The Mosquito Coast Review: Light Out/First of the Gang to Die (Season 1 Episodes 1 and 2)

One thing can certainly be said after the first two episodes of the new Apple TV+ drama The Mosquito Coast: Don’t feel bad if you have generally no idea what’s actually happening. You’re likely far from the only one. 

A prestige feeling thriller with an all-star cast and a solid production pedigree, this is the sort of series that feels, on paper, like it should be a slam dunk. And it’s not…bad. It’s generally enjoyable if you are a person who can just 

A family who must flee America for the dangerous world of Central America, led by a man who is either a genius or certifiable, depending on which way the light lands in any given shot, the story is shot through with compelling themes about capitalism, colonialism, consumerism, and the lies we tell ourselves. 

The Mosquito Coast comes to us from Luther creator Neil Cross, who is a master at ramping up inexplicable tension at the drop of a hat. From car chases to near-misses at the hands of FBI agents, there’s plenty to keep you gasping, and wondering what will happen next. 

The problem is that we have no idea why any of it matters. 

Why is this family on the run? Who’s chasing them? Are those FBI agents going through their home? Can a man just be arrested for no reason in the middle of a Greyhound station? Did he just get tased? Is there some reason the wife can’t even call her own mother on her birthday?  

These are just a handful of the questions the series’ first episode, “Light Out,” raises, and it bothers to answer virtually none of them. If you are the sort of TV viewer who doesn’t mind not having any idea why anyone does any of the things they do, more power to you –but that person is not me.

Star Justin Theroux is channeling some serious Kevin Garvey “is this real or am I having a nervous breakdown” The Leftovers vibes, complete with a scruffy, unkempt beard that tells you pretty much all you need to know about his The Mosquito Coast character.

Technically Allie Fox is some kind of genius inventor, who makes nifty stuff out of the refuse others discard. He’s content to live in what appears to be a sort of bougie poverty: Dedicated to keeping his family off the grid using a series of false identities and weird inventions, half of his projects feel like nothing so much as Goop for boys. 

The Mosquito Coast is not exactly what you would call forthcoming about why Allie’s work — which appears to be primarily dumpster diving — has landed him in the sort of hot water that ends up in a high-speed car chase along a lonely desert road. Is he a drug dealer? Did he steal state secrets? 

And why is his family so — for the most part — okay with the way his obsessions have ruined their lives?

Allie is actively furious about the disposable nature of American consumerism — the way the government spends billions on weapons but little on the poor, how people immediately want to buy something new rather than fix something broken, and the ways capitalism encourages humanity’s worst demons. 

This is all fine on the service, but Allie’s method of engaging with a society that infuriates him is to simply reject it — ignore it,  run away from it, mock it — and he seems to care little about the way his desires are actively destroying the lives of the people he claims to care so much about.

There’s a scene early in the second episode, “Foxes and Coyotes,” where he asks his daughter — quite seriously — why she doesn’t want to just stay on the run with them forever, and little indication that he understands anything about her, or why she might want a life of her own.  

The thing is, The Mosquito Coast itself seems to have little idea who its characters are or what any of them want. This is a show that gives its viewers precious little reason in its first episodes — the ones that should ostensibly lay the groundwork for the rest that will follow — about why its characters do anything they do.

And, as a result, viewers are left floundering. Are we supposed to be rooting for these people? Cheering Allie’s fevered rants and/or feeling a sense of approval when his anti-establishmentarian screed comes out of his daughter’s mouth?

Are we supposed to hope they don’t get caught as they flee police, rob the business office where Allie used to work, and refuse to tell their kids what’s going on? 

As we watch two vague U.S. Marshal types follow the family’s trail, it’s beyond frustrating not to know why they’re doing what they’re doing. (Particularly when the show gives them multiple chances to tell us — including a direct question from Dina to just explain what the heck her dad has done — and straight up refuses to do so.)

All the propulsive chase sequences in the world — and there are several thrilling near misses as the Foxes attempt to leave America — can’t make up for the fact that after watching two episodes of this show, I don’t know if I’m supposed to be rooting for the characters who are ostensibly the protagonists or not. 

Are they good people? Bad people? The fact that there’s no clear answer for that is a problem. 

Additional Thoughts and Observations

• For me, the most pleasant surprise in the series’ first two episodes is actress Melissa George, the former Alias star who plays Allie’s wife, Margot. Her face contains multitudes in virtually every scene — be it a desperate, ferocious love for her family or heartrending pain that, for whatever reason, her husband’s choices mean she has few of her own. 
• It truly cannot be said enough: This show is amazing to look at. These beautiful vistas! The delicate tracking shot of a butterfly! The horrifying reflection of a family on the run in the eye of a dead man. Just. Whew. 
• Speaking of beautiful to look at: Justin Theroux is like the definition of heart eyes emoji here. 
• Did anyone catch when exactly this show is supposed to be taking place? Who still has payphones?
• Yet, there are also downloadable dark web browsers you can just install on any random computer?

What did you think of this episode of The Mosquito Coast? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

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The first two episodes of The Mosquito Coast are available to stream on Apple TV+. Moving forward, new episodes will premiere on the service on Fridays. 

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