S15.E12: Sixty Foot Monster

[thewhiteowl]

As arctic super storm Elsa intensifies, one boat faces a monster wave.

[terrymct]

Once again, Casey does the work of a captain while Josh pontificates from a comfy chair.    I’m really tired of that dynamic. 

[merylinkid]

3 hours ago, terrymct said:

Once again, Casey does the work of a captain while Josh pontificates from a comfy chair.    I’m really tired of that dynamic. 

And when he was pontificating about the 3 kinds of people Phil said there were, all I could think is "He would think you were the last 2."    Casey must be paid EXTREMELY well to put up with Josh's bullshit.

[AZChristian]

2 hours ago, merylinkid said:

And when he was pontificating about the 3 kinds of people Phil said there were, all I could think is "He would think you were the last 2."    Casey must be paid EXTREMELY well to put up with Josh's bullshit.

The quote Josh brings to my mind is:  "There are two different types of people; those who are willing to work, and those who are willing to sit back and watch them."

[NJRadioGuy]

So what's the story with the Northwestern this opie season? They haven't had much screen time, where they've normally been the star. I don't think we've seen the Brenna A yet, either.

I don't really give a damn about Steve "Harley" Davidson (and his smirk). Nothing really interesting about that boat and, he doesn't have the charisma to pull off being a featured captain on the show.

Too much of the Casey and Josh show, but I didn't mind Casey being the one to fix the crane. He's got a history of being a first-rate engineer (according to the show) so it's fitting. Josh doesn't have that background, and frankly he'd be a liability up there if he went.

If Disco's edit of that vessel is even half accurate, I will give Josh props for knowing where to fish, and he seems to be somewhat competent at the helm (he'd have to be to have earned his master's license, I suppose). Other than the fact he's a first-rate camera whore, I cut him a bit of slack given that he didn't have the same time and opportunity to learn everything before he was thrust into the deep end. He wasn't as driven or even interested when he first started out with Phil in the early years (Jake was the one all gung-ho), then he left, and after Phil passed, it was a scramble to come up to speed. And IIRC, Josh has battled some demons in that time as well. So I'm not going to tee off on the guy, but yeah, Casey is by far the most talented seaman on that vessel, hands down, and I hope for Harris' sake, he's learning what Casey is teaching him. I think he still needs 5 to 10 years in the wheelhouse before he's ready to handle opies solo.

Edited June 28, 2019 by NJRadioGuy

[estellasmum]

20 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

So what's the story with the Northwestern this opie season? They haven't had much screen time, where they've normally been the star. I don't think we've seen the Brenna A yet, either.

I don't really give a damn about Steve "Harley" Davidson (and his smirk). Nothing really interesting about that boat and, he doesn't have the charisma to pull off being a featured captain on the show.

I'm wondering if Edgar is a cause of their lack of screen time this year. With him being such an important part of their operations, I have wondered that if any mishaps, dangerous situations or breakdowns happened (the interesting stuff we'd want to watch) he'd be front and center, and therefore any of that footage is unusable, and there isn't much else to show?

Couldn't agree more about Steve. (Don't like him enough to use his nickname.) Every time he comes on, my daughter wonders why they picked a boat with a captain that is so unlikable, "because they already have Jake". Hard to argue with that logic. 

[AZChristian]

3 minutes ago, estellasmum said:

Couldn't agree more about Steve. (Don't like him enough to use his nickname.) Every time he comes on, my daughter wonders why they picked a boat with a captain that is so unlikable, "because they already have Jake". Hard to argue with that logic. 

And Josh and Keith.  Why do I keep watching this show?  I miss the Time Bandit!!!!

[Lonesome Rhodes]

Elsa?  Enormous dud, by DC standards.

Harley's arc made zero sense.  Did he really not set back where he was getting 400 pots?!  The answer:  No way in Hades.   Total Disco shenanigans.  he may have prospected to the North and East, as we saw.  But, as he said himself, only an idiot would walk away from 400 pots.  So...when he went back after a standard soak, the bio mass was still there (hot diggity dog area) and he was harvesting.  Easy peasy.  

I was happily shocked that Disco included the line from the NWS that no wave would be considered "rogue," given the breadth and strength of the storm.  Common sense!

All in all, this was among the weakest DC eps I've ever seen.

[NJRadioGuy]

10 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Elsa?  Enormous dud, by DC standards.

Yeah. The Weather Channel has been naming winter storms, but I don't think that was one of them. A quick Google search didn't show anything by that name for AK last winter. And I recall storms in previous seasons appeared to be far worse. Not to say that it wasn't a rough winter up there, but it didn't appear to be as bad as it was portrayed in early seasons of the show.

Quote

All in all, this was among the weakest DC eps I've ever seen.

Well, I suppose that's a good thing. Nobody got hurt, no boats were at risk, no USCG rescues, no crew members on drugs, no captains teeing off on crewmembers. Basically a tough job being done competently. No, it doesn't make for compelling viewing, but frankly I'd rather see things going reasonably well on the boats we've known for years than seeing someone getting airlifted with life altering injuries or Keith screaming at a 'horn yet again.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

2 hours ago, NJRadioGuy said:

Well, I suppose that's a good thing. Nobody got hurt, no boats were at risk, no USCG rescues, no crew members on drugs, no captains teeing off on crewmembers. Basically a tough job being done competently. No, it doesn't make for compelling viewing, but frankly I'd rather see things going reasonably well on the boats we've known for years than seeing someone getting airlifted with life altering injuries or Keith screaming at a 'horn yet again.

The issues with this ep aren't the lack of "action" or peril.

They are about hyping beyond all reality, lying about the progression of harvesting pots, repeating voice overs, telling us certain waves were gigantic and had the makings of being killers, only to be a mere pain in the butt to the crew with their wicked cold spray.  

If conditions were anywhere near as bad as Mike Rowe said they were, those captains would have to answer for refusing to shut down.  Not one even considered such a thing.

Generally, there is a bit of watching car races for the crashes and hockey games for the fighting involved in choosing to watch this show.  However, if there actually had been a catastrophic incident, it would have been well known as everything happened months ago.  

[walnutqueen]

3 hours ago, Lonesome Rhodes said:

Generally, there is a bit of watching car races for the crashes and hockey games for the fighting involved in choosing to watch this show. 

Heh.  "I went to a fight, and a hockey game broke out".  Sorry - I'm an old Canadian, eh.  ;~)

Look, I give this show credit for lasting as long as it has.  Drop pots, pull pots, weather.  They've spun pure gold from straw, and we're really just watching because we've come to know (and, dare I say, care about) the people.