Based on the lineup, and the decrease in the number of episodes per night, it’s clear that Discovery doesn’t expect as many viewers to be tuning in on Saturday and Sunday night of Shark Week. But that’s not going to stop me from watching. It just means I go into the weekend expecting more fluff and less science. But as long as there’s sharks, that’s all that matters.
Return to Shark Vortex: Joe Romiero and Lauren Benoit embarked on a journey along the U.S. coast into the infamous vortex of warm and cold water that brings about an explosion of life. 30 species of sharks come to the vortex to feed, but only 3 stay behind when the vortex shrinks and the water gets colder. For the first half of the episode, they were simply observing the change in behaviour of makos and great whites who stayed behind. Unsurprisingly, Dr. Greg Skomal made an appearance when it came to the great whites. Once Skomal left, the team was joined by Dr. James Sulikowski and Jon Dodd. Once they were on board, the rest of the episode was dedicated to the illusive porbeagle shark. The scientists had found a juvenile porbeagle in the vortex the year before, so they were hoping to find a pregnant female this time. They did! Not only that, but they performed and ultrasound, gave her a fin cam, and tagged her. It looks like the porbeagles might not leave the area when the waters get colder like the other sharks do. I hope this discovery leads to more research opportunities in this area of the vortex. Not only do we not know much about porbeagles in general, but if there are shark pups in those waters then they need to be protected.
Shark Week Best In Show: I was worried that this would be a clip show of all the things I had just watched over the past week. Instead, it was a clip show of all the top moments from the past 30 plus years of Shark Week. So, it was slightly more exciting than I expected. In each category, clips from past years were given the bronze, silver, and gold medals. A lot of the medal winning moments were from the past 10 or so years, but there were a handful of clips from much older shows. I just wish I could have seen some of that older footage from the years before I got really into Shark Week. Still, it was great to see scenes from shows I had never seen before, regardless of the year they were filmed, and it was even better to relive favourite moments from some memorable past episodes. There was some shocking information that came up, though. I was not prepared for the realization that some of my past favs are a lot older than I thought they were. One of my fav shows from the past is already 11 years old. Am I getting old…?
I Was Prey: Shark Week 2021: If you read yesterday’s post, you know exactly how this one is going to go. Barely a minute in to this one and I hated it. For starters, this episode had the same kind of sound issues as the Brad Paisley episode did. The music was blasting, but I could barely hear anyone speak. Once again, no, it was not an issue with my TV. Then, there was the epilepsy warning at the beginning of the episode. I was expecting flashing lights and images, but not to that extent. The intro alone brought on the same kind of nausea I usually experience when I’m motion sick. And there was absolutely no reason for the flashing. Pictures brought up on screen would flash a few times before settling in, and there was really no explanation for why everything needed to be shaking so violently. Even if it didn’t make me feel nauseous, the continued usage of that effect was just distracting. It wasn’t long before I realized I couldn’t even look at the screen for most of the show and had to turn my attention elsewhere. And then I just ended up on my computer, writing this post, barely paying attention to the show at all. I ended up turning off the tv half way through the episode. Total waste of a Shark Week time slot.
So, yes, day 7 did end up being mostly fluff, but that’s alright. I know that sometimes I can be hard on the episodes that are less substantial, but that’s because I enjoy the science so much. The fluff episodes are still great because a) they still feature sharks, and b) they still serve a purpose. Even if you’re just being entertained instead of being educated, it’s still an opportunity to fall in love with sharks. And honestly, I’d take an entire week of fluff over one episode of I Was Prey any day.
