'Below Deck Med' 6.02 Review: It’s Not Easy Being Green

This post contains spoilers for Below Deck Mediterranean.
Check out our last review here. 

Even adjusting for a pandemic that looms large in the rearview mirror, the Lady Michelle is getting off to a rocky start in Below Deck Mediterranean Season 6: Chef Mathew left the boat before the first charter guests arrived in order to get an MRI for his knee after injuring it putting away the preposterously huge provisions order he requested. Consequently, Captain Sandy and the crew was forced to improvise dinner with the help of an interim sous chef who proved to be little help, resulting in somewhat justifiably perturbed guests. At the beginning of “It’s Not Easy Being Green,” Sandy remains uncertain whether Mathew will return — and if he doesn’t, she can’t replace him immediately since Covid protocols require crew members to quarantine for seven days.

Thankfully, Mathew’s injury turns out to be “nothing serious,” and he returns to the boat in time for breakfast, with a new attitude and a few not-so-minor revelations. As he scrambles eggs and scrambles to recover his reputation, he mentions that he suffers from anxiety, and in fact quit two past jobs before he started them because of it. Still, he attempts to make amends with Sandy by jumping headfirst into the galley, though he requests to “outsource” crew meals and a wedding cake in order to give him enough space to settle into a groove. The rest of the crew pitches in to make their own food while he successfully delivers a few meals in a row that, thankfully, the guests absolutely love.

Indeed, most of Episode 2 focuses on whether Mathew can rebound from his “injury,” which Bosun Malia and a few other crew members astutely observe doesn’t seem quite as bad as when he was begging for an MRI. But the problem that continues to develop is the bad-vibes start that put everyone on the back foot from (literal) Day One, as Katie and her team find themselves chasing the guests all day long to satisfy their libation needs, and Malia and the deck crew must prepare for separate bachelor and bachelorette parties as wind and intermittent rain threaten to put a damper on what’s supposed to be a good time.

Mzi commits a “greenie” error when he fails to properly tie up a jet ski and it floats off, but Malia gives him a pass, but he’s left more frustrated when aggressive winds repeatedly turn over the massive inflatable unicorn that’s meant to serve as a home base for the female guests’ bachelorette celebration. Elsewhere, David takes the male guests out for a fishing excursion, and when they fail to catch anything but a sea cucumber, he recruits Mathew to deliver a cleaned fish to the dock upon their return so there’s still a prize to photograph.

Sandy’s decision to give Mathew extra latitude before making requests of him — like obligatory responsibilities such as cooking crew food — pays off, and he goes into dinner full of confidence. Unfortunately, the weather takes a nasty turn, and despite Katie’s plan to carefully coordinate plating and serving, everyone’s forced once again to scramble to move the service inside, threatening for Mathew’s feast to get cold before the guests can eat. But those aren’t the only winds that turned bitter; after a day of drinking, Clint and Karry, the couple set to get married the following day, get embroiled in a drunken fight, and Clint storms out of their cabin, leaving Karry in tears “the night before their wedding.” Strictly speaking, this was already their second attempt at a ceremony after the pandemic forced them to delay, but the episode ends on a cliffhanger with the fate of their wedding — and of course of the impending gratuity for the crew of the Lady Michelle — hanging in the balance.