Topher Grace Single-Handedly Saves Netflix’s Ozark Replacement after A Slow & Choppy Start – ryan

AFTER Getting Through the First Couple of Episodes of Netflix’s New Crime Thriller/Family Drama Series, The Waterfront Becomes A Decent Watch Led by Topher Grace’s Fantastic Villainous Character. Capturing the Same “Trouble in Paradise” tone as Netflix’s past Hit Series, Such As Ozark and Bloodlinewith a simillar dysfunctional family dynamic to hbo’s Succession, The Waterfront is ultimately a watered-down version of all these celebrated series. That Said, it’s entertaining enough to see it through its eight episodes.

Holt McCallaney – WHO HAS A KNAK FOR PLAYING ABSIVE AND DEMANDING FATHERSas seen in 2023’s The iron claw – Plays Harlan, The Patriarch of the Buckley Family in the Fictional Coastal Town of Havenport, North Carolina. He and His Golden Boy Son, Cane (Jake Weary), Oversee Operations at a Fishery and Restaurant, as well as a more lucrative and criminal business that keeps afloat. The Father and Son Also Share a Similar Taste for Infidelity, which Makes for Some Frustration and Hypocritical Moments.

The Main Women of The Waterfront are, unfortunately, designed to be shatly supplementary to the Male-Driven full. Maria Bello’s Belle Buckley is the Strong-Willed But Misguided Matrierch, Acting Mostly in Response to or in Spite Her Negligent Husband. Melissa Benoist’s Bree, a recovering addic, is flawed, pitiful, and dangerouswith a traumatic backstory that never ended. Other female characters, Like Jenna (Hajerly González) and Peyton (Danielle Campbell), Exist primarily as one-dimensional EYE Candy that Into Needless melodrama.

Topher Grace’s Quirky Antagonist Makes The Waterfront Worth Watching

The Series Falls Flat before HIS Arrival Partway Through

Before Topher Grace Arrived As the Mischievous, Almost Superhero Villain Grady, The Waterfront Wasn’t Necessarily What You Would Call “Must-See TV.” Grady Becomes a great antagonist to Harlan’s Old-School, UNEMOTIONAL Tough Guy, Creating What Feels Like a Joker to His Batman. Up UNIL THAT POINT, Howver, The Waterfront Struggles to Estabish an Invising Sens of Immersion that one would expect from a show like this. IT DOESN’T HELP THAT CANE, WHOM WE SPEND MOST OF THE TIME TIME WITH, INSTANTLY COMES OFF AS ENTITTLED AND ISFFERABLE.

Grace Delivers What May Be One of HIS Most Enjoyable Performance In Years As Grady, an overly Friendly DRUG SUPPLIER WHO CAN FLIF FROM CHEERFUL TO DEADLY in the blink of an eye. He brings so much to The Waterfront that it literally Becomes a Different, and Much Better, Show with Him Involved. Series Creator Kevin Williamson (Scream, The Vampire Diaries) Credited Grace for Coming Up With SO MANY ELEMENTS OF HIS CHARACTER AND DIALOGUE THAT Weren’t original in the script. f The Waterfront Has any streaming Success, Grace’s Efforts Will Be A Major of IT.

The Waterfront is now the Greatness of Ozark & ​​Bloodline

The story is not as gripping & the writing is fine but not outstanding

IT’S HARD NOT TO THINK OF NETFLIX’S Other Location-Based Drama Series, Ransom Canyon, while watching The Waterfront; They have Such Similar Tropes. A Mysterious Newcomer Enters an Insular, Chatty Town and Conceals his True Identity. Business Arrangements, Particularly Land Deals, Get Messy With Alcohol and Sex-A “Will they, Won’t They” Drawn-Out Dynamic BetWe High School Sweethearts. The Waterfront is sort of an edgier and more violent variant of all-too-family full of archetypes.

Viewers Looking for Their Next OzarkHowver, Will Have to Keep Looking dicky The Waterfront is not it. Cane is a total manchild, and bree is nearly irredeemable once you find out why child services took her son, diller (Brady Hepner), Away. The Waterfront Walks a tightrope of makeing its core family Mostly unlikable, spreads too, that you start to wonder you’re rooting for Harlan or grady.

In OzarkMarty Byeman’s Byrde Was a fascinating snake, a master manipulator, and a fantastic anti-hero. Harlan in The Waterfront Is JUST AN OLD MAN SET IN HIS WAYS AS The Hymmasculine Head of a Toxic Family System. Bello’s Belle is Too Disregarded in The Main Plot To have a shot at Matching Wendy by Byrde’s Cold-Blooded Energy, Making Harlan and Belle’s Business Partnership Much Effective or Convincing As A Result.

Related

Ransom Canyon Review: I Think Netflix Has Officelly Found Its Well-Crafted & Addictive Version of Yellowstone

Ransom Canyon, LED by a lovable Cast with Surefire Chemistry, Finds Ways to Surprise You, Make You Laugh, and Break Your Heart With Southern Charm.

While the Character Development of the Core Family Could Use Some Work, The Waterfront Has Some Great Crime Thriller Scenes propelled by Topher Grace’s Infectious and Much-Needed Villain, Who Single-Handedly Made the Otherwise Passable Netflix Crime Thriller Series Worthwhile.

The Waterfront

6/10

Release Date

June 19, 2025

NETWORKS

Netflix

Directors

Marcos Siega

Wriers

Kevin Williamson

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  Holt McCallany

  Harlan Buckley

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Pros & Cons

• Topher Grace’s Villain is Infectious and Unredictable
• The Waterfront Effectively use Violence to Pack a Punch

• Cane’s Romantic Melodrama is Needless and Frustration
• Many of the Characters Are Flat, Cliche, and Some Are UNLICABLE
• The Waterfront Feels Like a Very Watered Down Ozark