Bloodline is a strange animal. There is nothing else like it on television, and that is both good and bad. Good; because it is in no way formulaic. Bloodline knows exactly what it is/isn’t and makes no attempts to shy away from that or conform to a natural mold. Bad; because at times the show encounters some pacing issues.

The series revolves around the Rayburn clan; a generous, wealthy, and tightly-knit family who are treated like royalty on the Florida Keys island of Islamorada, where they own and operate a beachside inn. All appears to be well under the sun until the oldest brother, Danny, returns home to an unwelcome, lukewarm at best response from his family, who are immediately offset by his presence, especially his father.

The other three Rayburn children react in their own unique ways to Danny’s return, divided over whether or not they should allow Danny to come home or send him back on his way. It is evident from the get-go that he is the black sheep of the family, although the reasoning behind this classification is not fully known until the closing of Bloodline’s well-crafted first season run.

The series kicks off with a good pilot and two or three episodes following that contain no clear premise. The viewer is bombarded with flashbacks, flash-forwards, and a dizzying array of symbolism that make you question whether or not Bloodline will come to any kind of legible conclusion…but it does.

In fact, midway through the season (around episode five or six), Bloodline starts to pull itself together. Dialogue becomes sharper – more cunning and carefully worded, the acting (which was by no means flawed to begin with) gets even better, and the plot straightens itself out while picking up the pace and maintaining a disturbed, mysterious composure. It is very apparent at this time that something will go terribly, terribly wrong.

The event in question is actually revealed to the audience at the end of the first episode, but what makes Bloodline so compelling is the way that it happens. The beginning of the series could most harshly be described as messy, while the last four or five episodes are undoubtedly some of the best-written, best-acted material ever produced for Netflix, and likely, television in general.

Despite getting off to an undeniably slow and scattered start, Bloodline’s potential is set ablaze in the final episodes of season one, more than making up for any kind of early pace-related mistakes. Hand crafted for binge-watching, this excellent Netflix melodrama is definitely worth the long haul.