‘Below Deck’ Recap: Captain Lee Blasts The Crew For Damaging The Boat ‘This is Not Your Personal F—ing Party Palace’
Recap by guest blogger J.R.
Have you ever been so drunk at night, that the morning after you wake up after having previously consumed so much alcohol, that you’re still drunk? Me neither. But I’ve had plenty of roommates in college and can attest that this is 100% true. Well Ben, Nico, and Lauren have consumed so much of their own foolery the night before, the next day they’re all still drowning in it.
Kyle leaves in the morning, and we can assume he didn’t have the night he was hoping for. Kate goes in to get Ben up, who at first refuses and then tells Kate not to tell him what to do. Can we all agree that Ben is too old to be acting this way? Flashbacks from college for real.
When Kate goes in, she sees a panel on the wall is broken. She asks Lauren about it, and Lauren has no idea. Right. Ben, who was either too tired, too entitled, or a combination of both, to get out of the master suite that morning, somehow musters up the energy to bring Emily a cup of chai. It’s her birthday in two days, and Ben wants to make it special.
After finding out about the broken panel in the master suite, Captain Lee is PISSED. That panel controls a 10K toilet and if it were to break, they’d be screwed. He calls the whole deck crew, plus Ben, and Kate to have a scolding. Captain reminds Kyle, Nico, Lauren, and Ben, that the boat isn’t their personal party house. They’re on lockdown that night, early bedtime and they’re not allowed to leave the boat. Worse than college kids, more appropriately like high schoolers, none of them take ownership of their bad behavior, nor do they care.
Nico and Ben blame Kate because they think she snitched on them, while Ben and Lauren make plans for getting drunk the following night instead. Captain hears Lauren laughing and reiterates to Kelley and Kate that the deck crew and Ben are to be in their quarters early that night.
Ben, who was apparently daydreaming of his night two days away, missed the part where he wasn’t allowed to leave the boat. He asks Captain if his brother can come onboard instead, and Lee agrees that his brother can come and say goodbye.
Outside, Kelley wants the crew to separate and work alone that morning. Nico is not happy and tells Kelley not to speak to him that way. The foolery. It runs deep. Kelley tells him to get his s*** together and clean. Kelley has been tolerating his crew’s bad behavior after-hours for a lot of this charter season, so for Nico to throw a tantrum the first time he’s reprimanded is laughable.
The Captain meets with Ben, Kate, and Kelley again, this time to tell them about their next charter guests, Dean Slover, who’s been on before, and all his guy friends. There aren’t any surprises – they just have to be perfect.
While Kate, Kyle, and Nico are eating she tells the two that she didn’t rat them out, and feels insulted that she has to clarify. Um, even if she did rat them out, who cares! Her job is interior, and they almost did 10K worth of damage. If you didn’t do anything wrong, she wouldn’t have anything to tell on you about.
It’s the night of the lockdown and rather than Ben going out, his brother brings the party to the boat…which is not what Captain agreed to at all. Ben, his brother James, and Emily, enjoy caviar, wine, and drink whiskey out of ashtrays. It’s the best “punishment” I’ve ever witnessed. This weekend, I too, hope to live that kind of confinement. The Captain hears this and tells Ben his brother needs to leave, and he needs to go to bed. Ben feels like the Captain isn’t treating him fairly since they have a past. Kelley and Captain also have a past and Kelley sure isn’t getting a free pass for it. If anything that should mean you’re held to a higher standard. I swear with each passing episode, Ben is regressing.
It’s the next day and Nico finally feels bad for his treatment toward Kelley. It took a full day, but he’s sobered up from his nonsense. Welcome back. Kelley realizes that Nico has a lot of growing up to do, but also realizes how important he is to his team on the boat.
The guests arrive and Ben serves them breakfast, eggs and caviar. Or eggs with eggs, as Dean calls it. Kate says Dean is the only person who holds Ben accountable, and it’s looking that way. After breakfast Dean tells Ben he wasn’t happy to see him, but was pleasantly surprised since his food was so good.
The guests are outside doing water activities, and Kate lets Emily know to be attentive because she’s going on her break. Captain asks for service outside, no reply. Kate radios Emily, no reply. So she gets up and gets back to work.
Kelley goes to pick up the fireworks the guests requested. When leaving, Ben asks if he can also pick up his flower order for Emily, Kelley agrees. When Kelley comes back he hits the tender against the boat. Just when you’re rooting for Kelley, he swiftly makes a mistake that seems so easily avoidable it just makes you sad and quiet. The Captain tells him some changes are going to be made.
As Kate is getting ready for dinner, the theme is Chinese New Year, Emily senses Kate might be annoyed by her and Ben. Emily confronts Kate about it, and Kate tells her she needs to be more attentive with the guests. Instead of taking this answer, Emily thinks it must be because Kate and Ben have their own issues going on. Nope. It’s literally just that you have to do your job so she doesn’t have to.
During dinner, the first course goes great. It’s the second course and Ben’s shrimp are too hot so he dumps ice into it and proceeds as usual. When the guests eat, the men all turn to Dean, their chosen leader, and ask how he likes it. He deems it bland, and they decide to all agree. Ben can’t believe it. In all his dishes, nothing he’s made has ever been sent back. He tries it himself, and sees Dean was right. The ice diluted the soup, taking away the flavor from the broth. He redeems himself with dessert, and the guests enjoy fireworks.
It was a rough night for Ben, but he feels like Emily makes it all better. Kate feels like Ben is getting to distracted with her. When he asks Kate where he should put Emily’s flowers, she tells him she doesn’t want to be involved anymore. When even Kate wants to exclude herself from this love narrative, that she helped put together, you might want to do less.
The next morning, Emily is surprised with flowers, and Kelley is surprised his ass wasn’t handed to him. Instead he asks Kelley and Nico to take the guests to the bass.
Nico and Kelley are abandoned on this island together, but unlike Sierra and Kyle last week, they’re doing fine. They’re like brothers, where they can yell and make up. Since the guests don’t want to take the taxi back, Kelley has the plan to go back himself, bring the tender over, the guests swim to the tender, and Kelley brings them all back. It’s a great idea. Kelley likes it. Nico agrees and even the Captain gives the okay to execute it. Kelley comments that the Captain woke up on the right side of the bed that morning and it feels that way.
Kelley travels back to get the tender, it takes him 40 minutes, when he realizes he took Nico’s radio, and Nico has the keys. I felt real dread as if I was the one who f***ed up. There’s no other option, Kelley has to radio Captain, and ask him to pick up the guests, so they aren’t waiting too long. Captain Lee agrees. He does it to save the guests, not Kelley. He might’ve woke up on the right side of the bed, but Kelley definitely pushed him back to the other side for what seems like the last time…
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