Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures,’ two humans, Tova and Cameron, form an unlikely friendship with each other, as well as an octopus named Marcellus. While the humans are busy dealing with the grief, loss, and uncertainties in their lives, the octopus observes them with a keenness that allows him to see even the things that they haven’t realized yet. However, Marcellus too suffers from his own form of grief, and in the end, it is his human friends who help him find what he had been looking for all this time. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Marcellus Knows His Days are Numbered
When we meet Marcellus, he has spent over a thousand days in the aquarium tank where he was brought as part of a rescue effort. The human rescuers had found him with severe injuries, so they brought him out of the ocean and put him in the aquarium, where he slowly healed from his wounds. However, even when his injuries were healed, he remained inside the aquarium, which he saw as nothing but a trap. He longed to return to the depths of the ocean, his real home, from where he was plucked out without his consent, even if with good intentions. While he dreams of returning home, he also knows that the time is ticking for him.
It is revealed that Marcellus is a pretty old octopus, and with each day he spends inside the aquarium, he is inching towards his death. This makes his desire to return to the open water even stronger, but despite his best efforts, he cannot do that. At least, not on his own. Throughout the film, we discover that he has found loopholes in his captivity. He has found a way out of the tank and can now move around the aquarium. This allows him to get his hands on food that is otherwise unavailable to him. At the same time, these shorts have also given him a map of the place. The problem is that he cannot make the journey from his tank to the ocean fast enough. Each second he spends out of the water is deadly to him. Return to the ocean or not, the clock is still ticking on Marcellus.
Right as Tova decides to leave her house and move to a care home for the elderly, she discovers that the octopus’ health has been deteriorating and that he doesn’t have much time left. The creature feels it too, which is why he decides to make one last effort to get to the ocean, even if it means he will die in the process. On her last day, Tova discovers that Marcellus has left his tank, but unlike his usual haunts inside the aquarium, this time, he has made it to the door. By the time she finds him, his color has faded to the point that he would have died if she hadn’t found him in time. She quickly gets a bucket full of water and is about to take him back to the tank when she realizes why he was at the door in the first place.
Marcellus Has a Hopeful End in Remarkably Bright Creatures
One of the major themes of ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ is the desire to be at home. For Tova, the feeling of displacement creates a deep emotional conflict, particularly as she finds herself unable to move on in her life. For Cameron, home has always been elusive, and when he comes to Sowell Bay, it is with the desire to find something to show him his roots. He wishes to be someplace where he feels like he belongs. For Marcellus, that place is the ocean floor. He has longed to return to it. A Giant Pacific octopus has a life span of about five years, and Marcellus has already spent about three years in the aquarium. This means that more than half his life has been spent in captivity. And so, in death, at least, he wants to return home.
When Tova finds him by the door, she is too flustered to wonder how he got there. But the moment she looks outside the door, she realizes what he was heading towards. She, too, knows that he doesn’t have much time left, so she decides to fulfill his wish. Instead of taking him back to the tank, she takes him to the pier and releases him into the ocean. By this point, Marcellus has been out of the water too long, which is why his color has faded, suggesting that he came quite close to death. But the moment he receded into the depths of the ocean, life returned to him, with a greater force because now, he is home.
Despite his old age and all the time he spent inside the tank, he hasn’t forgotten what the ocean floor was like. He is thrilled to be back where he belongs, and with that, he has found the peace that had eluded him in the aquarium. He isn’t dead yet, though he knows that, given his old age, he will soon be dead. The relief is in the fact that when he dies, it won’t be inside the prison of the tank among the strange humans. When he dies, he will die on the ocean floor, in his home, among the many sea creatures with whom he truly belongs. And that makes passing on from life much easier.
Read More: Is Sowell Bay a Real Town? Is Sowell Bay Aquarium a Real Place?
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