Banzai, this week's episode extends the dealings of the WEAK LINK. Personally, as I have mentioned before, too much emphasis is wasted on this WEAK FEATURE in the episodes. More emphasis should be on getting some interesting scripts featuring good guy verses bad guy action, some really serious rescues. And lifeguarding techniques!

 

We meet another member of the team, Dawn Masterton (Brandy Ledford) who is a specialist in kinesiology and physiology. We also see Tanner Sloan (Cameron Finley), Mitch's foster son wannabe. I think that the move last year trying to create a Hobie-clone was a big mistake. It certainly doesn't make David Hasselhoff look good either! It is apparent that he is desperately trying to hold onto a youthful image. This isn't neccessary. Despite the dark hair and eyes, Tanner is not Hobie (Jeremy Jackson). And his desperately trying to imitate his actions and personality just doesn't work here. It's kind of funny how everyone thought that the relationship between Mitch and Hobie would KEEP growing and that as soon as Hobie was old enough to follow Mitch's lead, the two would get to do rescues and fight crime together. Time stops for no one. And that includes Mitch Buchannon (David Hasselhoff).

 

It's too bad that the Executive Producers and writers decided to let their wonderful relationship deteriorate instead of letting it get stronger as it should have. This father/son relationship is now gone forever. And now we must watch this awful imitation relationship. Well, at least so far Cameron and Jeremy have not worked together. That's a relief as it would mean nothing more than a slap in the face for Jeremy worse than he is already experiencing with the replacement. You can't have everything, right?

 

By the pool, Sean (Jason Brooks) introduced the team to Dawn Masterton, who was a specialist in kinesiology and physiology. She lectured the team about how it worked. Sean got the team ready to start the excercise. He told everyone to get into the water. He told Dawn that he wanted her to get in as well. Half way through, the exercise, Dawn blacked out. Sean dived in to rescue her and then handed her up to the others. When she awakened, Dawn asked if they should give it another try. Sean told her no and walked away in discuss. He was not impressed.

 

Meanwhile, Mitch arrived at the airport to meet tanner. Tanner had told an attractive young female passenger named Carla (Carla Brooks) all about Mitch. They were introduced. mitch took Tanner to the tarmac where Allie was waiting for them with her helicopter. She took the two of them on a tour of the island. They suddenly witnessed a woman (Aileen Acain) waving for help with a towel. They saw a canoe outrigger off shore that was overturned. Allie (Simmone MacKinnon) landed the helicopter. Mitch and Tanner ran to where the woman was. She told them that her friend was still by the canoe. For fear that she might drown, Allie called for backup, while Mitch went to save her friend. tanner told the frantic woman not to worry and that his "dad" would save her friend. Mitch and Allie gave the girl CPR and she finally regained consciousness. Tanner was very proud of Mitch.

 

J.D. (Michael Bergin) waited on the beach to meet someone. A woman approached him. It was Dawn. The two revealed that they had been an item. She wanted to keep their past relationship a secret, and J.D. got that message at the pool.

 

It looks like both Dawn and J.D. really get around. I can't believe that J.D. never told Jessie (Brooke Burns) about her. Dawn representd a new type of female BW Lifeguard. She is a lot bolder than any of the girls in the past. Even after he told her that he was in a relationship, she still placed her hand where she wanted.

 

Later, Dawn just made her way into Sean's room without being invited. She told Sean that she resented that he had set her up to fail. She had just gotten to Hawaii by way of a fourteen-hour flight from India.  She had been under medication because of a dangerous spider bite. She wanted another chance. Sean agrees to have a one to one competition the next day. If she loses, she would go home. He also warned her not to come into his room again. She agreed unless she was invited. But before leaving, she mentioned some things that she had leaned while in India.

 

In this scene we see Dawn trying to see if Sean had a weak spot. Sean just studied her and liked her even less. He seems a lot less than willing to give anyone a chance after a failed attempt. Did his NAVY SEAL training leave him that cold? You would think that he was still in the military. And it seemed to have been the type of training he had. If you failed, you didn't get a second chance.

 

Sean talked to Mitch about Dawn the next day. He stated that she was not up to the level of the others and he wanted to give her a test later. If she failed, he wanted to send her home. Mitch told him to find a way to keep Dawn. She had skills that they needed. Sean had no choice than to follow orders.

 

Thank goodness! If they got rid of everyone who actually made a mistake or had a bad day, there would be no team thanks to Mr. Coldness.

 

J.D. told Sean that he had a situation. A friend of his, Kal Thomas of UCLA with the America Cup boat wanted him to try out for their team. One of the crewmembers had dropped out. This would give him a chance to try out and make the team. Sean asked when. J.D. told him that it was today! Sean seemed a bit irritated and inconvenienced, but still told J.D. to make them proud.

 

Tanner met a young teenaged girl who was a great surfer. meanwhile, J.D. got a chance to join the America's Cup team through his pal Cal Thomas. Tanner and the young teen named Tami (Jessica Hinton) became fast friends. While watching Tanner and the girl, Mitch talked to Jessie about him. That he was having a tough time. he had witnessed a stabbing at his own school. Mitch thought that bringing him out to Hawaii would help.

 

Tami told Tanner that she was riding her board out to the place where the waves break, which was pretty far out. When Tanner insisted on coming with her, she told him no. Since it was getting dark, Tanner told Mitch about what tami was about to do. She wanted to kill herself. She had a disease that required her to go to Houston, Texas the next day. Mitch used Rock's board to find her. She was found floating on her surfboard. Mitch sat on Rock's board beside her as he started a conversation. Tami was afraid of dying. Mitch told her that what was happening now was important. He reminded Tami that she tought Tanner how to surf the waves today. Now it was her turn to be brave and "ride the wave." She now understood.

 

The next morning, while the other team members watched, Sean and Dawn faced off underwater, pulling a rope while sitting to see who could hold their breath the longest. Dawn looked as though she was winning and she noted that it appeared as if Sean had blacked out. She surfaces, told the other team members that she needed help because Sean had blacked out and then goes back down to save him. As she tried getting a hold on him, suddenly Sean's eyes popped opened. She showed an expression of surprise as he led her up to the surface. This had been a test for her. Dawn then realized that he didn't black out after all. She knew now that she was off the team. Sean told her that she reacted as she was supposed to. Her first concern was the victim. She would be able to stay on the team...for now.

 

No interesting plots! No interesting scenes! No interesting guest stars to perk it up a bit! But it was good to see Michael Newman in this episode even though he wasn't given too much time on the screen. His appearance was the only thing the episode had going for it.  My Score: 1 Rescue Can

 

Next Review: Shark Island