An ex-cop and gambler named Mike Valentine is left with no other option but to return to his hometown in Florida, to find his mob boss’s girlfriend, Delly West. Mike had grown interested in Delly, and they had spent too many steamy nights together to keep it all casual. Mike was genuinely interested in finding out what happened to her, and the search kept getting more bizarre with every passing hour. The Netflix series “Florida Man” is about Mike’s journey to finding Delly West, getting involved with his family (whom he chose to abandon over the years), and trying his luck one last time. “Florida Man” felt too unnecessarily stretched, and the characters could have been more layered, but the performance by the cast and the twists and turns, in the end, make it mildly entertaining.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Florida Man’ Plot Summary: What Is The Series About?
Mike Valentine had pretty much-lost everything he had as a result of his gambling addiction. His wife, Iris, separated from him; he was in debt, and he recently started working for a mobster to pay what he owed him. Moss’s lack of romantic gestures left Delly frustrated, but no one expected her to run away as soon as he gifted her a BMW. It was only Mike who knew how desperate Delly was to leave her life behind and start over. She had asked him to accompany her to Florida, where she dreamed of starting her new life. Mike was not interested in going back to his birthplace, and he dismissed her idea. But now that she was truly gone, Mike made an arrangement with Moss. He promised to return Delly home, and in exchange, he would be spared from paying his past dues.
Mike stole a gun from the airport. The gun belonged to Deputy Sheriff Ketcher, who was visiting Florida with his family. The sheriff could not get over his lost gun, and he ended up buying a murder weapon, getting imprisoned, escaping prison, and stealing clothes to ultimately be reunited with his gun. Going back to Mike’s story, as soon as he reached Florida, the madness began. Mike spots a woman drowning in the ocean and as he tries to save her, she blames Mike of molesting her and while trying to prove his innocence, Mike gets bitten by a shark. After recovering from the bite, with a fake visiting card in hand, he visited the local police station and inquired about Delly. Police Officer Andy Boone had always been indebted to Mike’s father, Sonny, for his job, and out of his respect for him, he found out the location of Delly’s car.
Mike checked the car at a reseller’s store, and he noticed the location on the parking ticket that was lying on the floor of the car. Mike waited at the motel and followed Delly to a cabin. After hearing the firing of gunshots, Mike entered the cabin and found Delly lying dead on the bed, covered in blood. Mike was spotted by the cabin owner, and Andy Boone was immediately drawn to the case. What seemed strange to Mike was that soon after she died, the cabin was cleaned, and her body was taken in an ambulance. Surprisingly, when he found the footage of the ambulance, he noticed that it was empty. He wondered if Moss was behind the murder, but he seemed quite shocked to be responsible for it. He had seen her dead, but where was her body? Meanwhile, Iris was studying the case of Gil Franco. Gil was a gambler who owed money to Moss, and his body was found dismembered. She had to find out the murderer, and she was quite confident that Mike knew something about it. Gil’s boat was found in Port Orange, and she knew that Mike’s sudden visit to Florida was no coincidence.
Why Was Delly In Florida? And What Happened To Her?
The mystery behind Delly’s death was solved when Mike found her lying on his motel bed, pointing a gun at him. As it turned out, she had masterminded her own death. When she saw Mike in Florida, she knew she had to find a way to escape Moss. She met an ENT at a bar and paid him to help her fake death. He injected her with a drug that would slow down her heart rate for a short time. He got the blood from the blood bank and sprayed it all over the bed sheet. As soon as Mike left the cabin, he got her into an ambulance before the police could find her body. But unexpectedly, the ambulance ran into a police car. A strange man got out of the car and drove the ambulance. Delly was too traumatized to comprehend the entire situation. She felt sorry for her partner, but she had to run as fast as she could to save her life. She met Mike to discuss a deal with him.
Delly had overheard Gil talk with Moss about a ship that sank during the Spanish fleet in 1715 and was believed to be in Central Florida. Gil offered Moss one hundred million dollars in the form of gold coins that were in Orlando at Lake and Colonial in a Penske truck. Delly wanted to find the treasure, and she offered Mike the chance to join the hunt. In return for a partnership, he had to lie to Moss about her whereabouts. Mike accepted the offer and thus began another gambling quest.
