Well, well, well. For anyone lulled into the sense of security that everyone was safe this season on Below Deck Mediterranean, last night’s episode finally proved otherwise. Really, it’s what everyone’s been waiting for. But honestly? No one would blame you for thinking that moment was never going to come. I certainly didn’t think there was a limit to the amount of bad behavior Captain Sandy Yawn would put up with. Not when she was bound and determined to avoid looking bad this year. But apparently, there’s even a cap on what she can unreasonably tolerate.
However, that’s far from the only thing that happened this week. In fact, multiple storylines finally came to a boil this week after weeks of simmering. All in all, we were given three major plot points in this episode: an exit, a firing, and a blow-up over an injury. But first, let’s examine the radioactive fallout of the final clash between Mathew Shea and Lexi Wilson, shall we?
The whole argument was so despicable and vile that the only phrase to describe it would be, in the words of a certain returning Orange County Housewife, “low base bull—t.” Once you’re throwing around slurs like the r-word, anything else you have to say is irrelevant. The rest of the crew tries to stop the fight in its tracks, put their intervening just adds fuel to Lexi‘s fire. She feels everyone will simply back Mathew because they like him more. And it doesn’t help when a frustrated Courtney Veale lets the c-word slip in her fellow stew’s direction. Because now Lexi feels…validated (or is it vindicated?) in her logic that there’s some kind of double standard happening.
So she then aims her ire at Courtney, accusing her of being “wack” and terrible at her job. Even poor Lloyd Spencer, who looks like he’s on the verge of a full-blown panic attack is telling Lexi to shut up at this point. But the fighting bleeds all the way through the rest of the meal and into the drive back to the boat. By the time everyone’s back on board Lady Michelle, there’s nothing left to say.
The next morning starts with the exit of Delaney Evans. Like I mentioned in a past recap, the replacement stew certainly managed to squeeze as much screen time as possible, didn’t she? I mean, the girl somehow turned a single charter into a four-episode stint. Kind of impressive when you think about it. But after witnessing the chaos of the night before, she looks like she’s leaving just in the nick to time. In fact Delaney slips out so early that she doesn’t even appear to say goodbye to everyone on the crew.
However, there are much bigger issues to deal with on the boat. It falls on Katie Flood to fill Captain Sandy in on the drama from the night before. So the captain calls a meeting in the main salon between Mathew and Lexi with the chief stew present as a witness. Both parties are trying to do damage control in front of the boss. Lexi downplays her nastiest comments and pulls out the chef’s ultimatum that it would either be her or him as ammunition. Captain Sandy is not happy to hear that Mathew was planning on giving her an ultimatum, and for some reason dismisses him from the conversation outright.
Lexi also throws Courtney under the bus for using the c-word, so Sandy has to call a second meeting with the stew and Malia White. And only in that second meeting does some (namely Malia) finally (finally!) inform the captain about Lexi physically shoving Mzi Dempers across the galley several episodes back. That, mixed with her threat to slap Mathew if the cameras were down, seems to be the final straw for Sandy. She claims she has “no choice” but to fire Lexi. However, she’s also quick to reprimand Mathew, reminding him that he too is replaceable. Though considering he happens to be on his third chance, he’s probably feeling pretty indestructible by now.
Now that she’s officially fired, Lexi drops the final shred of obligation she had to be civil with her (now-former) co-workers. She shuts the door in Katie‘s face when the chief stew tries to check on her. And promptly wheels her luggage past everyone eating in the crew mess without a single word. In her final confessional, the stew claims she feels Mathew won by getting her to stoop to his level. But sorry honey, you’ve been on a level all your own this season. Without another look back, Lexi walks off the boat and we’re finally done with her.
Thankfully, the day all this is happening just so happens to be a turnaround day. So after a quick all-crew pep talk from Sandy, it’s back to work prepping for the next charter. During the preference sheet meeting with Katie, Mathew and Malia, we learn that the next primary is a gospel singer named Anthony Evans. The best news is that he doesn’t drink, so that’s one less thing the interior has to worry about. However, the guests are requesting lots of water sports, a beach picnic and an Italian feast, so it’ll be lots of work for the deck crew and chef.
While Katie‘s left to decide whether to bring on another stew for the last two charters, poor David Pascoe‘s leg injury has gone from bad to worse. The bruise that’s developed is truly gnarly to look at and he’s been hobbling around the boat for two days now. When provisions arrive, Captain Sandy catches the deckhand limping and her radar immediately goes up. However, it’s not until he volunteers to go over the side of the boat that the drama really hits the fan…
Once David‘s all harnessed up, Sandy confronts him and Malia about why he’s limping. Finding out David injured himself two days prior sends Sandy into a rage. But she doesn’t even ask David if he’s OK or really any follow-up questions at all. Instead, she aims her disappointment and fury at her favorite bosun for not reporting the injury when it happened. (Flashback to the very first crew meeting where Sandy laid down the rule that she should be told about all injuries immediately.)
For weeks now, Sandy‘s been looking for reasons not to trust Malia. It started with the jet skis, remember? And now she’s found validation for that “seed of doubt” that was planted when the bosun “covered” for her team. It’s actually crazy seeing the captain go off on her star pupil. She’s never been even a little bit angry at her favorite, but now she’s unloading. Like, screaming and swearing in her face while Malia tries to explain that she handled the injury like she thought she should. But as always, we’ll have to wait until next week to watch the fallout between the captain and the teacher’s pet. And not even with a “To Be Continued…” this time!
TELL US – ARE YOU HAPPY LEXI WAS FIRED? SHOULD SANDY HAVE FIRED MATHEW AS WELL? SHOULD KATIE HAVE BROUGHT DELANEY BACK AS A STEW? WERE YOU SURPRISED TO SEE SANDY BLOW UP AT MALIA?
[Photo Credit: Bravo]