Octopus! could only come from the wonderfully weird mind of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Who else could turn a documentary about eight-tentacled marine geniuses into something that’s part Blue Planet, part stand-up routine, and part existential comedy about sex, consciousness, and the mysteries of the deep?
While some critics like The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan have called it “a total waste of her talents,” we’re firmly in the other camp: Octopus! is one of the most original, delightful things on Prime Video right now. And yes, it’s TOTALLY addictive.
Spanning two breezy but jam-packed episodes, Octopus! is beautifully filmed, sharply narrated (with a script by Gabriel Bisset-Smith), and yes, often hilariously inappropriate in the best way.
Waller-Bridge (who produces and voices the doc) brings her Fleabag-style fourth-wall sass to the cephalopod world.
Describing one female octopus’s rather active sex life, she quips that the male she chooses had “zero prospects, commitment issues, and lived in a rough part of the ocean… but he was the tallest, after all.” Iconic.
Octopus! is weirdly educational and resonant
Yes, there’s humor (tons of it), but don’t be fooled. This documentary has depth. In just over an hour, Waller-Bridge and director Niharika Desai (who also has a namesake baby octopus in the documentary) sneak in a full-blown marine biology crash course.
With help from cinematographer Luis Lamar and experts like marine biologist Dr Jenny Hofmeister and behavioral ecologist Piero Amodio, we learn everything from the octopus’s nine brains and three hearts to its disturbingly poignant reproductive cycle.
There’s Doris, an animated great Pacific octopus whose life (and death) arc is more emotional than some Oscar-winning films.
We also get a bit of bizarre history: from Aristotle’s shady take (“stupid”) to Hokusai’s infamous 1814 octopus erotica (look that up with care!). One can even draw parallels to My Octopus Teacher, with how Waller-Bridge feeds us with marine emotions while educating and entertaining.
And then there’s Tracy Morgan, comedian and self-proclaimed octopus superfan who once kept them as pets until realizing, “They’re escape artists.”
He calls them “alien geniuses.” Honestly? Not wrong.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge makes science personal, playful, and powerful
Sure, Amazon probably expected a gritty dramedy when they signed Phoebe Waller-Bridge to a $100 million deal in 2019. Probably not a part-animated deep-sea saga narrated with flirty sarcasm!
But Octopus! works because it’s unexpected. It’s not just another glossy doc. It’s a love letter to weirdness: of nature, of humanity, of storytelling itself. Those who bristle at the show’s tone may be missing the point, we believe.
Octopus! is informative and clever, yes. But it’s also having fun.
Waller-Bridge doesn’t dial back the science; she brings it down to earth. Suddenly, cephalopods aren’t just test tubes or fish dinner. They’re heartbreakingly funny, enigmatic stars of their mute melodramas!
So, while we all wait for Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s next great fictional masterpiece, Octopus! is a charming detour worth plunging into.
