Recap: In the depths of the ocean, a diver (Tony Guirilini) exits his shark cage to swim around and explore the ocean floor. He finds a bunch of dead fish and picks one up, puts it in a bag, and returns with it to the shark cage. When he heads back up to the ocean's surface, he's confronted by two men on a boat, one of whom aims a harpoon gun at him and fires. The two then watch as the water turns red with Tony's blood...and when he doesn't reemerge, the men appear convinced that he's dead and motor off. Murray has invited Nick and Cody along to a party for oceanographers, explaining that through his sister he became friends with Angelo Guirilini, a stereotypically loud Italian man who gestures wildly with his hands and adds superfluous vowels to words whenever he speaks. Angelo spots Murray across the room, greets him with a loud yell, chides him for being too a-skinny, and hands him a plate of food from the buffet. Murray says he's not actually hungry, then calls over Nick and Cody and introduces them...and when they gush to Angelo about how much they loooooove his TV specials about ocean diving, he beams delightedly and nicknames the two Cody the Moustache and Nicka the Pilot. A few seconds later, Cody spots an attractive woman at the buffet and wanders over...with Nick in tow. The woman introduces herself as Giovanna Guirilini (Angelo's daughter) and, much to Cody's annoyance, starts bantering with Nick in Italian. She remarks to Nick that she thinks Cody is a very bello signore, a compliment Nick refrains from passing along to Cody. As everyone at the party starts dancing to lively Italian music, Tony stumbles onto the scene, bloody and injured from his harpoon wound. When he collapses down a flight of stairs, the Guirilinis rush to his side, gasping in horror when they realize that he's their beloved family member. Over at the hospital, Giovanna informs the Riptide trio that Tony lost a lot of blood, is in critical condition, but is expected to make a full recovery. She theorizes that someone must have mistaken him for a shark when they shot him, and Nick contorts his face into a seriously? expression and points out that it's kinda hard to mistake a person for a shark. Across the corridor, Angelo is ranting at a doctor as he demands to see his son...and Giovanna rushes over and tells him to shut it, while the trio urges him to go back to his boat (named the Arrivederci) to get some much needed rest. The Riptide trio accompanies Angelo and Giovanna back to the Arrivederci...and they're confronted by two intruders, aka the two men who harpooned Tony earlier. The bad men open fire, then manage to escape via a small motorboat...and the Guirilinis begin to suspect that whoever hurt Tony probably did so deliberately. The next morning, Lieutenant Quinlan arrives on the scene, behaving in a surprisingly professional manner as he chats with Angelo and Giovanna about the break-in and concludes that nothing of value - save for some dead fish that were stored in the small aquarium - was taken from the boat. Angelo confirms that no money was stolen, adding that it's kind of a moot point - since his friend Harry the Oilman takes care of funding all of his underwater expeditions. He tells Quinlan he can only assume that the same people who shot Tony broke into his boat last night, and Quinlan nods in agreement and promises to get to the bottom of it as soon as is humanly possible. When Nick and Cody remark on how uncharacteristically engaged in law enforcement he is, Quinlan explains that he's honored to serve the world's foremost oceanographer and scientist. When a miffed Murray points out that he's a foremost scientist, Quinlan dismissively scoffs, "You're a goofball with taped glasses" and says he's a huge fan of Angelo's underwater TV specials. He then asks Angelo for his autograph, and Angelo obliges, gives him a hug, and calls him a good man. Aboard the Arrivederci, Murray is staring at the empty aquarium, and Giovanna explains that they've been using it to store diseased, dead, or injured fish so they can do further analysis. Across the room, Nick finds Tony's underwater camera and suggests they develop the photos in case they're able to provide clues as to what happened to him. Angelo, meanwhile, wrings his hands about whether or not they should cancel the upcoming expedition, and Giovanna points out that Tony would be disappointed if his injuries were the cause of the cancellation. Murray suggests he take them (meaning the Riptide trio) along so that no one messes with their boat, and Angelo chuckles at the notion of Murray acting as a body guard - but then agrees that, yep, it probably couldn't hurt to have some [heart-throbbish] muscle onboard, in the form of Nick and Cody, for a little added protection. Across town in a restaurant, Harry Silverman (aka Harry the Oilman) asks his two henchman whassup with Tony Guirilini not being dead after the harpoon attack. One of them says he has no idea how Tony survived being shot, and the other concurs and says he seemed really dead, given all the blood that was gushing from his wound. Harry rolls his eyes in disdain, then further admonishes them for nearly getting caught after breaking onto the Arrivederci. One of the henchmen argues, in their defence, that some good actually came of it:
