Below Ending Explained: Directed by Jamie Childs, Helen Shaver, and Stephen Dunn, the Netflix series stars Josh Hartnett as Calvin Penney, Mackenzie Davis as Dr Fonda Howander, Charlie Heaton as Wade Penney, Ruby Stokes as Mary Penney, Rohan Campbell as Jay Penney, Willow Kean as Ruth Penney, Kaleb Horn as Noah Townsend, Mary Walsh as Mayor Linda Best, and Natasha Henstridge as Jan Hicks. Created by Jesse McKeown, the series has six episodes, each running approximately 40 minutes.
Below Ending Explained
What Did the Crockers Really Want?
It was not the relocation of the inhabitants of the town of Snook’s Arm due to their difficult situation that was the actual intention of the Crockers. They had found out that there were some mineral deposits of copper and cobalt under the town, which they wanted to gain possession of to make money out of them. This is why the Crockers had been pressing on with the idea of resettlement for such a long time. Eventually, Calvin comes to know about the mining plan and understands that what had happened to his former settlement, Little Pot Rock, was not the result of a mere government resettlement.
The same strategy is now applied in Snook’s Arm. The Crockers bribe the residents of the town with high financial compensation if they decide to leave. However, this bargain may become much more effective for the company if the town gets destroyed so badly that the residents are forced to agree to the deal. And this is when the presence of the giant squid is especially convenient for the Crockers.
Since the creature is labelled as dangerous and military airstrikes are prepared for its elimination, the destruction of the harbour will become a factor that complicates the life of the people even more. Thus, Jim Crocker tries to persuade the military to perform the airstrikes despite the fact that Calvin managed to relocate the nest of the creature. It is not the residents who Jim cares about in this situation.
What Was the Sea Creature in Below?
The mysterious creature terrorising Snook’s Arm turns out to be a giant deep-water cephalopod aka giant squid. The giant iceberg near the village is found to belong to the creature, and she has put her eggs inside it. Thus, the iceberg has become a nest for her, and that is why she continues to attack the boats, the fish farms and anyone who comes close to the place. She is not killing people just for the sake of it. She is protecting her babies.
There is also an environmental cause for her presence. While the creature originates in a very cold part of the Arctic Ocean, warming waters and changes in the environment have made it impossible for the creature to live in its native habitat anymore. The creature has had to leave her home and has followed the currents until she ended up in Snook’s Arm, where she was laying her eggs. This makes the creature yet another casualty of environmental destruction due to human activity. In the beginning, what appeared to be a monstrous invasion of the town has turned out to be just a creature that was driven out of its habitat.
Why Did Calvin Save the Creature Instead of Letting the Military Kill It?
There are plenty of reasons for Calvin to be scared of this monster. It is associated with a disaster that befell Calvin’s father many years ago, and in the course of the movie, it kills people and damages boats in the area of Snook’s Arm. But after Fonda realises that the iceberg is the nest of the monster, it becomes obvious that there is much more going on. The squid is defending her offspring from any harm; similarly, Calvin tries to protect his children all his life and keep his family together. Calvin realises that the monster does not kill humans out of malice; it defends itself and its future.
It is this understanding that makes Calvin take the risk to save her from death. Rather than leaving it to the military to destroy the squid and its den, Calvin finds a way of moving the iceberg away from the Snook’s Arm. With Wade’s and other people’s help, Calvin connects a huge net to the iceberg and moves it away from the harbour.
Moving the den far enough away from the town will cause the squid to follow it, and hence save it from getting killed without involving the military in its destruction. This is also a very personal choice that Calvin has made because he sees himself in the creature. At the end of Below series, both of them are parents trying to protect their children even as they themselves are being pushed out of their environments.
Do the Residents of Snook’s Arm Get to Stay in the Town?
At the end of Below, the civilians will be allowed back to their homes in Snook’s Arm at least for now. First, the military evacuates them since the squid is seen as a serious danger, with plans to destroy the monster by air strike. But then everything changes when Calvin’s strategy proves to be very effective. When they move the nest of the squid out of the harbour, the lieutenant understands that there is no point in bombing the village anymore. Although Jim Crocker insists on giving orders to conduct the operation, the lieutenant does not agree with him.
This does not mean that the battle for the town by the Crockers has ended. The company keeps on trying to take the town legally, and the people know that there will be another offer made soon. However, the only thing different is that now they know the worth of the place where they live and what lies underneath it. Now, rather than blindly accepting any offer that would ruin their settlement like the one done before, they would be able to decide whether to accept the offer and move out of their town or stay here. So, finally, they survive and get to stay put, though the future is uncertain.
What Does the Ending of Below Signify?
It is not only a monster; it has more to do with climate change, displacement and human greed. Calvin manages to save one monster and the town from destruction; however, he fails to fix the much bigger issue causing everything that happened in the series. The squid had to leave her home because the water in the ocean is getting warmer. This fact is confirmed by Fonda; she says that the temperature of the water is too high to ensure the survival of the squid’s offspring. In other words, the squid becomes a sign of the problems that have emerged due to climate change.
This is especially true of the ending of Below series. As Calvin and Wade go into the waters, instead of seeing one iceberg, they see many more covering the horizon. In the earlier episodes of the show, the ice had been important to Calvin since he made his money harvesting it. However, now that all the lessons he had learned have sunk in, this is not seen as good news anymore. The sheer abundance of ice means that there is a much bigger problem at hand.
Calvin might be able to handle the present issue, but he can’t drag all the icebergs and change the planet’s climate. The ending thus shows him having to look at an uncertain future ahead. The question it asks is not “What is the next monster going to do to us? It is “What happens to us when climate change changes our world?”
Will There Be a Below Season 2?
By the end of the series, it is still unknown whether there will be a Season 2 of Below, and the comments made by the show’s creator, Jesse McKeown, intended to make six episodes as a whole story instead of a starting point for a longer series. However, one thing can be said for sure – the last scene of Below is definitely a traditional cliffhanger. After all, it is quite obvious that Calvin and Wade seeing such a large number of icebergs leaves many unanswered questions regarding what may happen in the future and whether any other environmental changes are coming towards them.
