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\n Captain Jason manages to get the situation between Daisy, Ben, and Jo\u00e3o under control just in time to have a fruitful final charter.
\n Photo: Bravo\n <\/p>\n
What a season it has been aboard the Katina. To think of how far we have come! The entire cast of Real Housewives of Salt Lake City on charter<\/a>: Were we ever so young? In this season finale, several pithy statements are made about the intensity of the season, but I think Captain Jason summarized it best: \u201cAt the end of the day, people grew up, relationships were mended, egos were checked, and respect was earned.\u201d By the time the crew is celebrating over drinks, you\u2019d think they never once had a problem with each other. I, too, would be happy to kiss and make up if my wallet was over $26,000 fatter.<\/p>\n Lately, the Below Deck franchise has left me cold at the end of a season. Between the reliance on stunt casting and the \u201cLove Island\u2013ification of Bravo<\/a>,\u201d I think many of us have felt as if the essence of Below Deck \u2014 to watch people navigate a difficult work environment while living with strangers in tight quarters \u2014 had been lost. But this season of Down Under was a reminder that if you throw a bunch of hardworking yachties together and let them do their thing, they will deliver on entertainment and professional achievement. All told, the clashes between departments this season were less a product of incompetence than of conflicting communication styles. When there was incompetence \u2014 as with Mike, or with Alesia in the galley \u2014 it was dealt with. For the first time in ages, I agree with Jason when he says the season was one for the books.<\/p>\n If there was a single problem that ailed this crew, as Daisy points out, it was ego. When the episode picks up this week, Jo\u00e3o and Ben\u2019s ego battle is still at full throttle, with Ben calling Jo\u00e3o every name under the sun and refusing to leave the made-up guest cabin. Jo\u00e3o tells Daisy that \u2014 surprise, surprise \u2014 his attempt to talk reason into a drunk and tired Ben did not go well, and even declares that their confrontation was a \u201cturning point\u201d in their friendship, for the worse. Everyone in the crew, interior or not, is ticked off at Ben\u2019s blatantly disrespectful behavior. When Barbie catches Ellie up in their cabin, even she agrees that Ben crossed a line. She tells him as much the next morning, comparing what he did to if someone messed up the galley they had prepared for charter.<\/p>\n Before the end of the night, both Jo\u00e3o and Ben text Jason about their confrontation. Ben writes, \u201cDaisy tried to come at me tonight, so I put myself in a guest bedroom to stay out of the situation,\u201d which is a gross misrepresentation of events. The best way to avoid conflict is to not create it; there\u2019s no reason Ben couldn\u2019t have had a calm conversation with Daisy, even if they disagreed. Being able to disagree with someone and not blow a gasket is just called being an adult. More than that, even if he did think the best thing to do was to wait to talk to Daisy in the morning, he had several options available to him other than going into a guest cabin, at least one of which was to lie down in his own bed.<\/p>\n The problem with unmaking a made-up guest cabin aside, Ben\u2019s use of tone and words, combined with the fact that he was slamming doors, don\u2019t make what he did any less bad than Jenna\u2019s recent<\/a> drunken blowout. In fact, Ben\u2019s behavior is worse, because as a head of department, he\u2019s supposed to be a model. Still, Ben isn\u2019t met with any specific repercussions. Maybe because it\u2019s the last charter, or maybe because, as many readers pointed out, there is one glaring difference between Jenna and Ben: Only one of them is a woman. Most likely, it\u2019s a combination of both, but even then, it\u2019s not like Ben gets off scot-free. In the morning, Jason pushes back when Ben says that the crew was \u201csniffing around for drama and bullshit,\u201d maintaining that the interior department was within their right to get upset. The captain also gets Jo\u00e3o and Daisy\u2019s sides of the fight and gathers the HODs for a meeting. He reminds them of the optimism with which they started the season, agreeing to use their shared \u201cexperience and professionalism\u201d to run an exceptional boat. But he also holds each of them accountable for their part in the mess: Daisy shouldn\u2019t talk back, Jo\u00e3o should have de-escalated, and Ben behaved regrettably \u2014 particularly when the galley has been \u201cup and down\u201d throughout the season.