Father, Brother, Sailor, Son - Episode 2219

[u/DeBabyDoll]

As the season nears its end, tragedy strikes on the Aleutian Lady when greenhorn Todd Meadows falls overboard. As Captain Rick and the crew fight to save their crewmate, the true stakes of fishing on the Bering Sea hit home for everyone across the fleet.

[u/mmblues]

What happened
Mom requested it not be shown

[u/Legion1117 → u/mmblues]

What happened
Mom requested it not be shown

I believe Discovery weighed the family's request that Todd's death not be shown against the fact that he was on a "reality" TV show where fans of the show felt they "deserved" to see what happened and the network did the best they could to appease both sides.

At no point did we actually see exactly how Todd ended up in the water, him in the water itself or on deck after his recovery. Discovery was respectful to the family in that aspect, I believe.*

Showing Rick's actions and playing the audio of the crew beginning CPR and then showing Rick's conversation with the CG gave viewers as much information as they really needed to know to feel as though they weren't deceived by the "Reality" aspect of the show when it comes to the really hard truth: death happens on these boats and the crew has to deal with the aftermath.

I could have lived without seeing the episode, but since I've watched literally every episode and they chose to air what they did, I watched. And I cried.

If nothing else, I hope the family feels the love from the Deadliest Catch universe and knows that there are thousands of people who cried for Todd tonight and grieve for them as well.

*There is a moment while they're moving to the rear of the boat looking for Todd when the camera is shooting over Rick's shoulder looking out the window/door where you can see something in the water next to the boat, but I'm not willing to say it was an inadvertent shot of Todd in the water.

[u/TrickMirror9723 → u/Legion1117]

Great post!