Photo: Fred Jageneau/Bravo
The deck crew's struggle to keep their heads above water begins to feel like an endurance test. Who will come out first? Nathan, who has no choice but to pray and hope that Christian and Tessa will make it through. listen to what he says this time? Will it be Tessa walking around the deck like that John Travolta meme and getting confused all the time? Will it be Christian who decides that everything is actually fine and it's all just a matter of perspective? Will it be Max, who hopes he can lose his temper and instill some common sense in Tessa and Christian? Come to think of it, could it be Captain Sandy, speechless in such uncontrollable chaos?
When we stop by this week, Christian will be sailing away on a jet ski with an empty fuel tank. Tessa forgot to fill it, even though Nathan obviously told her that this was the most important item on the list of vacancies; which, in truth, might well not exist. These people need a different system. Crossing items off a list has been one of the most proven productivity techniques since the dawn of mankind. I think this is how cavemen delegated their responsibilities: kill Sabertooth Tiger, check – doesn't work. Maybe Nathan could jump out of a hidden corner every few hours to scare them into action?
Max spins Schadenfreude circles around Christian before pulling him back to the boat on another jet ski. Tessa apologizes to Nathan for the confusion, then: marvelous, tells him that the team “feels weak.” She'll keep that refrain for the rest of the episode, complaining to hell and high tide about Nathan's leadership and the state of the deck team without once adjusting your own approach to work. Nathan's main opinion of her performance has less to do with her skill level and more to do with her lack of sense of urgency: she looks like that sloth from the DMV in Zootopia. By the end of the charter, Nathan isn't sure Tessa has ever worked on a charter boat before.
One person who has used to work on charter boats – moreover, day charters, which means being nimble with the lines from docking and undocking every day – it's V that kills it on the inside. The first time Sandy realizes this is when she's looking over the resume, trying to figure out where she went wrong, while Tessa and Christian fight in the stern. In a confessional, V tells us that her decision to pursue a career as a stew instead of a sailor had to do with the fact that being on deck reminded her too much of her late boyfriend Beau, who died in the ocean. Even Aisha, who almost feels guilty about how well her own team is doing, jokes that V should be on deck where she's needed.
V's deck experience comes up again the next morning in a conversation between Aisha, V and Sandy, who seems impressed. Either we are preparing for a lateral move that will result in V being switched to the deck and a different (potentially worse?) stew being delivered to the inside team, or production wants to highlight the fact that, as a newcomer, V is a league above Tessa and Christian. This last point is emphasized by Kizzi's growing competitiveness. V's rapid progress endears her to Aisha, which irritates Kizzy, who wants to be number one.. But I don't believe in this side of Kizzy. Although she wears heavy armor in confession, she seems like a sweetheart at heart.
Kizzy's destiny in dramatic terms lies not in fighting the men of her crew, but in boating. Having remained faithful to Tommy on their day off, Kizzy is back to flirting with everyone, everywhere this week. She laughs at herself in her confessional: “I think I have a deep-seated fear of being alone.” She doesn't tell Tommy “I love you” or “I miss you” over FaceTime; being on Bravado reflects on her two-month relationship. Kizzy is promiscuous when it comes to boys, but she always gets the job done, which unfortunately involves dealing with the main Jack.
I wrote last week that Jack was very specific in his requests, but generally polite. I would like to retract this statement. Jack sucks. I order caviar cones: ok. I order two milkshakes in the middle of the day: I get it. Ordering that damn Szechuan chicken and doing it again?! – after eight courses that poor Josh sweated for watch: Totally disgusting. The first sign that Jack is evil is that he asks for an eight-course Spanish-themed menu. start off at 9:30 p.m. Still, Josh takes it in stride: “If a dish is like a song, then the eight-course menu is a concert,” he says, pumping himself up. It must be said that no matter how good everything looks, with each bite the dishes become less and less “Spanish”, moving from white garlic to tempura and ending with creme brulee. Still, it's an amazing feat that's underestimated by 200-martini-drinking primaries.
Jack hasn't finished dessert when he orders chicken. It's such a dirty request that his friends try to talk him out of it, assuring the crew that they're well-fed. It's all so… cringing. Jack apparently only acts this way because he's on TV, following the twisted logic of the disgusting belief that attention is attention, no matter what. Aesha, who knows Josh has been up for 20 hours and is dangerously close to jumping off the boat, attacks: Jack can order something if it takes 10 minutes or less to make. They settle on truffle parmesan fries. By the time they're ready, Certainly, Jack is no longer hungry and lets them get cold and wet in the hot tub.
