No more Mr. Nice Captain. All season long, Captain Jason Chambers has tried to be more cool older brother than demanding boss. But he’s finally reached his (still rather sedate) boiling point with Chef Ryan McKeown. In truth, it’s surprising that a confrontation has taken this long. What with Ryan’s poor attitude about doing literally anything asked of him by the guests. I mean, this entire argument with the captain started with the chef blatantly refusing to use the squid the guests caught as part of his dinner menu. Like, that’s not that difficult of a request, bro. They’re quite literally handing you the sea creature. Plus, he ends up cooking the squid anyway after the guests ask him point blank about it at the table. It’s just too bad Captain Jason can’t find an immediate replacement given the necessary quarantine period required for new crew.
While Benny Crawley entertains the guests with another round of night fishing, Captain Jason goes straight to Aesha Scott to dish about his clash with Ryan. Which seems like an odd move as the captain of the boat, but OK. He wants the three of them to meet after the charter to squash all the underlying issues. But we can all guess how well that’s going to go…Meanwhile, Chef Ryan goes to bed irritated as ever. And Aesha leaves a mountain of wine glasses in the galley for Magda Ziomek to wash on night shift. Hmm..is she still punishing the third stew? Either way, it’s certainly not helping the growing animosity Magda’s started feeling towards her boss.
It’s only a short, two-day charter for the bachelor party, and the next morning it’s time to head back to dry land. And before she’s even awake, Magda‘s already in trouble. Aesha‘s annoyed to find a solitary glass still in the sink. Stuck in the middle, Tumi Mhlongo posits that the crux of the issue is that Aesha’s “friends first” management style doesn’t exactly do Magda, who needs a firm hand, any favors. And she’s not wrong. The deck crew is also on Jamie Sayed‘s bad side. He’s mad at Benny for leaving the deck a mess overnight despite having to entertain all the guests. And he snaps at Brittini Burton when she asks if they can start switching off going down into the chain locker. Apparently this is the bosun’s version of better leadership.
Things are chilly between Captain Jason and Chef Ryan, too. But there’s no time to address the tension yet, because they have to get breakfast served and the guests back to shore first. As the buck’s party entourage make their way off the boat, Culver Bradbury gets particular compliments for his performance as Keith Stone, Exotic Dancer from the night before. And Captain Jason gets a custom captain’s hat and the envelope full of tip money. Before the tip meeting, he also reaches out to a yacht staffer to get resumes for new chef candidates. Sorry, Ryan, that’s kind of what happens when you blatantly disregard the captain’s feedback to his face.
The tip meeting is the first thing to go well for pretty much the entire episode. Not only were the group of guys relatively easy as guests come, they also left a tip of $17,600. That totals out to $1,460 per person for a little over two days work. And that’s not all! Since they’re officially halfway through the season, Captain Jason gifts the crew with a day off. They’ll be going on a crocodile safari. Which judging by Culver‘s reaction, is apparently his greatest dream in life. Jamie, on the other hand, gets the disco ball helmet of shame for all the little ways his team continues to drop the ball. Though obviously, he thinks either Benny or Brittini should be the one wearing the glittery dunce cap.
Dismissing the rest of the crew, Captain Jason calls a private meeting with Aesha and Ryan. Though the chief stew already knows she’s not the one in trouble. So it all comes across as a bit of a song and dance aimed at singling out the chef. He specifically calls out Ryan’s attitude. And warns that he’s not above making him walk the proverbial plank if things don’t change, and quickly. And would you look at that? Rather than lash back, the conversation actually prompts an apology from Ryan. Ok, sure, he claims it was only out of spite as to not give Aesha the satisfaction of seeing him get fired. But it still happened.
Captain Jason also has another fire to put out. That being Magda‘s constant phone use. We learned last week that she’s running through five gigabytes of data every day. Which I didn’t think was important enough to warrant a mention in my recap. But apparently it’s issue worth having a proper sit-down over. (Is the crew on some sort of temporary family plan? Why isn’t Magda alone responsible for how much data she uses? Also have they heard of unlimited?)
Another successful charter means it’s time for another crew night out. And was I the only one who caught the girls quoting Ja’mie: Private School Girl on the van ride to the restaurant? How very Australian of them! On a smoke break away from the table, Magda complains to Tumi about the issues she’s having with Aesha. But the only advice the second stew has for her pal is to learn how to be the very best she can at her job. And hopefully let the petty drama roll off her back. But speaking of petty drama, little grievances continue erupting over dinner, whether it’s Benny accidentally spilling prawn juice on Jamie or Brittini playfully calling him a “b—h” for not knowing a song by The Beatles.
The next morning, it’s the crew’s day off. And it’s time to go find some crocodiles in the wild. All narrated by Crocodile DunCulver from the confessional chair, of course. While Captain Jason takes Stacie the blow-up doll to the wheelhouse, the crew heads to the Prosperine River. And suddenly it feels like something straight out of Survivor: The Australian Outback. As a native Australian, Jamie‘s too cool for the crocodile excursion. But the rest of the crew are losing their minds over spotting the reptiles in the wild. Back at the boat, the captain’s having significantly less great of a day as he finds trash bags filled with maggots and rotting seafood that failed to be unloaded with the garbage.
At lunch following the crocodile tour, Magda and Ryan sneak off to commiserate over their shared disdain for Aesha. The chef claims he can see how Aesha mistreats Magda at work. And the third stew is more than happy to finally get the validation Tumi refused to give her the night before. Meanwhile, the lowkey sparks continue to fly between Culver and Brittini as Jamie gives them a free bachata dance lesson on the beach. It seems the entire crew is fully in support of this potential showmance happening. And you have to admit the way Culver says “Brittini” in his Southern frat boy accent is pretty gosh darn adorable…
As the night wears on, Chef Ryan‘s attitude only gets worse. And he tries roping Tumi onto the Aesha hate train, but the second stew isn’t having it. Instead, she defends her boss, and appropriately shades Ryan via confessional for daring to question anyone else’s work ethic. And later, Jamie finally reveals why he’s such a stickler for safety, opening up to the crew about a time he tried to save a 12-year-old Chinese boy who drowned, but couldn’t resuscitate him. However, down at the other end of the table, Ryan and Magda would rather continue to bash Aesha than listen to Jamie’s story.
Unable to take any more of the backbiting, Tumi brings Aesha to the bathroom and tells her everything Ryan and Magda have been saying behind her back all afternoon. You can cut the tension with a knife when the two stews return to the table. Aesha expects it from Ryan, but she feels especially betrayed by Magda. What a perfect time to head back to the boat! Instead of confronting the duo, Aesha retreats to her cabin, where she eventually breaks down in tears to Brittini. But what she doesn’t realize is that Ryan can hear every word she’s saying from his own cabin. He’s furious to discover Tumi snitched on him. And promptly storms up to the hot tub to confront her for spreading what he claims is “false information.” And with that, the episode ends with Aesha in tears, Ryan screaming at Tumi, and Tumi laughing in his face as she tells him to “suck [her] d–k.” Yikes.
TELL US – WILL CAPTAIN JASON BE ABLE TO FIND ANOTHER CHEF? HOW COOL WAS THE CROCODILE SAFARI? ARE YOU SHIPPING CULVER AND BRITTINI AS MUCH AS THE CREW? DID TUMI BETRAY RYAN?
[Photo Credit: Peacock]