Netflix doesn’t always put a ton of budget behind its original projects, but one definite exception seems to be its new 2025 release The Waterfront. The show has pretty much everything one would need to be a desirable series: Its cast is top-notch, it has an intriguing name and setting, and it’s unrelentingly shocking. It’s also certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, but now that I’m three episodes in, I still feel like it’s missing something.
What Do You Need To Know About The Waterfront?
Briefly the top trending show, the freshman drama on Netflix is the No.2 show on the streamer at the time of this writing. Typically not holding out at No. 1 for a few weeks can be a bad sign, as Netflix is known for canceling first season shows, but these are not fair waters. In fact, The Waterfront landed on Netflix just a few days before Squid Game Season 3, and that show has just crushed the competition. So, in this case, No. 2 probably isn’t so bad.
Rotten Tomatoes rating from both the critics and the audience, and while neither is the freshest rating I’ve ever seen, people seem to be on board with the drama, which follows a family dipping its toes into the criminal underworld to keep the family business afloat. It also stars former Supergirl Melissa Benoist, as well as popular Mind Hunter actor Holt McCallany, Dave Annable, and Maria Bello, who despite an Emmy nomination has been highly underrated in Hollywood (in my opinion).
Kevin Williamson, who also wrote the original screenplay for Scream and has been involved in a variety of other successful franchises on the big and small screen (The Vampire Diaries, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Following).
On paper, this is a recipe for success, but is The Waterfront actually a binge-worthy Netflix show?
Is The Waterfront Actually Worth Watching Though?
Listen, I get that a 65% rating means people like something pretty well and not crazy well. I also understand that I am only three episodes into this eight-episode season and haven’t seen everything the new drama has to offer yet, but given the way those with a Netflix subscription have been consuming The Waterfront, I have to think people find it good enough to stick with it.
From my point of view, however, while the show is occasionally well-drawn and features some good performances, I just can’t help but have the following problems with it so far:
- The show is meant to be overly dramatic but there are also random acts of violence that are used as shock value in a way I found grossly underwhelming.
- Melissa Benoist is almost unrecognizable in this role compared to her character in Supergirl, and I don’t want to take away from her performance, at all. However, she and most of the characters in this series are deeply unlikable and I’m not really rooting for anyone.
- Something about the way this show is written irritates me. I can’t fully put a finger on it, but The Waterfront takes itself very seriously, and I think we may have been better served if it was a little fluffier, and tonally closer to something like Revenge.
I’ve been told by a coworker who has also been covering The Waterfront that things really start heating up in Episode 4, so I’m holding out hope the story starts to anchor its way in my heart. It’s true that some shows really take most of a season or a full season to get some wind under their belt. But for now, I feel a bit adrift while watching.
Stay tuned, because I’m hoping the journey to the end will be worth it.