In fact, at this point, Jack is ready to cause problems for other departments. The deck crew is already on edge, not only from their usual exhausted state, but also from having lifted the tender with a crane while the guests were eating dinner. Max was in the tender while Christian and Tessa laid the connecting lines according to Nathan's careful instructions. Max quickly lost his patience and started cursing when they had to reboot. What made him even more angry was that Nathan told him to take five minutes to breathe and compose himself – it is important that everyone maintains their sanity when working on a crane, which is dangerous equipment. I think this is good leadership from Nathan: by validating Max's frustration, Nathan also demonstrated that they are still a team and need each other's support.
In the end everything works out. Nathan takes Max aside to say that he knows it's unfair that he has to pick up the slack for Christian and Tessa, but he should be able to rely on him to fulfill the charter. Max doesn't really see this as a compliment, and Nathan promises that if the situation doesn't improve, he'll “make changes.” It is in this environment that Christian remains on duty for the rest of the night. Before going to bed, Nathan directly tells him: No allow completely drunk guests to swim in the ocean.
The first thing Jack asks Kizzy after most of the crew has gone to bed is if they can go out into the ocean. Kizzy tells him no, then hands Nathan the radio to double check and tells them no again. Perhaps sensing that Christian would be easier to break, Jack asks the sailor if they can go swimming. Christian says no; Jack insists, so Christian suggests they just dip their toes in the water. Agreeing to this condition, Jack has the same expression on his face as when he ordered the chicken – he knows what he is doing (being angry) and why (attention). The fact that this all happens right after the chicken only highlights Christian's limitations compared to the rest of the team – Aisha, Josh and Kizzy were firm with Jack, but also made him feel like he was getting what he wanted. Christian may have gone for it with a “dip his toes” approach, but it was disastrous.
Nathan goes to get water from the wardroom just in time to see Jack fall into the water through the monitor. (What would convince Christian that a drunk man would balance on a platform of water?) He runs to the stern to pull Jack away from the water and remind Christian that this is a difficult task. No about drunken guests in the ocean. In confession, a Christian cannot understand what is so bad about the fact that at the first stage he gets what he wants, especially when no one was hurt. Meanwhile, Nathan is annoyed that the situation has gone from “generally incompetent” to “really dangerous.” At this point, Jack's friends look like they're embarrassed to be alive, let alone associated with this guy. In the morning they lament that “the poor Christian will be in such trouble.”
This is certainly true. On the nose, Nathan tells Max what happened, which I think is a miscalculation – arguing with Max about Christian only adds to the tension between the two of them. Later, after having to wake Tessa up to make his connection, he tells Sandy about the night. She tells him that for now they need to focus on mooring the boat and then they will figure out what to do. Meanwhile, V spends two hours packing Jack's suitcases.
Nathan discusses the docking plan with his team. Since Tessa had trouble throwing lines last time, he installs rising lines that are lighter and easier to throw. Not that Tessa appreciates it, but Nathan is trying to ensure her success. Alas, despite Nathan's warning that the lines must be tied tightly to the crossing lines, Tessa does not tighten them enough: the knot immediately comes undone in the water. For their part, Max and Christian brawl before docking and exchange a few F-bombs on the nose just for good measure.
The guests finally leave. At the debriefing meeting, Sandy congratulates the in-house team and gently asks the deck team to do better. Jack and his friends left a tip of $20,000, which is a hefty $1,818 each, although $1 million wouldn't be enough. (Max and Kizzy are flirty at the beginning of the meeting, after Kizzy flirted with Nathan in the cabins.) Afterwards, Sandy calls Nathan to the bridge and tells him that it is time to replace Tessa or Christian and that he will have to make the call. I'm going to bet on Christian being fired: Tessa may be slow, but on top of her lack of skill, Christian has the added disadvantage of having problems with a teammate, which affects everyone's morale. However, Tessa doesn't seem to be aware at all that she's doing anything wrong, which is possibly even worse. In any case, it looks like we'll have a new sailor and maybe new stew.
