Set in a tiny, remote coastal town that’s suddenly facing a mysterious threat from the sea, Netflix’s new drama/horror series Below is in the unfortunate position of being compared to Widow’s Bay, the other show that already did that this year. It’s a “what if Jaws but…” vehicle for Josh Hartnett, on a career upswing with things like Oppenheimer, Trap (yes, Trap), and a great episode of Black Mirror. And while he’s doing all he can here, in a thick Newfoundland accent no less, to carry the six-episode series, Below can’t keep pace with the other show. A relatively solid first half of episodes is done in by the back three that messily (and occasionally ridiculously) tie up a story that hasn’t fully found its sea legs.

Hartnett stars as Calvin Penney, a man with a trauma-filled life dating back to his family’s forced resettlement from one remote town to the slightly less remote town of Snook’s Arm (which, in real life, was resettled in 2018). As seen in the opening scene from 1986, a young Calvin, his sister Ruth, his mother, father, and a resettlement officer tow the Penny family’s whole-ass house behind a tiny, puttering boat. But something terrible happens; the Penny’s house is pulled under water and Calvin’s father, Leo, goes down with it, and Calvin cuts the line from the house to the boat to save the rest of his family. During this accident, Calvin sees something in the water — a cliché that isn’t just used as marketing for Below, but is repeated several times throughout the series — that looks like a void.

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