Oh dear. That about sums up my thoughts on the latest installment of North Shore. I predicted last week that this season's "number one new drama" would take us through some tedious episodes in order to explain how each and every one of the characters arrived at their present locations. Unfortunately, my prediction was correct and we were treated to easily the worst episode of the season.
Going into this season, I never expected North Shore to make me forget about my favorite shows of the regular season, but I was hoping to get a little bit of distraction for the summer. The problem with this latest episode is that North Shore is so distracting, I forget that I am supposed to be enjoying the program itself.
This week we are treated to another perfunctory episode filling in the backgrounds of some people on the show, with Gabriel and Frankie the lucky winners this go around. The show opens with a shot of the two faithful employees of the Grand Waimeia enjoying a little bit of early morning surf. Frankie is using a waverunner to assist Gabriel in grabbing some great waves. I actually don't mind these pre-opening credits jaunt around Hawaii. No use filming there if they don't use the landscape. What I do care about are the tired ways people get themselves into trouble in this place.
You see, Frankie's waverunner is not his, he is borrowing it from a friend. As Gabriel is securing the water craft to the trailer to take it back, he gets so caught with dreams of pro-surfing, he forgets to actually secure the vehicle, and it falls off unceremoniously, doing major damage. Oh no, whatever will they do?
At the hotel, Jason is determined that he is going to make one last play for Nicole's affection before her fiance Morgan arrives. He kisses her, and she kisses back, but says that they must never speak of the incident and reaffirms her commitment to her fiance. Minutes later as Jason is greeting guests, one takes note of Nicole and Jason proceeds to take some trash about Nicole and her fiance. What we saw coming a mile away was that Jason was talking trash to Morgan about Nicole and Morgan. The problem is, Morgan laughs it off and doesn't care. Refreshingly he is actually pretty cool, and Jason is looking less like the person who is saving Nicole from a life of corporate misery and more like the person who is quickly becoming a homewrecker.
Wait, wait, wait. Who cares about the hotel you say. You are actually takings some interest in this Frankie and Gabriel thing. Well, it turns out that the jet ski Gabriel broke is owned by none other than the most notorious surf mobster on the island - Kurt. Gabriel is not from Hawaii, and the locals are very protective of their beaches, so Kurt gives Gabriel tons of grief about the damage, and only one day to pay him back. On only a lifeguard's salary, Gabriel is going to have to suck a lot of face to make up the repairs. The surprise of the night is that we learn Frankie is short for Franklin, and the former will have none of anybody calling him the latter.
The surf mobster story line is not a bad one per se, but it is still a little too early to throw it in to this series. In order for the bad guys to sound authentic, they actors throw a lot of surf jargon around that leaves us with some odd bits of dialogue. Chances are real surfers are not watching North Shore because of how pure the show keeps essence of surfing. Yes, there is a complicated relationship with surfing and their is a dynamic between people who grow up near the surf and those who move towards it that must be discussed, but we are being fed these things a little too soon. What we have left is some beach machismo as played out between the hotel employees and some surf punks who live in the jungle and are the unwritten law of the land. Sound boring, convoluted or both? Now you know how this last episode was.
There always has to be some comic relief and MJ Bevans is there to take control. She makes dinner for Chris, which of course means she wants to get him tired so they can steam up the sheets. Just as things are moving along nicely, MJ's mother Debby (who is quite the Downer), shows up and puts the kabosh on any nookie for her little girl that evening.
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