The best gumballs are green....
Now I have a million thoughts on this season of Below Deck: Mediterranean, but here is a quick summary of my thoughts on the crew thus far…
First off, does anyone else ever wonder about the 2-3 crew members that aren’t featured on the show. This season I believe the first officer, and first and second engineers aren’t shown. Presumably, they are actually employed by the owner of the Talisman and have a vested interest in keeping the ship afloat. But I wonder what they think about this crew. Hmm…
Captain Sandy is not very likable this season. She seems completely clueless as to the dynamics of her crew. She doesn’t get why Hannah is upset about Kasey, she doesn’t see that Joao is a horrible person, and she seems to delight when her crew are obnoxious kiss ups.
I continue to root for Chief Stew Hannah, especially this season. Captain Sandy seems really, really hard on and unsupportive of Hannah. The Kasey sucks timeline REALLY annoys me. The first 1-2 charters Kasey was seasick and worked minimally. During third charter, Kasey performed below the standard. At the end of the third charter, Hannah checked her resume and found out that she exaggerated to the point of lied about her skills. Hannah then went to Captain Sandy prior to the fourth charter beginning to let her know that Kasey didn’t have the required training. Sandy says to get through the fourth charter and they’ll go from there. Then, Captain Sandy says that, they are on the fourth charter, Hannah should have trained her. When was Hannah supposed to have trained her? She didn’t work for the first two charters and Hannah let you know there was a problem once Kasey did complete a full charter. UGH! I can understand that Kasey has an entry-level job, but A) entry-level doesn’t mean NO experience and B) if someone says they have skills, you shouldn’t have to (or think that you would have to) train them in said skills. Captain Sandy seems really eager to criticize Hannah for a bad attitude without fully considering why Hannah has a bad attitude. As for Hannah and Conrad, I think they’re pretty cute.
Brooke: Hmmm…. I actually feel bad for Brooke. She clearly has NO self-esteem and no sense of who is nice and who sucks. (see telling Adam that she likes him and now liking Joao) If she was smart, she would go for Colin. I would like to think that missing her sister’s wedding and getting dumped in short time period has made her a little nuts. I also love that Brooke only sees the good in Joao because she is always passed out first. That is a pretty funny storyline. I don’t dislike Brooke as of yet – I am giving her the benefit of the doubt, but she is getting dangerously close to dark side.
Kasey: I don’t really dislike Kasey either. I would probably hate working with her, and I think that Hannah hit the nail on the head when she said that Kasey is the type of person who thinks that she is working really hard when she’s not. As for her resume, there is a difference between exaggerating your skills (ie saying you are expert level vs. proficient in Microsoft Excel) and saying that you have skills that you point-blank do not have. She definitely lied on her resume. However, I think that Kasey is just not smart. Like watching the show, I think of Kasey as just a little kid who needs her mommy, so I can’t really hate on her.
As for Chef Adam, he is just a punk. It was totally unprofessional and obnoxious to tell Kasey that Hannah’s opinion of her doesn’t matter, and he would have lost his shit if Hannah did something like that to him. Adam is always ready to blame Hannah or her team for any problems with service, but he rarely seems to show any initiative to avoid issues. The fact that he finally decided to print a menu ahead of time, after bitching that Hannah didn’t explain the dishes well for several episodes, was a miracle. That being said, if you know to take everything Adam says with a grain of salt, Adam is probably okay to work with. He seems to have an okay sense of humor and isn’t really mean per se, just an underminer.
Bosun Conrad seems sweet, but in over his head with Joao and probably Hannah. I don’t know if his relationship with Hannah is affecting his work, as Captain Sandy seems to think, nor do I know if his lack of water slide set-up knowledge is below the standard. However, he seems to have a good attitude and both Jamie and Colin seem to like him. I like him and just feel really sorry that he has to deal with Joao constantly stepping on his toes and the Captain complaining when he does take a break with the girl that he likes.
Joao: Oh my god! Oh my god! What to say about Joao! He is the worst. Absolutely the worst! I read on a message board that Joao doesn’t like Hannah because she never flirted with him and I think that that is totally true, and the same can be said for Jamie as well. Both girls have his number and don’t throw themselves at him, and he can’t take it. Seeing him shatter that wine glass and the resulting look on Hannah’s face was very disturbing and I hope that Brooke was fucking awake and sober when the episode aired to see that. The one amazing thing about Joao is that we get to see all of his awkward Instagram pictures like him cuddling a snake or lion or whatever on his bed. (He had a picture with a snake and one with a lion and I can’t remember which one was on the bed – obviously I don’t confuse a snake with a lion)
And now for the heroes of Below Deck: Med….. drumroll please… Jamie and Colin! Woo-hoo! Aaaaah! The beacons of light in an otherwise sad season. Jamie and Colin both seem so kind, chill, and genuinely want to do a good job. Jamie seems to be a hard-working and professional deck hand who happens to be a woman. Despite being gorgeous, she hasn’t created any drama by hooking up with two guys on the yacht (ahem… Malia) and she doesn’t hate the world (I’m looking at you Jen). I love that her ongoing storyline is now that she loves chocolate milk. Amazing! As for Colin, his rap and his crush on Brooke are so endearing. I don’t like that he said that NY pizza is better than Italian pizza, especially when they’re sailing out of Naples, because that is obviously wrong, but otherwise, he is definitely the nicest guy on the Talisman and I hope that he gets laid while he is in Italy, preferably by a superhot guest, because he deserves it.
New episode on Tuesday… get your chocolate milk ready!
