The Waterfront Season 1 was largely about the rise and fall of the partnership between the Buckleys and Grady. The Buckleys used to smuggle drugs for the Parkers, but when Beau died, his son, Harlan, decided to move away from that business and focus on fishing. However, as soon as Harlan temporarily retired due to his heart condition, Cane, his son, restarted their side hustle of transporting drugs in an attempt to stabilize their financial situation. This brought the Buckleys in contact with Grady, the number one heroin producer around. While things were going fine between the 2 parties, Grady’s daddy issues reared their ugly head, and he threatened to kill Bree (Harlan’s daughter) and Diller (Bree’s son) if Harlan didn’t do his bidding, thereby prompting Cane to kill him. Since Grady was a nuisance, his death came as a relief to all parties involved. However, he didn’t take the Buckleys’ debt into the afterlife with him. Now, in order to deal with Grady, Cane and Harlan had shaken hands with Emmett and Jeb Parker. They weren’t of much use in that matter, but in the concluding moments of the show, it was hinted that they were willing to take care of the debt if Belle, Harlan’s wife, sat on the throne of Havenport, with Belle seemingly accepting the offer. Although there’s no news from Netflix or the makers of the show that a second season of The Waterfront has been greenlit, it’s safe to say that the writers intend to further the plot. So, allow me to speculate about what we might get to see in the future.
Spoiler Alert
Grady’s buyers will reach Havenport
Grady’s heroin was probably being supplied to the entirety of North America—I think I heard Jersey and Miami being name-dropped here and there—and probably other parts of the world as well. And I don’t think that Grady was able to see to it that all his buyers were well-fed and paid before he croaked. So, there’s a good possibility that all those people who depended on Grady will descend upon Havenport to settle their dues. And once they find out about what the Buckleys have done, they might force them to start making heroin and selling it at a discounted price so as to make up for the losses these buyers have incurred because of Grady’s juvenile methods.
Drew Jr.’s Betrayal
Drew Jr. turned a blind eye to the “mysterious” circumstances under which Sheriff Clyde died so that he himself could become the sheriff. He tried to draw the line at allowing Harlan and Grady to smuggle drugs through Havenport. But when he realized that it was better to be alive and allow his town to become a hub for drug peddlers than to be dead and condemn his family to a life of misery, he chose to side with Harlan. When the Buckleys took care of Grady, Drew Jr. made sure that the yacht on which the incident happened couldn’t be linked to Harlan and his family. However, I don’t think his allegiance to Harlan will last very long. He seems like a good and honest guy, and now that he knows that the guy who beat him up and pulled a gun on him is dead, he’ll probably find the confidence in him to stand up to Harlan. Whether or not that decision will backfire on him and make Lynette a widow is something that remains to be seen.
Cane’s Downfall
Cane just isn’t cut out for the gangster life. Yes, he has proven that, when push comes to shove, he’ll do what’s necessary to protect his family. But, at the end of the day, he is an empath who isn’t okay with killing people and not letting it keep him up at night. Now, instead of trusting Harlan, Belle, or even Bree to help him with this situation, as all three of them are more thick-skinned than him, he has decided to rely on his wife, Peyton. I’m sure Peyton is great at organizing funerals. She can wield a gun. She claims to have a moral compass, which is why she won’t sit and watch Cane waltz around with his ex-girlfriends. With all that said, Peyton is also a woman who peaked when she was one of the 10 girls selected for a teenage pageantry event. She doesn’t work a job, which means that she doesn’t really know how to handle people. She might appear smart and dominating, but there are limits to her skills, and it’s a dumb move to allow her to take the lead in such a volatile situation. She is free to think that she can be the anti-Belle that the Buckleys need, but executing that plan, with Cane by her side, won’t be easy. If she somehow ends up proving me wrong, I’ll be impressed.
