The Waterfront review – this Dawson's Creek for grownups is perfect summer nonsense

The Guardian

4 hours ago

Do you miss Dawson's Creek now that you're all grown up? Kevin Williamson sees you. And he has reinvented his late-90s/early-00s tale of a close knit community round a watery area for an adult market. Not adult-adult, you understand – we're talking drug-running and crumbling family empire rather than sauce – but the main ingredients of his first TV hit are all here. Namely, masses of plot and some lightly sketched characters to keep it moving swiftly enough that nobody has time to stop and say 'Hang on, fellas – I simply don't believe a word of this!' Those of us who sat through several young women choosing Dawson over Pacey are only here for the second part of the phrase 'credible drama'.
The Buckleys and their fleet have long dominated the small fishing town of Havenport, North Carolina. They are rich and troubled. More so the latter as they become less of the former because business is getting tougher and mighty patriarch Harlan (Holt McCallany, charismatic, humourless) took his hand off the tiller to have two heart attacks and left his inadequate son Cane (Jake Weary, uncharismatic, humourless) to run things for a bit. Cane decided the best way to do this was to start shifting illegal narcotics for wodges of cash and an unseen gangster called Owen. Alas, we open with a set of Cane's smuggling crewmen being offed by a gang of armed men, and Owen's $10m shipment going missing. Cane asks his cousin Lynette (Bethany DeZelle), at whatever the nautical equivalent of the DVLA, North Carolinian office is, to amend some paperwork to say that he sold the murder boat three months ago. I am sure this is a foolproof cover and that nothing will escalate.
The Drug Enforcement Administration descends – but the family is so steeped in internecine warfare that they hardly notice. Harlan returns to the office to beat the living daylights out of Cane and advise the clan that the problem lies not in drug smuggling but in not drug smuggling enough. They need to cut the middle men out of the picture and take hold of the supply line themselves. OK, grizzled boomer.
Cane's mother, Belle (Maria Bello), is secretly cutting a deal to sell a stretch of Buckley land to a developer. But! This stretch of land is sacred to the memory of Harlan's late mother, and he won't be grizzly pleased when he finds out. And! The developer wants to develop Belle's site too, if ya know what I mean. She is considering the offer.
Meanwhile! Cane's sister Bree (Supergirl's Melissa Benoist, flying here too – albeit metaphorically – and, like Bello, improving the show with every scene she is in) has been given a job in the family bar and restaurant after rehab for alcohol and pill addiction. She is keen to get back to proper work but the Buckleys don't think she is ready. She has also lost custody of her son, Diller (Brady Hepner) to her cruddy ex-husband and is trying to repair their relationship on the boy's weekend visits. Unfortunately, Diller is unforgiving of her catalogue of sins – which I suspect goes back to naming him 'Diller' – and progress is slow. Harlan gives Diller a job in the restaurant, putting Bree in near-permanent breach of a court order to stay 300 feet away from anyone she has nomenclaturally abused since infancy, so, you know, that's a worry.
Meanwhile, again! On top of the multimillion dollar drug debt, Cane is tormented by the return of his first love/high school sweetheart/soulmate, who is a totally differently pretty brunette from his wife and also married. His wife is called Peyton (Danielle Campbell) and his former girlfriend is called Jenna (Humberly González). That's really all there is to say about them.
Twists and reveals come thick and fast. You'll never guess who Bree is seeing on the down-low, or where they met! You'll never guess which character played by an established character actor whose part initially seems too small for him turns out to be a double-crossing major player in the whole caboodle! You'll never guess how efficient and uninspiring the script is! You'll never guess which issues it nods towards so you don't feel like you're entirely wasting your time! Toxic masculinity, generational trauma, the father-son bond, class divides and the problems of the one per cent in a coastal location? Oh, you CAN guess – well done!
You get the idea. It is escapist summer nonsense with – God, I hope – no pretensions to being otherwise. Dive into the adult creek and wallow in nostalgia as the waves of absurdity sweep towards shore.
The Waterfront is on Netflix now.