Below Deck Sailing Yacht Recap: Two Drink Limit

This episode should’ve had one of those PSAs/trigger warnings like, “If you or anyone you know is struggling with alcoholism, don’t be afraid to seek help.” Now that I think about it, almost every crew night-out episode could warrant it. But before the drinking-on-the-job debacle, the episode picks up with a dinner near-debacle. Cloyce’s smoker isn’t working to fill the last cloche, and he has to send up the course anyway. Chase smoothly covers for this by saying the smoke “escaped” as he delivers it. For a tense moment, it feels like the guests are judges on a cooking show — is Cloyce about to pack his knives? Nope. The guests are happy with the food.

On deck, there’s tension building between Chase and Gary. Chase is on the night shift, but he doesn’t want to take his breaks. Gary hates this Superman approach, but it seems to work for Chase: he’s a machine when it comes to cleaning the boat overnight. Except, the next morning, he has a slight malfunction when detaching the tender from a line. Gary looks on, telling him to cable tie the shackle and be careful it doesn’t drop. Chase ignores Gary, thinking he’s helicopter parenting, and accidentally drops it into the water. We definitely didn’t need a flashback to “moments earlier” from literal seconds ago, but we get one. Gary makes a big deal about how they won’t be able to tow the tender and tells Glenn what happened, but then he finds an extra shackle. It’s the last one, so Chase can’t lose it. Chase isn’t riled by the incident, merely annoyed by Gary. It’s a bit of a red herring that makes us think Chase might narc on Gary later. Perhaps the shackle is really a metaphor; it dropping into the sea represents Gary losing control. Will the shackle (and Gary) hit rock bottom?

The interior crew is also dealing with boss-underling conflict. The guests want some of the crew to go clubbing with them, and Daisy decides it’s best she go herself and not the junior stews because she doesn’t want them getting upset if the other gets to go. She pitches it as a positive: they’ll both get nine hours of rest. Danni calls Daisy her evil stepmother, while Diana blames Danni’s beef with Daisy as the reason why neither of them get to club. If one of them had to be Cinderella, it’s definitely Diana, not Danni, but the pair are way more fit to play the evil stepsisters. For a while, Daisy is blissfully unaware of how angry the stews are with her management decision. She’s just happy the guests have a great attitude after an awful last charter.

For these drag queen guests, Daisy plans a drag show with Keith and Gary. Before she can even finish talking, Keith chimes in: “I can slut drop.” Keith is probably thinking of a death drop, and this is sadly another red herring because we don’t get to see it. Gary’s jealous of how easily Keith and Daisy get along, and he’s still trying to worm his way back into her romantic interests. Later, he attempts to give her a back massage, but she tells him to rein it in. Daisy’s confident she wants stable energy, and right now, that’s Keith.

Before dinner, the guys perform as their drag queen personas: Davidiva, Garolina Queen, Chastity Thunder****, and Princess Laqueefa. I appreciate the editors putting these spellings on screen. Even Glenn throws on a green wig to become “Captain Glenn G-Spot.” It’s embarrassingly amateur compared to the real queens, but the guests enjoy the effort. The guys stay in their sparkly outfits as they get back to work docking, putting on a show for people watching at the marina. I have a hunch there are always people watching because of all the cameras, but sure, let’s say it’s because of the costumes.

Cloyce’s dinner is a success, although “lobster crepe with caviar and black truffle” sounds like a child trying to come up with the fanciest dish they can think of. The guests find it incredible. In an interview, Cloyce attempts close-up magic with a quarter, taking forever to hide it behind his hand. He presumably is saying something cocky during this, but I’m too focused on trying to spot the trick behind his mediocre magic. When Danni complains that she wishes she was going to the club, Cloyce wins me back over, wisely saying that sounds like the worst thing ever.

