On this episode, they end the Jake Swap and need to transfer the two Jakes (as opposed to The Two Jakes) between the Northwestern and the Cornelia Marie.
Do they swap the guys when they’re safely back at Dutch? No. Do they swap them at the processor’s dock? No.
They do what every sane person would do. Stick one Jake in a Gumby suit and drop him overboard for the other boat to pick up. Then, the other Jake suits up and repeats the process. At the end of the day, each Jake is on their regular boat and the survival suit is also back on its usual boat.
Is this even close to normal? I’m guessing not, and I’m guessing the Coast Guard is having fits that they’d intentionally endanger lives like this. IIRC, a season or so ago, there was an “extra” guy on a boat (think he was a rescue) and he was transferred to another boat in a skiff, which seems a lot safer than being put overboard and told to start swimming.
The seas were too rough for a boat transfer, or to bring the one ship alongside the other. I wonder why they had to make the transfer then. I sense the producers speaking to Phil and Sig, “This would make great television!”
Notice that the crew are not thrilled by the task; it really doesn’t have the look of something that they do as part of fishing.
I’m getting ready to give up on the show. It’s moving sadly away from “Perils of Crab Fishing on the Vast Bering Sea” and more towards “Deadliest Housewives” territory. I mean, the biggest moments in last night’s melodrama were related to “I don’t want to be your friend anymore” conversations more suited to being texted between teenagers.
Due to Phil’s death, I don’t really like watching this season. I keep wondering whether it happened during shooting, keep looking for signs that he’s not doing well, etc. You’re watching someone who doesn’t know he’s going to die soon, and it makes me uncomfortable.
That was actually the Northwestern Jake - they transferred him to another boat after his sister died so he could fly home ASAP. The other boat was heading in to port. It was a flat calm sea though, so they just lowered the skiff into the water with the crane.
I totally agree this was bullshit - why not just wait till you’re both back at port? I suspect half the reason Nick Mayvar was so pissed off afterwards was he knew the captains had risked those guys lives just to get good TV footage. Of course, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if the whole thing was staged and there was a smaller boat moving them around in their suits to get good camera angles.
Phil collapsed while the boat was in dock. I believe that it was captured on tape but don’t know if they will show it. If he had collapsed at sea far from medical help he probably would not have survived.
He recovered somewhat after his initial problem but died in a hospital in Seattle a week or so later.
I’m kind of hoping they don’t show it but I suspect they will. I watched the first incident he had with the clot and was really riveted by it, but knowing that he’s going to die from this one really colors it for me.
What I failed to mention in my previous post is that I assumed my discomfort with the impending death and how it fits into this TV show was affecting my enjoyment of the show overall. I thought the initial “two Jakes swap” seemed more like a silly stunt than something they’d actually do, though somehow I could believe a “go see if the grass is greener” swap might actually happen. Even the Hillstrand brothers in the GEICO ad is irritating.
The Jake Swap definitely seemed staged…the camera shaking seemed a bit forced when they were ‘searching’ for the second Jake. And the Keith/John conversation at the end seemed odd, especially since I thought that the fight in the first episode was staged as well.
The captains doing promos for Swamp Loggers seemed a bit off too, for some reason.
That’s really hard for me as well. Especially watching his two sons bicker and stuff and then Phil talking about how much their antics are raising his blood pressure. It can’t be fun for his sons to be watching this footage.
While I do think it wasn’t nearly as hair-raising as the editing made it seem, this is my main complaint with the whole maneuver. They knew Nick had lost a crewman from a boat he was captaining in the worst way possible (didn’t even notice he was missing until 20 minutes later). That’s pretty damn insensitive.
Another thing - I really love this show, but I’m not enjoying the current fame these guys are getting. It’s just sad watching those short clips of them plugging other shows on Discovery.
Why do you not enjoy the fame they are getting? If you are on a hit TV show you are famous and you get asked to do a lot of plugging. It might be in their contract that they have to plug other Discovery shows.
I guess I liked them better when they seemed more like they were tolerating these people on their boat, and rolling their eyes at the fame. It detracts for me to see them embrace it.
IIRC I don’t recall seeing them plug other Discovery shows until this season. It’s just jarring for me.
The plugs for “Swamp Loggers” were lame, unnatural and uncomfortable. These are crab fishermen! They are not actors! They were almost as bad as Anthony Bourdain’s credit card flourishes for the camera during “No Reservations”.
I am – er, was – a diehard DC fan back in the day. This season I’ve only watched the first two episodes. I really don’t miss it, which makes me sad. I think it’s partly the obvious “Hollywood” production slickness and “this will make good TV!” bits and partly because of Phil. I just can’t watch it anymore
ISTR it’s only 2 film crew per boat - they just don’t have any space for more extra people on the boat. One’s a full time cameraman, one’s a combo cameraman & producer.
