This post contains spoilers from The Waterfront season 1 episode 1 from this point forward.
Netflix's gritty drama series The Waterfront might be about the Buckley family, but the opening scene takes us to a ship featuring The Vampire Diaries alums Matthew Davis and Zach Roerig getting held a gunpoint. Curtis (Davis) and Troy (Roerig) are both knocked out, wrapped in a large fishing net, and thrown overboard the ship. Before they're tossed over, one of them begs for their lives, but it's no use. This will come back to haunt the Buckleys... and it does very, very quickly!
The next morning, Cane Buckley (Jake Weary) anxiously text messages Curtis and Troy but receives no response. He tries to put his concerns aside while having dinner with his daughter Savannah (Billie Roy) and wife Peyton (Danielle Campbell). He rushes out the door of their luxury North Carolina home and arrives at the site of a shipwreck. DEA Agent Marcus Sanchez (Gerardo Celasco) arrives on the scene, too. His fellow agent didn't find any contraband and the crew was presumed to have drowned.
The kicker? The boat's registered to Cane, who's the son of Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany), the owner of the Havenport fishery. They are a powerful family in this town, and now suspects in this mess. Meanwhile, Harlan wakes up in a bed with a woman that's not his wife by his side and has a heart attack. Belle Buckley (Mario Bello) meets her husband at the hospital. When he learns about the shipwreck, he rips off his monitors and leaves. Cane's already attempting to change the boat's ownership to Curtis.
Cane was running drugs and landed the Buckleys in debt
When Cane and Belle connect, we learn that Harlan didn't actually have a heart attack this time, but he might when Cane finally tells him what's been going on with their empire while he has been recovering from previous heart troubles. Cane seems to have some animosity toward his sister Bree (Melissa Benoist), who we meet while she makes an appearance at her teenage son Diller's (Brady Hepner) swim meet. She lost custody and needs court permission to see him, which her ex Rodney (Joshua Mikel) reminds her.
Cane arrives at the docks, where Bree pulls him aside to speak with Marcus. He's asking questions about the boat, Miss Glory. Cane lies about selling the boat to Curtis months ago to save his own butt. Marcus doesn't get what he was after and leaves, and Bree knows that Cane was lying, but he doubles down on his lie. It's unclear if she actually believes him. Probably not, because they hate each other. Cane rushes up to his office and is immediately met with a punch in the face from his father.
Harlan isn't thrilled with the state of their business, and for good reason. As Cane gets a talking to from his dad, Bree breaks in the new bartender at the restaurant. Shawn (Rafael L. Silva) moved to town from Texas, claiming that he has "family" in the area. Hmm... Bree steps aside to speak with her mother about moving back up to the office for more responsibility with the business' finances, but Belle isn't keen on giving Bree that role. Why isn't anyone willing to give Bree a second chance? What did she do?
Back at the office Bree's so desperate to work in, Harlan pushes Cane to admit that he sanctioned three drug runs with the Miss Glory. That put them in this situation. Didn't he watch Breaking Bad, Ozark, Good Girls, really any show about drugs and money to know that it never ends well? Cane's talking about $10 million, and whether that's the price of the drugs he ran or their total debt, either way, they are screwed. Harlan instructs him to cut ties with Hoyt Piper (Scott Deckert), but again, it's never that easy.
A surprise death and two surprising alliances
Keeping his word, Cane meets with Hoyt. The second he docks his boat and steps onto the dock, Hoyt points a gun at him and forces his to remove his clothes to prove he isn't wearing a wire. Hoyt graciously tells Cane he can keep his underwear on, but he isn't wearing any. Cane strips down naked to make his point. Once that's settled, Hoyt reveals that someone named Owen thinks Cane did this to the Miss Glory. (Honestly, we're only 20 minutes into the show and I know Cane isn't bright enough to pull off a scheme.)
Harlan forces Shawn to pour him a drink, in spite of Belle and Bree's instruction otherwise, and receives a visit from Sheriff Clyde Porter (Michael Gaston). Trouble is closing in on the Buckleys from all sides. While poking around the boat docks, Cane runs into his high school girlfriend Jenna (Humberly González). There's clearly still some feelings between them. (He looks back at her twice while walking away.) Peyton and Jenna seem to be tight and plan a couples dinner when her husband flies in next week.
It's a nice change of pace to have some relationship drama that isn't dark and seeped in Buckley family mess. Harlan and Belle's argument about nearly losing everything doesn't make anything better, but Cane seems to be self-soothing by visiting Jenna at her father's hardware store. Later, Harlan insists to talk to Hoyt. He's going to take control and fixing everything. Cane brings Hoyt to a boat, where Harlan and some hired muscle are waiting for them. They hit the open seas for a quick conversation.
One of Harlan's men pours a bloody chum bucket in the ocean and both men hold Hoyt in the ocean to force a confession out of him. Sharks circle around Hoyt as they dip his head in the water. Finally, Hoyt admits to the location of the drugs. Maybe Harlan can figure this out. When they arrive at the shed, Sheriff Porter isn't far behind. Surprise! He's in on the whole deal with Hoyt, but shoots Hoyt dead. He's Owen? It's all very convoluted, but the sheriff enjoys having power. He leaves them to dump Hoyt's body.
Poor, Cane. He's really not cut out for this life, but he finally gets his lick back and punches his dad. In calmer matters, Bree has dinner with Diller (and their court appointed monitor). Diller does not like his mom. She tries to talk to her son, but it clearly kills her. Apparently, she burned down their family home, but we don't have much more than a throwaway mentioned. She bought Diller four pairs of Air Jordan shoes. He still isn't warming up to her, but he seems to want to deep down inside.
Ending his very messed up night, Cane drops by Jenna's house to confess that he received a full-ride scholarship to play football at Florida. Harlan talked him out of it and said he wasn't good enough to go pro. Harlan really did a number on Cane. He steps closer to Jenna, seemingly with the intention to kiss her if she consented. But they maintain the boundary. Harlan and Belle wave the white flag and reunite as a united front. On the beach, Bree meets with Marcus. She tells him to look into Hoyt.
Watch The Waterfront only on Netflix.
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