Did Moss Find Out About Delly? Why Did Delly Hate Moss?
Moss landed in Florida to find Mike, but instead, he met Delly first. After organizing an elaborate memorial service, Moss was quite surprised to find Delly in Mike’s room, to say the least. After smelling the vapor rub from a distance, Delly knew she was in trouble. She confessed that she wanted to shoot him dead the night she found out that he had killed her father. From the books maintained by her father, Arthur West, Delly found out that he owed money to Bogdan Yankov. She assumed that it was he who had pushed her father from the building, making it look like a suicide. With a gun in her possession, she was determined to avenge her father. But upon reaching his house, she realized that he was already dead. She met Moss at the funeral and developed a friendship with him.
Eventually, they fell in love, and one night, out of the blue, Moss mentioned how he was in Chicago the night the Cubs won the division a year ago. Delly immediately connected the dots: her father was murdered the night the Cubs won. From the last bill her father had cleared, she knew that the murderer had ordered an ‘Old Fashioned, and she had seen Moss enjoy that particular drink on her birthday. It was not Bogdan who had murdered her father; it was Moss. She wanted to shoot him dead that night, but she could not. By the time Moss had figured out the truth, he was afraid Delly would leave him for it. After the lovers quarrel, Delly admitted that she was only keeping Mike close to get to the gold. While Moss did not believe in the story, Delly convinced him that it was worth a shot. The two forgave each other for their past mistakes and decided to work together to find the treasure. Delly asked Moss to kill Mike once they found out the location of the gold. Iris hoped for Mike to see Delly as a threat after he overheard the entire conversation, but he was convinced that she was lying to protect herself from Moss.
Did Mike, Moss, And Delly Find Gold At The Sinkhole? How Did Moss Die?
Mike’s father, Sonny, got Mike arrested to stop him from murdering Moss as he intended to. Both he and his son were involved in illegal businesses, but Sonny believed that Mike’s life would change for the worse if he murdered a man out of hatred. After a news report by Kaitlin Fox connected Mike to a drug racket, the police were on the lookout for him. While it was easy to get Mike arrested, he was soon released from prison. Moss paid for his bail and demanded that he find the truck of gold that very night. Meanwhile, Iris intended to follow Mike, but instead, she got a call from a man in Port Orange informing her about two men who were seen in that location. When she reached the port, she was shot by Ray-Ray and was immediately hospitalized. Mike wanted to visit Iris at the hospital, but Moss refused to allow him to leave. He could only leave once they had the gold. After diving into the sinkhole and bringing the truck to the surface, Mike asked about his share before opening the backdoor of the truck. Moss was not interested in offering him any shares; instead, he agreed to let Mike leave the business. With no other options in hand, Mike accepted it and opened the door. The truck was empty, leaving Mike and Delly frustrated and disheartened.
Moss was amused by the entire situation, and he continued to joke about the gambler’s luck. Moss no longer had any reason to spare Mike’s life and fearing the worst, Mike attacked him. After the scuffle, Moss had the gun in his hand, and Mike was left helpless. Mike had completely given up, but to his surprise, Delly pulled the trigger and killed Moss once and for all. She had always been in love with Mike, and she pretended to be on Moss’s side to stay alive. Perhaps the realization that she would be stuck forever drove her to kill Moss. After avenging her father, Delly hoped to start a new life with Mike, but he was not ready to run away with her. He had promised to bring Iris Moss’s murder confessions, and he delivered them to her at the hospital. She could close the case with the confession, but she had failed to fulfill her duty. After the Florida chase, she realized what it was like to live a life like Mike’s, but her only relief was that she could quit it any day, but his addiction would make it impossible for him to do so.
Why Was Sean Arrested? Did He Find The Gold?
