Below Deck Sailing Yacht Recap: Marcos Is a Human

Below Deck Sailing Yacht

Salty Seamen

Season 3 Episode 15

Editor’s Rating 5 stars *****

Photo: Bravo

This episode is a study of masculinity, patriarchal systems, and how they oppress the people who live within them, in rise and grind culture, in masochism.

Marcos receives tragic news that his best friend’s mother passed away, and yet, the show must go on. He has no time to grieve or react consciously. Gary finds him on the top deck where Marcos confides in him and shares that his friend can’t leave Miami and go back to Venezuela, where his family is, because of immigration issues. Marcos can relate: The same thing happened to him after his grandparents died. Gary, bless his heart, tries his best to comfort Marcos despite having the emotional intelligence of a foot. He tells him that the guests can wait, but Marcos has no time to waste. It’s seafood night, and he rejects Gary’s offer to come keep him company. He needs to focus and throw himself into his work.

In a confessional, Marcos cries. He reveals that he imagines losing his own mother and wishing that this won’t happen to him. Obviously, this news weighs on Marcos throughout the charter. How could it not? And unlike the rest of the crew, he has no one to help him do his job. He is a team of one. A lone wolf. Even worse, the guests request a molecular gastronomy night. Not that Marcos would ever phone it in, but he literally can’t with that cuisine. And then, these polite Canadian guests have the gall to invite Captain Glenn to dinner. Not now, pals! Captain Glenn relays this news to Daisy, who flubs it up and doesn’t relay this to Marcos until the next day.

This is a huge mistake on Daisy’s part, and she knows it. Marcos has to scrap his entire menu since he doesn’t have enough food for an extra diner. He’s pissed, rightfully. And the fact that the rest of the crew is off splashing around in a relay race with the charter guests is simply salt in the wound. Edvard Munch couldn’t have painted a sadder scene. The image of Marcos alone in the galley, tapping his knife against the tomatoes he most likely has to 86, while the others are romping about, having fun in the sun in matching sailors’ uniforms, is permanently burned into my brain. I swear he was the only one with a job this episode! Save for the deckies saving the Parsifal from dragging again amid 30 knots of wind — but how can I talk about that when Marcos is struggling with larger-than-life issues?

The food is, of course, flawless. If Marcos does one thing, it’s consistently deliver. The guests — and me — are fawning over Marcos. In fact, when the guests depart, primary guest Lane turns to Marcos to say, “I’m going to be keeping an eye out, my friend, because I expect to see the word ‘Michelin star’ somewhere next to your name very soon. Every dish totally redeemed the wind and the weather.” And these kind Canadians put their money where their mouth is! The crew receives the biggest tip of the season: $23,000, or $2,555 each.

And they earned it. In addition to Marcos cooking through grief, the rest of the crew relatively put in the work. Like I said in the last recap, this charter wants the crew to join them in a relay race — and these people clearly take their fun and games very seriously. They bring along two sets of matching uniforms (pirates and sailors) and Captain Glenn is decked out in a referee’s ensemble with matching arm floaties. I still don’t understand or believe in the concept of making your crew participate in mandatory fun, but different strokes!

These guests also introduce the boat, and viewers I’m sure, to the “Canadian tradition” of hurricanes. When I heard ‘hurricane,’ I thought of the classic New Orleans cocktail. I was mistaken. According to this group, a hurricane is when a person does a shot and gets a glass of water thrown in their face and slapped. The men aboard want the stews to slap them. Scarlett smacks the shit out of Lane and his dick immediately gets hard. This group loves costumes and humiliation (I will be thinking about this a lot). To the point that this is a Canadian tradition, I am not sure. Granted, I only conducted two cursory Google searches (“canadian hurricane slap” and “canadian hurricane slap shot”) but only found one Reddit post dedicated to the phenomenon. Please comment below if you’ve ever heard of this!

Poor Marcos can’t catch a break, though. In the pref sheet meeting, the team learns that for their final charter, the guests want a wedding officiated by Captain Glenn. Of course, they also want a multi-tiered wedding cake, and oh yeah, it has to be gluten- and dairy-free. This sends Marcos over the edge. “I’m emotionally destroyed. I’m stressed. I’m tired. This is ridiculous. This is too much,” he says in a confessional. He needs a minute to process alone, and relays this. King of communication and expressing his needs! Daisy has never seen him like this and is concerned.

Like a good hen mother, she grabs Marcos for a cigarette during their night-off dinner and creates a safe space for him to talk about his feelings. He says he feels better at first, but after some pressing, he starts crying. He’s going through so much and so often shoves away his emotions to make room for work. He needs this release. I am proud of Daisy for giving Marcos that room to open up. He says he’s just human. True babe! Let yourself be! It’s okay to not be okay. His confessional breaks my heart: “This is the first time in the whole season that I’m thinking I’m not going to pull it off. It’s that serious. I may have reached my limit, and now I’m in a glass of water ready to drown.” I am praying for Marcos that he can pull through, but I wish he didn’t have to be strong. He deserves to be soft and at least have a singular night off between these back-to-back charters.