The chosen few to accompany the guests clubbing are Gary, Keith, Daisy, and Chase. Gary promises Glenn they “won’t get too pissed,” but that won’t fly with the captain. He firmly says two drinks only; they need to be back on the boat by 2 a.m., and if they break the rules, they’ll forfeit their share of the tip. They were supposed to leave at 10:30, but the guests take longer to get ready, which screws over Diana’s schedule. Now she’ll only get eight hours of sleep while Danni still gets nine. This is the second time she’s gotten an hour less than Danni, and it puts Diana over the edge — she’s done defending Daisy. Leaving the two stews behind to get worked up cleaning dirty cabins does seem like a bad call by Daisy, but there’s also only one more charter left, so she might as well have fun.

Except, the second drink counters pop up on the screen, and we know they’re about to have too much fun. Chase has changed into streetwear, but Gary and Keith keep their drag outfits on for the night out. Is it a weird ploy to impress Daisy with who will wear it longer? Gary and Keith may have promised Glenn two drinks max, but Garolina and Princess Laqueefa did not. Daisy also feels like it’s rude to turn down a drink — she and Gary quickly are at three. Then Gary does a shot: four. He’s doubled the limit and they’re not even at the club yet. This is all on some random patio!

At the club, Chase warns Gary not to drink too much, but Gary insists two drinks for him is nothing. Chase is the only one turning down drinks and watching the clock. I’m most disappointed to see Keith on his third drink. They’ve only been out for about an hour and half when Gary hits nine drinks. His total count for the night is ten, which is insanely unprofessional and FIVE TIMES Glenn’s limit. The captain waits up for their return, and even though the guests lie on the crew’s behalf, it’s obvious Gary’s had more than two drinks. He doesn’t take Glenn’s “suggestion” to go to bed and opts for a cigarette instead. He seems mentally unwell, talking to himself (probably to the crew), laughing at his phone, and heckling Chase, who’s cleaning the boat. It’d be one thing if the guests were all asleep, but they’re still hanging out, and Gary is an unprofessional mess. Glenn has to tell Gary go to bed again. In his cabin, Daisy says he’s a little drunk, but Gary delusionally thinks he’s sober. They hold hands from their respective bunks, bracing for tomorrow’s punishment.

In the morning, the guests all wear matching robes except for Lola, who doesn’t even join them for breakfast. It’s too bad for Lola that we’re far more focused on the crew’s drinking drama than whatever her issue with the rest of the group is. Breakfast goes well, although I wonder if Cloyce just re-used extra lobster crepes from last night with new fillings.

Diana hasn’t forgotten the score (Danni: two hours extra breaks, Diana: zero) and brings this up with Daisy. The chief stew says fair enough, she’ll make it up to her. Diana reminds her that’s what Daisy said last time, so she doesn’t think Daisy has managed their time properly. Daisy’s tone is dripping with IDGAF energy when she says she’ll make sure they get the exact same amount of rest. In an interview, Daisy tells us she doesn’t see this as a big deal at all. Plus, she has Keith to comfort her now.

As the primary Detox says goodbye, she thanks the crew for being so queer-friendly and for ignoring Lola’s criticisms of the food. They thought Cloyce did great. This seems like a set-up for a great tip, but we’ll have to wait until next week to find out how much the drinkers will miss out on. Because sure enough, Glenn calls the going-out crew into the master for a reprimand. He could tell they had more than a couple of drinks. It goes unspoken that there were cameras and a whole reality crew as witnesses, which should be an incentive not to break the rules so blatantly, or at least not to lie about what they have evidence of. Gary doesn’t think that way: he lies about having had five drinks. Remember, he had ten. Ten!

Keith and Daisy are honest about their “Four or five” and “two drinks and two shots,” respectively. Chase was the only one who followed the limit with one beer. Glenn has to uphold the rules and consequences he set. Daisy apologizes and is ready to accept this, but Gary pushes back, insisting he wasn’t drunk. He has a terrible attitude and his “defense” is that the guests requested it. Glenn: “You were not forced to drink … You knew the rules. You broke the fuckin rules, and now you’re here getting upset.”  It’s insane that forfeiting the tip is the only punishment on the table. Remember Dane from Below Deck season three? Captain Lee promptly fired him when his night-off drinking got scary. I can’t imagine Lee or any of the other captains tolerating any night-on drinking like this. Glenn’s personal relationship with Gary is clouding his judgment, but maybe he’ll finally take his rose-colored Gary glasses off next week.