The Waterfront Recap ‘Lost at Sea’: The Changing of the Guard

In its season finale. The Waterfront (currently airing on Netflix) sees the Buckleys prepare for the future with the Parkers of their storied past. 

The Waterfront Season 1 Episode 8 Finale Recap and Review

In its season finale, The Waterfront brought us back to where it started, with Cane on shaky ground and Belle in charge, but now with the Parkers acting as overlords rather than Clyde Porter. This was a finale that solved the problem of Grady with the permanence of a bullet and the sea, but which left many questions on its wake. Perhaps the foremost of which was, why are we back talking about the land deal again?

Let’s back up a bit. Wes Benson’s company purchased the Buckleys’ debt from the bank. The Buckleys had 45 days to pay off the debt in full, or they would forfeit all their assets. Cane reached out to Emmett Parker precisely because no one in the Buckley family wanted this to happen. With the agreed upon amount, the Buckleys would be able to pay this debt in full, which meant they would get to keep everything, including the land that was precious to Harlan. Life would be as it was before Harlan’s two heart attacks, except that they would be running drugs for the Parkers for the agreed upon year.

Cane and Harlan were clearly fine with that, they were the ones who negotiated the deal. But Belle, who grew up in poverty and was loathe to return to anything resembling it, was not satisfied. When Emmett whispered in her ear that he and his father would prefer her in charge, she saw her chance. 

The solution Cane and Harlan came up with would only get the Buckley family out from under the water. But, Harlan himself said fishery was a dying industry. What would happen in a year or two? How long before the Buckleys needed a huge infusion of cash again? They would make a lot of money from their deal with the Parkers, but would that be enough when their businesses needed rescuing once more? 

The land deal was a way forward that could secure the Buckleys financially for generations to come. With the backing of the Parkers, and the help of Wes Benson whom the Parkers dutifully ‘tuned up’, Belle would be on stronger footing to steer the business forward. Harlan was thinking short term; Belle had her lens turned further into the future.

Of course this would open up a lot of conflict, primarily between Harlan and Belle, and it’s nice to think about it and a potential season two, because this finale did not quite fulfil the promise carried by the penultimate episode. Half of it was good, the half where Bree woke up in a boat in the middle of the sea, found out that her son Diller saw her taken and decided to stowaway (Where was Diller’s phone? Why didn’t he call his grandfather or uncle?), and proceeded to almost get the better of Grady and his men. I would have gladly passed on many of the finale’s scenes for more time watching Grady send back the steak and Bree with her quick thinking, figuring out ways to save herself even when surrounded by men with guns. Melissa Benoist and Topher Grace gave this season’s strongest performances, I could not help but wish their scenes together were longer.

Grady called Harlan and told him to come alone, and sent his yacht’s coordinates. All the Buckleys, including Shawn, whose desire to belong to a family was stronger than his sense of survival, agreed that Grady would just kill both Harlan and Bree. Cane and Shawn hid in the Southern Belle whilst Harlan drove the boat alone, and later boarded Grady’s yacht.

By that time, however, Bree was no longer on board. When one of his men captured Diller, and with Bree wounding Grady, he decided he only needed one Buckley as bait. He shot Bree on the leg, and threw her overboard. That was a callback to the shark scene in the first episode; Bree’s blood would have lured them in.

Diller, quick thinking like his mother, threw a lifebox in the water. Bree was able to climb aboard the life raft and tie her belt around her thigh to prevent herself from bleeding out. Later, after another flashback to her traumatic childhood and images of her present self comforting her seven-year-old self, she shot a flare gun into the sky. 

Shawn’s martial arts skills were handy when he and Cane snuck onto Grady’s yacht and started searching for Bree. Harlan took the beating Grady gave him until his sons arrived, and with the Buckley sons on higher ground, Grady had no choice but to tell his boys to lay down their guns. They had one final chance to fight back, and Cane and Harlan had to chase Grady. Facing the end of the line, Grady just had to needle Harlan about his son Cane unable to pull the trigger. Cane did, twice, and that was the end of Grady. We never even found out how, exactly, did he come into possession of the yacht.

Harlan and crew found Bree and rescued her, and the Buckleys reunited in the hospital, including Sheriff Drew, who participated in the cover up. Harlan and Cane were in a better place as father and son. Cane and Shawn, too, seemed brotherly for the first time. Diller had decided that he was not leaving Bree. Even Harlan and Belle had a nice moment. The hammer had yet to drop, that Belle made a deal with the Parkers, that they were sidelining Harlan, that Belle calmly watched as her ex lover Wes was beaten to a bloody pulp. 

Meanwhile Peyton was back in town, and demanding to know where Cane had slept the past couple of nights. Cane confessed not only to sleeping with Jenna but to drug running. When Peyton went to confront Jenna, she found a daughter devastated over the death of her father. Peyton had to swallow her anger and help out.

By the time Cane went to see Jenna, she had already decided their affair was over. Cane came home to find a wife who had put on armour. Peyton said they were fine. Did that mean she was turning into Belle, despite her earlier pronouncement that she was not her mother in law? The scene, especially with the background music, made it seem like Peyton was about to poison Cane with the dinner she said she would heat up. If the show would insist on keeping the whole Cane Jenna Peyton drama for the second season, I really hope they’d up their game and for these scenes to not feel like a separate show anymore. 

‘Lost at Sea’ was a return to early form by The Waterfront, one that had good to excellent moments, but one that also struggled to find a consistent identity. But, it was also one that set up what should be an intriguing second season. As of this writing, it has not yet been renewed, but given its pedigree, it has a pretty strong chance. 

In my first recap of The Waterfront, I wrote that there was an interesting story here, but it may take a bit of patience to see it through. It did, and there was. This is why I tend to advocate giving TV shows a chance, to grow, to find its creative footing, to course correct if necessary. The Waterfront, it turned out, is a solid addition to the Netflix library. Congratulations to The Waterfront team, and see you next season!

Rating: B

Strays

🛥️When Cane was stressing over his marriage, he brought up to his father how he should have left Havenport a long time ago. Remember that Cane received a football scholarship, but his father talked him out of going. Later, Harlan told Cane that Buckley Seafood was a family business, that was why he wanted Cane to stay, he did not want to be alone. 

🛥️Belle called Emmett for help to get rid of the bodies. 

🛥️One thing I hope would be clarified next season was whether either Emmett and Jeb was directly involved in the murder of Beau. 

🛥️Did it feel like Emmett was hitting on Belle? Yes. 

🛥️In a move that paralleled what her grandfather did for her, Bree put Diller in a closet inside the cabin in Grady's yacht. 

🛥️Bree refusing painkillers stronger than Tylenol even after surgery was a nice addition, since she was in recovery. 

🛥️There was subtle parallelism in having Wes and Emmett in the same room. Both of them made deals with Belle, both thought, initially, that she ran the deals through Harlan. Both times, she did not. 

You can access Recap Lab's full coverage of The Waterfront via this link.

Episode Title: Lost At Sea

Episode Writers: Kevin Williamson & Michael Narducci

Episode Director: Jann Turner

Original Air Date: June 19, 2025

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