Last week marked the start of a Gary/Chase feud, and it shows no signs of slowing down. This episode opens with Gary and Colin still discussing Chase, who remains angry about being told what to do. Colin likes Chase and his “good work ethic,” but Gary’s giant ego won’t allow him to let this go easily. Might I suggest the act of just being up front with one another?
Meanwhile, Daisy has taken Captain Glenn’s “negative feedback” from the previous charter to heart, describing it as a “pain to the core.” To ensure things run smoothly from now on, she says she will “take this opportunity to train the girls as much as I can.” Doesn’t training typically happen at the very beginning of a season?
Since eel was listed on the preference sheets, Ileisha ordered what she thought was eel fillet but turned out to be a whole one that’s still alive. “They’re like the snakes of the ocean, and they freak me out,” she tells us before recalling how a python wrapped around the bathtub when she was a baby and her dad had to chop its head off. “So, yeah, traumatized,” she adds. When Lucy walks in on Colin and Ileisha trying to butcher the eel, she looks horrified and screams. She’s the most relatable person on the boat!
With the guests planning on spending the day doing water sports since there’s no wind for sailing, Daisy takes a break as the stews clean cabins. In the lazarette, Gary realizes that the eFoils aren’t charged, causing a delay. The guests are tired of waiting, so they decide to visit a nearby beach to swim and snorkel. Chase, who is chaperoning, wants a stew to help with drinks on the tender, but Lucy says she’s too busy. This annoys Gary, who complains to Captain Glenn, who then decides to send Lucy to shore, which will surely piss Daisy off once she awakens from her slumber.
Throughout all this, Chase is still complaining about Gary. “If I was green and this was my first boat and I was lost and needed to be taught everything, considering Gary’s leadership style, we would be fucked,” he tells us. I feel like this is all being exaggerated because Gary has been on the boat for, like, three days and immediately had to get up to speed.
When she finally wakes up, Daisy heads downstairs to check on the girls and send Lucy on a break, but Mads breaks the news that she’s not on the boat. Daisy says it’s fine but utters, “It’s just that we don’t have time for this shit.” To make matters worse, she spots Gary and Colin playing around on the eFoils, which infuriates her even more because she thinks one of them could’ve gone in Lucy’s place. It’s a classic Below Deck scenario we’ve seen play out dozens of times, so when Daisy confronts him later, Gary just nods and smiles because he has learned by now not to make things worse.
On the tender, Chase tells Lucy he thinks “something’s going to happen” with Mads during their upcoming night out, and Lucy later relays this to Mads, who says it’s definitely not happening because, as she tells us, “Chase has no game.” His Southern-gentleman shtick doesn’t work on everyone after all! Meanwhile, the first thing Alex does after waking up is flirt with Mads in the crew mess. “Typically, I date models with daddy issues, and that has not gone extremely well,” he says before adding that he likes Mads because she’s Not Like Other Girls or whatever.
Everyone is aware of Ileisha’s stress-triggered bad time management at this point, but Daisy notes it doesn’t matter because the guests are so nice that they won’t care. That may be true, but it’s a problem that’ll keep plaguing her. Elsewhere, Gary and Chase are still having an unpleasant time working together. Gary tells Chase to go on a break, which Chase disregards because he wants to help with the rope swing, and Gary tells him he’ll regret not taking time to relax, which is probably true.
Following lunch, the guests head up to the deck for rope swinging, which I can’t imagine being a fun activity. American Idol season-one runner-up Justin Guarini executes it perfectly, but a guest named Kelly ends up belly-flopping into the ocean, which looks painful as hell but makes for a funny moment as Chase tells us she “ate shit.”
It’s time for dinner, which is a “Southern comfort cuisine”–inspired bourbon tasting menu. As everyone enjoys their meal, Kim realizes she forgot to remove their clothes from the bathroom. Later, her husband, Ian, rushes down to the cabin to tell Mads and Lucy that he feels horrible for leaving a “colossal clutter of mess.” What a difference between these lovely guests and the last charter’s disastrous ladies! In the kitchen, Captain Glenn notices Ileisha’s flustered state, so he urges her not to let something like overcooked lamb get to her. It’s solid advice, but I have an inkling that Ileisha’s struggles will only continue to grow, though I applaud her for not allowing her emotions to get the best of her à la Chef Adam.
Alex is on anchor watch again, and a storm hits overnight. “Shit’s about to get weird,” he says after noticing the strong winds. The wind speed reaches 16 knots (and rising), yet Alex doesn’t bat an eye. Captain Glenn and Gary only wake up after hearing the anchor drag, and Alex informs them he had only just noticed the wind getting stronger, which, sure. Gary tells us Alex correctly followed procedure, but I feel like he wouldn’t have felt that way had it been Chase on night watch instead.
The next morning, Gary is unsurprisingly annoyed with Chase, this time for his handling of the ropes before docking. Gary thinks Chase is intentionally trying to make him mad; Chase believes Gary is “looking for a reason to be upset.” Both of these things are probably true at this point. When the guests — who will be dearly missed — depart, Ian expresses how much they enjoyed the trip, and Kim says she was especially blown away by the “kindness” the department heads led with. Cut to a shot of Chase looking annoyed and grunting because he obviously wouldn’t say the same about Gary.
As everyone completes their post-charter tasks, Colin asks Chase and Gary which girls they’re into, and Chase says that since he and Alex like Mads, “the ball is in her court.” Unbeknownst to him, she’s already ruled him out! Gary says he’ll be a “fly on the wall” since everyone is already hooking up, but when has that ever stopped him? Colin’s thoughts: “Gary has had it so easy for the last two seasons. He’s always had the girls fighting over him, and this is the first time he’s got a little more competition.” That’s exactly what makes this season’s boatmances all the more exciting.
At the tip meeting — where we learn that the guests left a fantastic $23,000 tip — Captain Glenn congratulates the crew for a successful charter and praises the interior for finding their “groove.” “I feel fucking elevated,” Daisy says about the good feedback. And with that, Gary announces, “It’s time to get fucked up!”
The crew packs into gender-separated sprinter vans, where they gossip about who they like. Daisy tells the girls she isn’t interested in anyone but thinks Colin is “so hot,” planting the seed for what’s to come later in the season. Ileisha says she just wants “hookups, hookups, hookups.” I think we can all agree on that! Chase asks the guys their predictions for the evening, and Gary says he’s going to “take the straggler” after everyone pairs up. He’s back to his old habits!
After they arrive at the restaurant, Chase tells Gary and Ileisha that he’s crushing on Mads. Moments later, Gary’s flirting with Mads at the table as Chase looks on, visibly fuming. “I know a snake when I see a snake and that Gary is an asshole,” he says. Yeah, dude, Gary doesn’t give a fuck who you or anybody else likes! Later, Gary admits to Daisy that he’s a “bit jealous” over her kissing Alex. “I can’t read Gary,” Daisy shares. “I see the way he behaves with me, and you behave that way with every other single girl. For me, it’s kind of hard to take seriously.”
Once back on the boat, the evening gets worse for Chase. Alex and Mads are in the Jacuzzi drunkenly flirting, which makes Chase seethe with jealousy to the point where he calls it an early night. Soon enough, nearly everyone heads to bed, and we’re left with Gary, Mads, and Alex, who falls asleep as the other two flirt. After Alex leaves, Gary tells Mads that the boys are fighting over her but that he ultimately doesn’t care about stepping on their toes because “fuck them, they’re just deckhands.” Mads and Gary’s jacuzzi hangout escalates to a full-blown make-out session, which will lead to some very interesting developments next week. I, for one, can’t wait.
