Below Deck Mediterranean Recap: Growing Pains

Below Deck Mediterranean
Guilt Trip
Season 10 Episode 14
Editor’s Rating ★★★★
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Between V’s birthday and the anniversary of Bon’s death, the sudden passing of Cathy’s stepfather, Gael and Nathan’s tortured romance, and the residual trauma from PoopGate, it’s a loaded charter for the Bravado team. It doesn’t help that, even though the interior crew literally had to put up with the guests’ shit, they left only a meager $16,000 tip, which comes out to $1,400 each. Though Sandy and Aesha give Cathy plenty of room to grieve and the option to go home if she needs, Cathy, ever the worker-bee, welcomes the distraction of work as a coping mechanism. Sandy understands what she’s going through; she tells us that both of her parents passed suddenly while she was at sea.

The same conditions that might make a televised yacht the worst place to process a loved one’s death — tight corners, a bunch of strangers, constant cameras in your face, having to serve people — also allow for the accelerated emotional bonding that is the modus operandi of reality television attachments. Cathy tells the team at the tip meeting that the Bravado is the perfect place for her to be at the moment, and characteristically bottles up her emotions. “Luckily, I’ve got Botox,” she quips. Between Max’s genuinely touching affection and the crew’s concern for her, it’s a relief to see her surrounded by people who wish her well. It gives you every faith in people’s goodness, despite the way some of them have been behaving.

Cathy’s moment of need also presents a slight hiccup for the deck team. She gets the news while Joe, Max, and Kizzi are setting up the picnic for the guests, so Nathan radios to let them know. They wonder if this means Cathy will leave, and Joe encourages Max to return to the boat if he deems it necessary. Nathan goes to Aesha about whether he should bring Max back, but they agree that Cathy may want space. Innocent to the fact that Nathan considered sending him back, Max becomes aggravated when the bosun comes to pick up only Kizzi from the picnic, thinking he’s selfishly prioritizing his alone time with Gael over Cathy’s need for comfort. There’s a bit of back and forth about this and lots of huffing and puffing from Max. Remarkably, no one asks Cathy if she wants Max’s company or not — nor does Max actually ask Nathan to go back, preferring to have reasons to be annoyed. Had he asked, it’s obvious that Nathan would’ve let him. 

In fact, as soon as they’re back, Nathan sends Max on break so he can spend some time with Cathy. She tells him she was waiting for him, which only riles him up more. While they are having their moment, Sandy asks Nathan where Max is. Because of another incoming swell, they have to dock the boat that night, so she needs all hands on deck to prepare for leaving. Rather than tell the captain that he sent him to spend time with Cathy, Nathan blindly follows Sandy’s instructions and gets Max to come back on deck. Cathy is not that bothered by it, but it’s a minor instance of Nathan’s green leadership skills that he has trouble navigating this kind of situation. He has authority on deck and could’ve negotiated with the captain. Ultimately, though, it all works out, and the boat gets underway.

The interior crew prepares for another Spanish dinner, which means another family-style meal. Aesha tells Josh she has been wanting to do synchronized service and wonders when they can do a plated dinner. Because of the guests’ many dietary restrictions and the inherent casualness of tapas, Josh explains plating wouldn’t be worth it. Josh has delivered hit after hit, so Aesha seems slightly overzealous about the need for formal meals. Of course, it would reflect well on her own team to glove up for high-end service. But you can see she has a point later on, when the guests make a mess out of serving themselves while Aesha also serves them. Sandy takes a peep at the table and mutters under her breath, “another family-style dinner, seriously?” Personally, if I were paying thousands of dollars to be on a superyacht, I wouldn’t mind having a family-style dinner. After an entire day of swimming and being in the sun, sitting through a multi-course dinner while battling one of those horrific half-day hangovers from day drinking sounds torturous. 

