last season<\/a> of Mediterranean, Joe and Kizzi collaborated on the role. This season, we have two crew members competing for it: Ellie and Alesia. Though they work in different departments and have had little to do with each other up until this episode, their desire for prominence, and, let\u2019s be real, male validation,\u00a0has put them in competition. What\u2019s engaging about their rivalry is that they are in conflict with each other and also with everyone else.<\/p>\nWe pick up this week on Ellie and Ben making amends on the bridge. She\u2019s calmer now, even willing to concede that Ben\u2019s use of pet names was not purposefully derogatory. Ben says it was just the opposite: he hoped his \u201cBritish colloquialism\u201d would be \u201ca diffuser, rather than a fuser.\u201d But he understands where she\u2019s coming from, and offers to install the swear jar system in the galley, repurposed as a \u201choney pot.\u201d Every time he says honey, a dried kidney bean goes in the pot. Ellie gets the satisfaction of seeing her boss degraded to a system made to teach children action-and-consequence, and Ben has the incentive not to degrade himself. Win-win.<\/p>\n
In their conversation, Ben is a lot more deferential than Ellie. She admits to being embarrassed about her excessive behavior in a confessional, but with Ben, she gets away with a minor \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d They leave the bridge with something for Ben to work on and no notes for Ellie. You almost have to applaud her. Ben, for his part, is just relieved. He gets into his robe and a bathtub as soon as possible. He\u2019s still in the robe for the tip meeting; Jason teases him by calling him granddad. Jason tells the crew that the situation in the galley is resolved, but won\u2019t be tolerated again. Before handing out $1,692 each from a $22,000 total tip, he calls the interior team out on substandard housekeeping. Jenna gets the disco helmet.<\/p>\n
I understand that, as second stew, housekeeping is Jenna\u2019s responsibility, but it doesn\u2019t seem fair for her to take the blame for Mike and Alesia\u2019s inattention. Worse, Mike doesn\u2019t feel inclined to take orders from someone wearing \u201cthe dunce cap.\u201d He is either too dense or too proud to recognize that she is wearing it in part because of him. Daisy gathers her team for a quick meeting, in which she reminds Mike and Alesia that when she\u2019s not there, Jenna is in charge. At this point, Daisy and Jenna seem at a loss about how to ensure that Alesia and Mike use their God-given brains. It doesn\u2019t help that the two of them don\u2019t seem to think they\u2019re doing anything wrong. Later, at dinner, Alesia will tell Daisy that she doesn\u2019t like being called \u201ca junior,\u201d since she earned her \u201cmetaphorical stripes.\u201d Daisy comes back: \u201cYou have one stripe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Having resolved her issues with Ben, Ellie is onto her next task, which is to secure Jo\u00e3o\u2019s attention once and for all. She struts into the crew mess and offers to give him a massage. In a confessional, she tells us that she refined her massage-therapy skills by working as a masseuse for \u201cthe richest person in Russia.\u201d Jo\u00e3o, no fool, accepts the offer readily, even if he wishes the attention were coming from Daisy. He\u2019s still worried that if he comes on too strongly, \u201cbeautiful, sweet, kind, protective\u201d Daisy will retreat. He may have been too careful. When Jenna tells Daisy that Jo\u00e3o told her that he likes the chief stew, Daisy shrugs: She\u2019s not about to get involved in a love triangle, and besides, she\u2019s \u201creally just here to work.\u201d Even if he did like her, the situation with Ellie is a turn-off. If only Alesia had one-third of this maturity, she might not have lost the goodwill of almost every woman onboard.<\/p>\n
There is nothing more admirable than a confident woman who knows her worth, but watching Ellie fight for Jo\u00e3o\u2019s attention is making me want to crawl out of my skin. Was I hallucinating, or did she ask him if he\u2019s been squatting while massaging his butt? On the way to dinner, Ellie tells the girls (Alesia, Jenna, and Betul) that she hasn\u2019t kissed Jo\u00e3o yet because they\u2019re \u201ceasing into it.\u201d Alesia hypes her up, which is why Ellie is irritated when, at dinner, Alesia talks to Jo\u00e3o a little too much. It\u2019s a bit of an overreaction on Ellie\u2019s part, but Alesia doesn\u2019t have the best track record. In fact, though Eddy and Jenna spend the whole dinner talking and bonding over the fact that they were both brought up in the church, Alesia doesn\u2019t waste time dancing with Eddy at the club. Jenna vents to Daisy and Betul, and when Ellie joins them, she adds fuel to the fire: it \u201cstarted at dinner with Jo\u00e3o.\u201d But really, it\u2019s much worse between Alesia and Eddy \u2014 on the dance floor, she told him that it\u2019ll never work between him and Jenna, that he needs someone else. That\u2019s just malicious.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Mike tries to understand why Jo\u00e3o won\u2019t just make out with Ellie. \u201cI like Daisy,\u201d he explains. The next day, Mike tells this information to anyone who will listen. Eddy tries to pull Jenna aside to talk, but she doesn\u2019t want to speak with him. She cries in the van going back to the boat, frustrated about being in competition with other girls and getting emotional about \u201caverage men.\u201d Alesia,\u00a0totally hammered, doesn\u2019t share either of those concerns. She rides back on the boys\u2019 van, and when they get out on the dock, she pulls Jo\u00e3o aside to talk. She asks him if he\u2019s \u201ctrying to pull\u201d Ellie. Jo\u00e3o is confused. What does she care? But the optics of their chat look bad to Ellie, and, briefly, to Daisy. \u201cI hope you and Alesia had a great time,\u201d Ellie texts Jo\u00e3o, kind of crazily. Alesia\u2019s history makes it seem like she\u2019s trying to \u201csteal\u201d Jo\u00e3o from Ellie, but it seems like a stretch to me. What could she possibly have wanted from that conversation on the dock? It didn\u2019t really make sense \u2026 smells like manufactured drama to me.<\/p>\n
