Whew, last episode of Below Deck was a hard one, who’s picking on my awesome Kate Chastain? And who’s getting drunk and grinding on randoms instead of kissing their crush? Alcohol: it’s nobody’s best friend. Let’s find out what got fixed this week on Below Deck S7:E11 I’m Sorry You Feel That Way after the break!

To recap what happened last week: the whole gang went to a spa for the day and some kind of a pool bar where everyone got schwasted. Chief steward Kate Chastain didn’t feel like hanging out with everyone else.

Lead deckhand Brian de Saint Pern elected himself defender of women when it came to deckhand Tanner Sterbeck disrespecting second steward Simone Mashile then turned around and called Kate “kind of a bitch” while.she.was.complimenting.him.

By disrespecting, I mean Tanner was grinding on a poolside go-go dancer instead of and in front of Simone, whom he is kind of dating. She spent the night crashed in his bed at his request, anyway, so they’re something.

Kate was very upset at Brian’s comment and handled it about as well as anyone would when drinking and confronted immediately after by another coworker. She started throwing crew clothing on the floor in front of Captain Lee Rosbach, who just wanted everyone to appreciate the fact that he gave them a spa day, not come back all:

Brian did apologize to Kate at the very end, we ended with her crying in her bunk thinking everyone hates her and this is where we open.

Brian went from terrified and apologetic in front of Kate to finding his bravado and yelling at the woman he’s dating, third steward Courtney Skippon. She should have taken his side!

By that he means she should have publicly agreed with his calling her boss a bitch right out of the blue? Really?

He basically threatens to break up with her over it, but he’s also been drinking so maybe if everyone just calllllmmmmms down and has some water and a good night’s sleep, it won’t be World War Three Below Deck.

Deckhand Rhylee Gerber comforts Kate, Rhylee’s actually quite sweet when not fighting or fighting back. Do people need to be sweet while fighting back? Maybe not.

Tanner texts Simone, then tells Brian to go see Courtney because Simone is coming there. Awww, so cute, a switcheroo! Interesting that Simone chose to forgive Tanner for his very public disregard of her, but who hasn’t been there?

Yeah you have, you know you did it too. It’s hard to give up on someone you like the first time they let you down, however public the letdown was. I have to mention: everyone (except probably Tanner) stays fully dressed.

Everyone wakes up six hours later (technically prolly still drunk) but there are only 7 hours until the charter starts so git up!

Captain Lee was not happy with Kate’s temper tantrum on the boat the night before, he calls her first thing to have a chat. She’s been with him for five years, so she gets a lot of leeway, but a public foot stomping like that was not what he expected from her.

She’s suuuuuper hungover and not happy about being called on the carpet, but gets it.

The crew works hard on cleaning up the clean superyacht, Kate’s clinging a bit to Courtney, her only public defender the previous evening. I get it, girl, but she still works for you so I hope there’s not more preferential treatment slinging around.

Captain Lee calls bosun Ashton Pienaar, chef Kevin Dobson and Kate to the crew mess for the pre-charter Preference Sheet Meeting, I love these! This is literally the only time I ever getta see guest names, so I’ve got my eyes peeled.

Okay! We have returning guests from the Season I Missed, so I don’t have any expectations about Torrie and Albert Jasuwan or their adorable kiddos Tirernan and Pearson. Their last charter was a bit rocky, one of the crew even dropped returning guest Sherri Williams. They’re gonna try to not do that again. Rounding out the group is super pretty Canyon Haley and that is not a name.

Lots and lots of events for Kate to plan and a special rule: the kids have to wear lifejackets whenever outside. Will the crew end up babysitting the whole time? I wonder.

Ashton calls Kate up to the bow for a chitchat about the night before, he thinks she’s disrespectful and she thinks the exact same thing about him. I’m pretty sure she thinks the Captain should have jumped in and defended her stripes last night.

Ashton goes on to attempt to drag Kate for being late for events, now she’s starting to get mad.

She’s sorry he feels that way, which is exactly the kind of non-apology that whiny shit deserves.

Chef Kevin’s got an issue of his own, his kitchen fan isn’t working. That’s not a big deal for a regular kitchen, but not having a vent to clear smoke or smell in a commercial galley is going to be a problem. It’s also going to make things very hot, did I mention it was 89 degrees Fahrenheit at 7:30 am in Thailand?

Remember what I said above about Kate and preferential treatment for her ally Courtney? Guess who just got a second stripe on her epaulettes? NO, GUESS??!! I’m guessing it was warranted, Courtney’s been doing a good job, but I hope Simone is okay and gets to do more service. She’s such a  good worker and so smart, just give her some more chances, Kate!

Simone calls her mom with the news, she knows now that Kate is not her friend and ANYWAY she’s just here to make money. Kate will not get a reaction out of her for her “punishment.”

Seriously, Kate called giving Courtney two stripes punishment for Simone.

Provisions are heyah! Show us what you got!

They do not show us what they got.

Captain Lee gets an email that pisses him off and calls everyone in for a staff meeting, ooooh, y’all in trouuuuuubbbble!!

Not everyone, but Ashton sure messed up. He kept doing cannonballs into the swimming pool at the club, even though they asked him not to, and the DJ equipment was damaged. He apologizes to Captain Lee privately, will pay for the damage and write a letter. Awww. Ouch, a thousand dollars later, let’s hope this is a good tip!

