The Mosquito Coast Season 2 Episode 2 Review: Least Concern Species

The Mosquito Coast Season 2 Episode 2, “Least Concern Species,” continues the series’ rather surprising narrative and tonal shift in its second season.

Granted, it’s not entirely clear what kind of show this series is attempting to become, but thus far, it’s at least something less overtly irritating than it once was. (Especially if you’re willing to overlook some of the larger plot holes at work this week.)

“Least Concern Species” is an episode that still doesn’t tell us much about the larger story of Season 2, in terms of where the Foxes are headed or what’s happened to any of the various people who’ve been chasing them. But it is an installment that feels like a proper adventure, and that actually counts for a lot.

As the episode begins, the rickety Fox family boat is generally holding together despite the fact that it seems to be essentially held together with twine and prayer, at least until a storm hits that leads to a rip in the hull. 

Allie goes into full Macgyver mode, coming up with Rube Goldberg-style contraptions to help raise the hull above the river’s water line (and avoid crocodile attack), but collapses unconscious before he can come up with a way to fully patch the hole. 

Now stranded, Margot, Dina, and Charlie will have to come up with a way to both fix the boat and get Allie some much-needed medical attention. 

Given that the Foxes are moving deeper into the jungles of Central America, it was probably inevitable that someone was going to get stung or bitten by an insect that made them sick. (Though your mileage may vary on whether or not you believe that’s something that the family wouldn’t have thought of and/or prepared for before heading south.)

Instead, Margot ultimately ends up relying on her teenage son’s laughably vague Google skills to save the day. It’s almost insulting the way The Mosquito Coast absolutely refuses to use any specifics in this story about what sort of illness Allie contracts, what the treatment is, or what kind of medicine Margot and Charlie set off to find. 

There’s a real “the garbage will do” laziness here that I personally find annoying, if only because it makes the stakes feel…well, non-existent. If the show can’t even be bothered to tell me what’s wrong with Allie in what world am I meant to think that this threat is a serious one?

I mean the problem is essentially solved by Margot picking a bottle out of a cabinet at random and Charlie, despite not having any medical knowledge, confirms it’s definitely the right one.

At the end of this day, much of this plot seems to be about simply sidelining Allie, which, trust me is an urge I understand. As a result, Margot and Charlie gear up and head off toward the smoke that indicates some kind of civilization, determined to ask random strangers for medicine and have an awkward conversation about how he murdered a man last season.

While it’s definitely a good thing that this show is finally addressing this issue at long last, I’m not sure that the conversation that results is necessarily satisfying.

On some level, yes, it makes complete sense that Margot wouldn’t want her son to feel but so bad about what he believed he had to do, but there’s also a strange sense that she approves of him essentially proving he could be violent if necessary.

Their conversation about how violence is sometimes not just necessary but morally right is…well, a significant shift from the Margot we saw last season. (There’s a pervasive sense here that this season wants to undo much of the sympathetic portrayal Season 1 gave her if only to make her decision to stay with Allie more palatable.) And none of it seems to show us a Charlie that is terribly contrite or upset about his choices.

Dina, for her part, is left behind to watch her father, who is shaking and barely conscious, and told to fix the boat while her mother and brother are gone. Given that she is, let’s not forget, a teenage girl, I’m not at all sure why Margot is so convinced that her skillset includes metalworking and construction with found materials. But sure, her dad is smart, so let’s bet on hereditary genius to possibly save our lives! Sounds legit! 

But that’s not even the most bizarre/unbelievable thing that happens this week. No, that honor goes to the weird interlude where Charlie and Margot discover an abandoned facility (construction? Mining? Who can say?) whose entire staff appears to have been brutally murdered.

(But not robbed, so there’s still medicine and food for them to grab.) Why? Who knows! People just be constantly killing each other in the wilds of the jungle I guess.

And the worst part is, we don’t even know if we’re supposed to care about the answers to what happened here. Are we meant to be worried the people who did all the murdering might stumble upon the Foxes next? No idea! It’s so weird to have no idea what story we’re meant to be following here, and no amount of (admittedly well-done) tension is enough to completely cover up for that fact. 

Strange Thoughts and Observations

• Look, if you’re going to repeatedly threaten us with the idea of various Fox family members getting attacked by a crocodile somebody better actually get attacked by an alligator. 
• I really wanted Allie to get eaten by an alligator is what I’m saying.
• The physics of Dina’s hole-plugging solution seem….suspect at best. A metal box top and some duct tape, really? Is this actually a viable long-term solution to the hole in the side of their boat?

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

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New episodes of The Mosquito Coast stream Fridays on Apple TV+. 

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