Nice Try – The episode begins with Cane Buckley (Jake Weary) racing over to check on Harlan Buckley (Holt McCallany) after receiving word from Belle Buckley (Maria Bello) about the attack. When Cane is alone with Harlan, Harlan asks him if he knew about the land deal. Cane tells him they’ve got bigger problems now with Grady (Topher Grace). Harlan says the only option is to kill him. Cane says that’s plan A, they need to start thinking about other options. The conversation is interrupted when Harlan receives a call from Grady, who wants to know when he can schedule a run. Harlan tells him they are done.
At the fish house, Cane asks Harlan if Emmett Parker (Terry Serpico) can help them. Harlan tells him the Parkers are big-time drug dealers with a whole operation, probably one of the biggest in the South. This also leads to Cane learning that it was the Parkers who ordered the hit on his granddad. Cane tells Harlan about meeting Emmett at the funeral and Emmett giving him his number. After that, Cane tells Harlan that he’s already called Emmett and he wants to meet. Harlan doesn’t take this so well.
Bree Buckley (Melissa Benoist) arrives at Rodney Hopkins’s (Joshua Mikel) house after receiving various messages from him about Diller Hopkins (Brady Hepner). When she gets there, it turns out to be an intervention of sorts with Daphne (Avis-Marie Barnes). Daphne tells her that Rodney has requested a drug test. This leads to a huge argument until Daphne tells Bree that Rodney is within his rights to request a screening at any time. Bree says she is calling her lawyers and walks out.
Shawn West (Rafael L Silva) asks Belle if everything is okay between Harlan and Grady. She says it is just a business deal gone sour. He tells her he knows there is more to it than that. She says she figured he did, but turns her attention to Bree, who has just come in 2 hours late. When confronted, Bree admits to using, but says she has rededicated herself to her sobriety.
Emmett arrives at the fish house with his father, Jeb Parker (Gerry Bamman). Cane tells them they are willing to offer their boats and runners for a year in exchange for $12 million. Jeb says he can trust it because it sounds desperate. Harlan says he knows they are interested, or they wouldn’t be there. Jeb says the whole thing would have to be exclusive. Harlan says he’d like to commit to that, but he doesn’t know how Grady will like it. Jeb asks why they are quitting Grady and going with them. Harlan tells him that Grady has no code. Jeb and Emmett agree to the deal and say they will take care of Grady later that night.
Belle tries explaining to Harlan why she made the land deal. This only leads to a huge argument, and her telling him that she slept with Wes Benson (Dave Annable). She tells him she has always tried to put the family first and screw him for not seeing that.
Bree is at the restaurant when Rodney comes banging on the door, looking for Diller. He tells her that Diller ran off last night after they got into an argument. He also tells her they got into an argument because he overheard him ask Daphne for a petition to relocate. She asks if he wants to move. He tells her that he got a job offer in Virginia Beach.
Shawn asks Harlan if he is ever going to tell him the truth about this family. Harlan tells him to take the weekend off, and they’ll go out on the boat and do a little fishing and talking.
Cane arrives at the fish house to find two dead men in his office with signs around their necks that say nice try. Elsewhere, Harlan and Shawn are on their way to work when they are pulled over and taken hostage at gunpoint. Belle comes over to help Cane cover Emmett’s men with a tarp while he explains making a deal with the Parkers. She asks him if he even knows who the Parkers are. He says he knows what happened to Grandpa. Belle decides to shut down the fish house for the day while Cane sends Tim Donnelly (Lucas Hyde) and Reggie Miller (Brian Ashton Smith) out to look for Harlan. It doesn’t take them long to find Harlan’s truck and the bullet casing from the warning shot.
Bree finds Diller hiding on a boat at the fish house. She tells him Rodney told her about the move. He tells her he isn’t leaving. She says she isn’t going to force him to go home, but he should. She tells him Rodney is stubborn when it comes to him because he loves him. He asks her why she didn’t take the test. She says that because she knew what it would say, but despite that, she loves him and wants to protect him. He says he wishes things were different. She says she does, too. After speaking with Diller, Bree goes to the fish house to find that it has been shut down. When she goes to the office, she sees Belle wrapping Emmett’s men in plastic.
Harlan and Shawn are taken to meet with Grady. Grady immediately accuses Harlan of sending the Parker clan after him. Harlan denies it and says he cut those ties years ago. Grady says he keeps a close eye on his assets and knows for a fact the Parkers visited the fish house. Harlan says they did stop by, but he told them to go to hell. Things change, and the truth comes out when Grady points a gun at Shawn and threatens to shoot him. Harlan says if Grady lets Shawn go, he’ll do whatever he wants.
Bree tries to wrap her head around what happened at the fish house. Belle tries calming her down, but it doesn’t do much good. Belle eventually tells her that if she wants to be a part of the family, now is her chance. Bree helps her wrap Emmett’s men in plastic.
Cane, Tim, and Reggie sneak onto Grady’s farm, looking for Harlan. They eventually split up, and Cane is attacked. Luckily for him, Tim comes to his aid and kills his attacker. After that, they find Harlan and Shawn on their knees in front of the main house. Grady tells Harlan that he is going to help him set a trap for Emmett by luring him to the fish house. Harlan says he is going to start a turf war that won’t end well. Before the discussion gets any further, Grady’s processing building goes up in flames. When Grady’s men go to check on the explosion, Tim, Cane, and Reggie come to Shawn and Harlan’s aid. Tim dies in the process, Reggie gets shot in the leg, but everyone else manages to escape unharmed.
By this time, Bree and Belle have managed to get the bodies out of the office and into the storage room. They cover them in ice and go back to the office to clean the remaining blood. Bree is still freaking out, which leads to her remembering what happened to her granddad. Bree also tells Belle that she killed DEA Agent Marcus Sanchez (Gerardo Celasco).
Cane, Reggie, Shawn, and Harlan make it back to Cane’s vehicle. When they get there, Harlan thanks Cane for coming for him. At the same time, Bree speaks with Rodney on the phone and tells him that Diller went home hours ago. Bree goes back out to the boat to look, but Diller isn’t there. Seconds later, she is attacked from behind, and that’s where the episode ends.
The Waterfront Review
This series would be so much better if it just cut out the sides and focused on the meat and potatoes. All the side attractions make it seem like you are watching an hour-and-a-half episode when it’s only 40-something minutes long. Some of the stuff isn’t so bad, but the stuff with Bree and Diller could be cut. Keep the stuff with Bree and Belle. Peyton and even Jenna could be cut out of the equation entirely. Despite all that, this still wasn’t a bad episode, and I’d have to give it a 5.6 out of 10.
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