Critic’s Rating: 4 / 5.0
4
So, who’s going to be the captain now?
Rescue: HI-Surf Season 1 Episode 11 was a decent hour, considering how uneven the series has been as a whole thus far.
It brought us to a very intriguing place at this point in the season, with Sonny finally finding a sense of peace that he’s been struggling to find and Em and Will as shattered as they’ve ever been.
Sonny has proven to be many, many things, including hard-headed, but when Em told him that he needed to get it together or quit, he took that to heart.
He decided to retire instead of quit, which was pretty much the same sentiment. He understood that the way he was currently operating wouldn’t be sustainable.
There’s just too much risk with the kind of job he has to not be fully committed and in control at all times.
But even knowing all that, his decision did seem rather rushed. And it was a shock to everyone around him because, for the most part, he’d been able to hide just how hard of a time he was having.
Sonny’s blamed himself for Zion’s death, and that’s not something he will ever be able to truly move on from, more than likely. But he needed to find a way to grieve properly and make peace with his death, as difficult as that may be.
Making amends with his sister was something he needed to do for himself, and I was happy to see him try to bridge that gap, though I wished he used some different words.
I don’t think moving on was the best way to explain himself when he was really more or less trying to move forward. He needed to find a path forward through this new reality, and that’s hard to do when someone passes.
Moving on can almost imply you’re leaving someone in the past, and that’s something Sonny would never do.
Bree’s anger may have been misplaced, but you have to feel for her. She was grieving, and she was sad, and she didn’t know where to place all of that, but the siblings needed to talk and just hear one another.
It was heartwarming to see Bree at the memorial and for the two of them, in that spot, to take a moment to be there for one another and begin to heal.
Sonny desperately needed that, and the two of them could hopefully help one another continue to move forward and replace so much of that anger with something better while forever honoring Zion and their love for him.
I still maintain that Sonny should probably get some help, but I will applaud him for being proactive in his life and making changes. He was heading down a bad path, and he did something about it.
It may not look like the way you or I would do it, but he’s trying.
He seemed more than ready to retire and didn’t care that some people in his life were none too pleased, but that plan may be shot to hell now that Em has cold feet.
Here’s the thing with Em and Will: they didn’t think anything through.
They had unfinished business, sexual chemistry, and a lot of love for one another that manifested itself into this fling that made them both happy, but they never talked about anything.
We STILL don’t know everything that happened in the past, but on Will’s side, at least, there were still a lot of hurt feelings and insecurities that he didn’t care to work through with Em while they were rekindling their romance.
He was always on the fence about whether or not he would break up with Julie, even though he’d convinced Em that he was much more sure than he was.
But the fact that it only took one conversation with Laka for him to completely cut it off with Em was as wild as it was cowardly.
I don’t know why Laka has some weird grudge against Em, but he was riding hard for Julie when it was more than obvious that Will and her were not compatible.
It’s fine to ride hard for your friend, but when they tell you they love someone else and the person they’re with is a rebound, maybe the appropriate answer would be to just be single and sort yourself out instead of continuing to hurt a woman who hasn’t done anything wrong.
Just a thought, Laka.
This was never Laka’s fault, though, and ultimately, Will was the one who was easily swayed and put in a position where he decided to essentially go with the safer choice because he couldn’t be bothered to take a damn risk.
Will is so unlikeable, and if we’re keeping things one hundred, what do Em and Julie see in him?
They both left the hour heartbroken over a man who couldn’t be honest with anyone, not even himself.
My heart broke for Em because she was the one who was ready to risk it all. Maybe their prior breakup was her fault (again, WE DON’T KNOW), but she was doing everything now to work toward a different outcome this time.
She was all in, and yes, she shouldn’t have engaged in the affair, but at least she was brave enough to fight for what she wanted.
Will gave up on Em, but the joke’s seemingly on him since Julie found out about the affair and should be leaving him for good any second now.
Julie was an innocent bystander in this whole thing. Again, she and Will should NOT be getting married, but she didn’t deserve to be in the middle of Will and Em’s messy dynamic.
She’s brokenhearted now, but it was better to find out before she walked down the aisle because there’s no doubt in my mind that Will would have gone through with that wedding having never told her a thing, and it would have been a disaster.
Coming off the breakup, Em’s decision to give up the captaincy took Sonny by surprise, but the writing had been on the wall. She’d been working toward something she deserved, but it wasn’t necessarily what she wanted.
And let’s normalize realizing that advancing at your job may not be the healthiest thing for you, depending on where you are at that point in your life.
Em may have a change of heart, but I don’t think she should. She’s meant to be on the front lines in a way she never will be if she’s captain. And that’s okay.
I still maintain that Sonny won’t end up retiring. By the time Rescue: HI-Surf Season 1 ends, we’ll be right where we started with Sonny as captain and Em as lieutenant, but with Sonny literally on his way out, maybe it won’t be so easy for him to slot right back into place.
I’m trying to imagine a new captain and Sonny in the towers with Kainalu and Hina, having to endure those two pretending like they don’t like each other, and I could go for that, but only if it’s temporary.
Those are Sonny’s beaches, and that’s Sonny’s team. If not Em, then Sonny should lead them and keep the North Shore as safe as possible.
Extra Rescue Notes
- I will ride hard for Em, but not if she jerks Sean around again. He should be smart enough to know that Em does not need to be in any romantic entanglement now, but she also needs to take some time to recalibrate.
- Jenn’s sudden decision to give Laka another chance felt forced. Let Laka ruin other people’s relationships, make rescues, and eventually find some romance. He and Jenn are not it.
- Hina and Kainalu, it’s enough! Just admit you like each other so we can move on from this denial stage. Free us
- That winch rope emergency was insane, but it was so quick, with no resolution. Sometimes, their action sequences feel odd, almost like they were thrown in at the last second. Was the whole point just for Em and Will to be covered in blood for that dramatic declaration from Em?
This was a solid hour of the freshman series, and I’m curious what you guys thought about it! Please drop all your comments below so we can discuss them!
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