Boy Swallows Universe tells the story of Eli Bell, a boy from a family of outlaws who faces the dangers of the underworld from a young age. The series is now streaming on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
In Darra, Brisbane, in 1985, Eli Bell lives with his mother, Frankie, stepfather, Lyle, and older brother, Gus.
Lyle used to be a drug dealer, and it was not long before Frankie got addicted. Lyle had to lock her in a room to get her to overcome her addiction.
Gus is a smart boy who stopped talking at the age of seven. Gus writes letters in the air with his finger, and his cryptic statements always come true.
Apart from his family, Eli is close to Slim, Lyle’s friend who went to prison for a murder he did not commit, and a prisoner, Alex Bermuda, who becomes Eli’s pen pal.
One day, Gus takes Eli to Lyle’s secret room, where the brothers see a red telephone. The phone rings, and Eli speaks to a mystery person.
When Eli questions Lyle about the telephone, Lyle tells him that the phone is disconnected, so it is not possible that it rang in the first place.
Eli and Gus suspect that Lyle is dealing drugs again. Eli follows Lyle to the house of his classmate, Darren, whose mother, Bich Dang, imports drugs and supplies to Lyle.
Lyle is dealing, but he is only doing it to make money for his family. Lyle works at a prosthetics factory, run by Tytus Broz, but he does not earn enough there.
Eli decides to support his stepfather by accompanying him to make deliveries. Eli then realizes that Lyle is mixing mannitol into the heroin he gets from Bich Dang.
Soon, Bich Dang comes to know that Lyle is messing with her product, and Ivan Kroll, her network’s enforcer, comes to Lyle’s house with his men.
Kroll believes that Lyle has a stash of drugs hidden somewhere and wants to know where it is. Lyle writes something with his fingers for Gus but refuses to tell Kroll anything.
Kroll’s men take Lyle away and attack Frankie. Kroll threatens to cut off Eli’s finger, prompting Gus to talk for the first time in years.
However, when Gus fails to give him the answer that he wants, Kroll severs Eli’s finger. Additionally, he kills Lyle.
Frankie does not bother telling the police anything, as she knows that Bich Dang bribes the police, especially Detective Tim Cotton.
To keep her sons safe, Frankie confesses to dealing and possessing drugs, which was done by Eli and Lyle, and is sentenced to four years in prison.
Gus and Eli are sent to live with their alcoholic father, Robert. Unaware that Lyle has been killed, Eli is determined to save him.
Eli refuses to remain passive like all the adults who are scared of Kroll. He even goes to Lyle’s house to find the drugs he had hidden.
He does not find the drugs, but the red telephone rings again. He talks to the mystery person again, not realizing that the phone is truly disconnected.
He also goes to meet a journalist, Caitlyn Spies, as he wants to tell her the story of the attack on his family. That is when Eli comes to know that Lyle is dead.
The news leads to the realization that no one is going to help him and his brother, so Eli decides to leave well enough alone.
Gus believes that the mystery person they spoke to on the telephone is his future self, but Eli does not believe him.
Robert does not know how to take care of his children. He has agoraphobia and refuses to take his sons to meet Frankie, which results in the boys not going to school.
Due to their absence from school, their school counselor, Poppy Birkbeck, pays Robert a visit with the police. She plans to put the children in foster care.
Gus and Eli eavesdrop on their father and Birkbeck’s conversation and find out what made their mother leave their father.
When Gus and Eli were young, Robert took them camping. He had a panic attack while driving and drove the car into a lake. Eli barely survived that accident.
After hearing their father tell Birkbeck that he loves his sons, the brothers realize that their father has also been suffering and decide to stay with him.
Robert promises Birkbeck that he will change, and he does make an effort to be a better parent. On the other hand, Frankie is not given the letters that her sons write to her.
Not having any contact with her children upsets and worries her, resulting in her relapse into drug use once again. On top of that, Slim dies of cancer.
At Slim’s funeral, Eli meets Slim’s friend, who delivers fruits to prison. Eli sends letters to his mother through him. When he still does not hear from Frankie, he decides to break into the prison.
He realizes that his mother is using drugs again and convinces her to get clean. Hearing Eli’s plans for the future, Frankie decides to get better for her children.
The prison guards catch Eli but let him go with a warning. Eli and Gus then go to Lyle’s house one more time to find his stash.
Gus tells Eli that Lyle spelled the letters “QSLG” for him before he was taken away by Kroll’s men. The brothers come across a punching bag with those letters on it and find the drugs hidden in it.
Eli sells the drugs to Darren for fifty grand. Bich Dang had to retire due to medical issues, which is why Darren runs her business now.
