Summary
Episode 6 is a sea-loving tale with a twist — like many of the chapters in this Hulu series, loneliness is a core theme.
This recap of Hulu’s Monsterland season 1, episode 6, “Palacios, TX” contains significant spoilers.
We recapped all of the anthology series — check out the archive.
The opening
Well, folks, Monsterland has given us an alternate version of The Shape of Water — before you all heckle me, yes, I am not an avid fan of the film, mostly because it was Oscar bait — and no, I do not care if that hurts you. Luckily, episode 6 feels more conceptual rather than trying to achieve votes.
It begins with a fisherman with clear health problems — he has an oxygen tank and he needs walking equipment to walk; he was hurt from the spill caused by Stanley’s company in episode 4. The series keeps finding ways to link everything, confirming they are all in the same Universe. One of the fishermen tells an outlandish story about violent mermaids. The injured fisherman starts going on a rant that the water isn’t clean.
A mermaid
Episode 6 shows the loneliness the fisherman is going through, which feels like a slight replica of episode 2.
While at home, the fisherman imagines being at sea doing his job — he walks along the beach and he finds a dead fish in the sand full of oil. He bags it and throws it in his truck. He then sees a dead human in the sand but on a closer look, it’s a mermaid. She’s caught in a net and covered in the oil spill. He puts the mermaid in the back of his truck, presuming that she’s dead.
The class-action lawsuit
The next scene shows the mental state of the fisherman — he’s so traumatized by his experiences that he doesn’t even want compensation.
He fills his bath with ice and puts the mermaid inside. Afterward, he celebrates his catch. A lawyer then rings him up about a class-action lawsuit regarding the oil spill clean up — he puts the phone down and he immediately gets back to the drink.
Fighting a mermaid
A fisherman fighting a mermaid — who’d have thought?
The fisherman enters the bathroom and sees that the mermaid is alive. He goes to get his gun and ends up in a fight with the mermaid, who bites him. He ties her up and puts her back into the bathtub.
You can almost sense that this man does not have a plan.
Feeding the mermaid
Later, he tries to talk to the mermaid calmly. He gets out an earbud and starts cleaning her gills so she can breathe better. He offers her steak and haddock — the mermaid picks the steak so he feeds it to her. Later, he puts the TV in front of her in the bathroom and talks to her — he seems to enjoy her company. The fisherman ends up falling asleep next to the tub.
And lo and behold, the fisherman is falling in love.
I’m waiting for the water to be clean
In the middle of the night, one of his friends he used to work with raids his house and the fisherman ends up in an argument with him. The friend sees the mermaid. The fisherman tells him he’s going to throw her back as soon as the water is clean but his friend wonders why he isn’t cashing in during testing times. And the next day, the friend starts building a tank for the mermaid for the fisherman. The fisherman is worried that his friend is going to tell other people — these two have a past clearly and he does not trust him.
A woman knocks on the door
And then Monsterland season 1, episode 6 shows the fisherman’s imagination running wild as he becomes so engrossed by the mermaid — enchanted by appearance and he becomes consumed by his imagination.
After agreeing to not telling anyone, they put the mermaid in the tank. The fisherman continues to enjoy the mermaid’s company and opening up to her — he’s clearly attracted to her. Later in the night, a woman knocks on the door and thanks him for saving her life on the beach — the fisherman is confused. He looks at the tank and the mermaid is no longer there — he realizes the woman is the mermaid. The woman thanks him for caring about the mermaids — she states the oil company or the politicians didn’t.
Now you can look at this in two ways; either the fisherman has lost his mind or the mermaid has enchanted him from the tank so she can finally attack him when she gets the opportunity.
Mermaid love
She touches his face and he feels better and then they kiss. The pair enjoy each other’s company, dancing the night away. The fisherman has a clean bill of health. Later, they have sex. Afterwards, he tells her that he used to be king of the ocean. The pair get closer and more intimate. The fisherman opens up even more and explains how he wished he had drowned that day at the accident.
The ending
Late at night, the other fishermen come to his house — he comes outside with his oxygen and walking equipment. They ask him if he has a mermaid inside. He tells them it is his catch but the others are desperate and need the money. With the tension rising, the fisherman grabs a gun and tells them to get off his property. They see he is clearly angry so the fishermen all leave. When he returns to his house, it’s obvious that it was all his imagination that the mermaid left the tank. He still has breathing problems.
As the chapter ends, he gets into the tank with the mermaid and as he’s about to kiss her, the mermaid bites into his neck. Sucker.
Monsterland season 1, episode 6 is a sea-loving tale with a twist — like many of the chapters in this Hulu series, loneliness is a core theme.
