New Netflix original series ‘Bloodline’ promises tension amid family turmoil

Set in the emerald-hued hum of the Florida Keys, “Bloodline” follows the Rayburns, a prominent island family with a successful beachside inn. To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the family business, Mama (Sissy Spacek, “The Help”) and Papa (Sam Shepard, “Mud”) Rayburn have invited their four adult children and dozens of guests to a party draped with Mason-jar lanterns and champagne — a sundress affair with kicked-off cork wedges, salty breezes and bare feet spraying sand into the green Gulf Stream. Sounds like the kind of summer-dreaming indulgence everyone needs to watch come springtime, right?

But as anyone familiar with the tropics knows, it’s not all margaritas and sunshine. Wetness doesn’t just stay in the sea — it pervades the land, floods murky mangroves and drenches its inhabitants, making everything just soggy enough to never dry out completely. Likewise, though the Rayburns wear cheery faces, something very dark festers beneath their surface like a hidden pocket of mold.

For “Bloodline” viewers, however, the Rayburns’s shady past is made painstakingly visible. The first episode opens with a gorgeous view of the islands’ Seven Mile Bridge surrounded by water, coupled with a foreboding voice-over: “Sometimes, you know something’s coming. You can feel it. In the air. In your gut. And you don’t sleep at night. The voice in your head is telling you that something is going to go terribly wrong and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

The voice is soon revealed to be John “the Pope” Rayburn’s, the middle son of the family whose moral duties as sheriff extend far beyond the police headquarters, a role naturally filled by Kyle Chandler (“Friday Night Lights”). Perpetually wearing a shirt and tie despite the searing heat, John plays the father figure among his siblings — his word is final, though it may not always be as fair and good as his reassuring voice spins it to be.

As sheriff, John can sense an imminent threat — the “something’s coming” he warns of is his older brother, Danny, played by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn (“The Dark Knight Rises”). Labeled frequently as the “black sheep” of the family, Danny obviously sticks out among the other Rayburns — where the other children have resided close to their parents in Florida, Danny has been M.I.A. His clothes are greasy, his pockets jammed with pain medicine and cigarettes. Though his intentions seem innocent — coming to his family’s celebration, bringing home a date, having a drink with dad — Danny’s body language oozes threat. He downs his rum a little too quickly; the date he brings is intolerably drunk. His movements ripple tension along the beach, causing everyone to question his real reasons for returning.

Danny’s presence rocks the Rayburns the most, who all seem to hold something against him. The youngest son and “hot-head” of the family, Kevin (Norbert Leo Butz, “Dan in Real Life”), is convinced that his brother is back for revenge, aiming to hurt both the family and the inn. Meanwhile their sister, Meg (Linda Cardellini, “Freaks and Geeks”), is a lawyer and struggles to choose a side that won’t make her the bad guy — by agreeing with her father that Danny should be sent away, she’d lose her older brother forever.

Though they all have different reasons to dread their brother’s return, through jolting flashbacks and flashforwards, it becomes clear that something in the past — and in the near future — went horribly wrong. So if the first few episodes of “Bloodline” seem to be stuck in the doldrums, keep in mind that there’s always a calm before the storm.