Harry snaps, "We've got to stop that expedition, and we've got to stop it soon!", smirkingly pointing out that shark hunting is dangerous, and that something could easily go terribly wrong while underwater. He then orders his henchmen to ensure that something does go terribly wrong during the Guirilinis' next dive. Angelo, Giovanna, the expedition crew, and the Riptide trio are aboard the Arrivederci and heading out to the spot where Tony was harpooned. Angelo says he now regrets filming all of those underwater TV specials - but Murray argues that they're oh so wonderful, and Nick points out how many people he's been able to educate about the ocean. Angelo wonders aloud if it's morally right to film the ocean, since so many people have no respect for it - just as one of the crew members (Pietro) brings over a stack of photos Tony took the day he was nearly harpooned to death. Murray studies one of the photos and notices a shadow looming over the water's surface and says it looks like a second boat was in the area. Nick agrees and says it's pretty clear that there's someone out there who doesn't want them diving in that particular spot...and he intends to figure out why. Nick wanders over to Cody, who's studying an Italian phrasebook so he no longer feels left out whenever Giovanna lapses into Italian banter with Nick. As Nick playfully needles him about his desire to hit on Giovanna, she suddenly appears on the deck below and asks if either of them would be interested in accompanying her on a dive. When Nick offers up Cody, she happily says she'll ask Pietro to get him a wetsuit and an oxygen tank...and Cody blushingly thanks Nick for stepping aside and says he definitely owes him one. In the next scene, Cody is clad in a wetsuit, looking warily at the shark cage that Pietro is preparing for the dive. Giovanna sees the fear etched across his face and assures him it's very safe, and then the two climb inside and get lowered into the ocean. When they reach the desired depth, they exit the cage and spot a large of number of deceased fish littered along the ocean floor. They pick one up and put it into a bag, then notice the presence of several deteriorating tanks - just as an aggressive looking shark swims towards them. As they hastily swim back to the shark cage and give the signal to Pietro to raise them up, a yellow submarine suddenly motors over and parks itself atop the cage, while the shark terrorizes them by repeatedly crashing into the steel bars. Aboard the Arrivederci, Pietro confusedly informs Angelo that the tether is stuck...so Angelo instructs him to go down inside the other cage and see whassup. As the henchmen aboard the yellow submarine beat a hasty retreat, Pietro is hastily lowered into the ocean, beats back Jaws with a large baton, then motions to Giovanna and Cody to swim over to his shark cage so that they can be safely lifted out of the ocean and return to the safety of the Arrivederci. Giovanna and Cody inform the research team that clearly someone doesn't want them diving in this spot, possibly because:
Murray says he noticed that the plants in the aquarium he was looking at earlier are all dead, and theorizes that the fish that had been stored there must have contained enough toxic waste to kill the plants. He says he'd like to test the aquarium water and determine its toxicity levels - just as Angelo gets a call from the hospital, informing him that Tony is going to be A-OK. Nick and Cody head over to the local ocean vessel rental shop and spot a yellow submarine that looks suspiciously like the one that had tried to interrupt the dive. Nick summons the owner (Marcus) over and banters with him in Italian as he tells him that they're members of Angelo Guirilini's expedition crew and are in the market for a submarine, and that they'd really loooooove to talk to everyone who has ever rented the yellow submarine from him. Marcus lights up at the mention of Angelo's name, says he's a ginormous fan, and that he has nothing in the form of a privacy policy that would prevent him from simply handing over the personal information of everyone who's ever rented his yellow submarine. When the Riptide trio informs Angelo that the two men who last rented the yellow submarine are employees of the Vertrox Corporation (aka the one Harry the Oilman runs), he scrunches his face in puzzlement. He stupidly concludes that Harry must unwittingly have hired people