Posted by As expected, people love Florida Man, the limited series by Donald Todd released in 2023 on Netflix. An exciting plot full of surprises, a set of characters trying to pursue their dream, and an ending that needs to be explained: how did the gold get there? Will Mike choose to stay with Delly? Is he there for her or for the gold? Let’s understand together what happened.
You can watch the official trailer for Florida Man here on Youtube.
Florida Man plot & ending explained: how the gold got there
If you want to truly understand the plot of Florida Man, just follow the gold. This treasure comes directly from the 18th Century, we see it in a pirate ship that just crossed the ocean, arriving in Florida. Then a storm arrives, the vessel sinks with the gold and will stay at the bottom of the sea for decades.
In modern days, young Mike goes fishing with his dad, Sonny. The fish he pulls has a gold coin in his mouth. That will be the beginning of his life story: Mike will believe he’s destined to always win and becomes addicted to gambling. After losing his wife, Iris, he goes to rehab and tells the story of the gold coin in the support group. One man there is particularly interested: Gil Franco, another gambling addict, who decides to give it a chance and look for the gold under the sea. He finds it and is ready to enjoy it, but the gangster Moss kidnaps him. At Moss’ house, Gil tells the gangster about the gold, but he’s not believed. Moss kills Gil. However, Delly, Moss’ girlfriend, hears the whole conversation and takes her decision: she wants the gold, and she wishes to enjoy it with Mike, the man she actually loves, who’s working for Moss to pay his debt.
After Mike declines her general offer to go to Florida, she runs away alone. Moss orders Mike to find her. Once there, Mike discovers her staged death. He’s going to tell Moss everything, when Delly finds him and explains to him about the gold Gil has collected. Up to this point, the existence of this gold is actually a mystery, or (to stay in the series’ context) a bet. Mike wants to believe her, and they start looking for the gold together. Up to this point, the plot of Florida Man has just taken off, and few things have been explained.
The gold is not in Gil’s boat, but Mike realizes it could be in the truck Gil owns, which was towed away and brought into the area where a massive sinkhole occurred. Mike now knows that the gold is in Gil’s truck, at the bottom of the sinkhole. He organizes the rescue operation, but Delly involves Sonny, Mike’s dad, without his permission. Reluctantly, Mike agrees to involve Sonny in the deal.
After some nights of delay, Mike will eventually manage to take the truck out of the sinkhole. Now he’s with Moss and Delly, Sonny is in prison, and two of his accomplices are dead. However, the truck is empty. At this point, things proceed quickly. Moss tries to kill Mike, the two start a fight, and Delly kills Moss. Nobody knows where the gold is or if it really existed. Mike wants to visit Iris at the hospital, and Delly asks him to choose whether he wants to stay with her. The two split.
Three weeks later, Iris works for the FBI, Delly disappears, and Mike manages his father’s bar. No trace of the gold, obviously. But one day, Mike sees the news on the TV: Buzz, one of Sonny’s accomplices, was found dead on the river, next to his boat. Mike remembers Sonny wanted to buy a boat with the gold and understands: Sonny took the gold autonomously, with his men, the night before Mike got there. In a harsh confrontation in prison, Sonny admits it to Mike and confesses he would have never told him about it. This leads us to the ending of Florida Man, let’s have it explained now.
So the gold actually existed, but where is it now? Mike thinks about it: Sonny needed to hide it quickly; he was arrested the day after, so he had no time to find a good hiding place. He looks at the dock: Sonny’s boat is missing. He locates the boat with the GPS using its identifier and finds it in the river. Delly is there, waiting for him.
How did Delly get there? Simply, she is a clever girl: she had the same sequence of thoughts Mike had. And she noticed the same detail Mike saw the night he took the truck out of the sinkhole: the floor next to the gear was already wet because somebody had used it the night before. Delly understood before Mike that Sonny took the gold and deduced it was in Sonny’s boat. When she finds it, she runs away with the ship. Not too far, though: she still hopes Mike will come to her, finding her through the GPS.
And that’s precisely what happens at the ending of Florida Man, now explained: Mike finds Delly at the boat, and she asks him if he’s there for her or the gold. Mike thinks briefly about all his lovely moments with Delly and explodes in a huge smile: he still loves her. This is the beginning of their new life together.
