S17.E02: Russian Dragger

[thewhiteowl]

When Mandy devises a plan for partnering, Sig must rethink his own hard-won tactics. On the Time Bandit, John and Josh conspire to outmaneuver a Russian captain who tells them what to do in US waters. All hell breaks loose as two vessels collide.

[toodywoody]

I was laughing my ass off this episode. 

Keith screaming his head off and crashing. Mandy growing some balls and telling Sig I'll trust who I want to and you trust who you want to. And then Casey and Jonathan fucking the Russian trawler. 

[dsteele]

DUTCH HARBOR, AL - April 27, 2021

Video has surfaced of self-described crab fisherman and 'captain' Josh Harris appearing on the deck of the Time Bandit while the ship was actually underway and in the process of hauling pots. From one angle Harris appeared to be behind the control station of the crane but it was unclear whether he was actually hauling a pot or just moving the levers for the camera's sake.

"Look, we all know he's here for the TV exposure," said one Time Bandit crewman who requested anonymity. "But hey, at least he made it down to the deck for almost five minutes. On the Cornelia Marie he never left the wheelhouse."

One of Harris' former crewmates on a previous boat, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said that his presence could be irritating. "I swear, if he invoked his dead old man's name one more time I was going to shoot myself. It was always 'Phil this, Phil that.' Or, 'Do you know who my Dad was?' Or, 'My Dad was a legend and he gave me all his bestest knowledge before he died.'

"Meanwhile, I'm on deck getting pounded by freezing water and winds while he's up in the wheelhouse smoking and playing to the camera like we're at some bar in Dutch telling sea stories."

A producer for Discovery who refused to be identified admitted that having Harris featured on the show was a priority. "Look, we've got a ton of money invested now in this other show of his. And frankly, the ratings are shit. So we've got to build him up any way we can. Having him appear on deck and actually be seen 'working' helps prop up the franchise. WTF do you think we keep showing pics of his old man ten years after he died? Sympathy, man. The audience loved that guy."

[AZChristian]

When they showed Josh on deck "working," I opined to Mr. AZC:  "Johnathan's smart.  He probably couldn't stand one more second in the wheelhouse with that yahoo and told Josh that if he went down on the deck and wiggled the crane handles and then threw the hook, he'd be sure to get camera time."

Pretty sure that 99.9999999% of the people who regularly watch this show knew immediately that Josh was only "working" for camera time.

[iluvobx]

3 hours ago, dsteele said:

DUTCH HARBOR, AL - April 27, 2021

Video has surfaced of self-described crab fisherman and 'captain' Josh Harris appearing on the deck of the Time Bandit while the ship was actually underway and in the process of hauling pots. From one angle Harris appeared to be behind the control station of the crane but it was unclear whether he was actually hauling a pot or just moving the levers for the camera's sake.

"Look, we all know he's here for the TV exposure," said one Time Bandit crewman who requested anonymity. "But hey, at least he made it down to the deck for almost five minutes. On the Cornelia Marie he never left the wheelhouse."

One of Harris' former crewmates on a previous boat, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said that his presence could be irritating. "I swear, if he invoked his dead old man's name one more time I was going to shoot myself. It was always 'Phil this, Phil that.' Or, 'Do you know who my Dad was?' Or, 'My Dad was a legend and he gave me all his bestest knowledge before he died.'

"Meanwhile, I'm on deck getting pounded by freezing water and winds while he's up in the wheelhouse smoking and playing to the camera like we're at some bar in Dutch telling sea stories."

A producer for Discovery who refused to be identified admitted that having Harris featured on the show was a priority. "Look, we've got a ton of money invested now in this other show of his. And frankly, the ratings are shit. So we've got to build him up any way we can. Having him appear on deck and actually be seen 'working' helps prop up the franchise. WTF do you think we keep showing pics of his old man ten years after he died? Sympathy, man. The audience loved that guy."

Never understood why Discovery was so hell bent on Josh.  Don't they read any of the boards?  

As for that shit show, what did they expect?  People saw through Josh's bullshit years ago.  Hell, even Phil himself said Josh was only there for the cameras.  I hope they are paying Casey enough money to have to put up with Josh and his bullshit.  that other show has always been a shit show because Discovery has always had to back end it on DC to make sure dvr's taped it.

So, they are done with king crab now and we never saw Wild Bill and crew?  Actually, the episode was a shit show itself.  Glad that Mandy & Jake get along great.  DC, please please please get rid of Josh and Jr.  Neither of them add anything to the show.  Jr is an asshole and Josh is nothing more than a fame whore.

Edited April 28, 2021 by iluvobx

[AZChristian]

28 minutes ago, iluvobx said:

People saw through Josh's bullshit years ago.  Hell, even Phil himself said Josh was only there for the cameras. 

I once had an opportunity to meet REAL Captain Derrick Ray, who took over the CM for one year after Phil died.  Theoretically, he was supposed to help "the boys" run the ship which they now owned, until one of them could become a licensed captain.

1.  At that time, they each "owned" 12.5% of the ship, left to them by Phil.  Not even a majority ownership.

2.  Their way to guarantee they wouldn't lose money over the crabbing season was to stay in port so they wouldn't have to pay for gas.  Josh alluded to this on the show, when talking to Derrick.

3.  Captain Derrick quoted Josh as saying, "You don't understand.  We are not here to catch crab.  We are here to film a TV show."  I read this in a news article.

4.  Captain Derrick said, "The show is very scripted.  They decided I would be edited as the 'bad guy'; I decided that my integrity was not up for sale, so I declined to stay for a second season."

Apparently, they are paying Casey more, or his integrity doesn't mean as much to him.  I still don't "get" why they would keep a useless sack of stupidity like Josh, but Sean and the Brenna A are gone.

