Santa Clarita Diet, a comedy horror television series created by Victor Fresco for Netflix, revolves around the lives of Joel and Sheila Hammond, real estate agents in Santa Clarita, California. Their mundane existence takes a bizarre turn when Sheila undergoes a metamorphosis, becoming undead and developing a craving for human flesh. Amidst the suburban chaos and zombie antics, one of the show's most peculiar elements is the introduction of Mr. Ball Legs.
The Genesis of Mr. Ball Legs
Mr. Ball Legs is an organic, organ-red "ball", or Mala Draga. The creature first appears in the first episode, "So Then a Bat or a Monkey", when Sheila Hammond suddenly falls ill and throws up what looks like a peach pit. This event marks the beginning of her transformation into a zombie. Joel packs the 'organ' up and takes it to virologist Dr. Hasmedi at City College. The audience later learns that whenever someone turns into a zombie, they vomit one of these red balls along with an irregular amount of bile.
Development and Characteristics
Sheila's "Mr. Ball Legs" spends his first days in a lot of olive oil and then in the Hammond's freezer, because the Hammonds don't exactly know what to do with it, but still hope, it might help in a cure for Sheila. He gets transferred into a glass box, like the kind you would use for a stick insect. Ramona from the Rite Aid store, is a Zombie, too. From her, the audience will learn, that the ball is actually a creature, which also grows spider-like legs and has disturbingly many eyes all over its body. Ramona explains that he only sprouted legs because she left him on the counter for a few days. Joel then finds another Mr. Ball Legs with Ed. Ed has gone feral and Joel kills him, and kills his Mr. Ball Legs, too. Though Mr. Ball Legs is red in color, when Joel smashes him with a hammer his insides are sort of a gooey black.
The Purpose of Mr. Ball Legs
That’s still a major question Santa Clarita Diet has yet to answer. We know the zombie virus was caused by a case of bad clams, and that all infected zombies are now coughing up these red balls. Does that mean that Mr. Ball Legs is just some sort of bad clam? Is he some sort of mutilated clam? Or is he a weird side effect of the virus that forms after you’ve eaten bad clams? As weird as this will be to say, the answer probably lies with the clams. At one point Eric manages to get his hands on an infected clam, and it sprouts a sort of tentacle-like arm and tries to eat another clam. Clam cannibalism? Sure. However, the other infected clams were destroyed (or so we believe). Before they were, we got a good look at them, and they had the same kind of disgusting reddish hue of Mr. Ball Legs.
Mr. Ball Legs in Season 3
Season 3 reveals more about Mr. Ball Legs, including that the little bumps all over his body are actually a ton of eye-holes - he's sort of like a super spider. We also find that Sheila's is a little rebellious, as he escapes at one point, and at the very end of the season, after cooing at his mama, he crawls into Joel's ear and maybe, possibly possesses Joel entirely.
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The Cliffhanger Ending
In the season three finale, Joel decides to become undead and venture into eternal life with Sheila. But suddenly, Mr. Ball Legs leaps into his ear and nests in his head cavity. Joel then passes out on the floor and starts acting abnormally. Joel is immediately bitten by Sheila in an attempt to save his life. There is speculation amongst the Santa Clarita Diet fanbase as to what happened to Joel at this time. Could it be that Mr Ball Legs simply killed Joel in it’s attempt to communicate with Sheila? Or that it perhaps killed Joel out of spite? Could it be that Joel is now possessed by Mr. Ball Legs, and has not yet turned into a zombie himself? Up until now, the theories have been pure speculation.
Creator's Confirmation
Fortunately, however, a tweet to the show’s creator Victor Fresco finally gave the answer we were all looking for. Having asked Fresco what exactly happened at the end of Santa Clarita Diet his response was unexpectedly candid! “Yes, Joel is Possessed by Mr.
The Significance of Mr. Ball Legs
The Mr. Ball Legs creatures seem to have some kind of telepathic connection with their zombie hosts. In “Cat Person,” socially awkward zombie Ramona (Ramona Young) is harassed by a motel owner who tries to intimidate her over payment. Without speaking, Ramona’s Ball Legs hops off of her shoulder and attacks the guy. That is exactly what the undead teen wanted, and it’s accomplished telepathically. Similarly, Sheila’s Mr. Ball Legs escapes his cage at the end of “Forever!” when he hears the Hammonds want absolutely no evidence of Sheila’s zombieism in the home ahead of a Knights of Serbia visit. Mr. Ball Legs is obviously a huge indicator something undead is afoot in the Hammond household. When Knights Grand Prior Petra Blazic (Kerri Kenney-Silver) shows up for Joel’s big interview, Ball Legs never attacks her, even when it’s within inches of the zombie hunter. Instead, Ball Legs stays directly out of Petra’s line of sight. While the Hammonds assume the creature is up to something murder-y, all evidence points to the opposite.
Unanswered Questions
With Santa Clarita Diet canceled after three seasons, many questions surrounding Mr. Ball Legs remain unanswered. What would have happened with Joel possessed by Mr. Ball Legs? Would Joel throw up two balls when his zombie transformation is complete? Will he throw up only Sheila's which will then be some sort of hybrid Mr. Ball Legs for the two of them?
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