<\/p>\n Jo\u00e3o and Ben talk and hug it out, then Ben and Daisy do the same. Ben apologizes for dismantling the guest cabin and admits to being selfish. Daisy appreciates his apology and uses the opportunity to tell him what she never got the chance to say the previous night: Ellie should not be promoted. \u201cShe\u2019s lucky to have a job,\u201d Daisy says, given \u201cthe way she has behaved this season.\u201d In a confessional, Ben admits that maybe the reason why Ellie has come such a long way is because she started from such a \u2026 turbulent place. Still, Ellie has every reason to expect a promotion that has been \u201cdangled like a carrot,\u201d to use her expression, in front of her. She asks Ben about it later, but alas, the title of sous-chef never comes to be. Elsewhere on the boat, Daisy checks in with Alesia about the conversation they had the previous night \u2014 about Alesia\u2019s dream of being second stew \u2014 and Ben apologizes to Alesia for creating extra work for the stews. By the time the guests arrive, everyone is in good spirits, and it seems as though the storm has passed. But before the crew can get too comfortable, here is an impossible group of guests to give them a final test.<\/p>\n Primary Brandon \u2014 the very same who was nearly kicked off the boat for drunk swimming when last he was aboard a vessel captained by Jason \u2014 requests a \u201cseafood extravaganza\u201d for lunch, to be served at 2:30 p.m. Driven by the hope to do better, I guess, Ben checks in with Brandon before lunch to confirm the plan still sounds good, something we have hardly ever seen him do. He also speaks to Brandon\u2019s \u201cfuhgeddaboutit\u201d friend, Patrick, who only eats Cap\u2019n Crunch and burgers with no ketchup. Despite being the pickiest eater to possibly ever live, Patrick is chill. You can tell that he knows he is putting people out, so he compensates by being nice about it. An actually difficult person would ask for a seafood extravaganza and then complain that all there is to eat is \u2026 seafood (and that odious food group, vegetables).<\/p>\n When Ben comes up to give Patrick his condiment-free burger, Brandon tells Ben he is disappointed. By \u201cseafood extravaganza,\u201d he meant lobster and shrimp, not \u2026 lobster and shrimp, like Ben prepared. When co-primary Carmen asks how he liked the lobster, Brandon says that he didn\u2019t eat it, because he \u201cdoesn\u2019t do that.\u201d I felt like I was hallucinating. It\u2019s obvious that Brandon is acting for the cameras, which is even more annoying than if he was genuinely dissatisfied with the food. In any case, there\u2019s nothing like an impossible guest to bond the crew together. Daisy reassures Ben that he did nothing wrong and the food looked great. Jason does the same.<\/p>\n Thankfully, we are spared any more time with Brandon as a montage rushes us through the day. For an extra $10,000 on the tip, Jason agrees to wear a Brandon-fied Speedo; the guests spend the afternoon in the water; and they enjoy their surf-and-turf dinner (Patrick has what looks to be buttered noodles). They celebrate Brandon\u2019s birthday with ten individually baked cakes that Ben surreptitiously brings in from the grocery store, which I would have taken issue with if I didn\u2019t agree that the request for ten individual cakes is ridiculous. Besides, these guests don\u2019t know a good meal if it\u2019s right in front of them; only one person picks up on the cakes\u2019 grocery-store flavor.<\/p>\n In the morning, Brandon asks for a bagel. When Ellie radios that it\u2019s ready, her calls come in as static. While Ellie and Ben wonder where the stews are, Daisy and Jenna wonder when the bagel is going to be ready. When she goes downstairs to check, Daisy is irritated that Ellie didn\u2019t bring up the bagel herself, if it was just sitting there. A follow-up question: If no one has copied or responded, wouldn\u2019t it make sense for Ellie to check that her calls were going through in the first place? If it were any earlier in the season, a communication mishap like this might create an episodes-long battle, but by this point, everyone is too tired to care. You can almost hear them being like, \u201cHere is your cold bagel, Brandon.