REVIEW: ‘The Waterfront’ Season 1 Is Entertaining Yet Repetitive

Netflix’s The Waterfront takes its cues from other similar series, such as Animal Kingdom and Bloodline. However, this new series from creator Kevin Williamson takes a slightly more lighthearted approach, sometimes to its detriment. It’s an entertaining, if somewhat shallow, crime drama that certainly has potential for possible future seasons.

The show follows the Buckley family, who own the local fishery in a small beach town called Havenport. They create a lot of jobs and contribute a lot to the town’s economy. They’re well-known, but what’s not well-known is how much debt they are in. When the series starts, Cane (Jake Weary) is running the fishery, having taken over from his father Harlan (Holt McCallany).

That means when two fishermen die out at sea on his boat, Cane has to cover his tracks. In order to get out of debt, Cane and his mother Belle (Maria Bello) cook up a drug running scheme, but they’re kind of hilariously bad at it. Cane, in particular, doesn’t exactly seem built for the drug-running life. This is mostly what accounts for the lighter tone, which essentially works for the first half of the season.

The Waterfront blends crime drama with lightness, giving it a chance for more seasons.

Weary plays Cane’s fish-out-of-water routine really well. He’s equal parts likable and eye-roll inducing, but the likability comes from how fun it is to watch him realize how big of a hole he helped dig the family into. His affair with high school sweetheart Jenna (Humberly González) is about as interesting as watching paint dry, both in the tediousness of the activity and the inevitable outcome of it.

Cane has a bit of a contentious relationship with his father, who views him as a weak man who’s afraid to get his hands dirty. Harlan comes from crime; his father ran drugs as well, but was killed by an adversary family years ago. At some point, Harlan left the crime world and now spends his days drinking and having affairs, though those affairs don’t seem to be a problem for Belle. Point is, Harlan may think he knows what he’s doing when trying to fix Cane’s mess, but he soon realizes jumping back into the crime world is more difficult than riding a bike.

The crime drama aspect of The Waterfront starts off interesting, but it turns into repetitive back-and-forth conversations with whoever they are working for. Practically every episode contains a confrontation with their boss. First, it’s the corrupt sheriff Clyde Porter (Michael Gaston), and then eventually the desperate-for-relevance-and-recognition Grady (Topher Grace). Threats are exchanged, ultimatums delivered, but there is little action or forward movement regarding the actual system they’re trying to implement. It gets repetitive quickly, and at only eight episodes, it takes up a lot of screen time.

While the crime offers repetitive back-and-forth, it doesn’t bring too much depth.

While Harlan and Cane take care of the criminal business dealings, Belle takes a more legal approach to getting out of debt after her and Cane’s drug plan starts to fall apart. There’s a waterfront that belongs to Harlan’s family that Belle and Cane want to sell, but sentimentality stops Harlan from agreeing.

Behind his back, Belle works a deal with a real estate developer named Wes Larsen (Dave Annable), whom she also begins an affair with. These parts of The Waterfront work better than the numerous villain speeches. Mixing the personal with business dealings while also jepoardizing one’s morality is quite a fascinating part of the season, and makes the ending of the season all the more dramatic.

The other Buckley family member is Bree (Melissa Benoist) but she’s on the outs with her brother Cane, which leads to her working with a DEA agent named Marcus Sanchez (Gerardo Celasco) to take Cane down. She’s an addict and estranged from her son Diller (Brady Hepner), and knows Marcus from AA.

Even though she’s actively working against her family, though she’s unaware of her parents’ involvement in everything, it’s her commitment to trying to make things right with her son that makes her story the best part of The Waterfront. Benoist is fantastic as Bree, emphasizing the sympathetic aspects of Bree while still making sure she’s held accountable for her previous actions that led to her estrangement with her son.

Rafael L. Silva is a scene stealer in Netflix’s The Waterfront.

Rounding out the cast is Rafael L. Silva, who a lot of people will know from 911: Lone Star. The Waterfront is Silva’s first major role after 911: Lone Star ended in Spring 2025. Silva plays Shawn, the new bartender Bree hires at the Buckley family fine dining restaurant. As Shawn connects with Belle, it becomes clear that he might be more than a bartender.

As Shawn, Silva brings a similar energy that he did to Carlos in 911: Lone Star, a sweet innocence that seems at odds with the rest of the Buckley family. But some moments differentiate Shawn from Carlos, and it’s those moments that make Silva stand out. Shawn is funny, but there’s also a desire for connection there that seems to indicate he’ll do what he needs to for people he cares about. If The Waterfront gets a second season, it would be great to flesh Shawn out even more and let Silva dive even deeper into this character.

While a lot of The Waterfront’s main draw is the crime element, the family dynamics and reconciliations are what keep the season entertaining throughout. Some of the interpersonal drama is definitely uninteresting — as mentioned, Cane’s affair with Jenna is a dull, uh, affair, but the show finds surprising, unexpected moments of humanity. Peyton (Danielle Campbell), Cane’s wife, has a great moment with Jenna, and Diller’s reactions to his mom gradually get more empathetic when you expect hostility from a teenager.

The Waterfront is more family drama than a crime drama.

But as much as family seems to matter to the show, it doesn’t quite pay off when it comes to Grady as the main villain of the season. Grady loves that the Buckleys mix family and business, and a lot of his motivations seem to be that he wants to be a part of that. Or, at least, be seen as a son to Harlan, whom he looks up to for vague reasons. Topher Grace’s portrayal of Grady definitely gives the character a lot of more avenues to explore, but it also almost feels like he’s in a different show.

Part of the issue here is that The Waterfront, like a lot of streaming shows, are relegated to the eight-episode structure now, which means there’s little time to really get to know some of these characters beyond a surface-level understanding.

This is particularly egregious when it comes to villains, who should be just as important as the main characters. This is why the back half of The Waterfront doesn’t work as well on the crime front. Too much time is devoted to trying to prove that Grady is a worthy adversary, but he’s ultimately just an annoyance with a boring, uninspired backstory.

By season’s end, the Buckley family is the most important part of the show. Give them a worthy adversary in another season, and the family drama part of the show’s premise can really hit. The Waterfront is an entertaining, if at times repetitive, family crime drama that nails most of its interpersonal family stories. It’s definitely worth checking out, and has a lot of potential for a second season.

The Waterfront Season 1 is available on Netflix