Credit: Netflix

Below initially looks like one of those small-town dramas on Netflix where everyone knows everyone, and they stay like a harmonious community… Only this time we have a giant bloody squid in the picture. On top of that, these people are asked to relocate by the government, and each of them has been offered a hefty sue to vacate the place.

But let’s get to the Penney family first, because our protagonist Calvin, played by Josh Hartnett, is a fisherman who wants absolutely nothing to do with resettlement after losing his father during an earlier relocation. He has three kids, Wade, Mary and Jay and a sister, Ruth.

Now, Snook’s Arm is already going down the pan, with the fishing trade dying and the government wanting everyone to pack up and move elsewhere. If that sounds a bit fishy to you… well, keep that thought, because we have barely scratched the surface.

Then Mackenzie Davis comes in as marine researcher Fonda Howander, who gets tangled up in the town’s growing nightmare as mysterious ice appears and something massive starts lurking underwater.

And by the finale? Giant squid, military, dodgy resettlement business… the whole shebang. So, yeah, we have quite a bit to untangle.

What is Mudder, and why is she attacking people?

The easiest answer would be that Mudder is the monster of the story… A giant squid with big tentacles who smashed boats and is responsible for bodies in the water.

You see, Below does something smarter and turns the whole thing on its head, because she is not out there causing destruction for the sake of it. She is guarding her eggs.

And once you know that, the attacks make a lot more sense. Everyone in Snook’s Arm has been circling around her nesting ground. People are poking at it, cutting into it and getting far too close without having no clue what they are dealing with, while Mudder is basically doing the one thing she knows how to do: keep everything away from her young.

Doesn’t look like a massive villain now, does she? Poor Squid has nowhere else to go, and that makes it the saddest part of the story. Her deep Arctic habitat has become unsuitable as the climate changes, so she goes south looking for better conditions, only to land in water that is too warm for the eggs anyway.

Oh, and the parallel with Calvin is as plain as day here. He too is clinging to Snook’s Arm because the thought of being uprooted again makes him upset, while Mudder has already been uprooted and is trying to make a home somewhere that cannot support her.

Does Calvin save Snook’s Arm?

He does, but not in some heroic way where everyone cheers, and the sun comes out. The military decides the creature has to go and prepares to bomb the harbour, which would solve the squid problem while doing a pretty decent job of wrecking the town at the same time, so Calvin goes for the option nobody who loves their life would do: move the nest.

With Wade and Mary helping weaken it from shore, Calvin gets the nest into a huge net and tows it out to sea, hoping Mudder follows, and at one point, the whole mad plan holds together long enough to work. The military scraps the strike, and the harbour survives. Snook’s arm stays standing.

Happy days now? Not really. Mudder dies anyway, and because the water is too warm, her eggs never hatch. So Calvin saves his home while the creature fighting for hers loses everything, which gives Below a bittersweet ending. Ah, who are we kidding? It’s just bitter.

What were the Crockers really doing and what do those final icebergs mean?

Because giant squid, ecological collapse and military intervention were apparently not enough, there is also the small matter of the Crocker family trying to profit from the whole mess.

The land under Snook’s Arm contains copper and cobalt, and that is the real prize here, not some sudden concern for struggling fishing families. The resettlement plan would move people off the land through government payouts, which makes the area a hell of a lot easier to get hold of without paying residents what the place is actually worth. Then Calvin finds out the link to Little Pot Rock, and the same kind of scheme was used there too.

And then Below saves it crazy for the end because Calvin and his family go back onto the water and spot a whole line of strange icebergs out on the horizon.

The show never says those formations are nests, so no, we cannot believe that it’s a giant-squid invasion, but the hint is about as subtle as a brick through a window: Mudder may not have been the only creature pushed south, and Snook’s Arm may have survived one crisis only to find out that there are more waiting behind it.

You see, because those icebergs are still sitting out there, the climate problem has not gone anywhere, and the creatures being forced into new waters are not going to stop just because one town got lucky. So, yes, Snook’s Arm makes it through… For now.