Overview of #3602 Below Deck S13E04: Not My Jam
Ben Mandelker and Ronnie Karam recap an episode packed with deck mishaps, service drama, and awkward crew flirting. The biggest themes are a missing jet ski strap, a series of guest complaints over dinner, and escalating tension between crew members as Captain Kerry tries to keep everyone on track.
Key Events and Storylines
Deck chaos and the missing strap
- The episode kicks off with a major deck problem: a strap used for the jet ski is lost in the water.
- Captain Kerry is frustrated that the crew wasn’t properly trained and that basic equipment wasn’t handled carefully.
- The hosts repeatedly mock how absurdly central this strap becomes, joking that the whole episode is basically about “the strap.”
- Later, the crew improvises with a replacement strap, and the jet ski is eventually recovered.
Forgotten towels and excursion mishaps
- The deck team also forgets to bring towels for the guests during an excursion, which causes a delay and irritation.
- Kerry is visibly annoyed that simple logistics keep falling apart.
- Ben and Ronnie note that while the guests are obnoxious, their complaints are often justified.
Elephant sanctuary excursion
- The guests visit an elephant sanctuary, which the hosts find both adorable and slightly ridiculous.
- There’s a running joke about the sanctuary and the surreal nature of the excursion, with the recap leaning into absurd animal humor.
- Captain Kerry, Fraser, and the crew all seem happier once the guests are off the boat for a while.
Interior and Service Drama
Dinner for Milani’s birthday goes sideways
- Fraser and Mo meet with the guests to plan a birthday dinner, but the guests are extremely particular.
- One guest insists on plenty of salt and acid; another wants gluten-free glass noodles.
- Mo serves a cheese plate that includes strawberry jam, which is a disaster because the birthday guest is allergic to strawberries.
- The hosts note that Fraser should have caught the mistake before the plates went out.
Captain Kerry steps in
- Kerry joins dinner to help calm the mood, which noticeably reduces the guests’ complaining.
- Ben and Ronnie point out that Kerry’s presence seems to act as a pressure valve for the charter.
- Even so, the guests remain difficult and nitpicky throughout the meal.
Crew Relationships and Tension
Rosa/Rose and James
- Rosa (or Rose, as the transcript alternates) asks James whether he’s seeing anyone.
- James gives a vague answer: technically single, but still entangled with someone back home.
- The hosts criticize him for being wishy-washy and emotionally vacant, while Rose seems overly hopeful about a relationship that the viewers clearly see as shaky.
Rainbow, Kaylee, and Matt
- Rainbow asks to sit next to Matt at dinner, which makes Kaylee uncomfortable.
- Kaylee becomes emotional, feeling like Rainbow is undermining her and that the situation is too much like past relationship trauma.
- Ben and Ronnie think Rainbow is being overly familiar and manipulative, and they’re skeptical of Matt’s appeal in general.
Fraser’s management style
- The hosts also call out Fraser for passively creating tension among the crew.
- They argue that he often uses “sensitivity” language in a way that ends up pitting crew members against each other.
- While they acknowledge he is trying to manage personalities, they think he often makes the problem worse.
Final Conflict: Drunk Guests on the Dock
- Near the end, the crew has to deal with drunk, rude people on the dock harassing them while they head out dressed for dinner.
- One man makes crude comments, including asking if the women are “freebies.”
- Mo steps in protectively and gets visibly angry, setting up a tense cliffhanger.
- The episode ends with the situation on the brink of physical conflict.
Notable Recap Takeaways
What Ben and Ronnie emphasized most
- The “strap” fiasco is the episode’s defining joke and symbol of deck incompetence.
- Captain Kerry continues to look like the most competent person on the boat.
- Fraser is good at managing the vibe in theory, but the hosts think he often fuels drama.
- Rainbow comes off as patronizing and underhanded.
- James is viewed as attractive but utterly empty.
- The guests are obnoxious, but often not wrong.
Tone of the recap
- The recap is very joke-heavy and full of side riffs, especially about:
- the missing strap,
- the absurdity of the guests’ complaints,
- the elephant sanctuary,
- and the crew’s romantic confusion.
- Ben and Ronnie spend a lot of time mocking the cast’s incompetence while also acknowledging that some guest criticism is deserved.
Bottom Line
This episode is mostly about operational failures, petty interpersonal drama, and a slowly escalating guest disaster. The crew struggles with basic service tasks, Fraser struggles to keep people aligned, and Captain Kerry is left trying to hold the charter together while the hosts roast everyone involved.