Deep Breaths for 'Deadliest'

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

There is something in the old saying of taking deep breaths to calm one in the middle of chaos.

Except, usually on the Bering Sea, those deep breaths are replaced with: a) a lot of cigarettes; b) a lot of energy drinks; c) a lot of yelling; d) a lot of cursing; e) all of the above.

This week's episode of Deadliest Catch seem to need a whole bunch of deep breaths.

Highlights:

- Coast Guard Drama-rama: So, in feeling like I was watching some sort of scene from The Guardian, whereby Kevin Costner and/or Ashton Kutcher were going to emerge from the shadows of the Coast Guard rescue helicopter at any moment, the actual USCG crew wisely decided not to fly through the remains of the Arctic hurricane to an awaiting Medivac two hours away. They would never have made it, and in fact, would have likely and sent the entire helicopter, crew and rescued seaman to Davy Jones locker. Good call, boys. They returned to their home port, where they were still able to get their rescued seaman medical attention.

- Cornelia Marie and the $50,000 gamble: Poor Captain Phil. After limping back into port (and we do mean limping - one engine, 40+ knot winds, you do the math), he just can't quite get the engine fixed right and/or mechanic Norm can't quite seem to figure out exactly what the heck is wrong with it in the first place. With less than a week to deliver the crab payload, Phil gambles to head back out on only one engine and wait to do a $50,000 overhaul of his engine after the payload is delivered. Do we need to remind Phil this is the Bering Sea in winter? Good luck, Phil and Co.

- Time Bandit's Mr. Magoo: I admit I am partial to the Cornelia Marie (something about the name of the ship sticks with me, plus I like Captain Phil and senior deckhand / engineer / co-captain / all-things Mr. Fix It Murray), but the brotherly co-captain team aboard the Time Bandit - Andy and Johnathan Hillstrand - come in a very close second. Johnathan runs the ship in the fall/King Crab season; Andy runs the ship in the winter/Opilio season (which is now). Bro' Johnathan tried to steer Andy to his lucky spot from last year's season only to be outdone by Andy's lucky Mr. Magoo spot (something about how the shape of the sea floor makes it look - at least on the navigation monitor - like an exact replica of the cartoon character).

- 24-Hour Service Northwestern: Why is it that Captain Sig always seems to be running his crews into the ground? Yet another non-stop marathon session aboard the Northwestern. I think everyone looses track after the 24-hour mark. But as Sig says, with an approximate $95,000 haul of crab on a blind set (meaning, he just dumped the crab collection pots because he was trying to get the darn things off the boat to ride out the first of those Arctic hurricanes from last week): "We can be vampires and fish at night." And day. And night. And day.

- Cracking the Whip on the Wizard: Captain Keith was not happy with his guys this week. You could say they were sort of like the Los Angeles Lakers in the first two games of this year's NBA Finals - sort of half-arsing it, not really giving a crap, not being focused and/or dedicated and/or playing hard enough. After a good halftime pep talk (Bering Sea style), the crew got its act together. Except for the newbie Moi (called a Greenhorn). Am thinking he and Captain Keith are going to have the Phil Jackson and Kobe Bryant relationship of yesteryear - acrimonious at best.


If you'd like to catch up on the series, tune into the Father's Day Marathon of Deadliest Catch this coming Sunday, June 15th beginning at 9 a.m. New episodes of Deadliest Catch air Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Discovery Channel (with multiple replays throughout the week). To check out all the ins, outs, ups and downs of the series on the whole, head on over to the official Deadliest Catch Web site to catch up on the captains and crews of the Northwestern, Cornelia Marie, Time Bandit, Wizard and North American.