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Gen’s new “villain era” might make for fun television, but targeting the beloved Joy is a risky end-of-season move.
Photo: Bravo
Before diving into this week’s episode, an update from Gael and Kayden: Last weekend, Gael posted an Instagram Story thanking the audience for their support. She said she is focused on rebuilding “for little man” and herself and working on finding herself again and “moving forward.” It’s great to hear that she’s safe and feeling supported by the Below Deck audience.
In this week’s episode, Sandy relentlessly scolds Nathan. As Brian Moylan wrote in his canonical ranking of every Below Deck cast member, “there’s no more divisive figure in the franchise than Captain Sandy.” Some people love how much she gets involved with the crew; others hate it. This week, she gets so involved in the insufferable ego battle between Nathan and Joe that you half-expect her to take sides; for most of the hour, she leans Joe. Some readers have pointed out how quickly blame gets assigned to Sandy even about aspects of the show, like casting, that are out of her control. It’s true that, despite her sometimes-questionable judgment, Sandy is not only the franchise’s most criticized captain — she is also its only female captain. Make of that what you will.
During the first day of the charter, Sandy notices that Nathan is punishing Joe for pouting in the previous charter, which wins her over to Joe’s side. After undocking, she praises Joe’s performance on the bow and offers to have him steer the boat, which makes Massi and Nathan jealous. To Joe, the opportunity is proof that Sandy is choosing him “over Nathan.” Earlier in the day, he called his mom to vent about the strain of his relationship with the bosun. In an eerily prophetic moment, he expressed relief that after the season, he’ll never have to see Nathan again.
Joe will misstep soon enough, but for now, the interior is going through its own crisis. Gen storms downstairs after finding out that Luke sent Joy flowers, and Aesha follows. Gen feels humiliated: She didn’t get Luke, didn’t get second stew, Kat is mad at her, and her wrist hurts. Unfortunately for her, these are all direct consequences of her actions. Aesha gives her a hug and offers to put her in housekeeping for the next charter so she can take a breather without having to constantly put on a smile for guests. The switch will also give Kat a well-earned opportunity to shine in the spotlight of service: As Aesha points out, Kat’s delightful personality is well-suited to interacting with guests.
Gen admits she’s a petty person; she still holds a grudge against a fourth-grade teacher. Kat, on the other hand, can sit back and enjoy the stunning view from the high road. Seeing Gen upset, Kat offers her a hug, asks if she’s okay, and offers to pick up her work while Gen takes a minute to recompose. Kat is proof that when you act with genuine kindness, there is no edit in the world that can make you out to be a villain. That makes me all the more disappointed in Cooper, who is fumbling this lovely girl. He complains to Joe that Kat was “on [his] ass” about Gen flirting with him. Worse, on the second day of the charter, Cooper invites Joe to hang out with him and Kat in Dubrovnik after the season is over, hoping Joe’s presence will signal to Kat that he is not interested in a romantic vacation. Remembering the catastrophic love triangle he was in last season, Joe advises Cooper to be honest. You know you’re in the pits when you’re getting not-bad romantic advice from Joe Bradley. He has struck a wholesome relationship with Kayley this season, but I’d venture that’s more because of Kayley than Joe. She sees him as an “acting boyfriend” much in the same way she was “acting chief stew”; she might even say their fling has an expiry date.
The flowers ruin Gen’s day, but they make Joy’s. By putting in so much effort, Luke has redeemed himself in the chef’s eyes, though it’s still unclear how much she knows about Sheetsgate. As the charter gets underway, Gen spirals. Primary Karen, who goes by Kaz, arrives with her guests and Kelli, the blow-up doll, who is a sensation among guests and crew; the stews set a place at the table for her, and she is served marzipan food that Joy sculpts to look like a plate of pasta (Kelli later sustains an injury and has to be surgically taped together by Coop). Gen is oblivious to this wholesome fun because she is in laundry “crashing out,” as she would say. “I can’t believe I used to go out with pro athletes and am losing my mind over Woody from Toy Story,” she laments, before firing off three insane texts to Luke. She tells him that “what [he] did with the flowers” was “extremely disrespectful,” that it almost made her leave the boat, and that he is “immature for a middle-aged man.”
