‘Below Deck Mediterranean’ Recap: I Can Fix Him

This season, as you remember, opened with a teaser: Nathan received certain someone pregnant. Then I asked: Will Nathan be able to carry this show together? He was supposed to be the main character of the season, and as we reach the halfway point, his main character has only strengthened. He experiences painful professional growth, learns from mistakes, and personally regresses and makes wrong decisions contrary to common sense. This is the theme of the season as a whole: people continue to give in to their worst instincts. When Kizzy broke up with Tommy, you could tell she knew this wasn't the case. right the thing that needs to be done is just the most Kizzy. Our actors are fully engaged in playing their characters. Only Joe approaches it from the opposite direction: his love for V makes him unrecognizable to himself, a refrain that's heard a hundred times this week (yes, Joe, it feels good to be loved), but it sets him up for a more dramatic turn when things inevitably go wrong. And we know from the teasers that they will happen.

This all sounds compelling from a storytelling perspective, but this week's episode lags behind the end of the charter. I can only take so many lame faces before I get bored. At least things are improving professionally for Nathan. As we cut to Exit, he is berated for Max's poor decision to allow Imran to run the tender. When they finally get back to the boat, Nathan tells Max that Sandy is angry, but he can't use his usual reprimanding strategy – yelling – because Imran is right there. For the first time in this episode, Sandy reminds Nathan to “be the boss.” Later, Nathan asks the boys if they think he's the boss and they affirm him. Doy! Of course they will say yes. It's easy to use!

The final straw for Sandy was the “pathetic floater,” a chair(?) that keeps falling on its side. Guests don't pay much attention to it because it's impossible to tell what it does or why it's there. Sandy decides that they will never make this thing again. Noticing that they are all on thin ice, Nathan gathers his team and asks them to be their best selves: Sandy is coming down hard on him and he needs to trust them to make the right decisions, such as not letting the guests drive the tender. Max doesn't exactly regret his mistake; he thinks everyone is overreacting anyway and he's more focused on making Katie faint. They are very nice throughout the charter and Max always brings her coffee in the morning. In confession, he tells us about his past history with his parents, who got a difficult divorce and abandoned him. That's why he's so persistent: he wants to create his own family, based on security and respect.

While the deck crew struggles to keep their heads above water, Josh spends two days on the cochinillo., Spanish style pig. Looks amazing, although a bit medieval in ambience and appearance. It kills the guests who enjoy it with sumptuous side dishes – patatas bravas, pan con tomate, etc. – and 5,000 shots of tequila. Meanwhile, Katie and Kizzy deal with sheets that are wet with sweat and, the next day, stained with what appears to be suntan lotion. I understand that Barcelona is very hot in the summer, but these people have private bathrooms. Don't they shower before they go to bed? It's all Kizzy can do to keep her mood under control. She had been in decline all her life, stuck in the laundry, and felt that her fame had been usurped by Kathy's competence and experience. When she voices her opinion to Josh, he encourages her to hold her head high and remember that it's her turn to serve next. Aisha also notices the decline in her energy, and Kizzy is honest when she tells her that Katie, whom she considers the best stew, has bruised her ego. Aisha tells her that's not true – they're both good in their own ways – and plans to satisfy her need for validation. The next morning, after Kizzy sets the beautiful breakfast table, Aisha makes sure to praise her for her efforts.

This need for constant praise is annoying. Not everything comes easy for Katie – she has a rough night with Imran and Mike getting too drunk. They get naked in the hot tub and then Imran tries to stand on the edge of the boat and pee in the ocean. “I do it on my yacht,” he claims. Katie shows a superhuman level of restraint by not telling Imran to get out on his yacht. Instead, it's a master class in staying firm, maintaining a tone that meets the guests' needs and desires. Later, while they are walking on the boat, Imran and Mike break a glass and she literally sends them to bed. She is so strict with them that Aisha thinks they liked it. in a strange way.

This makes her popular with other guests as well, who think it's funny that their friends got yelled at by the stew. Luckily, it's time for these people to go. How Bravado heading to port, Sandy calls Nathan to the bridge to warn him that strong winds will make docking difficult. Nathan encourages his team as they prepare. I won't pretend to fully understand what happened during the docking – I'm just a humble tinkerer; I don't know how to park a megayacht. All I know is that Sandy wanted to get back to her seat, but the engine wasn't running. (Who's the unprepared leader now?!) So Nathan came up with a plan to use the ropes to pull the boat forward. He needed it: he delegated without yelling or swearing, made a decision during the game that saved the day, and worked harmoniously with the captain to solve the problem. Sandy is proud of him, although she doesn't praise him as effusively when he saves her ass as she scolds him when he makes her look bad.

