Deadliest Catch“No Season For Old Men”
Original Air Date: May 27, 2008
Jeff P. – Two Cents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
With only 3 days left of King Crab season, the fleet is running to make their quotas while the greenhorns are looking to prove their worth for the upcoming Opilio season. And we see our first Deadliest Catch mutiny.
This episode begins unusually with a quick 3-minute update on the fleet. The greenhorns on each vessel express interest in being picked up again for the Opilio season. And they recap the bets that the captain’s made in the first episode. The two strongest vessels this season are the Time Bandit and the Wizard. Time will tell who will win the wager.
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Deadliest Catch
ReplyDelete“No Season For Old Men”
Original Air Date: May 27, 2008
Jeff P. – Two Cents Reviewer
jeffp@thetwocentscorp.com
With only 3 days left of King Crab season, the fleet is running to make their quotas while the greenhorns are looking to prove their worth for the upcoming Opilio season. And we see our first Deadliest Catch mutiny.
This episode begins unusually with a quick 3-minute update on the fleet. The greenhorns on each vessel express interest in being picked up again for the Opilio season. And they recap the bets that the captain’s made in the first episode. The two strongest vessels this season are the Time Bandit and the Wizard. Time will tell who will win the wager.
The Time Bandit
During an offload, we meet up with Captain Jonathan heading to the airport. He needs to pick up an extra hand for the final offload of the season because Captain Andy has to attend to family business. And the extra hand turns out to be his son Scott, who left for family reasons back in episode 4. Jonathan is happy to have Scott back and that he came to their assistance when they needed him. Later, Jonathan is pulling huge numbers of crab battling it out with the Wizard for top dog. He is averaging 75 crab per pot! That 75 count makes the Time Bandit the winner of the Captain’s bet. The Hillstrands celebrate in their hometown, and then end this week’s episode in a touching pass by their father’s grave.
The Wizard
Captain Keith is embroiled in a duel with Captain Jonathan and the Time Bandit for their bet of biggest crab string. Keith is catching large numbers of crab, one pot pulling in a whopping 135! He is giddy in the wheelhouse knowing he’s giving the Time Bandit a good game. Unfortunately, the end of the string shows less crab than its predecessors. He still shows an average of 62 crab per pot. But it’s not enough to beat Captain Jonathan and his 75 crab per pot average, who is this season’s winner. Before the final offload, Keith offers greenhorn Lynn congrats on a job well done. Moi’s future is uncertain.
The Northwestern
Captain Sig is grinding away looking to fill up the tank for the final offload of this lackluster season. They’ve been consistent, but didn’t have one honey spot all season. Sig admits that the crew earned their trip home. Pulling up on of the final pots, Jake misses the incoming picking hook and it hits Edgar square in the head! It’s a 12 pound hook with the equivalent of a sledgehammer hitting you. With no surprise to me, Edgar gets up like it didn’t even happen. He shows us his injury, and keeps on working. Then they look to pull out the final pot and Edgar does the traditional ‘Flaming Hook’ to end the season. This is one of the best shots of the season for me. At the final offload they pulled in 190,000 pounds, almost a million dollar catch.
The North American
Captain Sten is still 11,000 pounds short of his quota, and time is running out. He needs a miracle to justify keeping the North American out of retirement. They have one last string to try to save them, and they name it the ‘Hail Mary’. Miraculously, Sten’s gamble pays off. They pull in enormous numbers in the Hail Mary and they make their quota. This not only affirms that the North American and Sten can still fish, but they have gained a berth in the upcoming Opilio season.
The Early Dawn
Captain Rick is still seeing bad numbers. And we see a cascade of separate interviews with unhappy crewmembers showing disdain for the captain. Then greenhorn (and the owners son) Brian is seen calling his dad telling him of their fishing woes. The owner calls up Captain Rick and tells him he’s decided to lease out 75 thousand pounds of their quota to recover some of the costs back. Rick is upset about this, who feels his lifelong reputation is being questioned. But he doesn’t have a choice but to take what he’s been given.
The Cornelia Marie
Captain Phil is pulling in the last string of a terrible season. All of a sudden, a fitting on the crane pops and spills hydraulic fluid all over the deck. Deckhand Murray climbs up on top of the crane to repair the fitting and stop the leak just as a snow squall comes in. He repairs it and they get back to work and pull in the last pots of the string. Captain Phil advises kids to stay in school, because “you have to be a little bit twisted to do this job”.
This was one of the best episodes of the year, and certainly the most suspenseful. I enjoyed the bet coming down to the end with the Time Bandit & the Wizard. I found myself rooting for the North American to make it’s quota. Watching the crew turn against Captain Rick on the Early Dawn was tough to watch yet holds your interest in a Melrose Place kind of way. And the end with the Hillstrands and the crew of the Time Bandit saluting the grave of their dad was touching. I am looking forward to Opilio season. How about you? And the good news is we only have to wait a week.