The sixth season of the American reality television series Deadliest Catch commenced on the Discovery Channel in the United States on April 13, 2010, and concluded on July 27, 2010.
"Slow Burn", the season premiere, received at the time the highest number of American household viewers in the show's history.
[2] The record would be surpassed by later episodes in the season, such as "Blown Off Course",[3] "Empty Throne" (5.24 million),[4] "Cain and Abel" (5.26),[5] and "Redemption Day" (8.5).
Seitz concluded that "'Deadliest Catch' is a Trojan Horse reality show, smuggling integrity into a morally bankrupt genre.
They find unprecedented numbers of keepers and meet their quota quickly, but their greenhorn Joel keeps lagging.
Josh, however, feels that his father would want him to take care of the Cornelia Marie, his legacy, in his absence and that he owes his old man to do so.
On the Northwestern, Jake Anderson is torn between wanting to go search for his missing father, and his family desiring him to remain on his boat.
Despite early counting issues, they hit their first delivery with crab to spare, and Wild Bill gives his crew some shore leave, only requesting that they don't have any hard liquor.
After 12 hours of surgery, the neurosurgeon who worked on Phil Harris has a grim prognosis as he shows the results to Josh, Jake, and Johnathan Hillstrand.
Although survivable, the location of the stroke makes a fatal complication possible, and he anticipates a very long road to recovery.
On the Northwestern, Jake Anderson continues to ponder his missing father as the rest of the crew deals with broken bodies.
Sig overhears Edgar's personal concerns, and thinks if he's close to quitting, he should get serious about training a replacement.
On the Northwestern, bad numbers continue to lengthen their grind, which only makes the crew miserable and long for home.
In Anchorage, Jake Harris broods over his demons, and calls a substance abuse clinic in Seattle to admit himself into rehab.
After a good amount of luck, he finally slips a pot out of the dogs, and it slides into the crab table without toppling.
As a furious arctic storm pounds the fishing grounds, Phil deteriorates rapidly, and Josh is summoned to the hospital.
As numbers dwindle and weather worsens, the risk outweighs the reward and Captain Sig gives up, willing to take being up to 4,000 pounds short over losing some or all of his crew.
In Saint Paul, where the Cornelia Marie is still preparing to get underway, Freddy Maugatai is in the wheelhouse when Josh Harris calls to pass along the news that Captain Phil had died.
Breaking down, he heads into the engine room to inform the rest of the crew, and he and Steve Ward share a moment of tearful consolation.
An eerie calm passes over the crab grounds, and the captains, who don't know of Phil's fate yet, express their concerns.
Most northern of the ships right now, the Kodiak works in frigid conditions in an attempt to fish the edge of the ice pack.
He comes down from the wheelhouse to give them a pep talk, telling them to speed up the process so they can plug the tanks and get back in.
Deckhand Lynn Guitard continues to lag behind and gets messy with tying up the stack, prompting an additional talking-to from Keith at the wheelhouse window.
The Cornelia Marie picks up Josh Harris, who is determined to finish the year, as Captain Phil would've wanted.
Wild Bill on the Kodiak is rushing through his gear, hoping to get one more set of strings pulled before the ice pack swallows them.
He is gambling on only using the smaller orange diver pots on his final set of strings, to minimize the risk of the ice moving them.
Captain Johnathan joins the deck crew to help sorting, and they clean house with a final total of $1.2 million.
To honor Captain Phil, they throw several flaming hooks for the final pot, which is totally stuffed with crab.
Captain Keith gives Lynn Guitard the final hook throw, rewarding him for cleaning up his act.
Back on the Northwestern on its final steam to Dutch Harbor, Edgar notifies Sig that he needs a break so he can take care of his family.