Below Deck

No, not that I know of, but I wouldn't take the risk...

Who would have thought last season we'd want more Eddie and Rachel? Three cheers for Rachel for learning, growing, and not drinking on a day off.

I half way agree with you on Rayna and Heather. I don't know if I can give Heather as much credit as you for a heartfelt second apology. The problem I had with it was that it was so much about her. Her emotions were not coming from the hurt she caused Rayna - it was from the impact it had on HER. So from that respect, I totally get where Rayna was coming from. However, I agree with you completely on the question of Rayna's response to it. Once a person chooses to accept an apology, it's time to move on. Rayna needs to accept some responsibility for letting the moment go without voicing to Heather why she was falling short, and helping her to recognize that focusing on the impact on herself was the wrong place to focus. There I will give Rayna a LITTLE bit of a pass because they sat down aware that everyone was ready to go and their conversation was holding them up. So in that respect, Heather chose a bad time to have the conversation (Rachel was right there when she encouraged Heather to talk to her the night before). But she chose to let Heather think they were moving on - she needed to participate in that.

Yes. I totally get that and agree. 

I LOVED that Rachel had coffee instead of drinking! 

I am loving management school with Capt Lee this year!!! It’s great to see him investing in Eddie like that, and he’s really sharing some great wisdom.

After listening to Wes on WWHL explain the big switch from coming down on the crew to suddenly giving them chances to do new things, I better understood Rayna having such a negative reaction to Capt Lee praising her for the anchor. In hindsight, it would have been wise for Eddie to follow up the “time to step up” lecture saying he’d give them opportunities to show what they could do, but needed more focus in return. It would have seemed less like mixed messaging.

That said, I think at this point Rayna needs some serious maturing to succeed in this line of work. She seems to be interpreting EVERY action as being focused and inspired on her. She’s had some legitimate complaints, but some of her unhappiness comes from not realizing many on the crew are way too busy to be as focused on her as she seems to think.

Props to Rachel once again for diffusing tension over dinner with an entertaining greeting to the table after dinner!

Heather needs to realize that being great is far more valuable than being right. Eddie gave her GREAT advice about being mindful of Fraser’s feelings with the new stew coming on. She would have been wise to hear him complaining but kept it to herself, and just given him the speech about this being an opportunity for him to teach without him ever knowing she heard him. She also REALLY should have double checked the preference sheets before correcting the guest who complained about service.

Lastly in my long commentary - I want to defend the picky eater charter guest a little bit. I have a friend who is allergic to shell fish to a life threatening degree. I’ve eaten with her before where things started out shaky communicating clearly whether something had she’ll fish or not. It creates a fear that food limitations are not truly respected by the staff, and can create a fear to eat. So between the confusion and then Heather being wrong in correcting it, I can understand how she lost her appetite. She didn’t get a great edit, but I could understand her.

In case you haven't yet, I'll save you the struggle of listening to Wes!    What he said was that very little time went by between being told they had to be doing better and change their attitudes and the anchor being pulled up.  So the lecture was very fresh in their minds - especially for Rayna since eye rolling was specifically mentioned.  So to go from being told all eyes were on you to quickly being given a task that you'd never done before played with nerves quite a bit.  She succeeded at it - but went in feeling she was set up to fail and had no room for error.

When I was listening to the 'step it up' talk, I had thought that it was very soft and light. Ha, what do I know?

Plus, this isn't the first time they have made mistakes, and instead of thinking 'crap, we better step it up' they think 'why are they coming down on us?' and I don't think only Rayna thinks this way, I think they all do except for Eddie. I agree, I think it's a maturity problem. Doesn't help that the lead deckhand gets drunk and fools around with his crew, that never works out.

I was so confused with all of the dietary constraints, what was that woman's dietary issue?

You're right about the step it up talk - it's hard to tell how much was said that didn't make the edit!  After all, they were  talking about how Eddie came down on them, but from what we saw, it was primarily Jake who was talking.  So was there a lot of the meeting we didn't see?  Or were they just determined to interpret it negatively?  If what we saw was all that happened, I think there could have been a little more to the conversation.  For example - instead of just saying not to wear ear buds, include the context that it's a safety issue.  Those details can be the difference between being controlled and being guided.  I see that as more Eddie's responsibility than Jakes.

The clip they showed when Capt Lee mentioned it was Jake and Wes on the deck in their deck uniforms, so I don't think so. They may have originally come on board for that party, but appeared to be used during work on the deck.

My question there is, why not address those offenses as they happen? First time you see a crew member with headphones, tell them headphones are not allowed when on duty because you have to hear alarms. Nip it in the bud before it becomes a norm you're seen as taking away. Which leads to the question - why didn't Eddie know it was a no no?

I'll admit at the beginning of the season I didn't understand the hate for Heather, but I'm starting to understand it. What I saw at first as just wanting to get things done I'm now starting to see as unearned self-promotion / protection.

So Bravo wanted to make it a storyline....

I don't know...I didn't read the article

Reading that article above did clear things up a bit. Eddie DID want to notify Capt Lee and apparently production stepped in. Interesting, right?

I just wish the word wouldn't be used all the way around. I think it's difficult for some (especially todays youth) to understand the "do as I say, not as I do" mentality that comes along with it. It's in so many songs that all different ethnicities listen to....especially when their peer group is black and it's part of the lingo. Heather was absolutely in the wrong for saying it. But I hope that Rayna has also learned to avoid it as well.

Heather was also clueless to the fact that Capt. Lee might not want to participate in what the guests have dreamed up.. oh wait, she dreamt up. It kinda goes with what you all are saying. She's in Heather's world and everyone else is just playing along...