Jenna’s Pregnancy
Even though Cane kept saying that he wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes that Harlan made, he did end up acting exactly like his dad, especially in terms of adultery. Now, if The Waterfront brought Shawn, a result of Harlan’s illegitimate affair with Bebe (a former employee), into the fold, would it be a stretch to assume that something similar will happen with Cane, Jenna, and their unborn baby? I mean, you don’t do an epic build-up to an intimate scene and then not follow it up with an unplanned pregnancy in the second season, right? Cane judged Harlan and Belle for being so accepting of Shawn. He himself didn’t mind treating Shawn like a brother. But how will he and Peyton act when they come to know that Jenna wants to have Cane’s baby? Her marriage with Scott is as good as over. Her father is dead. She needs support. So, what’s stopping Jenna from using her kid’s rightful claim to the throne and profit off the Buckley family business? To be honest, absolutely nothing. However, if Jenna pushes her luck too hard and too fast, she might finally get to see the ugliest side of Peyton’s character. She gave Jenna a free pass because her father had died, and she’d agreed to not meet with Cane ever again. If Jenna walks back on that deal, it’ll be war.
Shawn’s Rise
Shawn is a mysterious character. Yes, he claims to be an open book. He has talked about his sexual orientation. He says that he has a partner he is committed to, but we have not seen a single shred of evidence that points to the fact that this guy exists. He says that he isn’t a good bartender, but then he picks up that skill pretty quickly. He got a black belt in Taekwondo in order to fight off homophobes? He is oddly loyal to Harlan, even though the guy wasn’t around in his mother’s last days. So, I don’t think he is the goody-two-shoes that he claims to be. He has a good alibi. But what if Belle was right? What if he is in deep cover? What if he is an agent from the FBI, CIA, DEA, USSS, BATFE, DHS, or ATF and has been tasked with bringing down the Parkers? The Parkers are the biggest drug dealers in the southern region of North America. They probably have a thorough screening process. So, it’s impossible to infiltrate their operation. The Buckleys are more loosey-goosey. Hence, it’s easier to cater to their emotions, watch them shake hands with the Parkers from afar, get an idea of how they function, and then report back to the higher-ups. I don’t know about you, but I think it’ll be revealed that Shawn isn’t really Harlan’s son but a really good law enforcement officer.
Bree Will Move Out Of Havenport
Bree witnessed the murder of her grandfather. She became a drug addict. She wasn’t allowed to be around her son, Diller, after she almost killed him by burning down her house. She almost put Harlan, Belle, and Cane in jail by colluding with DEA Agent Sanchez. She redeemed herself by killing Sanchez, and she also managed to re-establish her bond with Diller. But there was no way for her to stop her ex-husband, Rodney, and his current wife, Georgina, from taking Diller away from Havenport and settling down in Virginia. Now, Bree has 2 options: she can stay in Havenport and risk the chance of relapsing to ease the trauma of being in the Buckley family business, or she can move to Virginia, prove to herself that she can be sober for the rest of her life, and ensure that Diller gets the motherly love that he needs. From my perspective, the choice is pretty simple; she should get away from Havenport. That place is a cesspool, and with the involvement of the Parkers, it’s going to get worse. I’m sure that she can get a new job in Virginia and, most importantly, be with Diller. If she chooses to do the exact opposite of that, I’m afraid that she won’t make it to the end of Season 2.
The Buckleys Will Kill The Parkers
The Parkers are definitely under the impression that they’ve outplayed the Buckleys by helping Belle with the land deal, and that they will never face the repercussions of killing Beau. And why shouldn’t they be? They are one of the biggest crime families out there. They are free to do anything they want. Emmett apparently fancies Belle. So, if he gets to enter a physical relationship with the woman of his dreams while using Buckley Fisheries to transport tons of drugs, it’s a win-win situation for them. Yes, it’s going to break Harlan’s already weak heart. However, if he is patient, I think he’ll see that Belle isn’t disloyal to him. I have a feeling that she is playing the long game, which’ll end with the Buckleys getting revenge on the Parkers for murdering Beau and traumatizing Bree for life. I guess the majority of Season 2 will show the Parkers treating the Buckleys like their servants. It’s only at the end of that season that we’ll probably see the tables turning in the Buckleys’ favor, with Belle using Emmett’s complacency to get the better of him. Given how the Parkers are so well-connected, that’ll have some large-scale repercussions. Therefore, the Buckleys will have to think it through before going in for the kill.