who, for some inexplicable reason, are out to destroy his underwater expeditions, and that Harry needs to be made aware of this asap. He picks up the phone and calls Harry, who answers it while flanked by the two henchmen. Angelo, along with the Riptide trio, head over to Vertrox headquarters to meet with Harry. As Harry ushers Angelo and Murray into his office, Nick and Cody lurk around the reception area, waiting to search for any helpful intel they can find. To that end, Cody calls the receptionist from a nearby pay phone, posing as someone from the photocopy office, to tell her she left her car lights on...and after she rushes off, Nick and Cody infiltrate the reception area and start rifling through the filing cabinets. Angelo asks Harry if he thinks they should dig up the strange tanks that his team found during a recent dive, and Harry's like, "Sure, why the hell not?" A solemn-faced Murray asks him if it's possible that someone in his corporation is secretly disposing of toxic waste in the ocean, and Harry pretends to have no idea 'bout any of that and says he definitely wants to know if there are any bad apples working for him [who are so dumb they don't even use aliases when renting a submarine for the purpose of terrorizing Angelo's diving team]. Over in the reception area, Cody finds a folder containing paperwork on a lawsuit that the EPA filed against Vertrox regarding waste disposal - but the charges were eventually dropped due to lack of evidence. Additional documents suggest that because the company's reputation was so damaged, Harry began funding underwater expeditions so that he could look a good guy. Cody hastily puts the folder back into the filing cabinet when he hears Angelo sounding like he's wrapping up his meeting with Harry...and Harry looks less than thrilled when he sees Nick and Cody seated in his reception area. Angelo introduces them to Harry, then happily announces that he (Harry) has agreed to help extract the tanks from the ocean floor so that they can get to the bottom of whatever is killing all of the fish in the area. The next day aboard the Arrivederci - as Angelo's crew, Harry, and one of his henchman (Landers) look on - one of the deteriorating tanks is hauled out of the ocean. Murray conducts a quick toxicity test and accusingly informs Harry, "This barrel contains toxic waste from your company", and Giovanna chimes in and says that that's what's killing all the poor fish. Harry concurs that, yep, the contents of the tanks he ordered to be dumped into the ocean are extremely lethal to fish...and then he and Landers pull out their guns, a move that prompts Murray to use the electronic gizmo that's attached to his belt to signal Nick (who, along with Cody, is hovering nearby aboard The Screaming Mimi). Nick immediately choppers over to the diving site, while Harry tells Angelo that he now has no choice but to kill them all. Angelo stares back at him mournfully as he sadly retorts, "You were my friend", to which Giovanna snarks that he was never a friend - but rather, a jerk who only ever wanted to use him. A few seconds later, Mimi arrives and hovers the boat, and Murray yells, "Hit the deck!" as Cody lowers a rope ladder and opens fire on the bad guys. Harry lunges onto the rope ladder in an attempt to attack Cody, which I thought was courageously optimistic of him, given his age and portly form. As Cody easily fights him off, he (Harry) loses his balance and haplessly plunges into the ocean - just as several hungry looking sharks approach. Cody manages to safely leap onto the deck of the Arrivederci...and when the crew glances over the railing, half-heartedly searching for any sign of Harry, Angelo shakes his head and hastily declares Harry to be lost at sea, adding that it's largely 'cause of how little respect he had for the ocean. That he had, Angelo. That he had. Tony is released from the hospital, gets introduced to the Riptide trio, and says he's eager to resume diving - but Angelo urges him to chillax until he's fully recuperated. Murray and Giovanna, meanwhile, are about to head off to dinner...and when Cody gets wind of their date he's all, "Wha-a-a-a?" and asks Murray if he wooed the beauty by asking her out in Italian. Murray's like, "Nope" and says he simply asked her in English: "Would you like to go out to dinner?" Lol.. As Cody digests that befuddling tidbit, Giovanna returns above deck and suggests to Nick in Italian that he take Cody out to a movie, since he seems so glum...and once Giovanna is safely out of earshot, Cody begs Nick to tell him what she just said about him - but Nick refuses, hands him the Italian phrase book, and says he needs to give flirting with Giovanna another shot. Thanks for reading! If you are enjoying TVofYore's recaps, consider thanking me by buying me a "coffee"!
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