Edited April 28, 2021 by AZChristian
Close ""

[merylinkid]

The ratings are terrible the other show because people Do Not Want To See Josh.   Showing more of him will not help the ratings.   It will only convince people that they want to see even less of Josh.   Lot of money tied up in the show?   Well maybe if you hadn't PAID to have the CM moved to fricking HAWAII, you would have less tied up.    here's an idea, cut your losses and stop trying to make Josh happen.   Even the squeeeing fan girls are over him.  

[Lonesome Rhodes]

This ep was an all-timer.

The "two-Captain advantage."  Lord, but that may be the most hilarious hype I've ever heard on this show.  My compliments to the writer who came up with that one.

I am completely confused about the quota "issue."  If 3/8 of the fleet were grounded, how would quota be any problem for those fishing?  They'd have to sell to the working F/Vs.  Or, it was a temporary quarantine and there was never any real danger of a failure to harvest the governmental limit?

Keith has always had a yooge advantage in Red quota.  I doubt that changed much.  Junior was not being an ass.  He was being savvy - which the legacy captains on this show always say they admire.   The narration about "pre-season" intel at the time of the deal was ludicrous.  Both Junior and Jake were already getting great pots full of product.  

The editing of timelines was the worst evah.  We had Keith, with the biggest quota to fill, looking for his first good fishing, and Sig was just about done for the season.  Huh? 

The Russian tension made little sense, except for hype.  If the trawlers were willing to drag their nets through strings, what difference would it make that the TB and CM flanked them?  What was with the supreme confidence from JH and Casey?  Unless, of course, the worry over the trawlers was BS to begin with.

It is amazing to see the lengths to which Disco went in trying to avoid Freddie getting in any footage.  I understand it, but then to have the others do the crab dance?  Shameless.

 

 

[Fostersmom]

Keith... in the past I've had issues with Sig. In the past I've had issues with Junior. Yeah, Keith, the issue is you are a flaming jackass who expects others to kiss your ass when you have done nothing to garner any sort of favor. I have to wonder if Keith ever watches these episodes back and does any sort of reflecting on his behavior. I'm going with no, he just sees how everyone was out to get him, but he "outsmarted" them. And his boat is a rusting piece of shit... just like he is. 

 

[merylinkid]

Well I will give Keith not wanting to give up quota to Junior in exchange for the "intel."  Quota is valuable.   It has a specific dollar amount.   The intel Junior was offering was less tangible and might be completely worthless.   Keith might give up $$$ in quota to get the info only to waste time and money to going to the spot and finding out the crab weren't there.   He would then still have to waste more time and money finding the crab.   So I could see being reluctant to just hand over bucks for something unproven.   

[AZChristian]

I laughed when Keith referred to a thumb drive as a floppy disk.  Junior could have handed him the physical storage unit of the intel, and Keith probably wouldn't have been able to figure out how to access it.

[renatae]

On 4/28/2021 at 8:43 AM, dsteele said:

DUTCH HARBOR, AL - April 27, 2021

Video has surfaced of self-described crab fisherman and 'captain' Josh Harris appearing on the deck of the Time Bandit while the ship was actually underway and in the process of hauling pots. From one angle Harris appeared to be behind the control station of the crane but it was unclear whether he was actually hauling a pot or just moving the levers for the camera's sake.

"Look, we all know he's here for the TV exposure," said one Time Bandit crewman who requested anonymity. "But hey, at least he made it down to the deck for almost five minutes. On the Cornelia Marie he never left the wheelhouse."

One of Harris' former crewmates on a previous boat, who also preferred to remain anonymous, said that his presence could be irritating. "I swear, if he invoked his dead old man's name one more time I was going to shoot myself. It was always 'Phil this, Phil that.' Or, 'Do you know who my Dad was?' Or, 'My Dad was a legend and he gave me all his bestest knowledge before he died.'

"Meanwhile, I'm on deck getting pounded by freezing water and winds while he's up in the wheelhouse smoking and playing to the camera like we're at some bar in Dutch telling sea stories."

A producer for Discovery who refused to be identified admitted that having Harris featured on the show was a priority. "Look, we've got a ton of money invested now in this other show of his. And frankly, the ratings are shit. So we've got to build him up any way we can. Having him appear on deck and actually be seen 'working' helps prop up the franchise. WTF do you think we keep showing pics of his old man ten years after he died? Sympathy, man. The audience loved that guy."

Wow. This is all news to me. Did he lose the Cornelia Marie? I couldn't figure out what he is doing on the Time Bandit. I did read a year or so ago that he and Casey had a falling out. What I read made it seem like Casey had wronged Josh in some way. If they presented this on the show, I missed it.

I've only been watching with half an ear lately, so please forgive my ignorance.

Edited May 8, 2021 by renatae

[renatae]

On 5/1/2021 at 5:02 PM, Fostersmom said:

Keith... in the past I've had issues with Sig. In the past I've had issues with Junior. Yeah, Keith, the issue is you are a flaming jackass who expects others to kiss your ass when you have done nothing to garner any sort of favor. I have to wonder if Keith ever watches these episodes back and does any sort of reflecting on his behavior. I'm going with no, he just sees how everyone was out to get him, but he "outsmarted" them. And his boat is a rusting piece of shit... just like he is. 

 

This! At the get-go of the "agreement" to share intel, Keith says, as soon as he gets off the horn, that he has no intention of actually giving anyone else Intel. He's just along to see what he can learn from them. Then Junior, obviously aware that he's been hoodwinked, beats Keith at his own game. Of course, Keith has a massive hissy because everyone's always out to get him.

I loved it.