The Waterfront – Season 1 Episode 7 'Nice Try' Recap & Review

The Review Geek

19-06-2025

Nice Try
Episode 7 of The Waterfront starts with Cane waking up in bed with Jenna. He hurriedly gets dressed though when he receives the call about Harlan, who's not in a good way. The doctor gives him the all-clear, despite suffering from some nasty stings. Harlan is pissed. He wants to take out Grady completely and kill the guy.
Harlan aggravates him when Grady calls, and realizes that they're being watched. Harlan scares off Grady's guy with a gun and demands he stay away from the family. Of course, that's not going to happen, given the tendrils Grady has in this business.
Back at the office, Cane and Harlan have even more problems to contend with. They have 43 days to pay off their massive debt. Instead of working with Grady, Cane suggests they turn and work with Emmett Parker instead. This guy has a whole operation going on, way bigger than Grady's, and it's one of the biggest in the South.
It turns out Harlan's father used to work with Emmett back in the day too. However, it was Emmett's men who ordered the hit on him, explaining how they're mixed up with the family. Cane though, believes they should work with him all the same, at least to get out of their financial hole.
Things turn from bad to worse for Bree, who's blindsided at Diller's place when she finds out she needs to test for drugs. She refuses to do so, obviously because she has been using, but Diller is at least okay, so there is that.
Cane and Harlan meet with Emmett and the vibe is completely different to Grady's operation. They want to make a deal, and this time it's Cane who speaks up. He wants to deal for 12 million and Jeb, Emmett's father, is here to oversee this.
Jeb doesn't trust them, given the desperation and 'fast money' they want. He also makes sure they're not double-dipping and wants them to cut ties with Grady completely. Harlan suggests that Emmett take out Grady but he and Jeb laugh incredulously and wonder what's led to this.
Eventually they agree and Jeb agrees to take care of Grady. Jeb is old school though and Harlan explains to his son after that when Jeb was crossed by Harlan's father, Beau, he paid the price. Harlan goes on to mention how that drug running the way they are is like a drug itself, something that's very hard to shake.
That night, Belle speaks to Harlan and explains that she made a decision for the family. She believes she's earned the Buckley name and explains that she also slept with Wes too. She didn't do it to hurt Harlan, and did so mostly to help herself here, to feel something while everything around her is falling apart.
Meanwhile, Rodney shows up at Bree's looking for Diller. Apparently he's run away after they had an argument and he thought the kid left for Bree's. Bree is shocked when she finds out Rodney wants to relocate (well, it's mostly Georgina's decision to be fair) explaining why there's friction here.
Bree does find Diller quite quickly though and explains that he should probably head home. She knows there's not much they can do but does stick up for Rodney's parental responsibility. She doesn't expect Diller to forgive her but reassures him that he's the only reason she's trying to get better.
At work, Cane starts spiralling when he finds Emmett's men tied up with a sign reading 'nice try' in his office. It seems Grady has figured out what's happening and got wise to the assassination attempt. He calls Belle over to help out, who's shocked when she finds what they're dealing with.
At the fish house, things are made worse when a gas leak forces everybody out the building. However, Bree is unaware of this, given she was out back, and soon finds Belle inside trying to cover up the dead bodies.
Unfortunately, this whole plan comes back to bite Harlan while he's about to head out for a fishing trip with Shawn. The pair are held at gunpoint on the road and kidnapped, taken over to Grady's farm.
Grady confronts Harlan about his deal with Emmett here and threatens Shawn at gunpoint. Just before he fires, he reveals that he's Harlan's son. This is enough for Harlan to bend and agree to work with Grady, determined to protect his son.
While this is going on, Cane heads over to Grady's farm to save his father with Tim and Reggie. He heads inside the barn and finds Grady's entire drug operation, and a skirmish soon breaks out between him and Grdy's goons.
They eventually decide to blow the barn sky-high, which in turn also destroys Grady's entire drug operation. A big fight breaks out after, but Tim is shot dead and Grady chases after them with a machine gun. They literally run in a straight line across an empty field, causing Reggie to be shot in the leg and the others avoiding gunfire. Plot armour, everyone!
While the guys get away, and Grady lives to fight another day, Belle and Bree work together to clear up the mess in the office. Bree though is struggling and has been ever since she was 7. She eventually concedes and admits that she killed Marcus by buying him drugs to protect the family.
When Belle realizes the true story, she's shocked at jumping to conclusions initially. Bree though, believes she deserves to be punished. Unfortunately, that punishment comes in the form of Grady's men, who show up that night and kidnap her.
The Episode Review
So the misunderstanding between Belle and Bree is finally resolved and their conversation together is actually a nice inclusion, especially as they address the issue that's plagued their entire relationship all these years.
Meanwhile, Grady has somehow managed to outsmart Harlan and Cane. Although this would ordinarily be seen as a good move, I can't help but feel it undermines the menacing nature of Emmett and Jeb who seemed to have been a step up from Grady's operation but I guess not.
The escape from the farm is a bit contrived as well, especially as we see Cane and the others literally run in a straight line away from machine gunfire, without even using the haybales or evasive manoeuvres. I know Reggie got shot but it would have been nice to see a bit more urgency from this scene.
All of this aside though, the ending with Bree's kidnapping leaves everything wide open for the rest of the season, which hopefully will end things on a high.
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