Barbie continues crying on the phone to her mom, wearing pants that are more holes than jeans. Extremely distressed, if you will, just like she is in this moment. Perhaps the pants represent how her relationship with Fraser is hanging on by threads. Could either be patched up?
Anthony overhears Barbie saying she might leave, so he tells Fraser and Xandi. They’d be happy to see her go. Fraser: “Send a care package.” Barbie won’t be receiving one just yet because Kyle cheers her up with a pep talk. She resolves to be a bad bitch. I’m not sure if that’s exactly the attitude shift Fraser wants. At dinner, Barbie makes an announcement, apologizing to everyone for all the drama between her and Fraser. Everyone agrees making it more public was a bad move.
Sunny is disgusted by Ben being flirty with Paris. In her mind, they’ve been dating since day one. At dinner, Xandi plays a real girls’ girl move and has Ben switch seats with her so he’ll sit across from Sunny. But he’s still next to Paris! Ben asks for Paris’s IG, which prompts Sunny to switch seats to the opposite end of the table to get away from him. In confessional, Ben pretends not to know what’s going on and eye-rolls about “women.” He has enough self-awareness to ask Sunny to go for a cigarette with him. Paris tries to join, but Sunny puts her foot down; it’s just her and Ben. Horrifyingly, Ben caresses Paris’s stomach as he apologizes and leaves with Sunny.
In negotiations, you want to throw out the first number because that becomes an anchor point — if you let the other person start, they could suggest something way lower or higher than what you want. I don’t know if this really translates to relationships, but neither Ben nor Sunny are throwing out a strong anchor point. He asks what they are, and she says, “Something.” Go girl, give us nothing. Then, she does clarify: she wants him to respect that they’re sleeping together and not be handsy with other people (especially not in front of her). They agree they both like each other. While holding hands, she asks if they’re an item. Ben’s response, “We’re not dating right now,” makes Sunny pull her hand back as if he burned her with the cigarette that is long-gone by now. He tries to save it and says he hopes they can be dating or an item by the end of the season, but right now they’re just sleeping together. If this was a negotiation, Sunny lost the deal.
As the crew heads back to the boat, Paris plays oblivious when asked if Ben touched her ass. She says flirting goes over her head most of the time. Sure, flirting is easy to miss, but if someone patted my stomach like a pregnant woman’s I would be irate. Everyone goes to bed early, tired from all the day drinking. Sunny gets in bed with Barbie … to cry about Ben.
The next morning, hangover Gatorade in hand, Sunny and Ben have another conversation. She clarifies that she’s not open to sleeping around with other people. Ben says they’re on the same page. She’s surprised but pleased. The deal is back on.
Fraser tells Captain Kerry he wants to fire Barbie for insubordination. He’s done, and airing their drama to everyone last night was the final straw. Except Kerry doesn’t want to be down a stew again and reminds Fraser that day-off personal issues are separate from business. Fraser says the problems started on charter. Kerry’s ready with the receipts, pointing out Fraser told him two days ago she was doing a great job. Fraser acknowledges that “she does a good job, she’s just impossible to work with.” Kerry drops some wisdom: “Leadership isn’t just about hiring and firing.” He then advises Barbie to be clearer with Fraser when she’s struggling. He has them talk it out on their own, and I’m devastated we don’t get to see Kerry do couples counseling. Barbie tells Fraser what he wants to hear, and Fraser thinks they can move forward. He doesn’t really have a choice.
Now that Ben’s sorted out his situationship, he has to decide between Sunny and Dylan for lead deckhand. Kyle isn’t in the running because he’s never been on a superyacht before this. Honestly, Kyle feels like the real winner in this episode: he has a grand old time in his newsboy cap, jet skis with guests, Sunny teaches him to drop anchor, and he has a handsy hug with Fraser. Seeing this, Barbie jokes that Kyle’s her man. I’m worried for him though, because Barbie and Kyle don’t follow each other on Instagram. (I discovered this because I was curious to see if he made it to Montana after the show. He did!) TBD if we’ll see why they’re not friends, if it’s a meaningless oversight, or if it was a postseason falling out.
Anyway, back to lead deckhand. Ben tells Kerry he’s chosen Sunny, and Kerry agrees it’s the right pick — she’s already doing the job. Classic woman in STEM. Ben’s announcement to the team is so dramatic it might re-classify Below Deck as a competition show for the Emmys. Dylan looks like he lost a childhood pet. He tells us at first he thought he was being pranked, then accepts it as the wrong choice but decides not to be a dick about it so all his coworkers don’t think he’s a dick. Instead, he’s a dick about it in confessional on a reality show, so they’ll just think he’s a dick months later when it airs.
The primaries for this charter would like to be called King Ray and Queen Carmen. Big yikes. Sorry, royal yikes. The preference sheets also introduce us to their friend Brandon, who is “Not allergic to anything. Just gay and picky.” An icon and Fraser’s new enemy.
Despite Ben’s claims that he and Sunny are good at keeping professional and personal separate, he later starts massaging her neck right in front of Dylan while they’re working. Dylan looks on, uncomfortable, straddling the banana boat. Thus begins his shit-talking campaign, where he tells anyone who will listen about how much more experience he has. Paris and Kyle both report back to Ben that Dylan is annoyed. Ben doesn’t like Dylan complaining to other crew members, so the editors roast Ben with a compilation of him complaining about Jared to other crew members. Instead of handling it right away, Ben tells Dylan he’s heard about the issue but will discuss it in the morning. Maybe that’ll give Dylan enough time to get “two years commercial, four years in yachting” printed on a t-shirt.
At lunch, Anthony is under pressure. Unfortunately, he misses that Tiphanie doesn’t eat fish. I also missed everything on her preference sheet because I was too fascinated by how she spells her name. Anthony makes her a Caesar salad as a replacement, but she doesn’t eat vegetables (?!). And, I assume, anchovies. When talking with Kerry, Fraser blames Anthony for the mistake, but this feels like a team error. At least the guests can keep each other happy: later that evening Ben, Sunny, and Kyle get stuck outside the primary suite while the royals have sex without the blinds drawn.
Xandi and Barbie get along as they turn down the cabins. I’m horrified to hear Xandi say, “I should really start wearing gloves.” She must have an incredible immune system. Xandi reports to Fraser that Barbie’s in a whole different mindset. They’re happy she’s turned over a new leaf.
Brandon arrives late because he missed his flight, and Fraser immediately says he seems insufferable. I think this is a little quick to judge, but then I see Brandon’s single dangly cross earring. For dinner, he’s dressed like a waiter and ready to fight. King Ray is upset about a time when Brandon didn’t tell him they were going to a drag show. Brandon takes offense because Queen Carmen doesn’t need to tell him when they’re going to an all-Black event, so why should he have to tell Ray if it’s a gay thing? Ray, understandably, just wants to know who’s all gonna be there. The crew doesn’t care; at least the guests aren’t upset about dinner.
As Brandon does a lot of clapping and yelling in the stairwell, the galley is even messier. For the first course, Anthony nailed a macaroni and cheese for Tiphanie, but the guys aren’t adventurous eaters so they didn’t like the ceviche. Now Anthony’s searching for utensils, stressed, as Fraser waits on the dessert. Fraser, always the dramatic narrator, tells us, “Something has to change, or we’re not gonna make it to the end of this trip.” We cut to Anthony looking crazed, but he’s holding a bell pepper, so that must be an editing trick. Still, it does not look good for him. Especially if that pepper is indeed part of the lava cake dessert.