That Gen would feel unsettled by Joy and Luke’s continued involvement makes some sense; that she would take offense at it is baffling. What is so disrespectful about Luke sending Joy flowers? Luke finally texts her back (“You don’t have authority to decide what I can or can’t do”), and Gen replies that she doesn’t care enough to have a conversation with him, despite being the one to start the conversation. As Gen’s surrogate older sister, I desperately wanted to reach into the television and pry the phone out of her hands. When Joy calls Luke to thank him for the flowers, he mentions Gen’s texts, which Joy can’t explain, especially not when Gen was all over Cooper on the last night out. Gen overhears some of their conversation and vents to Cooper, in the crew mess, that she was made to “look like a jackass.” Joy walks by to get into the walk-in fridge and sticks her tongue out at Gen’s back.
It’s when the guests are in the water after lunch that Sandy gets involved in deck politics. Massi, who has been working on boats since he was 16 years old, is mostly relieved that he doesn’t have to get involved: As a deckie, he only has to do what he’s told. Not every deckhand has the same attitude. Still, to Sandy, Joe’s whining is no reason to write him off altogether. When she overhears Nathan instructing Cooper to tow the guests on a tube, she steps in to tell Joe to drive the tender instead, reasoning that he is “better at towing” (she will prove to be sorely mistaken later). Before dinner, Nathan tells her about the new anchor watch schedule. “Not gonna happen,” she says about Joe’s six-hour graveyard shift, in front of Cooper and Massi. She worries that Joe will fall asleep on his watch, which is a fireable offense. In the bridge, she tells Nathan that it’s obvious he’s trying to punish Joe, and that he needs to stop. In a subtle punishment of her own, maybe, she asks Nathan to revert to the anchor watch schedule Joe himself drew up while Nathan was away. Later, when Joe comes up to switch with Nathan at midnight, Nathan tells him about the schedule change so quietly, you can barely hear him.
Meanwhile, the stews set up for the guests’ 1970s-themed dinner. Gen vents to Aesha about the texts she was exchanging with Luke; Aesha tries her best to console her, but finds it hard to muster up that much sympathy for Gen. It’s true that Gen doesn’t help herself. After she overhears Joy telling Sandy about the flowers, she launders Joy’s uniforms with the kitchen rags. She labels the machine “Joy + rags :),” and mutters that she’s in her “villain era.” I have a suspicion that Gen thinks this would be seen as “iconic” reality-TV behavior, but this kind of cunning is only rewarded by the viewer when the receiving party deserves what’s coming for them. Joy has done nothing but delight us, so a villain Gen shall become.
When Joy sees the note in the morning, she vows to make Gen cry “and send her to psychiatry.” But she’s classier than that, so she simply tells Aesha what Gen did. Later, after telling her that she’ll go on the excursion with the guests to the blue caves (thereby being separated from the rest of the crew), Aesha tells Gen not to wash crew uniforms with rags; Joy’s clothes smell badly because of the mix-up. Gen shamelessly acts like it was an accident. Though she doesn’t fool Aesha, she is committed enough to the bit to tell Joy it wasn’t on purpose, passive-aggressive Post-it notwithstanding. The chilling indifference of Joy’s reaction (“Good,” she says, before turning around) sent a shiver down my spine.
Deck-side, Sandy asks Joe to get his watch schedule, which he does with a shit-eating grin. She asks Nathan to change it back to that on her computer, and when Nathan protests that he has his own computer, she snaps at him to just do as he’s told and stop annoying her. But soon, Joe’s judgment begins to show some serious cracks. During the cave excursion, Kaz and some other guests ask to swim back to the boat. Joe asks Massi to radio for the captain’s permission, with the caveat that he’ll follow on a seabob; Sandy grants it, as long as Massi also follows in the tender. But Kaz and her friends don’t wait for Massi’s go-ahead, and by the time Joe and Massi realize they’ve already left, they’re way out in the channel. Joe takes off after them on the seabob. From the boat, Sandy sends Nathan to pick the guests up with a Jet Ski. He explains to them that the danger is not drowning — Kaz, apparently an Olympic swimmer, is irritated at the implication she wouldn’t be able to swim the distance — but the boat traffic.
The slip-up gives Nathan reason to criticize Joe’s judgment. Massi admits he should also be held responsible — he didn’t stop the guests, either — but because of their history, Nathan is content to blame only Joe. Earlier, when Aesha mentioned that Massi has a refreshing humility to him, Nathan pointed out how unlike Joe he is. For his part, Joe brushes it off as “one of those situations where you can’t pinpoint the blame,” though he complains that he “put [his] life at risk” (okay, Joe) only to get shit from Nathan. Later, Joe makes another mistake. The guests ask to tube again, but because only three of them are going, they ask Cooper and a very eager Kat to join and balance out the weight. Joe tows again, but this time, he drives so fast that the tube flips over, and guest Michelle’s shoulder pops out of its socket. They should have had Massi drive!
