Baywatch - S04E08 and E09

S04E08 - Submersion

I won’t be writing much about this one since I watched it several days ago and I also wasn’t a big fan. I figured I’d go to baywatch.fandom.com to see what they had to say about this one but oh boy, the contents of the page is short.

‘Submersion’ is one whole story focusing on Mitch, so no ‘B’ or ‘C’ stories this time. I didn’t like this one that much but I think he you haven’t seen many episodes of Baywatch, you may like it. I think most episodes have to have at least one person being rescued from drowning, this one probably has the longest rescue scene ever. This is because it’s the focus of the story; Mitch has to rescue two young brothers but he has to choose who to rescue first, this leads to one of them almost dying and being in a coma. Mitch blames himself but the episode makes it clear that he shouldn’t be, everyone around him reassures him that it wasn’t his fault. Well, besides the boy's mum. The only scene which made me feel anything was at the end when the mum forgives Mitch and realises he was a hero, this is, of course, after the boy regains consciousness and is fine.

I had several issues with this episode but I can’t remember them all since I didn’t watch it today. I think the main thing was that it’s just a downer. Like several episodes before, Mitch expresses his love for the sea and/or the beach, or someone else mentions it about Mitch. In ‘Submersion’ it turns out one of the brothers also loves the sea, this is the one who almost dies. In reality, Mitch and the boy would probably be terrified of the sea after this incident, but the show never addresses those kinds of things for obvious reasons. Mitch would especially be sick of the sea since he’s always attempting rescues and there’s even been at least one episode before where Mitch didn’t manage to save someone. The only difference in that old one was it didn’t happen in the episode live, it was in a flashback.

Mitch is a fine character but he can’t hold up an entire episode, especially since we see him so much throughout the whole show's run. Also, come to think of it, that other serious episode about Mitch injuring his back wasn’t that long ago.

S04E09 - Ironman Buchannon

I liked this one but I might not write about it much since I don’t have much time right now. This is such a light and fluffy episode after the last one, which was perhaps intentional. With this title, I was afraid this was going to be another Mitch-centric episode but luckily he only gets one of the two stories.

‘B’ Story

I wanted to write more about this story but I really don’t have the time, I did like it but there’s not much to say. Matt wants to buy a motorbike to replace the one that his dad took away from him, this story is a bit odd because are we supposed to think he’s cheating on Summer? It’s obvious that he’s not from what happens in his second scene, he’s with this hot woman who likes him but he’s clearly going to buy a bike from her. Before I continue, I’d just like to point out that there’s one scene showing Matt and C.J. living together, and showing C.J.s disdain for him. This is the “payoff” from several episodes ago when we see C.J. not liking the idea that Matt is moving in with them. They don’t do a good job of explaining why she doesn’t like him there, there are no real good reasons.

Anyway. In retrospect, this story is a bit random. Matt reveals to Summer that he’s been working at a grocery store, or something, to pay for a new bike. Summer thought he was cheating on her, you see, even though barely any time was taken on this. It turns out the lady selling the bike had stolen it so Matt loses the like instantly. The other random part is that Summer hits her head while doing a rescue so she almost dies. Matt and some others save her and it’s all a bit serious but then she's fine not long after. This leads to her talking to Destiny about what she saw when she was unconscious, this seemed like it was going to lead somewhere but it lead to nothing. Actually, she didn’t have a pulse, doesn’t that mean her heart stopped? So she was dead for a few minutes, right?

As an audience, we get to see what she saw in glorious montage form. Though it’s just her in a casual swimsuit, swimming underwater and stuff. The show creators certainly started to lean into Summers attractiveness more around the start of this season, by the way. Also besides Summer, this episode has more skin and curves on show than they usually do, for your information.

‘A’ Story

Mitch is training to be in a yearly competition that I assume he has won a lot before, but he’s getting old so he wonders if he should enter the senior version instead. I thought they were going to be clever by having him lose but no, of course he wins. Not even second place against a bunch of 20-year-olds when Mitch is supposed to be, what at least in his 40s. Ben is in this one, he vanishes for many episodes and when he comes back, it’s only for a few brief scenes, at best. They bring him out for any stories that are about being old, sadly I think he dies in real life not long after this, so I doubt we’ll see much more of him. He gives us a few brief expressions and grunts which lead me to believe that Mitch would lose and that we’d be given a message about how accepting your age is a good thing.

Mitch also rescues someone called Destiny who hangs out with him for the rest of the story and emotionally helps him prepare for the competition, this is all played for laughs. She also sort of becomes Mitch’s girlfriend and the other characters joke about how he’s going through a mid-life crisis, since she’s a lot younger, you see. I should describe her - She’s ditsy, into people's auras, positive reinforcement, and all that kinda stuff. I’m not sure what you’d call this kind of character, a hippy, I guess? You know, she’s into meditation and stuff but she’s a comedy character.

I actually think she should be in Baywatch more but I bet she vanishes after this episode. She’s light-hearted and they could add a bit of depth to a character like this. Again, I thought this relationship was going to lead to Mitch realising he’s not young anymore but the hilarious thing is that it doesn’t, and unusually, Destiny doesn’t have a reason to leave at the end. What I mean is that most Baywatch episodes have characters who are only in it for one story, then they leave because they are killed, arrested, split up with a main character, or just leave town for some reason. But Destiny is just at Mitch’s birthday party at the end and then leaves with all the other guests. She does say something to Mitch about coming to visit her where she works, but I didn’t get the impression that was a proper goodbye. Perhaps the idea is that she's so bubbly that she kisses everyone on the lips, so she’s not actually Mitch’s new girlfriend. It was all played for jokes anyway so it doesn’t matter.

Speaking of Destiny, who Mitch rescues, I almost forgot to say something that I wanted to mention months ago - I find it funny that Baywatch, especially when it comes to Mitch, has totally discarded something that was kind of a big deal in season 1 and perhaps season 2. That you aren’t supposed to have a relationship with someone you rescued, the biggest part of Baywatch’s pilot is literally about that. A woman gets saved and even before it turns out she's an obsessed crazy person, the lifeguard makes it clear that he’s ‘not her hero’, in fact, he’s disgusted by the idea that she wants to reward him. There are one or two other episodes about how keeping it professional is the best idea but that’s all out of the window after around season 2. I guess the reason why is that it’s an easy way to introduce a bit-part character via rescue, so you can have that person for one episode and not only have it about how they are dangerous, nuts, obsessive, or whatever. Mitch has dated several people he has rescued and it’s played up as being romantic which is the opposite of season 1 stories, it’s probably the biggest change the show has had, so far.

Hobie was clearly not available on set for filming this one, since he definitely would have been at his Dad’s birthday party. Instead, he briefly calls him on the phone and we don’t even hear his voice.