The crew says goodbye to the guests forever. Imran apologizes to Katie for making her feel uncomfortable – even He fit too much into the character. The joint primaries were so unremarkable that I forgot they existed, but they did leave a hefty tip of $25,000, which came out to $2,272 per person. At the meeting, Sandy congratulates everyone, but tells the deck team that they need to improve. She then calls Nathan to the bridge and tells him that it is time to choose a lead deckhand, which he was unable to do due to his crew's chronic disintegration. At his request, she advises him to choose whoever he wants to be on his lifeboat, but Nathan is stuck between a rock and a hard place: if he chooses Joe, it will look like he's picking favorites; if he chooses Max, it will look like he only chose him because he didn't want to seem like he was playing favorites. That leaves Vi, but Nathan thinks she's too young for the job. This is true, but she is still the hardest worker and the best worker out of all three.

At least Nathan is learning that being firm doesn't mean swearing or yelling. Right before the meeting, Max and Joe chat about girls. Max really likes Katie and asks Joe all peoplehow he thinks he should approach their relationship. Joe advises him to communicate his expectations very clearly; for example, telling Katie that their item has an expiration date. While Joe is telling Max how V's affection is changing him (he now likes to cuddle), Nathan walks by and gives them some tasks, ordering them to get back to work without being rude. Nathan's professional growth and his ability to control himself are obviously inversely proportional. Despite texting Gael “wish you were here” minutes before going out, he spends the entire night with Kizzy. A running joke among the crew is that Nathan and Kizzy never speak; they're just figuring it out.

Joe sends a selfie of himself and V to his mom and it means a lot. Aisha is impressed by Joe's newly discovered tender side, but warns V to proceed with caution. V is well aware of Joe's reputation, although he talks smugly about how she “broke him” as if he were a wild horse. Meanwhile, Katie and Max are having a bit of a crisis. Katie is in a bad mood; she doesn't say why, but it's probably fatigue from dealing with Imran and Mike all night. On the way to dinner, she tells Nathan and Josh that she doesn't want to get into anything serious with Max, although she acted like there was a war when Kizzy kissed him, thus making him feel very wanted. All this confuses Max's passionate brain. When she rejects his request for a kiss, he takes her aside to ask her what's going on. He babbles on about how he's a person who “gives a lot,” and she tells him it's not that deep: she doesn't feel good. I was distracted by her starfish necklace/ring/bracelet combo, but the point is that Max offers to skip the club and go back to the boat with her. How can you not love him?

Before they do that, however, Katie will be sure to check in with Kizzy, who she heard tell Nathan that she's having a hard time adjusting to her new personality on the team. At first I thought Katie was being too eager to butt into their conversation, but it turned out for the best: Kizzy admitted that it was all her ego and it had nothing to do with Katie understanding where she was coming from. They hug and Katie leaves, allowing Kizzy and Nathan to resume their flirting, although all Nathan wants to talk about is Gael. Kizzy is sad that he is still obsessed with his ex, an illness she is completely unfamiliar with; Poor Tommy didn't seem to cross her mind once after that fateful FaceTime call. Nathan also tells Aisha about how difficult it is for her to become a boatswain. She gives him some much-needed encouragement, reminding him that her first season as a chef was one of the hardest she's ever done—that's just the way it is.

Still thinking about Gael, Nathan continues to load up at the club with Kizzy and begins a marathon make-out session. Meanwhile, Joe asks V what she's doing after the charter; he wants to bring her to where he lives. Here's your expiration date! As Nathan, Kizzy, Joe and Vee kiss in the van on the way back to the boat, Katie sums up the difference between her and Max's excellent displays of affection. “I respect that you are French and very touchy,” she says, “but you must also respect that I am English.”

Everyone looks through their evening before going to bed. Max tells Josh that he believes he is suffocating Katie with his affection; Kizzy, wearing a thong that made me feel like I was seeing something I wasn't supposed to, makes out with Nathan in her cabin until Aisha arrives with her bowl of instant noodles to interrupt their makeout; and V and Joe are chatting in bed. She asks him point blank if he is “confused.” [her] past.” In a week, it will be the one-year anniversary of Bon's death, which falls on Vee's birthday. She called a friend earlier to talk about it, and doesn't know how she'll react when that day comes. Joe promises to be there for her. Then, just to remind us once again how bad it will be when he does, he says in a confessional that he “can't hurt her.” It's up to you not to do it, my man! Just be normal! That goes for everyone in this teams.