Sean suffers a crisis of faith when a good friend is killed in a surfing accident.
The days starts out beautifully, with Sean surfing with his good friend MIKE, a seventeen year old who hopes to turn pro one day. Sean goes into shore to open the tower. When he looks out at the ocean again, Mike has disappeared. After a frantic search, Mike is found with his head lodged in a coral reef. Despite the best efforts of the team, Mike dies. His father, PETER, has known Sean for years and blames him for the death of his son. Sean blows up: he can’t hang on to all the guilt and is tired of trying to orchestrate things like the Ocean Fest. He storms off. This gives Jenna a chance to take over the plans for the Ocean Fest. This is somewhat good news for Zack, who was going to be a bench warmer for most of the Fest owing to his position as a newbie. Jenna, how-ever, keeps him an alternate. Carrie tries to warn Zack that he is not behaving very well politically, but he’s too consumed with his own frustrations to hear her.
Sean goes out on his canoe to be alone. He is not aware that there’s a danger of a squall. He gets caught in a huge wave and capsizes. Barely able to get back his canoe, he then loses his paddle. He is in big trouble. By the next morning, he is getting hallucinogenic visitations, first from Jason and JD. They appear to be fighting over what Sean can do next. He yells at them to go away…and they do. Next, he sees a shark swimming next to the canoe. He pulls his legs in to keep away from it. Suddenly, Jenna pops out of the water, berating him for his inability to manage the team. Leigh then shows up, defending Sean and making Jenna melt away, like the Wicked Witch of the West. Leigh then com-forts Sean, drawing him into an embrace.
On shore, Jenna meets Peter, Mike’s father. She tells him that she has ordered an inves-tigation. Peter defends Sean: he knows he did everything to save his son. Jenna, for once, backs off. Back at the Ocean Fest, the team realizes how at a loss they are without Sean as their anchor. To make matters worse, Jenna takes the lead in several of the events, resulting in humorous disasters. Jenna prods Zack that if he can’t participate with the Baywatch team, he should join another one as a filler-allowing him a chance to get back at his teammates. Carrie warns him that this is not a good idea, but Zack is so tired of being pushed aside that he is not ready or willing to hear her. Brian, meanwhile, has become concerned because he can’t find Sean anywhere. Then, he sees that a canoe is missing and immediately guesses what has happened. He rushes out to find him.
Sean has now lost his canoe. He knows he is probably doomed. Suddenly, he sees Ben, his long lost son. He remembers how they used to go surfing. Ben and a turtle entice Sean to come with them. He tries, but runs out of energy and slips below the sur-face…only to be pulled back to safety by Brian. Brian understands Sean’s sense of loss: Mike was his friend, too. Sean admits he was seeing hallucinations, but has come to truly understand what a good friend is. Sean chokes up and Brian lets him have his moment of grief, getting over the loss of both his son and Mike.
Zack and Jason go head to head in a flag race-Zack still competing for another team. He wins by jamming Jason with his elbow, but it is a phyrric victory: the team rallies around Jason and ignores him. He’s really blown it now.
As they near the shore, Sean jumps into the water. Like a rider getting back on a horse after being thrown, Sean is ready to face the sea again. He sees a turtle swimming by, and understands that not only is Brian watching out for him, somewhere his son is, too.
Episode Images
Main Cast
