‘The Mosquito Coast’ Recap: ‘Goat Head Taco’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 206 of ‘The Mosquito Coast’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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Often times in storytelling, where the main character or characters are desperately searching for direction or purpose in life… an eye-opening, life changing event tends to give them clarity and a push in the right direction. Which makes sense, since our lives are composed of moments that open our eyes to so much and help us to process where we have been and where we are going. So, what better way for a character to do so, than by going through what we do? But what’s problematic about how stories handle this… is that said characters tend to move toward resolution in record time when that stunning moment arrives, when in fact… it doesn’t happen like that in the slightest in the everyday world. 
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Which of course, relates to the nature of entertainment and escapism, but realism can be impactful in storytelling as well, since it can draw an audience into the story further and truly offer up advice and perspective and that is why the Apple TV+ series, The Mosquito Coast continues to impress. Because it is heavily grounded in realism, as evidenced by this week’s episode. For ‘Goat Head Taco’ is a story that picks up immediately after the events of last week’s stunning tale, where everyone in the Fox family faced stunning… life changing revelations, which in a standard story… would lead to epic progress and change for everyone involved. But in this episode, realism won the day. 

For it showed us a brother and sister divided over the news that came out of their past, which was painfully realistic since in reality… family perceives bad news differently, as was the case here. Not to mention, Margot was basically a shell of her former self. For she couldn’t believe that the darkest part of her past came back to haunt her, here, of all places, and not knowing how to handle it in that moment left her listless and distant. As would be the case for so many people, and even Allie found himself in a strange place mentally. Since he came to realize that this wasn’t the paradise that he was hoping it would be and this was… a brilliant direction to take this story in for certain.

Simply because… this is what happens when life changing events surround us. We are confused and listless and unhappy and unsure of where we go next, and there were no easy answers for the family here. Heck, not even those we suspect of more nefarious plans, like Isela, seemed to have a perfect plan down and kudos to the show for going this route and giving us something of real substance for the characters to grow from. But of course, this is a television show and had to have some measure of drama for us to indulge in and oddly enough that came via Charlie in this tale. Who went to extreme measures to teach the man, he viewed as the family pest, a powerful lesson in humility.

But that aside, this really was an episode grounded heavily in everyday life, and what big moments do to us and well, it served as proof positive that injecting that level of realism into a television show, can be a wonderful thing. Because we felt for the Fox family in this tale and pondered upon what might come next, alongside them, as they struggled to find a way forward. All courtesy of quality writing and acting. But now that the family has had time to reflect, it will be interesting to see what comes next for them now that we know that Margot, and Richard, and even Special Agent Raban… have plans for the future in mind, regarding what they want out of life. Until next time.

To learn more about Isela, check out our interview with Actor Natalia Cordova-Buckley, who plays Isela, right here.

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