Below Deck Sailing Yacht Recap: Sleep Deprivation
This week’s episode takes a little to get into anything interesting. There’s tension between Danni and Daisy, highlighted by a montage of times Daisy’s gotten frustrated with Danni. It’s a red herring of sorts, because the real work conflict is between Daisy and Diana. Diana complains that Danni took a three-hour break, which she thinks is unfair because she’s going to get less sleep. The schedule is a mess since the guests are planning to go clubbing until 5 a.m. Daisy is sick of the junior stews complaining and doesn’t see them having a future in yachting if they keep it up. This seems like a classic Gen Z–versus–millennial workplace issue: The Gen-Z stews expect eight hours of sleep and proper breaks, while Daisy figures if she’s had to suffer through rough hours, so can they. If only the stews had better communication skills to call it out for the labor violation it is instead of pouting.
In comparison, Gen-X primary Ronnie is celebrating her 50th birthday and doesn’t want to seem like a boomer. She sees Danni putting up decorations and nixes any black streamers because black and gold reminds her of cheap drugstore “over the hill” décor. Danni begrudgingly swaps the black out for white even though she thinks it looks worse. Other than a sign proclaiming the “Studio 50” theme, nothing about it is giving ’70s disco club. This might be because Danni and Diana are too young to know what Studio 54 is, but they are definitely not too young to know how to Google.
Before dinner, Gary and Chase take the guests to port to see the boat procession celebrating Saint Carmen. We can pinpoint this filming date as July 16, her feast day. Glenn explains Carmen is the patron saint of sailing, and the rite is about getting her blessing. There are a lot of people watching from shore, but what we see — a dinky statue on a ferry — is pretty underwhelming.
We check in on how Daisy and Gary sharing a cabin is going, and it’s going surprisingly well. Daisy loves it because she gets more time in the bathroom, except she thinks he’s lactose intolerant because of all the shits he takes. I’d guess it’s the heavy drinking. Gary says it’s like living with your best friend, and while he doesn’t explicitly say he wants to marry Daisy, he wants that kind of relationship in a marriage.
Unbeknownst to Daisy, Cloyce is also making metaphors about marrying her, comparing the chief stew–chef relationship to a marriage. They’re both hoping dinner runs more smoothly than last night, and it does. The guests love his burrata beet salad and his “play on steak-frites,” excitingly presented in smoke-filled cloches. Cloyce loooves to call a dish “a play,” and I’ll leave it up for debate whether this finally actually is one.
Earlier, Daisy suggested the deckhands do a comedy sketch for the guests to make up for Ronnie’s jellyfish sting. Keith pitched reenacting the jellyfish sting and revealed he’s a theater kid. Knowing this, he’s quieter than you’d expect, but it also makes a lot of sense that he didn’t vibe with Danni, a total jock. Keith is the coolest of the nerds, and he’s going to impress a girl — this time Daisy — with his craft. He types up a skit and prints it out, acting as the narrator as the guests finish dinner. Chase plays the jellyfish while Gary dresses as Ronnie. I find Gary’s drag to be more Walgreens than high-end superyacht, but they enjoy it.
The guests head to the club at midnight, and everyone goes to bed. Diana is ready for a life of no sleep, bus, club, another club, but Daisy decides that she’ll wake up at 5 a.m. to greet the guests and serve the “midnight” snacks instead of Diana. The chief stew wants to show that she’s willing to do what she asks of her crew, which is nice to see from Daisy, but it shouldn’t have to be a big deal. Diana thinks it’s bullshit because Daisy is the one who didn’t schedule her for enough sleep in the first place. Daisy insists she has a system and is doing her best to give them breaks. I wonder if Diana had gotten less sleep she’d make more bolder decisions later, but that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Chase, Cloyce, and Keith only get four hours of sleep, while Daisy gets five. When the guests return at 5:30 a.m., Cloyce’s mac and cheese is ready, but he doesn’t get the pizza out until 6 a.m. The ladies are exhausted and somewhat regretting the snack request but still eat since he prepped so much. Ronnie and the guests win the competition for the least sleep, getting a mere three hours. The primary doesn’t bother to order coffee this morning and goes straight for tea.
And the tea on Chase is that he hasn’t been in a relationship in a long time, although he briefly dated chef Ileisha after last season. Diana finally gets her share of flirting time with Chase, but Danni keeps interrupting and asking her for things. Diana’s convinced Danni’s doing it on purpose. Hilariously, Danni slept eight hours but still says, “I’m so tired” as she’s getting ready. Diana and Chase connect over how hard it is to maintain friendships in yachting. She tells us she put up walls four years ago because her ex-boyfriend was a narcissist, and she’s ready for a nice guy.
Ronnie departs (wearing white, presumably to look young) and leaves a $24,000 tip, which is great considering the jellyfish sting. Gary turns down the celebratory Champagne and decides he’s not drinking for the rest of the season. Daisy is supportive but doesn’t believe it’ll last. Gary says he doesn’t want alcohol to control his life like it has for the last 14 years. I wonder if producers fed him this story line, but dang, that is heartbreaking.
Chase is ready to fill in for Gary as tonight’s get-drunk-and-make-bad-decisions guy, starting off strong by bringing beers to Keith and Cloyce in bed. He orders shots at dinner, while Gary sticks to a mocktail. The drinks are flowing, and Gary remains sober, which gives him a new perspective on how annoying drunk people are.
Diana and Chase sit next to each other, so it seems like she’s edging ahead of Danni in the race for his affection. When Chase leaves the table, Daisy fans the flames by asking if Diana would make out with him, and of course, Diana says yes. Back on the boat, the stews have prepared a game that seems to just be dares written on slips of paper. Davide tries to convince Gary to join everyone in the jacuzzi, but Gary’s on a journey learning to say no and calls it a night. Davide should’ve said no, too, because he ends up doing a body shot off Cloyce.
They’re having fun with the dares, and Danni draws one to re-create her favorite movie make-out scene. She picks the Notebook raining scene, and it’s telling that the rain is the part she remembers and not the romantic “I wrote you every day for a year.” Everyone sprays water while she and Chase kiss. Even Diana plays along, which is surprising given the teasers … oop, and now Danni’s kissing Chase postgame in front of everyone. This is what was teased, and they quickly go to the master cabin. Behind the closed door, we hear Danni tell him she’s been in there before (with Anthony) but claims she didn’t do anything. Diana’s devastated because she felt like Chase was the only person on the boat she connected with. Since we only get Diana’s POV and not Danni’s or Chase’s, the hookup just seems sad. But as Ryan Gosling says in The Notebook, “It still isn’t over.”