Spoiler warning: This article discusses the finale of Netflix’s Below.
Quick answer: The Big Squid Distillery is more than a happy-ending detail. It turns the creature that terrified Snook’s Arm into a symbol the town can live with, while showing Calvin Penney trying to rebuild his family’s future. The final icebergs add a warning: the community’s recovery is real, but the environmental danger has not disappeared.
Netflix’s six-episode thriller Below follows fisherman Calvin Penney, played by Josh Hartnett, as he tries to protect his family and the Newfoundland community of Snook’s Arm from a mysterious sea creature and a resettlement scheme. The finale offers relief: the immediate threat is moved away from town, the Penneys remain together, and residents have a reason to gather again. Then the story reveals a new local business: Big Squid Distillery.
What Is the Big Squid Distillery in Below?
In the finale’s flash-forward, the Penneys operate the Big Squid Distillery, a new watering hole that reflects the town’s changed relationship with Mudder. What once seemed like an unstoppable monster becomes part of the community’s shared story. The name acknowledges what happened without allowing fear to be the only thing people remember.
The business is practical, too. Snook’s Arm has faced pressure from outside interests that want residents to leave. A local business gives the family a way to earn a living in the place they fought to keep. Instead of treating the town as doomed, the distillery presents it as a community capable of adapting.
Why the Distillery Matters to Calvin Penney
Calvin’s story has always been about more than surviving a creature attack. Since childhood, he has carried guilt over his father’s death during the family’s forced move from Little Pot Rock. That memory shapes how he parents Wade and responds to danger: he tries to control events because he believes one wrong decision can cost someone he loves.
By the end, Calvin learns that fear does not automatically make him right. Understanding Mudder changes his view of the creature, and working with his family gives him another way to face the past. The distillery represents a future built with other people, not a life organised entirely around grief. It does not erase his loss; it shows that loss no longer has to dictate every decision.
From a Sea Monster to a Community Symbol
The Big Squid name carries two meanings. To outsiders, it may sound like a novelty or tourist attraction. To residents, it refers to a frightening event that exposed the town’s vulnerability and forced people to cooperate. A local business can turn a shared experience into a story people tell together rather than a trauma each family carries alone.
There is a risk in that transformation. Turning a crisis into a brand can make it easier to forget what the crisis revealed. Below shows how powerful interests can package promises of prosperity while expecting residents to surrender their home. The distillery feels different because the Penneys are building it themselves, but its name still raises a question: can the town remember the creature honestly instead of reducing it to a marketing gimmick?
Why the Happy Ending Is Not Completely Happy
The distillery gives the finale warmth, but it does not resolve every problem. The threat of another resettlement vote remains, and the environmental thread is more unsettling still. Fonda explains that the water is too warm for Mudder’s offspring to survive. The family may have protected the creature from immediate human violence, but they cannot simply tow the ocean back to a safer temperature.
That distinction is central to the ending. A community can make a brave choice and still face forces larger than itself. The Penneys can rebuild a business, repair family ties, and defend their home, but those achievements do not cancel climate change or guarantee the next generation’s safety.
The Final Icebergs Change the Meaning of the Distillery
When Calvin and Wade later see more icebergs offshore, the image undercuts the comfort of the new business. Earlier, icebergs can look like an opportunity to make money. After what the family has learned, they look like warnings: each may carry unknown risks, and the consequences may arrive faster than the town can prepare.
The final shot gives the distillery a sharper meaning. It is not proof that Snook’s Arm has defeated nature; it is evidence that people are trying to live with uncertainty. The bar is busy, the family is together, and the community has reclaimed some control over its future. Yet the ocean remains beyond their control.
Is Big Squid Distillery a Hint at Below Season 2?
The distillery is not confirmation of a second season. It is part of the finale’s flash-forward and gives the characters a believable next chapter. The final icebergs leave room for further danger, but an open ending should not be treated as an official renewal announcement. Wait for Netflix or the producers to confirm any new episodes.
What the Big Squid Distillery Really Represents
The strongest reading is resilience without certainty. Calvin and his family have not made the world safe; they have made a place for themselves in it. The name remembers Mudder, the creature they once feared and eventually tried to protect. It also preserves the uncomfortable lesson at the heart of Below: people, animals, and places labelled as threats may be responding to conditions humans helped create.
That is why the finale’s cheerful business sign and ominous icebergs belong together. One shows what a town can rebuild through solidarity. The other shows what solidarity alone cannot solve. The ending offers hope, but not a promise that everything will be fine.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Big Squid Distillery in Below?
It is a new local watering hole operated by the Penney family in the finale’s flash-forward, named after the giant squid that changed Snook’s Arm.
Does the Big Squid Distillery mean Calvin has moved on?
It suggests Calvin is beginning a new chapter with his family and community. It does not erase his grief, but shows his past no longer defines every choice.
Why is the distillery called Big Squid?
The name turns the town’s frightening encounter with Mudder into part of its shared identity and suggests the community is reclaiming its story.
What do the icebergs at the end of Below mean?
They suggest the danger has not ended, connecting the mystery of the creature to the series’ wider concern about warming waters and unpredictable environmental change.
Does the ending confirm Below Season 2?
No. The final image leaves room for more story, but it is not an official renewal announcement.
Sources and Further Reading
- Netflix Tudum: How Does Below End? — official ending explainer and comments from the cast and creator.
- Netflix Tudum: Below — Cast, News and Videos — official series information.
- TIME: Breaking Down the Ominous Ending of Below — additional finale analysis.
- JustWatch: Below Ending Explained — recap of the finale and the Penney family’s new business.
By Shivam Das
