Netflix's Below Is Number One: Josh Hartnett, Newfoundland Accents, and One Giant Eye

Belowhas climbed to the top of Netflix, and the internet cannot stop talking about it. The six-episode supernatural thriller follows Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett), a haunted Newfoundland fisherman who tows icebergs for a local vodka distillery in a remote village called Snook’s Arm. Charlie Heaton plays his son Wade, Mackenzie Davis plays the scientist who senses something wrong in the water, and the show opens with a 1960s family towing their house across open ocean before something from the deep changes everything. That image of a giant eye? It sticks with you.

Part of what makes the series pop is its commitment to place. It was shot in Brigus South, Newfoundland, standing in for Snook’s Arm, and the accents and slang are so authentic that viewers are quoting lines like“Jesus friggin’Murphy”and“like a smacked arse.”The show also pulls from real history, referencing the resettlement era when the Newfoundland government moved residents off remote islands, which gives the family drama a weight that pure monster fare rarely earns.

Critics have been split, with many praising the setting and atmosphere while calling the plotting uneven, and plenty of viewers are already comparing it to

Widow’s Bay

. Whether it’s a worthy successor or its own strange creature, the cliffhanger finale has everyone asking one thing. ShouldBelowget a second season?