Netflix’s limited series Below reaches a turning point in Episode 5, “Little Pot Rock,” as Josh Hartnett’s Calvin Penney confronts buried truths about his past, the giant squid known as Mudder, and the corporate forces threatening Snook’s Arm. Written by series creator Jesse McKeown and directed by Stephen Dunn, the episode balances intimate character revelations with escalating tension, setting up the finale while expanding the show’s blend of creature-feature thrills, family drama, and eco-corporate critique.
The episode opens with Calvin waking in an abandoned house on the isolated island of Little Pot Rock, the site of a long-ago resettlement effort. Disoriented and injured from the previous episode’s submarine encounter, he finds his son Wade (Charlie Heaton) already there. Wade reveals that the spectral “hag” from his visions is no ghost at all—she is Maggie Budgell (Marthe Bernard), who lives on the island with her family. Calvin soon reunites with his childhood friend Walton Budgell (Shawn Doyle) and Walton’s father, Churrance (Andy Jones). The Budgells never accepted the Crockers’ resettlement offer and have remained, living in a precarious arrangement with the cephalopod they call Mudder.
Walton shows Calvin around, including a makeshift cemetery that holds a grave for Calvin’s father, Leo. Walton eases some of Calvin’s long-held guilt over the 1986 incident in which Calvin cut a towing rope to save the family, allowing their house—and Leo—to sink. The Budgells maintain a symbiotic relationship with Mudder: they use a mechanical device (built by Churrance) to summon her, after which she drives fish into their nets. They also consume her toxin, including in laced joints that Maggie uses to keep Wade pliant and enamored. Calvin learns the island’s population has dwindled; some offered themselves to the ocean. He also encounters Phil, a Portuguese fisherman whose leg has already been partially amputated—apparently as an offering or bait.
Parallel action unfolds in Snook’s Arm. The mysterious illness (tied to Mudder’s secretions in melting ice) is running its course in roughly 48 hours for many residents. Marine biologist Fonda Howander (Mackenzie Davis), Mary Penney (Ruby Stokes), and Ruth Penney (Willow Kean) head to the science center for a working radio and to salvage samples. Jay Penney (Rohan Campbell) is intercepted by debt collectors; a confrontation ends with their car plunging into the water, where Mudder attacks. Jay escapes with one of the men and schemes to claim the other absconded with the money. Fonda discovers a small, clear squid emerging from a block of ice and realizes the massive iceberg in the harbor is a nest. Meanwhile, Jim Crocker arrives by helicopter and is warmly greeted by Jan Hicks (Natasha Henstridge), confirming her alignment with the company.
On the island, Calvin falls into an old mine shaft and finds a Crocker Group mining permit, along with evidence of cobalt and copper deposits—the true motive behind the resettlements. Walton wants Calvin and Wade to stay permanently so Maggie can partner with the “marked” Wade. When Calvin witnesses Maggie further mutilating Phil, he intervenes, pulls the man free, and sets the house ablaze. Walton kills Phil with a speargun and turns on Calvin, but Wade intervenes, knocking Walton unconscious. Father and son flee by boat as Maggie screams Wade’s name. The episode ends on that note of escape and unresolved danger.
“Little Pot Rock” is an ambitious, somewhat uneven penultimate hour that deepens Below’s central mysteries while shifting the series further from pure creature horror toward themes of environmental exploitation, corporate greed, and the costs of clinging to a vanishing way of life. The flashbacks and revelations recontextualize earlier events: Mudder is not simply a mindless predator but a creature reacting to habitat disruption, and the Budgells’ cult-like devotion (complete with toxin-fueled bonding and sacrificial offerings) adds a Texas Chainsaw-adjacent eccentricity that heightens the stakes without fully dominating the narrative.
Hartnett continues to anchor the series with a grounded, guilt-ridden performance as Calvin processes decades of trauma alongside the immediate threat. Heaton’s Wade, often described as a lost or malleable figure, gains clarity here as the father’s confrontation breaks through Maggie’s influence. Supporting work from Doyle, Bernard, and Davis remains strong, particularly as Fonda’s scientific discoveries provide the practical urgency that will drive the finale. The Newfoundland setting—fog, isolation, and the stark beauty of the coast—continues to function as a character in its own right.
The episode is not without drawbacks. The Budgell subplot, while memorable, can feel abrupt and slightly underdeveloped for a penultimate chapter, and some viewers may find the rapid demystification of the “hag” and certain logistical questions (such as Maggie’s acquisition of a ring) jarring. Still, it effectively raises the clock on Snook’s Arm: the iceberg nest, Crocker’s arrival, and the Penney men’s escape all converge toward a high-stakes conclusion. For a series that has balanced atmospheric dread with family drama, “Little Pot Rock” delivers enough answers and new complications to keep the final episode compelling.
Below is streaming on Netflix. All six episodes of the limited series premiered on October 8, 2026.
