'Deadliest Catch' Season 16 Episode 15 Review: Josh and Casey support DJ as he mourns the loss of his mother
Spoilers for 'Deadliest Catch' Season 16 Episode 15: 'Gut Instinct'
Even before we get into breaking down and critiquing the episode, let's give the skippers a massive shoutout for the sheer care and respect they have towards the family. It might be very Dominic Toretto-ish from 'Fast & Furious', but this is real-time and a tragedy to a family member can shake up and break the strongest of wills. In this case, DJ, one of the crew members of Cornelia Marie, loses his mother and captains Josh Harris and Casey McManus stand as the next closest thing to the family.
It's hard to see these greenhorns working on a day-to-day basis for their wages and the fact they have captains who set aside profit and instead come to support of their crew is heartening. That makes 'Gut Instinct' tragic, but a heartening affair. Meanwhile, it's also mixed success at the end of the day for the Wizard and skippers, Keith and Monte Colburn even as the former suffers from extreme pains from an umbilical hernia. Monte takes over the reins as the vessel inches very close to the Russian waters.
The move pays off as they load in some rich haul of crabs while Keith tries to recuperate. While there is no doubt that he would first check-in with the doctors at the dock, there's respect for the man to be a captain who leads by example. The same goes for Mandy Hansen and Sig of the Northwestern. It's her husband's Carl's birthday and despite her overriding Sig's rules to make the crew work extra to load their tanks with crabs, they hit the jackpot and also celebrate the birthday by the end of the day.
'Gut Instinct' is a classic example of how far 'Deadliest Catch' has come as a show. It's more than just crabbing and cod fishing, it's more than meeting the required quota of the crabs. This makes the show a lot more human and just an adventure reality show. And while we are at it, let's hope to see some of Jake Anderson and the Saga in the episodes to come.
'Deadliest Catch' Season 16 airs Tuesdays 8 pm ET on the Discovery.