Andy Boone was quite offended by the way Sonny treated him. Even though he had been respectful of Sonny all his life, he believed that Sonny never considered him a worthy police officer. After coming across Mike, the sudden disappearance of the ambulance, and the reappearance of Delly West, Andy became more and more curious. All this time, Andy had turned a blind eye to Sonny’s business, thinking that he was only making a little extra money by selling cigars, but the moment he felt mistreated, he started to dig in.
A junkie had threatened a store owner with a gun, and when the owner pulled his sword out, the junkie shot him dead. He escaped from the store and threw the gun he used into a pond (the same gun that Deputy Sheriff Ketcher bought and got arrested for) and later got into a police car and drove into the ambulance Delly West was in. After the guy got arrested, he gave the names of the cops he bought drugs from, the police got names of suppliers, the supplier gave the name of the man whose boat he used for trading the drugs, and the man turned out to be Sonny Valentine. The DEA had taken over the case, and Sonny’s future did not look bright. Even though Andy was not responsible for his arrest, he derived extreme pleasure from it and wanted to be the first one to disclose the trouble he was in.
Mike visited Sonny in prison and asked him about the gold. Mike was confident that Sonny and his teammates had found the treasure before he could even reach the truck, especially after learning that Buzz was eaten by a snake because he was wearing alligator boots. Buzz had always expressed that he would buy alligator boots once they found the gold. The night before the actual heist, Sonny and his friends used the salvage equipment to pull the truck, and after completing the task, they drowned the truck back in and kept the equipment in Ray-Ray’s truck. Mike had noticed that the equipment was wet, but he did not think much about it. When Sonny realized that he could no longer continue lying to Mike, he admitted that he did it to keep Delly and her boyfriend away from the gold. He added that his and Mike’s shares were kept safe. But when Mike pressed him to admit the truth, he agreed that he never intended to share the wealth with him. But apparently, it was to keep Mike in Florida. Since Mike had lost nearly everyone, he hoped that he would stay back with his family, but Mike did not wish to spend the rest of his life there.
‘Florida Man’ Ending Explained: Where Was Daisy? What Happens To The Gold?
After confessing to a murder and an affair during the family dinner, Patsy and Deacon decide to give each other space. Patsy started to live in the Palm’s motel, and Deacon would drive Tyler to meet her mother every now and then. They had not separated, but they needed the time and distance to figure out what they wanted from the marriage. Mike took over his father’s bar; even though he never wanted to live in Florida, this was the life he could afford.
One afternoon, while discussing their past mistakes, Patsy asked Mike about Delly. After the incident, she completely disappeared, just like her mother. Noticing how Mike had given up on finding her, Patsy remarked that it was almost impossible to disappear in the digital world. After Patsy left, Mike realized that he could find his father’s boat, too, if he made an effort. Whether his intention was to find the boat (gold) or Delly is up to the audience to interpret. He entered the MMSI number and found out the location of the boat. Upon reaching it, he noticed Delly’s portrait and the empty rifle cases found in Gil’s boat. With her portrait there, he knew she had been in the boat. After spotting the gold coin lying on the bed, his doubt was cleared. Out of frustration and desperation, he frantically started kicking and pulling whatever was around him. His one casual kick opened the treasure that was hidden underneath the bed. He found his father’s share of gold coins there. He could not believe what he was seeing, and Delly suddenly entered the room.
As it turned out, Delly had solved the puzzle before Mike, and she chose to enjoy her new life away from all the attention just like she intended to. Mike had truly struck gold with Delly, and the sight of her brought a broad smile to his face. The ending of “Florida Man” indicates that Mike and Delly will start a new life together. They had the money, and they got rid of all the people who caused trouble in their lives. Meanwhile, the ghost of the past continues to haunt; Iris started to work for the FBI after she was recommended by Moss’s sister, Dori, who worked for the government’s office. She had seen Iris go undercover at the memorial service, and she was impressed by her work. Iris and Dori landed in Florida, and Dori was confident that she would find Moss (or his body) easily. Well, with the sinkhole now filled with cement, finding her brother might be next to impossible. Even though Iris knows about Mike’s connection to Moss, without a body, it will be difficult to blame him for anything.