On the Katina, Ben and Jason have a nice, almost romantic night cooking steaks and chilling in their robes, so they wake up fresh and rested, while the rest of the crew wakes up hungover and feeling bad about themselves. No one, perhaps, more than Eddy, who cried himself to sleep. In the morning, Jenna goes over to his cabin, willing to \u201ctry again.\u201d They kiss and make amends, but I\u2019m not really buying it. Alesia is manipulative, but she doesn\u2019t act alone: it literally takes two to tango. It\u2019s too easy, if not simply backward, to blame the seducing evil woman rather than hold men accountable for their actions. I was almost ready to take Jo\u00e3o\u2019s side in this whole thing until I remembered that.<\/p>\n
Jo\u00e3o\u2019s conversation with Alesia was random and weird and not his fault. But he\u2019s not handling this thing with Ellie very gracefully. Despite telling people that he likes Daisy and\u00a0knowing that the information will reach the chief stew,\u00a0he indulges Ellie. Later that night, when she comes over to his cabin to talk about the previous night, they make out in his bed. It\u2019s aggravating when he says he was \u201ccornered\u201d by Ellie, though he admits he acted like a \u201ccowardly dickhead.\u201d It\u2019s a disappointing turn of events for Jo\u00e3o, whose evolution from immature boy to responsible man has been so satisfying. He sounds softer and more self-aware than his old self when he admits he shouldn\u2019t have let things go this far, but here\u2019s the problem: He did.<\/p>\n
In bed, Ellie tells Jo\u00e3o about how she went off on Alesia. They had a bit of a villain-off while the ever resourceful Mike eavesdropped. What happened was that Ellie gave Alesia the cold-shoulder, which prompted Alesia to ask if she\u2019d done anything wrong. Ellie told her yes: she is disrespectful to girls and only thinks about herself. \u201cShe ruined everyone\u2019s night,\u201d Ellie reasons in a confessional, \u201csomebody has to say something.\u201d Never one to stay out of drama, Mike tells Alesia that Jo\u00e3o told him that he doesn\u2019t even like Ellie; he likes Daisy. That information gives Alesia reason to dismiss Ellie\u2019s outburst: she\u2019s off her rocker, anyway. When Alesia tells Jenna what Ellie said, Jenna admits to also feeling disrespected. Alesia apologizes \u2026 sort of. The tension between the two of them comes out in their fight for a multi-colored penis plushie the charter guests gifted Jenna \u2014\u00a0throughout the episode, they move the thing from one bed to another.<\/p>\n
While the messy people go about their mess, the heads of department get together for the preference sheet meeting. Incoming is Tyler, a socialite from New York whose \u201ctrip of a lifetime\u201d is being bankrolled by his \u201cvery successful and incredibly private\u201d partner. Tyler is flying in his glam technician for a secret drag night he\u2019s going to surprise his friends with. It\u2019ll be a demanding charter, so it\u2019s a good thing that the crew has another night to get a good night\u2019s sleep and prepare. Daisy\u2019s idea of doing that is having a glass of wine in her pajamas while displaying Olympic levels of indifference as Ellie tells her she\u2019s baking Jo\u00e3o a cake for his birthday.<\/p>\n
The fact that everyone except Ellie knows that she is Jo\u00e3o\u2019s second choice makes me feel for her. She works hard at her bravado, which, of course, is a way to hide insecurity. On the line-up at the dock, Daisy asks Ellie to switch places with Jenna, since Jenna is second stew and therefore ranks higher. Ellie is offended. As a former second-stew, she probably feels demoted. In the galley, she asks Jenna if she was the one who asked Daisy to swap them. As a sous-chef, she argues, they are the same rank. Jenna, imperturbably cool, wants to know how that figures, since Ellie is actually a galley-hand. Ben knows that Jenna is right \u2014\u00a0\u201cchef assistant\u201d is just a nicer way to say galley-hand \u2014\u00a0but he\u2019s not poking the bear. He tells Ellie that he noticed the swap, but it doesn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
The guests request a beach dinner with a \u201clost at sea\u201d theme. Going to the beach at night makes Daisy nervous, but it\u2019s worth it: Jenna sets a gorgeous table, and the guests enjoy a nice sea breeze while watching a beautiful sunset. More guests should do this, it\u2019s a cool idea (sorry, Daisy). Making drinks, Daisy asks Alesia about the drama with Ellie, and ultimately decides it doesn\u2019t concern her \u2014\u00a0she wants nothing to do with this thing between Ellie and Jo\u00e3o. Angry at Ellie and hoping to throw fuel on the fire, Alesia tells Daisy that she heard Jo\u00e3o likes her instead of Ellie. It\u2019s amazing that she thinks this is new information. This drama is in danger of becoming stale. Let\u2019s move on?<\/p>\n
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