Gus and Eli plan to buy a house for their mother once she gets released. They hide the money that they got from Darren for the time being.
In the next four years, Eli’s life improves. Robert drinks a lot less, Gus speaks more, and Frankie gets released from prison.
However, Frankie does not want to buy her own house, as she plans to move in with Lyle’s friend, Teddy, who visited her in prison regularly.
Darren, currently in prison for murder, had informed Eli that it was Teddy who told Kroll about Lyle mixing mannitol into the drugs because Teddy wanted to be with Frankie.
Frankie does not believe that Teddy betrayed Lyle and moves in with him. A frustrated Eli decides to spend the money that he and his brother had kept aside to buy a house for Frankie.
Gus knows that the money will only bring trouble, so he gives it to his friend, Shelly, who needs it for her treatment.
The boys then go to live with their mother at Teddy’s house for a few days. When Eli accuses Teddy of betraying Lyle, Teddy humiliates Eli, Gus, and Frankie.
Teddy and Frankie get into a fight that ends with Teddy hurting Frankie. The brothers manage to save their mother’s life and take her to Robert’s house.
Teddy comes to attack their family the next day, but Eli’s pen pal Alex, who has been released from prison and come to meet Eli, saves them from Teddy and his friends.
Eli wants to be a journalist. He recently met Caitlyn, who is still interested in Lyle’s murder case, and advised her to meet Bich Dang.
Alex allows Eli to write an article on his life story, which gets Eli a job at the newspaper where Caitlyn works, marking the beginning of their joint investigation.
Ending explained:
The beginning of the end
Although, for now, Eli will not be handling important news pieces at work, he is still happy to take the first step toward becoming the kind of journalist he aspires to be.
Similarly, Gus has also been working to make his dreams come true. He wants to be an artist and do charity work.
Along with Shelly, he had raised almost a quarter-million dollars for people with disabilities. For their work, they will be awarded as Queensland Champions.
The award will be presented by Tytus Broz, the man who owns the prosthetics factory where Lyle used to work. He is considered Brisbane’s greatest philanthropist.
When Eli asks to interview Broz, Caitlyn tells him that she visited Bich Dang, who told Caitlyn that she was going to get killed.
Kroll killed her, but everyone believes she died of natural causes. After her death, Caitlyn received information about cash movements from a bank account from Bich Dang’s lawyer.
The account is owned by Broz, which leads to Eli suspecting that Broz used to control Bich Dang’s drug distribution system.
Eli and Caitlyn also come to know that Broz had a secret research facility built in his backyard. When Caitlyn approaches Tim Cotton regarding her investigation, he informs Kroll about it.
Kroll kills Tim Cotton and tells Broz about Caitlyn and Eli’s work. Before the award ceremony, Broz invites Eli to meet him to warn him to stay away from his business.
Meanwhile, images predicting future events keep popping into Gus’ head, causing him to worry about his brother’s safety. Eli does not believe him when he tells him about the images he sees.
Gus passes out and sees himself talking to the mystery person using the red telephone. He questions the person about Eli’s death but does not get a proper answer.
Exposing Tytus Broz
Caitlyn had accompanied Eli to meet Broz. She plans to wait for Broz to leave for the award ceremony and then sneak into his research facility.
Caitlyn and Eli find out that Broz has been conducting unethical human experiments. They find Lyle’s head in a jar and take it as evidence.
They remain unaware that while leaving, Broz had noticed them lurking around his property and had ordered Kroll to kill them.
Caitlyn and Eli are attacked by Kroll, but not before Caitlyn calls the police there. The two of them manage to escape unharmed.
They go to the award ceremony, where Eli takes the stage and exposes Broz’s crimes. After finding his research facility, the police also arrive there to arrest Broz.
Although Broz gets arrested, Eli and Caitlyn are still in danger, as Kroll has chased them to the award ceremony.
Facing the final threat
Kroll finds Eli and stabs him. When Robert attempts to save his son, he, too, gets stabbed. Kroll does not hesitate to stab anyone who comes in his way.
An injured Eli tries to hide from Kroll and reaches the clock tower, just as Gus had seen in his visions.
Just when Kroll is about to kill Eli, Gus comes to his rescue. He pushes Kroll from the clock tower, and Kroll falls to his death.
Eli survives the attack and is promoted to the position of crime reporter. Eli and Caitlyn like each other, and they will be working together now.
After Frankie had moved in with Robert, the two had grown close. Robert gave up drinking and found a job.
Gus had predicted a happy ending for his family, and his predictions come true once again. Eli lives a happy life with his parents and Gus.
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