Tonight’s episode of “Deadliest Catch” was titled, “The Ultimatum.” As the episode begins on the Northwestern, Edgar is leaving to take care of his back problem. He regrets not being able to be there for bairdi season, but must address this issue, or it could become detrimental to his future career.
On the Cornelia Marie, Josh is at the wheel facing high waves. The first pots were meager with smalls and barnacle covered crabs, so they moved their pots thirty miles to the west in search of better luck. Josh spots his first pot, and as it comes over the rail, the waves are fierce, but the crabs are abundant. The first one has thirty-four and subsequent ones are looking good. However, just ten pots into the string; a crewman yells that he smells fire. Casey takes the wheel, and Josh goes to check it out. Josh calls up to the wheelhouse that there is oil everywhere down below. The oil line blew, and hopefully; they can weld the high-pressure line back together. Josh was hoping it was something on the stove, but as bad luck would have it, there is a real problem for the Cornelia. Casey was able to sleeve the leak with a piece of hose and two eighty-five cent clamps.
On the Northwestern, Sig has made it to the bairdi grounds. Sig hasn’t fished for bairdi in over twenty years. He goes through his old logs for his old fishing spot, and they start setting the pots. On the Wizard, Keith is driving the bairdi boat this season, and the crew knows it is much more work for them sorting these crabs.
On the Saga, the king crabs are coming over the rail in big numbers. Elliott is stacking the pots because he knows the crabs are on the move, and wanted to stay ahead of them. Elliott’s father Mike is on the deck and is there to remind his son when he goes off track. Suddenly, the winch comes loose from the crane and nearly drops a pot on a fisherman. The crane needs to be secured so it can be reattached. Elliott calls Wade Moore, the greenhorn to take the wheel while he climbs on the boom in ten-foot seas. Elliott removed the winch and will just use the crane to keep fishing, and Elliott kept his cool and was just happy nobody got hurt.
On the Wizard, they approach the first bairdi pot of the season. Because they lost so much of their king crab quota, Keith is looking for the bairdi to bail them out. However, the pot contains nothing but starfish, and each pot thereafter. When a pot gets snagged on the anchor, they save the pot, but Kevin Stafford slips and hits his back on the steel anchor winch. He told Keith he felt like someone stabbed him in the bottom of his ribs. Lenny came in and helped Keith pick him up, and made him lie down. With the crew down to four, they must haul and stack all 250 pots. But this does not sit well with the rest of the crew as Keith overhears one say that Kevin should be doing the bait, but he is not the boss and does not make the rules as the overworked crew can turn on an injured fellow deckhand in the blink of an eye.
On the Northwestern, they are ready to bring up the first bairdi pot. At least, there are sixty-six crabs in their pot, and they are clean. The next pot is even better and contrary to what Jake Anderson thought, there are lots of crabs. When Sig asked him what he thought, he kneeled and stated that he was not worthy. Then Matt Bradley was reunited with his blankie when it was put into a pot while he was asleep. Now it is going to the engine room to dry as Matt is just happy to have it back.
On the Wizard, Kevin worked on his Halloween costume all day, and it did not make for a happy crew. Keith then told Kevin to sort crab on deck. Soon after, Roger Schlosstein came to the wheelhouse and gave Keith an ultimatum; if there is no replacement for Kevin when they arrive at port, he and his brother Robby will leave. Keith told him they may as well pack their bags now because nobody gives the captain an ultimatum! Then Keith called the whole crew together on deck and told them he was monitoring the entire situation with Kevin and knows he is not up to speed. If they want to quit, they can quit, but he does not appreciate getting an ultimatum. Keith was told by the owner of the boat on his first trip never to let the crew run the boat.
Edgar is going in the MRI machine to have his back examined, as the fleet continues on their way. Casey tells Josh that he went from Pampers to Pull-Ups as he is still in the captain’s chair after the storm subsided. Sig’s phone rings, as Edgar tells him that he has degenerative discs in the lower C-vertebrae in his neck. This confirms that he will not make it up to finish the bairdi season on this episode of “Deadliest Catch.”
