The Mosquito Coast Season 2 Episode 8 Review: Dead Totems

The Mosquito Coast Season 2 Episode 8, “Dead Totems,” asks the really important questions, such as: Is it Charlie or Allie Fox who’s the worst character on the show?

Honestly, it’s kind of a toss-up most of the time, as they both tend to just do whatever feels right to them at any given moment, but they’re both particularly insufferable and self-righteous in this episode and I truly struggle to believe this show wants me to believe either of these people are worth rooting for. 

Charlie follows his father into the jungle without telling him (because of course he does) and Allie ultimately allows him to come with him (because of course he does), despite the fact that he’s on a self-assigned mission to find out what sort of very shady things the folks working for the Landlord are up to. 

Along the way, Allie once again attempts to explain Sandpiper, which is as boring and nonsensical as ever, an algorithm that’s so powerful it can somehow basically predict the future and therefore is wanted by both the U.S. government and a mid-level Central American drug dealer. Sure! That definitely tracks.

Truly, I thought the revelation of Margot’s eco-terrorist past would finally push this story away from Allie’s weird algorithm that doesn’t make any sense even as a McGuffin, but alas, it seems we’ll never be free of it. (I just…still have so many questions. But weirdly don’t even care that much about the answers?)

On the plus side, at least Allie finally takes the opportunity to discuss all the trauma his son’s been through since the family fled America—bringing up his recent threatening of Richard and the fact that he straight murdered a man last season. But, instead of rationally discussing straightforward moral questions, such as whether the concept of violence or murder is bad, Allie basically argues that the only true morality is how choices impact his own life. 

“We do whatever’s right,” Allie pompously tells his son, conveniently ignoring how often (read: always) his idea about what’s right coincidentally seems to line up perfectly with whatever it is that he himself wants. No wonder Charlie basically confesses that he pulled a gun on his mom’s ex for no other reason than simply because he “doesn’t like him”! 

I guess Allie gets some dad points back for decrying the use of physical violence, but since he immediately says the only reason he doesn’t use violence is that it would mess up his own plans, then…I don’t know how just that is. But, hey, at least Charlie finally confronts his dad for literally never mentioning the whole murder sitch! Even if Allie responds by basically telling him that anything’s justified as long as he does it for family. Stable! 

To be fair, at least some stuff actually happens during this episode—which is more than we can say for several episodes through the middle of this second season—though all momentum essentially grinds to a halt every time we switch back to Allie and Charlie’s Excellent Adventure That No One Asked For.

The most intriguing twist in “Dead Totems” is that Dina—who is apparently just as selfish as the rest of her family—tries to steal the truck that belongs to the guy she’s sort of been seeing and then guilts him into helping her escape after he catches her red-handed. Strangely, the most intense moment of the episode isn’t the revelation that Dina’s trying to leave, but when  Adolfo asks her if she had spared one second to think about what would happen to him if she disappeared with his boss’s truck.

Of course, she didn’t, but I so wish this show were more interested in poking at the way the Foxes’ various advantages of race and nationality mean that their experience slumming it in Casa Roja is vastly different from anyone else’s, which is the only reason that Allie is able to give boring (and incredibly self-righteous) speeches about how damaging colonialism is.)

At any rate, Dina’s decision to flee is maybe the most interesting thing that’s happened on this show ever, and the first plot twist since the season premiere that didn’t feel entirely predictable. She deserves better than her parents, is probably the only character on The Mosquito Coast that deserves a chance at a different life, and fingers crossed she makes it back to America before her father drags her back by the hair.

Meanwhile, Margot’s still trying to get information out of Richard about what he’s planning, terrorism-wise. There’s a lot of…uncertainty about many aspects of this plot: Will the FBI actually give Margot the full immunity she wants if she turns over her ex? Is she actually going to turn him in? Or does she actually still want to help him?

Sure, she’s quite rightly furious when she discovers a fake U.S. Passport bearing her image and a new name among her ex’s possessions. And she smartly turns that anger into a wedge to get the information she’s been after, her true motivations remain extremely murky. Her entire speech about her life essentially being controlled by Allie and his choices is obviously true, as is how much she obviously resents him for it. 

But what does all that anger make her willing to do, in te end? And to whom? Heck, maybe the right ending for this story is for Margot to take down both of them, turn herself in, and finally let her kids be free.

Stray Thoughts and Observations:

• These poor kids need so much therapy.
• I feel like Allie’s big plan of taking photos of the things the drug dealers are smuggling isn’t going to give him a ton of leverage over the drug dealers, but I’m not a genius so what do I know.
• I’m interested to see how the news of Dina’s escape plays with Margot and Charlie, particularly once they find out (if they find out, I guess) that Allie basically told her to go and never come back.

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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