I’ll be the first one to admit I might have spoken too soon. Last week’s Below Deck premiere promised a fast-paced, relentless mess — we got a chef on the brink, obnoxious guests, and a flailing bosun. But by the time the crew settles into the rhythm of the charter, the drama peters out. All the developments in this week’s episode are continuations of the conflicts set up in the premiere. Still, there was something satisfying about watching this crew attempt to find its groove. At the end of the charter, Captain Kerry tells them that, though they still have a long way to go, everyone should be proud: They hiccuped, but they delivered. It’s too early to make broad assumptions, but a balance of chaotic intensity and relatively smooth sailing could make for a cozy, entertaining season.
That said, let us survey the St. David’s conflict landscape. After freaking out for 45 straight minutes last week, Lawrence lets go. Fraser checks in on him, wondering if there’s anything he can do to rally the chef to give reality television another try, but he’s determined to leave. Kerry decides it’s better not to insist; someone who spooks this easily, this early on, may end up creating more problems later. Knowing he’s leaving soon releases a pressure valve in the chef’s brain and he relaxes into his position. Lunch for the guests looks beautiful, fresh, and sophisticated. His curry for the “Bollywood Nights” dinner is so good, primary Sam says it’s better than his mom’s.
Meanwhile, Fraser and Kerry scheme on how to get another chef onboard quickly. Fraser suggests they bring back last year’s Anthony, whom Fraser thinks of “as a brother.” Last season, Anthony started off strong but slowly lost his mojo. By midseason, the quality of the food had dropped so much that Kerry had to let him go. Fraser successfully argues this could be Anthony’s chance to redeem himself. Kerry agrees, and though this may look like the beginning of a wholesome narrative of redemption, it’s clear things will be more complicated than that: Anthony is coming onto the St. David with resentment toward Fraser.
We learn from Anthony that Barbie, last season’s stew and Fraser’s frenemy, had called him to say Fraser was a “big part” of his getting fired, which Anthony interprets as a betrayal. Barbie, so skilled at creating drama that she’s a part of it even in absentia, warped the truth: Though Fraser did tell Kerry that Anthony had lost his grip, ultimately it wasn’t his decision to let him go — besides, he wouldn’t have the authority to fire the chef even if he wanted to! It’s frustrating to see Anthony arrive at the St. David with a defensive attitude when Fraser has always pulled for him. The long and short of it is that Kerry makes a deal with Lawrence that he’ll stick around for the first day of the next charter to ensure a smooth transition and then he’ll be free to go. Anthony and Fraser will be roommates for the season, and at the end of the episode, we get a teaser of a fight between the two 16 days hence. This is how you know the editors were parched for action — they have to pull from stuff two weeks from now to keep our interest.
That’s the chef drama, but the interior also shows signs of potential deterioration, no matter how hard Fraser may try to avoid conflict between the stews. Though they put up a united front for the guests — Bárbara is so good with the kids that one of the little ones says she’ll miss “Ms. Bárbara” the most — beyond the crew mess, cracks are beginning to show. Bárbara, wisely understanding it would be more efficient to appease Solène than to insist on a more direct approach, adapts to her sensibility and changes her tone so the newbie will be more inclined to listen. As the guests have breakfast on the second day of the charter, Rainbeau tackles cabins with Solène and does three and a half in the time it takes Solène to do one half. She becomes paralyzed when she encounters a little poop in one of the toilet bowls. Rainbeau gets rid of it in less than 30 seconds and tells Solène to get used to it: At least it’s in the toilet, where it’s supposed to be.
Later, Bárbara pulls Fraser aside to air her complaints. She tells him Solène won’t listen unless Bárbara tells her that directions have explicitly come from the chief stew. This is understandable — it’s annoying to get instructions from someone who’s not your boss. But Solène doesn’t know how to do anything. Not only that, she’s constantly asking why: Why must they turn down the sides of the beds they know the guests won’t use? Bárbara tries to communicate that it doesn’t matter why, not when they have so much to do and so little time. After the guests leave, Fraser tells Solène to listen to the other stews. They are experienced and know what they’re talking about, so it’ll be part of learning how to be a yachtie to put her head down and do without complaining or asking why. To her credit, Solène takes it pretty well. She’s like that kooky co-worker who’s fun to go out with because she’s kooky but is terrible to work with, also because she’s kooky.
The best of what Solène brings to the cast has less to do with her yachting bona fides and more with her sociability anyway. Jess and she are pals, and she has already found herself in something of a love triangle with Kyle and Damo. Both boys are into Solène, and she’s into them, too. At dinner on their night out, Rainbeau flirts a little with Damo, and for a while, it seems they’ll pair off neatly. But when they get back to the St. David, Solène hot tubs with the two deckies, and it’s a friendly competition to see who’ll get to kiss her first. Ultimately, nobody kisses, though at various points, it seems inevitable that they will. “It’s on,” Kyle declares after learning Damo didn’t kiss her after he went to bed. I’m predicting a scenario where Solène kisses both of them and then it’s a scramble to figure out if either hookup has the potential to develop into romance. Jess, for her part, doesn’t believe it’s even possible to find love on a boat. “Two weeks and you cut it out,” she declares.
When the deckies ask Caio about his romantic prospects, he tells them he didn’t come on the boat with that in mind. He’s in “work mode,” rather than “party mode.” Caio may suffer from dangerous degrees of self-delusion. He insists he is a “perfectionist” who is “so focused” on his job, but so far he’s the only one consistently making mistakes. On the second day of the charter, he leads with grand ideas about how to set up the water toys, but by the time the guests, who include two children under 5, are out and enjoying time in the ocean, Kerry notices there are only two deckhands supervising them while a storm is coming in. He pulls Caio out of his lunch break and Damo from his nap and instructs Caio to always have all hands on deck when winds are strong and guests are in the water. Besides, Kyle notices the deckhands’ schedules are out of order.
Caio gets a chance to redeem himself as a bosun the next day when they have to steer the St. David through Kerry’s albatross: the narrow bridge at the port. The captain calls Jess and Caio for a debrief before they drive through. “If you guys fuck this up,” he warns, “I’m going to look like a clown.” The editors are able to juice some classic red-herring tension from the process, but ultimately, the boat goes through beautifully and lands a smooth docking. Kerry, still sweating from the effort, has notes for the team — which we don’t really get to see; I’d like to know how they might improve — but ultimately is satisfied with the performance.
Kerry leads the tip meeting with that same attitude: They still have a long way to go, but for the first charter, they’ve done well. So well, in fact, that their tip comes out to a whopping $30,000, or $2,300 each — Sam might have been a pain in the ass, but he was a generous one. At the club later that night, Caio and Lawrence stand off to the side while the rest of the crew dances and flirts. “I’m too tired for this,” Caio sighs. He seems to me like a classic kind of Rio man, the kind that talks a lot but can hardly walk the walk. So far, his “focus” has missed every mark at which it has aimed, and his relentless instructions are obviously a cover for a deeper insecurity that he has no idea what he’s doing or what’s going on. I would never root against a compatriot, but I am wondering if his flailing will create more opportunities for excitement next week. I want to see the back of another producer’s head! The preview for the next charter looks auspicious. If I understand it correctly, we’ll get a group of porn stars for five days straight on charter. Here’s hoping they’ll help this crew pick up the pace.
Solène is the personality hire who is fun to go out with but something of a terrible co-worker.