In any case, the real torture here is realizing that Joe doesn’t even know that it’s V’s birthday. While setting the table, Aesha tells him she’s organizing a small birthday celebration for V the next day: Josh is making a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and Aesha has ordered Mexican food for dinner, along with some flowers for them to throw into the ocean for Bon. “When is her birthday?” is Joe’s ridiculous response. Kizzi, who’s also at the table, asks Aesha what she would say if she were in the position of having to apologize to V. “Sorry, I’m a stupid bitch” is Aesha’s suggestion, which seems appropriate. Kizzi is at peace with what she’s done; she tells Cathy later that she doesn’t feel guilty about the kiss, only about hurting V’s feelings. She’s also convinced that Joe doesn’t feel bad about what he’s done as much as he’s worried about what people are going to say about him, which seems dead-on. Aesha advises Kizzi not to make excuses and prepare for whatever consequences she has to face. Meanwhile, all Joe can muster in the way of birthday wishes for V is a text that goes: “I hope it’s been great.” How could it have been great? She is sick and sad and alone!

To bring the vibes even lower, Nathan mopes around the boat as the time for Gael’s departure draws near. She is still hesitant to let things evolve with him, though she becomes more softened to his advances as the charter goes on. In one foreshadowy moment, she tells him to carry a rope as if it were a baby, then jokes that she wouldn’t trust him with her babies. Confident that they are meant to be together and that he would never hurt her again, Nathan asks her to stay in Spain after she leaves the boat, so they can be together once he’s done with the season. He promises that this time, he’ll make it work, but all she can do is remind him of what happened when he last made the same promise. “I may have lost the love of my life forever,” Nathan reflects. 

Aesha offers to stay up on lates so Cathy can rest, but Cathy wants the distraction. Aesha and Josh give her a big hug before clocking off for the night, and the guests go to bed mercifully early. The next morning, Max makes his cherie some tea, which goes a long way in making Cathy feel comfortable to be more emotional than usual. Meanwhile, Sandy and Aesha discuss the family-style dinner issue. They agree that it is an issue despite the fact that, besides the devilish Carlos, no guests have complained about the food. At the tip meeting, Sandy tactlessly says in front of everyone that they are looking forward to doing gloved service for the next couple of charters. That’s not exactly “talking to the chef” like she told Aesha she would, and it needlessly puts Josh in the spot. He explains that since they are in Barcelona and most guests want to eat tapas, high-end service doesn’t make much sense. Sandy then suggests he plates only the mains, which sounds like a lot of work for a meal that would come out uneven. I say let the chef rock! He knows what he’s doing.

As the crew is turning around the boat following the guests’ departure, V comes back. It’s painful to see how excited she is to be back when we know what’s about to hit her. She is so eager to hear everything that happened while she was gone, she feels like it’s the first day of school after summer break. Agh! She showers Kizzi with hugs and kisses, and speaks to Joe right away. Privately, Aesha asks Joe not to confess before V’s birthday dinner, so she can enjoy it without feeling like shit. Kizzi wonders if they should speak to her sooner rather than later, but Joe is only too happy to oblige Aesha. He proceeds to basically ignore V. At first, when Nathan asks V whether Joe has spoken to her yet, she seems to harbor the impression that he spent the past couple of days talking about how much he missed her, but soon she notices he is acting distant. At dinner, he sits at the opposite end of the table from her and avoids eye contact. 

For her part, Kizzi is so nervous, she can’t stop changing outfits, maintaining that it’s important to look sexy when you’re breaking your friend’s heart. (Joe has chosen pants and a sweater for the occasion, his usual outfit. He’s always wearing a sweater even though it seems like it’s one million degrees outside.) After the crew sings happy birthday, Nathan has a private moment with Gael. He cries, though he’s never “cried over a girl before,” which explains why he keeps his sunglasses on. Gael still won’t kiss him, but she goes to Aesha for advice and support. Aesha tells her she’s a big believer in letting yourself be hurt for a chance at love, and though Gael isn’t totally convinced, she’s bewitched by Nathan’s charm. At one point, she tells him how different things are between them when they’re on a boat, which only makes sense — once they’re back in the real world, can he keep his commitment? 

When Max goes out for a cigarette with Nathan, he hopes that Nathan will apologize for being distracted on charter, but he is still focused on Gael, who takes Sandy’s offer to spend the night and leave in the morning. V asks Nathan how come Joe is acting weird, but Nathan deflects, saying he’s just having an off day. That he is, especially after the crew gathers to say some words for Bon and put flowers in the ocean in his memory. Everyone cries; Cathy is especially touched. The gravity of Joe’s disregard for V’s feelings crushes his conscience — the episode ends with him absconding to a room to sob. Somehow, he manages to make the moment all about him.