There’s a lot going on with our rescue crew this episode and one of the main concerns is what’s going on with Captain Jennings, or as the crew calls him, Sonny.
The episode starts off with two fishermen kayaking out deep into the ocean to, well, catch some fish. The idea was for one of the fishermen to use one of the biggest fish they caught to propose to his girlfriend (he thought putting the box in the fish’s mouth would be the way to go – yikes). Too bad for them though, the currents started to pick up and there wasn’t enough time to make it back to shore. Closest thing they could do was head to come rocks to wait it out, but the currents swept them up, kicking them out of the kayaks (still not sure why anyone chooses to use those things, but to each their own I guess).
“The Deep End” - RESCUE: HI-SURF - Pictured: Kekoa Kekumano as Laka Hanohano. Photo: Zach Dugan/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Time passes, over an hour that is, and the boys are still missing. Gathering details for their girlfriends and where their cell phones were last pinged, the team determines a possible location and sets out for the rescue. Thankfully, it only took moments to spot them (they made it onto the rocks). Will and Laka both swim up to the rocks to assess the situation, finding that one of the fishermen had a cut on his head, but apart from that, they would be okay. Now this is where that concern for Sonny I mentioned earlier comes in. The currents are still rough and because the skis can’t get close enough to the rocks, Will and Laka, along with the fishermen have to swim through these currents to get to the skis. Will and his rescuee made it onto the ski (but not before being briefly separated after a wave hit them) driven by Emily and started to move away from the currents. When Laka and his rescuee made it to the ski, Sonny seemingly froze. It’s like when Will and his rescuee lost each other momentarily, he was brought back to what happened with his nephew Zion.
“The Deep End” - RESCUE: HI-SURF - Pictured: Adam Demos as Will Ready and Arielle Kebbel as Emily ‘Em” Wright. Photo: Zach Dugan/FOX. ©2024 FOX Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Sonny isn’t able to shake this fast enough, which causes Laka to call out to him. Despite this minor hiccup, both fishermen were brought back to shore and received medical attention. They will be okay. This isn’t enough for Sonny though as he begins to spiral again. This catches Will’s attention and as he’s walking towards Sonny to see if he’s okay, Sonny falls to the ground and passes out. He wasn’t out long, but he was out long enough to raise some concern to Emily. Sonny tries to brush this off, but when Emily says that it’s lucky that this didn’t happen during a rescue, he takes it more seriously and takes some time off: leaving Emily in charge.
Seeking help, especially for men, is a tough step. One that Sonny is obviously not ready to make when he leaves the grief counseling center before completing his intake forms. Sometimes, a familiar face can help – which is why Sonny goes to visit Tommy. He opens up to Tommy about what’s been going on – about the nightmares with Zion, describing it as losing Zion on a loop. Tommy’s advice to Sonny is to let it go, but is that possible? It doesn’t seem like it will be in this case.
“The Deep End” - RESCUE: HI-SURF- Pictured: Kekoa Kekumano as Laka Hanohano and Arielle Kebbel as Emily “Em” Wright. Photo: Zach Dugan/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hina is still treating Kainalu like the spoiled kid who didn’t earn his spot and well, that’s somewhat true. With Emily in charge, she hands out the day’s assignments which pairs Kainalu with Hina on the towers. She tries to get her assignment changed claiming that Kainalu doesn’t know what he’s doing to which Emily points out that they started at the same time (basically, who is she to make such a statement - because yes, Hina, why would you even say that?)
Laka has been, well, let’s say he’s been enjoying himself a lot lately. Going out drinking until the early mornings and showing up late to work. Emily wasn’t having that; she assigned him to work with the rookies. I wonder if something is going on with Laka that we don’t know about yet, because the way he parties every night, that can’t be normal. I’m sure the constant rejections from Jenn don’t help either.
Frustrated with being stuck with the new kids, Laka decides to leave them and go for a fitness break. This is after Kainalu lets a couple swim in dangerous water because they claim they’re good swimmers. Come on, Laka, even I know that wasn’t the best move. Hina’s cousin stops by for a surf and ends up getting injured. Worried about her cousin, Hina runs to help forgetting her radio at the tower (rookie mistake).
Remember that couple that Kainalu let swim in dangerous waters I mentioned earlier? Yeaaaahhh… guess who messed around and found out? Kainalu sees that both the man and woman are in distress and radios Hina for help (but of course she doesn’t get that message). After not hearing her respond, Laka tried Hina too and nothing. He rushes back and gets there just in time to help Kainalu assist the man while Hina (finally joining the party after Kainalu had to yell for her) helped the woman. Now, in this situation, I’m really upset at Hina for making me be on Kainalu’s side with this one. Thankfully, the man and woman were okay.
“The Deep End” - RESCUE: HI-SURF - Pictured: Kekoa Kekumano as Laka Hanohano and Alex Aiono as Kainalu. Photo: Zach Dugan/FOX. © 2024 FOX Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Emily wasn’t thrilled about hearing what happened. She reprimands Laka for leaving the rookies alone and assigns him to dispatch. He’s being defiant which prompts her to gather the crew to do drills to select their assignments (I’m sorry, fifty burpees? And I have to be first to get the assignment I want? Just give me cleaning the shed duty now because there’s no way). Kainalu finishes first and chooses the tower; Hina, finishing after him, decides to join him (oh? Hina what’s going on here?). Could she be changing her mind about him?
Sonny returns just at the tail end of things to see what Emily had the team doing. She expressed that the team wouldn’t respect her without showing some sort of authority, but Sonny disagreed and said that it was a sure way of pushing them towards a transfer (this had to be about Will and they’re ended relationship pushing him towards becoming a firefighter).
The episode ends with the gift that keeps on giving – the family of the son who received delayed medical attention is now not only suing (naming Sonny and Emily specifically), but have now gone to the press about it which won’t make things easier for the team. Sonny’s response to this news confuses Emily and creates tension between them. How bad is this going to get for the crew?
What’d you think about tonight’s episode of Rescue: HI Surf? Share your thoughts below, or connect with me on X/Twitter @chenfordhugs
