The Mosquito Coast Season 2 Episode 7 Review: The Burning of Judas

Some more nonsensical things happen in The Mosquito Coast Season 2 Episode 7, “The Burning of Judas,” as Margot plots to use Richard to gain an immunity deal for her family, and the show pretends we care about the internal politics of Casa Roja.

But this hour nevertheless turns out to be one of the series’ most emotionally satisfying, thanks to Dina Fox’s decision to finally tell her father about himself, calling out every one of his selfish, dumb choices before telling him to [expletive] himself. What I’m saying is: Dina is our queen, y’all. 

Granted, I don’t think any of us were expecting Dina’s outburst; after all, her initial conversation with Margot certainly seemed to hint she was angrier with her mother for letting Allie take the blame for their years off the grid than she was about anything else. Sometimes it’s really nice to be wrong because Dina’s read of her dad is truly epic. 

“I just realized,” she tells her father. “I don’t respect you. And now I don’t respect her. So, no that’s not what I mean when I say I’m sorry. I’m not sorry for anything. Anything at all. I’m sorry for you.” 

The thing is, everything she says is right. Allie absolutely is a bully who uses his kids as justification for the things he wants to do in the first place and then pretends like he’s somehow doing them a big favor.

It’s obvious in the way he demeans Dina’s desire to go back to America and attend college, railing against the prospect of his daughter having a basic, normal life like it’s a  personal affront to him. It’s infuriating. He is infuriating, and at this point, all I want from this show is for her to be able to get away from her messed-up family. Be free, child!

I’m curious why The Mosquito Coast thinks any of us care about Richard, a character we have met once and who didn’t try to save an innocent woman’s life when he had the chance, but here we are! I guess it’s supposed to be okay because he admits what happened as the result of their actions was “terrible” but since he doesn’t seem super sorry about it, who can even say? Am I supposed to feel sorry for him? Kind of agree with him? Shrug emoji. 

Equally nonsensical is the show’s continued characterization of Margot, who just last week was going on about how ready she was to turn Richard in to the Feds in exchange for the Fox family’s freedom, but now, after seeing one cleared-out section of rainforest and a couple of bulldozers she’s seemingly ready to get right back on the eco-terrorism train. 

Is her desire to team back up with Richard genuine? Could be! Is she still planning to betray him anyway? Probably! I suspect that’s what we’re meant to glean from her decision to trade what seems to be her wedding ring for a random gas station attendant’s cell phone. Hope that poor kid has an international calling plan on there…

The hour is ostensibly framed around the titular Burning of Judas festival at Casa Roja, which appears to be a sort of Easter-adjacent activity connected to the spiritual cleansing of sin and the physical destruction of a paper mache effigy of Satan.

And, granted, it gives us some great visuals—the scene where a cross is being dragged through the center of town is gorgeous and the actual burning of the devil figure is impressive—but the event has almost no meaning because this show has no central moral arc. It can’t even decide whether we’re supposed to be rooting for the characters at its center to succeed or not.

The Mosquito Coast clearly wants me to think this sequence is all very serious and dramatic, complete with long lingering shots of various Fox family members staring at into the flames metaphorically consuming all the bad they’ve done. Charlie, in particular, is very moved by all of this, so much so that I wish I could tell you that his tears melted my cold heart and made me see his character as something other than a general waste of screentime. 

Instead, it just made me annoyed all over again because Season 2 has been so all over the place about his arc and how we’re supposed to be feeling about him. One week Charlie’s having nightmares about shooting a man in cold blood. Another he’s eagerly bonding with the other camp residents and throwing himself into their community. He’s blatantly ignoring Caja Rosa rules. He’s aiming a gun he didn’t know wasn’t loaded on Richard and pulling the trigger, because he…blames him for Margot’s actions? And then, I’m supposed to be moved by his sudden and seemingly inexplicable turn to religion? Is this your king, show? Really?

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• This show desperately wants to be a Serious Exploration of Important Topics like corporate greed, environmental destruction, and the ways that indigenous people can be dispossessed of their land in poor countries but it refuses to do anything more than drop lip service platitudes about any of them and as a result all of its characters are virtually impossible to root for.
• The Mosquito Coast also really really wants me to believe that Allie’s Sandpiper algorithm is so amazing and world-changing that governments, cartels, and everyone in between are desperate to acquire it even though the show has provided zero evidence that it even works. I mean, it’s been almost two seasons now and I am not entirely sure I can even accurately describe what it’s meant to do or how it functions. But, sure, I guess it would be super helpful for cocaine dealing! Sounds legit! 

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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