\u201d<\/p>\n The day goes by uneventfully. Daisy gives Jenna a word of encouragement before the last dinner service, and Jenna sets a phenomenal table for a seven-course meal themed after the seven deadly sins. For the occasion, each guest dresses up as a sin. In the galley, Ben stresses out about serving several courses to a perennially dissatisfied primary. Ellie, for her part, is proud of her cheesecake contribution to the meal. When she offers a taste to Alesia and Jason, Ben asks her to \u201cstop engaging with the crew\u201d in an unprecedented show of concentration. The plan for how to deal with Patrick is to reduce his service to three courses that seem like they were thought up by Kevin McAllister: a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, a scoop of lemon pasta, and a cheese pizza. (When the PB&J comes, Patrick complains that the peanut butter is crunchy. Honestly.)<\/p>\n Still, Patrick is happy with his meal, but Brandon isn\u2019t. Daisy relays the primary\u2019s complaint that Patrick doesn\u2019t have as much to eat as everyone else to Ben, who quips: \u201cI don\u2019t even think he eats seven things.\u201d Ben\u2019s final straw is when Ellie tells him not to serve Patrick\u2019s pizza on a cake stand, because it will be too hard to eat (maybe she doesn\u2019t know that in \u2019Murica, we eat pizza with our hands). Ben snaps at her, but Ellie maintains her composure. She thinks it\u2019s indicative of her \u201cpersonal growth\u201d that she doesn\u2019t talk back or escalate the conflict; that\u2019s how low the bar is. After the pizza has been served on the cake stand, Ben apologizes for being short-tempered. Here\u2019s a fun Below Deck Down Under season-four drinking game: Take a shot every time Ben apologizes for something. Overall, dinner is a success. No one except Brandon complains about anything. The final charter is a hit.<\/p>\n The next morning, Jason has Jo\u00e3o dock the boat, and Jenna gets her well-earned stripes back from Daisy, with the captain\u2019s permission. The feedback cards are overwhelmingly positive, and the guests leave a whopping, deserved $34,500 tip, which comes out to $2,900 each. It\u2019s a generous tip, but commensurate with the amount of work they created for the crew. No one gets the helmet, though Jason playfully wears it out for drinks with his crew later that night. The vibes at the bar are immaculate, as if everyone were best friends all along. Alesia pulls Jenna aside to say how much she respects her and to apologize for anything she might have said about her throughout the season (I imagine she was thinking about her confessionals). The best part of the night is when Betul makes a speech thanking Jason and Jo\u00e3o for having her back. She reminisces on the talk she had with the captain all the way back on the second charter<\/a>, about how hard she has worked to make a life for herself. Betul forever!<\/p>\n Now that work is done, Daisy hopes to be able to invest some more time and energy into her fling with Jo\u00e3o. They are lovey-dovey at the bar and the next morning, but they seem to leave separately. Jo\u00e3o, who may have gone to too much therapy, if there is such a thing, feels \u201cprivileged to have [Daisy] trust me with her emotions.\u201d Ben sleeps in a guest cabin just for good measure, thrilled to be able to go back to calling everyone \u201cbabe\u201d again. He pays Ellie the balance of his \u201choneypot\u201d jar, into which he deposited a bean for every pet-name he called her, and tells her he would recommend her as a sous-chef to anyone. The heads of department leave all animosity behind them and end the season as friends, with a swell of good feeling toward their captain. That is, at least until the next season begins. See you there, same place, same time?<\/p>\n Sign up for the Housewives Institute Bulletin<\/p>\n Dame Brian Moylan breaks down all the gossip and drama, on- and off-screen, for dedicated students of the Reality Television Arts and Sciences.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n