TV-MA | 8 episodes | Drama, Action, Crime, Thriller | 2025
Known mostly for his work on “Dawson’s Creek” and the “Scream” franchise, Kevin Williamson writes, produces, and (sometimes) directs nine different series shows he’s created.
Pinching a bit from Williamson’s “Glory Days” and “The Following,” “The Waterfront” is the type of show that could only exist on premium cable. As opposed to the rest of Williamson’s back TV catalogue, “The Waterfront” is far too intense and blunt for the networks or basic outlets such as the CW and the WB.
Set in the fictional coastal North Carolina town of Havenport, the show is centered on the second and third generation Buckley family. Overseen by Harlan (Holt McCallany) and his wife Mae (Maria Bello), the Waterfront is both a wholesale fishery and an upscale seafood restaurant.
Operating since the early 1970s, Harlan inherited the business from his late father, who was murdered decades ago. Harlan and Mae’s marriage is tenuous at best. He’s had two heart attacks, he drinks heavily, and is a serial philanderer. She puts up with this because she’s somewhat shallow, likes running the restaurant, and enjoys their beyond-opulent lifestyle.
Almosts
The couple has two adult children. Son Cane (Jake Weary) is married with a child and is an admitted failure. Cane views his life thus far as a series of “almosts.” Almost a good son, almost a good father, almost a good husband—you get the drift.
If anything, daughter Bree (Melissa Benoist, the title character in the “Supergirl” TV series) is more of a train wreck than Case. She’s a drug addict who manages brief streaks of sobriety. Bree once screwed up so bad that she can now only see her teen son, Diller (Brady Hepner), with a court-appointed supervisor.
In a manner similar to that of the family in “Ozark,” the Buckleys find themselves in a pickle. Harlan (and his father before him) is good at doing something illegal, and he got mixed up with the wrong crowd. He can’t stop complying with them, lest he’ll face certain jail time, or worse. You could probably say that “The Waterfront” is premise-adjacent to “Breaking Bad” for many of the same reasons.
The Funk
While they certainly put the “funk” back in family dysfunction, the Buckleys are eminently likeable. We don’t want them to succeed, as much as not to fail. Yes, that’s a nebulous thin line. But it helps their cause when surrounded by others much worse that possess no sense of empathy, family, common decency, or even a rudimentary understanding of the human condition.
TV shows (and most movies ever made) are only as good as the villain, and “The Waterfront” has at least three or four of them.
One is a DEA agent (Gerardo Celasco), another addict who tries to “flip” Bree. Another is local sheriff Clyde Porter (Michael Gaston), a childhood friend of Harlan’s who overplays his hand. The best (or worst) of the lot shows up halfway through in the form of Grady (Topher Grace).
Grady is Grace’s repugnant Seth character from “Traffic” (2000) had he expanded his use of drugs and tripled-down on the blustery, misguided smarm. Backslapping, far too friendly, and obnoxious to degrees rarely seen on this planet, Grady doesn’t die a quick death only because he’s filthy rich and is surrounded by goons and thugs with guns.
Love to Hate Grace
Grady’s interaction with the exact-opposite-in-every-way Harlan is the centerpiece of the show and the driving force behind the final four episodes. I have to say with some degree of moderate shame, I was glad when Grady ceased to be a threat. I credit Grace for delivering a performance so utterly convincing and loathsome, I almost hated the actor for being so good at the portrayal.
Far too frequently over the past couple of years, too many premium new crime and western shows have ended their inaugural seasons with inferior cliffhangers or an air of frustrating indecisiveness. Luckily “The Waterfront” doesn’t suffer the same fate.
Williamson, the writers, and the directors are sure to bring all loose ends and dangling plot threads to a close by the end of the eighth episode. Exhibiting perhaps too high a level of self-confidence, Williamson concludes the season with the introduction of a previous, only hinted-at sub-plot. This essentially double-dares Netflix not to renew the show for a second season. I hope it works.
The series is now streaming on Netflix.
‘The Waterfront’
Showrunner: Kevin Williamson
Stars: Holt McCallany, Maria Bello, Melissa Benoist, Jake Weary
Episodes: 8
TV Parental Guidance: TV-MA
Release Date: June 19, 2025
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
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