I’m not sure if the giant squid at the centre of Below has the ability to alter its colours much like some other members of the cephalopod family, but I do know that the show has certainly managed to change its appearance a fair few times with only a few episodes left to go. For the most part, this season has mostly concerned itself with hitting those all famous beats from Jaws while throwing in a subplot concerning an infection sweeping through the struggling, remote fishing village.
However, with “Little Pot Rock”, we find the show bizarrely shifting its plot into something completely new after the Jaws-related stuff reached its zenith. This means we find Josh Hartnett’s increasingly confused Calvin Penney awake after his traumatic squid attack to discover that the beast not only has people who depend on it, but who have even given it a name. Just when we think we’ve got a lock on this show, something occurs to suggest that this could be the “Mudder” of all squid related media.
After surviving the explosive decompression of Steve Bruner’s minisub, sole survivor Calvin finds himself washed ashore on the even more remote isle of Little Pot Rock. Coincidently, it’s where the people of Snook’s Arm were resettled from forty years ago and while our hero tries to make sense of things while enduring the painful after effects of suffering the bends, the presence of an old friend named Walton makes things much clearer. While the majority of of townsfolk moved to Snook’s Arm on the dime of the Crocker Group, Walton’s folks and a few other elected to stay and live a simpler life under the radar. Adding further surrealism to matters is the fact that Calvin’s son, Wade has also made his way here and seems to have fallen in love with Walton’s daughter, Maggie, the woman that we all thought was the sea hag. But when Calvin discovers that there’s even a grave here for his father who was lost at sea thanks to that malevolent squid, Walton shoots his shot, and asks his former friend to stay and make a life here with his son.
Meanwhile, as the effects of the squid’s toxins seem to be working their way through the townsfolk, some are experiencing vastly differing experiences. Jay’s debt issues clear up suddenly when he survives the squid attack that claims one of the collectors, but his sister Mary has resigned herself to the fact that her father is dead after that minisub attack. However, once again making the most relevant discovery is Fonda as she’s found out what the importance of the iceberg in the bay actually is – a nest for the squid that’s teaming with it’s frozen babies.
Also making some worrying discoveries is Calvin, who finds that Walton’s way of life comes with some heavy strings attached. It turns out that they live in symbiosis with the squid, which they’ve named “Mudder”, which provides them with ample fish while they protect themselves from her wrath by getting stoned on her toxin. All they believe they have to do to maintain balance is feed her an offering every so often. Despite Wade’s insistence to stay, Calvin thinks it might be time to get the fuck out of dodge…
It seemed that Below had always planned to stick to the Jaws playbook for most of its run, liberally borrowing familiar, time-tested scenarios to give us a safely derivative killer squid narrative while it hints at weirder plot points lurking further out to sea. Well, after last episode’s blowout that saw your typical killer animal third act occur two episodes early, it now seems like Below has found the stones to cast out in the direction of more uncharted waters and finally do something a little less predictable. For a start, rather than being washed up to discover Snook’s Arm is now populated by crazy people, the show instead piles on not one, but two conspiracies out of nowhere.
The second is one that’ll be explained in greater detail next episode, but it truly seems that the constant resettling of the folks of Snook’s Arm is all a big scam orchestrated by the Crocker Group in order to get full access to the vein of copper and cobalt that exists under the land. However, while this seems like quite a fairly important twist to drop at the end of the penultimate episode, “Little Pot Luck” is far more interested in introducing us to the curious people that live on the titular land and the lives they lead. To put it plainly, it’s basically the life that Calvin has dreamed of, with bountiful fishing and a simple life living off the sea, but after Walton tries to entice him in, Calvin discovers that there’s some sacrifices he’s not willing to make. The result is something on an uneven episode that tries hard to take the show somewhere different, but ultimately has no idea where.
There’s a hint of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the introduction of a family utterly dedicated to a thoroughly strange way of life that contains a surprising amount of mutilation, and the way it’s revealed that Walton and his kin are working in tandem with their beloved Mudder is delightfully off-kilter thanks to all the drugs and flashing lights it requires. In fact, at times it seems that the showrunners are trying to offer up that old Lovecraftian pact between humans and the Great Old Ones – just without the whole comic sea god stuff. However, I would argue that the weirdness of the situation is somewhat hamstrung by a couple of overused story tropes. Obviously, now that Wade has a girl interested in him and an endless supply of squid toxin to smoke, he’s now become incredibly annoying as Calvin attempts to get his slow-witted spawn to move his contrary arse. Similarly, due to the season fast approaching it’s end, Calvin’s plan to leave Little Pot Rock seems strangely frantic in comparison. Yes, he discovers that Walton and Co are in league with Mudder and their intention to feed the last of the crew of the missing Portuguese fishing vessel to their tentacled benefactor isn’t exactly friendly, but I found Calvin’s decision to immediately smash in Walton’s skull and set the tiny community ablaze a little over the top – couldn’t he have just snuck off rather than instantly committing assault and arson?
Still, while I enjoyed this completely odd shift for the story, I could also fully understand if it’s a rugpull to far for anyone struggling with the show’s deliberate lack of focus. However, in the dying minutes of the episode, we find that the show’s switching gears again by returning back to more classic, killer animal plotting. Firstly, Fonda has discovered that, like 60% of all rampaging freaks of nature, Mudder’s actions are being dictated by the fact she has babies in the picture. If that wasn’t familiar enough, we also get the introduction of the villainous entrepreneurs behind the Crocker Group that’s been plundering the area. I guess we’re now up to our eyeballs in potential Mudder fuckers…
With only the finale left to go, the only thing more erratic than the show’s plotting is the fact that I have absolutely no clue as to which direction the season is going to finally end up heading down. With human villains and squid babies in the mix, will the showrunners suddenly now try to make us have empathy for Mudder? Will the Little Pot Rock clan try to take revenge on Calvin? Is the middling subplot of Jay finally done with? Who can say – but while the various threads of the show wriggle and twist like the aimless arms of Mudder herself, I have to admit I’m enjoying the chaos.
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Where to watch Below – Season 1, Episode 5: Little Pot Rock: