Drama
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Captain Pike finally gets his time in the Star Trek spotlight, but his story is one filled with tragedy and foreboding.
There are many ways a son might bond with his father.
They might take up a mutual hobby. They could go hunting or enjoy a movie together. Or they might dump a body into a Florida swamp in the hope that alligators might get rid of it for them.
Look, no one said that son Cane and his father, Harlan, had the best relationship.
But how do you get into such a situation? Well, it all starts, as it often does, with money trouble.
You see, the Buckley family has run a local fishery and restaurant for generations—long enough that the business eventually got passed down to Cane. But then money got tight, and Cane found out the operation nearly $7 million in debt. So he figured he’d earn some extra money by using a couple of the family’s fishing boats to smuggle drugs for Hoyt Piper. That was until Hoyt double-crossed Cane in an attempt to earn more money—a decision that left Cane scrambling.
Fortunately for Cane, his father has his own experience peddling drugs. He even got out relatively clean—save for the crippling alcoholism, the heart issues and the permanent scowl. Unfortunately for Cane, however, getting out of the drug trade often means first going deeper.
And going deeper often means turning people like Hoyt Piper into an alligator’s next meal.
Does drug trafficking make for good TV?
Netflix sure seems to think so. The platform happily supplies viewers with all of the most popular drug-based series: Breaking Bad, Ozark and Narcos, to name a few. Now we can The Waterfront to that specific genre, too.
In this iteration, we see a bit of what we’ve already seen before in the first two references: a family that’s connected to the bottom rungs of the drug-dealing hierarchy, suddenly finds itself scrambling and scheming its way to the top following a deal that doesn’t go quite as well as planned.
And along with The Waterfront’s adoption of that drug-series cliché comes everything else you’d expect: sudden, blood-soaked deaths; nudity, sex and LGBT elements; frequent crude language; and, to no one’s surprise, drug use.
Perhaps in an attempt to give the series some relevance, there’s an attempt to tie The Waterfront to Malcolm Johnson’s 24-article series “On the Waterfront,” which exposed the grime-covered organized crime in New York ports. Full disclosure: That connection is about as loose as can be.
But whereas that journalistic series sought to expose corruption and encourage reform, The Waterfront merely relishes all of that grim drama for the sake of entertainment, leaving little of value to be gleaned and much to be desired.
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at [email protected], or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
Cane scrambles when his drug-peddling fishing crew winds up dead and his boat comes under investigation by the DEA.
Men rob drugs from a boat—they knock two fishermen unconscious and stuff them into a fishing net. One of them wakes up just in time to realize they’re being thrown overboard, and the men drown. A man shoots someone in the head, killing him and spraying a lot of gore. A body gets dumped into an alligator-filled swamp. Someone pours blood and chum into the ocean to attract sharks, and then they dip a man’s head into the shark-infested waters to threaten him. A man punches his son in the face.
Cane strips naked to prove he isn’t wearing a wire; we see a glimpse of his genitals as well as his rear. A man wakes up in bed after an affair with a woman—it’s evident she isn’t wearing a bra under her shirt. Someone urinates in public, though nothing is seen. A mother asks her son if there are any girls or boys he likes, and he quips that he’s mostly engaging in group sex. We see a woman in a sports bra and tight-fitting pants. We also see a shirtless man. There’s a reference to male performance drugs and alcohol.
Someone says he’s “been to hell and back again.” A song claims that the “devil stole my smile.” When asked about his sister, Cane quotes his name’s forebearer: “I’m not Bree’s keeper.” Someone jokes that a man owns a crystal ball.
People peddle illegal drugs, and we’re told Harlan used to be in that business, too. Harlan is a raging alcoholic, and we often see him drowning his sorrows in liquor. His constant drinking prompts his wife to initiate conversation by asking if he’s intoxicated. There’s an assortment of bottles surrounding a bedroom he sleeps in.
We hear the s-word nearly 20 times. We also hear “a–,” “b–ch,” “d–n,” “d–k,” “h—” and “pr-ck.” God’s name is used in vain 12 times, including four instances paired with “d–n.” Jesus’ name is likewise used in vain 16 times. Someone is accused of “whoring” around.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He’s also an avid cook. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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