Netflix Lets Us Know What’s BELOW

Currently streaming on Netflix in a six-episode series is the story of an ocean town and what lives BELOW.

While resettling their entire home across the water to Snooks Arm, something in the water changes those plans. Everything is sinking around them and a young boy is forced to make the most horribly painful and traumatic decision. Forty years later the boy has now become a man. Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett) makes his living fishing for ice since the actual fish have all but gone. Out on the water, he hears a transmission that a boat and crew have gone missing. Losing interest when he sees a nice chunk of ice, he hauls it in for cash but is told the ice is no good. After testing it seems there is something smelly about it. His next stop, a town meeting where resettlement has once again become the issue.

At Seal Cove Ocean Science Centre, scientist Dr. Fonda Howander (Mackenzie Davis) receives a visit from Calvin, he asks that she find out what is wrong with this particular block of ice. Studying it, she discovers that there is indeed something wrong with it, but can’t really say what. Keeping busy, Calvin and son Wade (Charlie Heaton) has arrived at the dock to pick up daughter Mary(Ruby Stokes), and boyfriend Noah (Kaleb Horn) and is worried when son Jay (Rohan Campbell) doesn’t seem to be with them. Calvin’s sister Ruth (Willow Kean) is excited to see everyone together. After a night of partying, Calvin is shocked to see the largest iceberg floating in the bay, and the town is shocked as well.

Calvin is steering clear of any ice until he has answers, but the Crocker company that pays out for it has its eye on the berg and so many more secrets that the town is unaware of. What lies beneath the water brings the Penney family, once again, in the middle of a oceanic nightmare that is a reminder of the past with horrors unknown in the present. Calvin isn’t waiting for the town, the scientists, or his family to stop what happened before from repeating itself.

Hartnett as Calvin is a man living with boyhood trauma. Staying on the island with his sister Ruth, he tried to raise a family and live life the best way possible. Always struggling because of the past trauma, his mind is on high alert when he realizes that something from the past is forcing him to deal with it in order to save not only his family, but the entire town. Hartnett gives his character a second chance to make things right for himself. Nothing worse than trauma that affects every day life and Hartnett embraces that for his character to the point where his anxiety gave me anxiety.

Davis as Dr. Howander is the one person the town should listen to but, of course, they don’t. It doesn’t stop her from supporting Calvin and trying to discover what is in the ice that the Cephalopod wants so badly. When the town is affected by something from the water, she is the only one that can find a reason for it all. Davis gives her character a bit of a nerdy look and feel, but once Howander kicks into gear, there is nothing nerdy about her. Kean as Ruth is Calvin’s sister who is a very strong character always watching over the family as well as being the harbor master. Not wanting to believe what’s happening and protecting her brother, a time comes where she has no choice but to believe.

Heaton as son Wade has issues that he drowns in alcohol and trouble. Once he comes face to face with the thing of mystery, his waking hours are filled with even more confusion for Calvin to deal with. Campbell as Jay is a son that comes back making everyone believe he is living the good life. Of course, not everything is exactly as it seems, especially with Calvin’s kids. Stokes as Mary returns home to visit but has no plans on staying. Believing she would be spending family time, she hadn’t planned on it all being interrupted by the ocean or someone trying to take the island. Horn as Noah returns to Mary’s home to see where she came from, but also has a plan of his own. All of these I can say, kids are kids, sure, but being grown up and still blaming Dad has become so annoying and boring in television and film. What happened to personal accountability?

Shout out to Wenham and Henstridge for their roles. It was fantastic to see them on screen once again

Other cast include Matthew Worko as Mo Abdullahi, Frank Moore as Jim Cricker, Jeff Yung as Jojo, Josh Cruddas as Connor Kopecko, Marthe Bernard as Maggie, Cathy Jones as Irene Tulk, Andy Jones as Clurrance Budgell, Mary Walsh as Mayor Linda, Darrin Baker as Keith Pratt, Joshua Close as Jaxon, Shawn Doyle as Walton, Tantoo Cardinal as Anik, Joel Hynes as Jerry Biles, Natasha Henstridge as Jan Hicks, and David Wenham as Dr. Steve Bruner.

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The six episodes include Come Home Year, Crown and Anchor, Sir John Franklin, The Ocean Will Have Us All, Little Pot Rock and The Unfathering Deep.

BELOW is pretty much a disaster film that is giving sharks a break. That doesn’t mean I didn’t see some moments that reminded me clearly of JAWS. Calvin and Fonda reminded me of a certain sherriff that no one wanted to listen to until it was too late. Wenham brings a boat filled with expensive toys and at one point I thought Calvin was going to say, “We are going to need a bigger boat.” That being said, to me it is fun to find easter eggs in other films. Happy to give Bruce a break, the ocean now turns to a large angry squid that isn’t a picky eater but still a bit rude.

There are pros and cons to the series. I enjoyed the tension in each episode with no room for much humor, not sure it needed six episodes to tell the story though. The cast does an amazing job portraying this small town that is under attack from the ocean and from greedy human beings. The hard part is that everyone is so torn about what is happening, its hard to get them to agree on anything. They clearly don’t trust one another which is part of their downfall in many ways.

I did love that the series didn’t have a lot of squid special effects, instead, relying on the characters to keep us on edge. I don’t need to see monsters to know monsters are there. The story does try to move around substories that I didn’t think necessary but, that’s just me. I’m more of a ‘focus on the point’ kind of gal.

BELOW will have Netflix lovers tuning in for several reasons to my way of thinking. The fact that it is something to binge is always a good thing. I say this because I’m a habitual binger. A crazed squid is always a nice break away from sharks as well. The underwater special effects with the squid are pretty cool too. Well done in fact. So, with cooler weather expected and a little rain coming, this might be an awesome time to cuddle up and see how what lives in the sea can make everyone on the land fear it!

In the end – something is definetly in the water!