Every year is a come home year in Snook’s Arm, Newfoundland, home to ice harvester Calvin Penney (Josh Hartnett). The settlement’s bar owner, Linda (Mary Walsh), serves him and his returning children like Jay (Rohan Campbell), whose girlfriend is newcomer Jen (Natasha Henstridge). Calvin’s daughter, Mary (Ruby Stokes), returns from Montreal, her boyfriend with her. But this isn’t just any normal come home year, a realization for Calvin’s other son Wade (Charlie Heaton). During a night of ice harvesting, Wade barely survives an attack, just like ones that take down ships.

The town’s resident oceanographer, Dr. Fonda Howarder (Mackenize Davis), thinks that it’s a mythological creature from, well, Below. Film writer Jesse McKeown’s new work is Below, from Netflix, a streamer with its share of eclectic miniseries. Despite, or because it’s a genre miniseries, its characters feel lived in, functioning, surviving every day. That’s true for Calvin and the rest of his semi scattered family like his sister Ruth (Willow Kean). He has to pivot from fishing to ice harvesting while Ruth is ‘luckier’ working for the Fisheries Department. I write ‘luck’ with quote marks because she has to investigate recent accidents like Wade’s harvesting incident.

Even if this miniseries takes place in a settlement, it’s also aware of what’s happening in the world. Characters serve as conduits to this larger world but that’s mostly true for Fonda and her scientist network. Through her, Below introduces characters like Dr. Hugo Sayed (Alexander Karim), his research paper heavily influences her. Swedish scientists find their way in Newfoundland the same that the province’s adult children find their way back home. In ways, Fonda and Hugo are slight opposites, which is nice to see in genre miniseries like this.

Below, despite its commendable character writing, isn’t the most subtle show, and I’m mostly fine with that. Yes, it’s slightly on the nose that a female scientist’s name is Fonda, although we need more Fondas running around. The same goes for when these sprawling characters intersect, e.g. Calvin running into Alexander. Alexander’s boss, as it turns out, is one of the miniseries’ two evil billionaires, Steve Bruner, (David Wenham). No one likes billionaires anymore, yes, but this one also has a vanity submarine diving to where the Titanic was – get it!?

Below has other issues – dark photography ala Netflix, man versus nature cliches, plot points that come and go. And Fonda’s not the only person who gets a mirror character, Calvin gets one after surviving the submarine. Maybe I like this miniseries because I like the messages that it’s telling its viewers about… climate change. My accent ear’s probably not expert level but I also believe Hartnett as a fortysomething harvester from Newfoundland. He carries a show that feels authentically Canadian, reminding us that home is worth fighting for.

Netflix is the only place to stream Below.