Bloodline season 3 episode 5 review: Will Eric O’Bannon take a plea deal or go to trial?
The defense is offering Eric a plea deal which is 30 years in a maximum security prison without parole – a very long time for an innocent man. Kevin thinks this is a great deal, because it means that there will be no trial, but Marco’s family thinks that this isn’t long enough. Sally is trying to work Marco’s mother into accepting the plea deal, because she knows what’s at stake if this goes to trial. Not only will everything little thing that Marco (or his family) ever did will be under a microscope, but so will the entire Rayburn family… and as we know there are some serious skeleton’s in that closet. After some serious thought, Marco’s family decides that they want to accept the plea deal, but will Eric?
With things looking bleak, Eric is considering taking the plea deal even though his attorney feels confident that she can get him acquitted. After getting harassed by the police department because of Eric, Chelsea decides to go and see her brother. Originally she wanted nothing to do with him or this murder mess, but once she realized that the police were forever going to harass her, she needs Eric to fight this, and he agrees to take it to trial. Needless to say, this is looking very bad for Kevin. It’s hard to feel sorry for him though, since he did murder Marco.
Kevin is in deep with Gilbert now: He is picking up the men Gilbert is trading with (and their bags of money), setting up them up at the Rayburn resort and driving them to Gilbert to do business. Kevin has seen the bag of money, but when Gilbert offers to show Kevin what these men are buying, he declines. Like seeing what they are buying is going to make what he’s doing any more illegal then what he’s already done. Once big ticket gifts start rolling in for Kevin (like a brand new truck), he quickly forgets all the shady business dealings Gilbert has going on and is ready to be part of the game.
The biggest struggle we see Kevin having with his new responsibilities is that Gilbert expects him to entertain the people they are working with, and these people like to party: Drinking, drugs, guns, women – all of it. Not only is Kevin sober (and in AA), but he is also on probation, so even being seen with drugs will land him in serious trouble. Kevin is not a man who knows how to balance things when faced with temptation, but what we like is that (at least so far) when he is faced with a temptation, he looks at pictures of his son as his anchor.
There is a part of us that wants to root for Kevin, because deep down we want to believe that he actually does want to do the right thing. Before this season, it was easy to blame his substance abuse on all the terrible things he’s doing, but he’s sober now… so what’s his excuse? He’s partnered with a criminal for work, has murdered Marco and was part of the murder of his brother Danny. The deeper we get into this season, the more we think that Kevin might be one of the most miserable, selfish human beings we’ve ever seen on television. The one other cliffhanger that they dangled in this episode was seeing Janey still hanging out with Nolan. We know that John is looking for him, this might be the way he finds him. Episode grade: B+
What did you think of the first half of Bloodline season 3 so far and is it meeting your expectations for it’s final season? Leave us a comment in the box below. If you want to check out more of our Bloodline season 3 coverage then head on over to the link here. (Photo: Netflix)