An alright episode but nothing special besides some of the sites.
A continuation of the Logan, Caroline and Matt love triangle and it definitely is one since it is confirmed that Caroline does sort of fancy Matt too. It is implied that they've gone on a date or two but they were just basic ones like dinner. I say that, it's not that they tell us this but Caroline has a date planned with Matt in this episode and it doesn't come across as their first, to me. However Caroline forgets about this and it leads to her telling her sister Stephanie that she's chosen Logan, because he's fun and Matt is too serious.
I'm glad this happened because it looked like this story was going to mimic the old one where Summer couldn't choose between Matt and Slade. After this, the story diverges even more; After Matt makes no effort to hide his jealousy for Logan, he gets with C.J. This was surprising but I welcome it and it is perhaps an unintentional call back to their first ever encounter where Matt was clearly eyeing up C.J., that was two seasons ago when they were introduced. I don't think the show had them be anything but platonic after that.
This burgeoning romance is first shown in a cute little scene where Matt and C.J. are hitting a boxing bag, it's a bit more spontaneous and human than most scenes in Baywatch, perhaps it was improvised. The second part is shown in your typical Baywatch romance montage of two people frolicking and kissing. In retrospect this pairing is rushed like a lot of them in the show, so I'm afraid it probably won't last long and is just a diversion from the original route of getting Matt and Caroline together. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens in the next episode.
I almost forgot to talk about Logan. He is shown to be a nasty piece of work in this episode, for sure, so he's far worse than Trevor Cole. I don't mean he's a villain in the way that we get thieves and murderers in one-off stories, but he's definitely the most nasty life guard we've had in the main cast so far. That's not saying much though, since they've all been so super nice so far. It's a nice change but I doubt he'll stay this way. I can't believe he payed a dude to attack a woman so he can rescue her, they make an effort to make him look 'not that bad' though, by showing him tell the attacker that he went too far.
Later on, Caroline see's Logan snogging the woman he rescued so he knows he's a piece of work now. This will most likely lead to her trying to get with Matt.
'A' Story
I was thinking while watching this that the story is way better than the other, but now that I think about it, not a whole lot happens. The thing that stops it from being trash is that John D. Cort returns for a one off, which is very welcome. Looking on baywatch.fandom, I see this is the last time he's in the show, which is real sad for me. Well, besides appearing in the 'Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding' but I barely count that because it's way later and the more I watch the show, the more I realise that this Hawaiian movie thing is probably going to be just a bunch of cameos. Will he be totally blind? It's about ten years later so he should be but I get they come up with some excuse, saying he's cured because otherwise that would be way too much of a downer for a reunion movie. Come to think of it, I'm fine with that.
Back to Baja Run. John D. Cort is still going blind, a thing they introduced last time he appeared for a one-off, which I still think is ridiculous, unnecessary and depressing. I guess on the one hand, it is something different for the show to do for once, but why to such a believed, cool, season 1 character? At least they don't focus on it this time but it's still a thing, since they couldn't just brush it under the rug. This show is pretty silly and loose but in John's last appearance, they did point out that his condition is not treatable, that he is going to go blind.
Anyway, onto the actual story - There's not much to it to be honest, it's just an excuse to show some Baja racing. Is that what it's called? I can't look it up because my internet is down at the moment. The episode is called 'Baja Run' so Baja is a part of it, at least. I'm OK with this though, it looks cool and fun, it makes me wish my life was like that, just like a lot of things in this show.
I don't know why I'm even going to bother saying anything about the rest of this story. John has an expensive artefact, he hides it from some bad dudes who want to steal it from him, Mitch doesn't know, bla bla bla. I don't recall when but I'm pretty sure they've done this story before. Like I said, it's really just an excuse to show Baja racing because the artefact is hidden by the side of a road.
Summer and Jackie
That's it for that episode but I have some other random thoughts to air. As we all know, Summer and her mum Jackie are gone from the show starting with this season. I've already said it but they will be missed, Jackie's actress was real good and Summer's sudden split from Matt and her job wasn't explained at all. I know this is just silly show from decades ago so I'm not that bothered, but it's an observation that Baywatch will make out characters to be important and in love and then just end it unceremoniously. Also I forgot to say something in my write up about the last episode - Jackie doesn't have any speaking scenes after she's rescued, she's basically just screaming for help for the whole thing and then leaves the show. Just something I wanted to point out, haha.
S01E01 - In Deep
No, I'm not doing a review of this episode (yet), it's just yesterday I decided to watch the original intro but I ended up watching five to ten minutes of it. It's a shame I didn't write about the first two seasons because I like the origins of media and for some reason the first two seasons of Baywatch aren't represented as much online as the later ones. Before I continue, to clarify, this episode is sometimes listed as episode 2, since the pilot, which is more like a movie, is sometimes episode 1. I'm watching Baywatch on Freevee, episode 1 is the pilot probably because their database software has no way to list an episode 0.
It might be nostalgia but the little I watched of this does seem better than season 5 episodes. Not by a lot though, Baywatch hasn't changed loads so far and the changes have been gradual. The thing that stands out the most is the charisma of the characters in 'In Deep', especially the guys, though this might be because I only watched about ten minutes. Mitch is the main character and is always in the show so I'm not counting him, he hasn't changed.
For all the praise I've given 'new' Hobie for getting better and better at acting, I'd forgotten how charismatic and natural the original one was. It's also funny to be reminded how much older he was, he's probably about the same age that Hobie is now in season 5, so new Hobie has finally caught up with him. Old Hobie is still better though, how he has conversations with his Dad is so much better.
We also have Craig, again, the charisma is high in this one. Basically the acting is just better all around. John D. Cort isn't there from the start but it doesn't take long for him to join and I think he's another good example of the early characters being better. Seeing him appear for the last time in 'Baja Run' today reminds me again of these original episodes.
You barely see her in the first ten minutes but there is of course Shauni as well, my favourite life guard. She's the reason why I re-watched the old intro because I still connect part of the music to her slow-motion run, even though she's no longer in it. What I mean is that the intro music is the same in season 5 but there's a part of the music that I connect to Shauni. In this episode, we see Eddie acting stand-offish towards Shauni. It's funny to see the tired old cliche of 'if the boy is mean to you, it means he likes you' here.
Not that you see any of this at the start of this one, but watching this does remind me that under water scenes do look better in later seasons. Even though it is still obviously shot in a swimming pool. I remember that in season 1 and 2, not only are the camera angles and clarity not as good, but they also barely put in rocks and stuff on the bottom! It was so blatantly a swimming pool. If I re-watched those now, they'd look even worse.
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