this kind of story. The idea of exploring how violence and crime affect multiple generations of a family could be really compelling. But the execution is so sloppy that these good ideas get lost.
The show obviously wants to be like "Ozark" or "Bloodline" or "Yellowstone" but it doesn't understand what made those shows work. Those shows took time to develop their characters and build tension slowly. They had complex moral situations where you could understand why characters made bad choices. "The Waterfront" just throws a bunch of crime movie clichés together and hopes they'll stick.
I kept watching because I wanted to see how it would end, but I was pretty disappointed by the time I got there. The finale tries to wrap everything up, but it doesn't feel satisfying because the journey there was so chaotic. The family comes together and defeats their enemies, but I didn't really care because I never fully believed in their relationships or their struggles.
The show seems to think it's deep because it deals with family loyalty and generational trauma, but it's actually pretty shallow. It touches on these themes without really exploring them. For example, the parallel between Harlan's father being murdered and Harlan killing Porter could have been really meaningful, but the show just points it out and moves on without digging into what it means.
It's pretty to look at and there's always something dramatic happening, so it's not boring. But if you want a crime drama that's actually well written and thoughtful, you'll probably be frustrated.
The show has found an audience of people who enjoy it as a guilty pleasure, and I can understand that. There's something appealing about watching beautiful people make terrible decisions in a gorgeous setting. But I wish it had been better because the potential was definitely there.
Netflix will probably renew 'The Waterfront' for a second season since it's been sitting at number one on the Global Top 10. The show's success proves that sometimes flashy visuals and melodramatic family drama can overcome weak writing and questionable acting choices. While critics and viewers are divided, the numbers don't lie - people are watching, even if they're not always enjoying what they see. A second season could either fix the show's problems or double down on what makes it a guilty pleasure.
Watch on Netflix