It’s fifteen minutes until guest arrival, Ashton decides to spend this time apologizing to Kate for any embarrassment he caused at the club. She says it’s okay, he was probably just frustrated because she and Rhylee took so long to get ready.

Okay. Kate’s funny, but that’s kind of immature.

Erm, Kevin, what?

The guests are here!! Hai Jasuwans! I love it when kids look right at the camera.

Boat tour time! The deckies load the luggage onto the yacht, I can’t even imagine how much there will be traveling with kiddos. De-docking goes fine and Kevin prepares a light Caprese salad for lunch. It’s already 89 degrees in the galley, he’s not cooking anything he doesn’t have to.

Captain Lee docks in a jellyfish playground, won’t that be an issue for water toys? I hear those sting like a motherhumper. The guests ask for a critter free pool, good onya! That is absolutely what I would be always swimming in while in the ocean, I don’t even feel bad.

The lunch goes well until a guest finds a big old hair in their Caprese salad, herk. One guest even says “First meal, Strike One!” Damn.

Ashton and Brian are trying to set up the critter-free pool and Rhylee comes to help but he’d rather Brian read his mind, thanks. She’s actually giving helpful suggestions, but maybe he’s not listening to her because she’s not one of the gang, not really. A verbal wrangle after with Brian confirms that.

After the amount of time it took to set up that pool, the guests play in it for 40 minutes and done. It takes more than two hours for four deckhands to get that pool put away again, damn. I’ll be in the pool for hours, promise guys! Rhylee and Brian fight again, Imma help Brian a little.

Brian, you consider yourself an advocate for women, definitely an ally. Ask yourself if you would ignore advice from a dude you’re working with, then suggest they “calm down, bru.” Because there is no way for Rhylee to take that in a positive way. She’s there to work with you. She’s not in your way.

On the plus side, I don’t think Rhylee wants to bounce on Brian any more!

Ashton takes Brian aside to talk about how to be respectful when talking to other crew members and to remember he’s part of a team. Hahahah just kidding, he tells Brian to watch out for completely unreasonable Rhylee who must be verbally wrapped in bubble wrap.

DUDES: just include her. Like an equal. Do THAT.

Supper is served and it’s adorable! Pineapple fried rice in a baby pineapple! I didn’t even know there was such a thing as baby pineapples! I mean, of course there are but I live in the frozen hinterland and all of our pineapples are better traveled than I am and probably as old.

The guests are not as excited about the food, it’s not the Michelin-star quality they asked for and Kevin is doing himself no favours with his descriptions of food. He keeps saying things like “just” this and “only” that, does he think he’s a woman? Honestly.

The Thai dancer is amazing! Everyone loves her dance and then it’s early to bed for our primaries Torrie and Albert Jasuwan. Albert and Torrie seem super chill, it’s just their friends that are being extra, so we’ll see.

Tanner asks Simone directly in the crew mess; they’re okay casual, right? She responds that there needs to be respect, casual or no, so they’re okay! Basically, that means he can do whatever he likes and she has no right to be offended, but neither is she required to sleep in his bed or make out with him. It sounds good, but I have a feeling it’s going to be very hard for her to “leave the hot man alone.”

It’s 7:42 am in Thailand, the crew is up putting lifejackets on small children and serving strangers freshly baked blueberry muffins.

Captain Lee calls Ashton and Brian up to the bridge, they’re working on a surprise for the guests. Primary Torrie requested that Albert’s parents be brought to the yacht as a treat for the kiddos, apparently a water-taxi can bring them right over.

Awww it’s so wonderful when the grandparents arrive, the kids are so excited! So are the grandparents, if there’s anything better than your arrival being greeted by happy screams, I don’t know what it is. Maybe someone quietly handing me a cup of coffee and smiling silently, but then: I’m not a grandparent.

The plan is to have a beach picnic with everyone, Kevin’s very happy to prepare a tonne of family-style food. That means large amounts of food on platters that people serve themselves, I don’t know if that’s going to be fancy enough for Michelin Man Scott.

Ashton heads off with the first group of guests for the picnic, but the wind has come up and the waves are high. He measures that against the fact that there are children and elderly people on board and decides to cancel the beach picnic.

I agree with his decision, but the producer manipulation on the scene is ridiculous. This is the very first time I’ve ever seen them take the guests for a beach picnic without anything being set up first. Nothing is there. The guests will be there before Kate has packed one single cooler. I call shenanigans.

It’s clear they never intended to do a beach picnic, why lie? Hm, maybe they were going to just have the guests play on the beach then eat back on the boat, I still think that’s wack.

The guests are not happy at all, but Primary Albert again seems pretty chill. The deck crew works like crazy to get all the toys in the water while Kevin gets going on lunch. There’s a lot of good will to be made up, but it’s not as though they can make the water calm or safe, Kate. That’s not Ashton’s fault.

Rhylee cannot tie knots, apparently. Like at all. She also cannot let anything go. We watch her struggle to tie off the pool and complain three times in a row that the problem is that Tanner first told her to untie it. Move on! Tie it off! Bring it up once (maybe just in your head) and move the eff ooon.

It gets so smoky in the galley that Courtney closes the door to the salon so the guests aren’t bothered by it, leaving Kevin steaming in fishy smoke. Then the fire alarm goes off, freaking out the guests who haven’t been told that the fan doesn’t work in the kitchen.

And that’s it, we’re out! Not a terrific start to this Charter of Redemption, but there’s still time to pull out all the stops to give the guests what they want. Until then, cheers!