The Woobie/Live-Action TV/Deadliest Catch

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


It's hard to consider anybody active in the crab fishery The Woobie. But believe it or not, Deadliest Catch actually has one: F/V Northwestern's junior deckhand, Jake Anderson.

  • He is one of the youngest people on the show (and unlike the Harris boys, didn't grow up with the business, though he did a stint on a cod boat in his late teens). He's average height and slim, with large eyes and a soft voice. He's eager to please (although he has as much of a temper as the others when he's tired or riled enough), puts up with all the crap thrown on greenhorns for his first two seasons to prove himself, endures the rule of probably the harshest captain on the show, and seems more emotionally open than the other, more stoic men (he puts it down to only having sisters, not brothers, growing up) -- speaking openly of the fondness he has for the rest of the Northwestern's crew, calling them a new family. And if that wasn't enough, a personal tragedy in season 5 should do it.
    • When Sig and Phil trade Jakes, they decide to get them back by putting them in survival suits, tossing them in choppy water, and retrieving them with the crane. Jake Harris' transfer goes okay, but Jake Anderson is lost from sight for a few moments. He's quickly spotted, and is promptly put back to work by Sig.
    • On top of that, he had to fish through the second half of the 6th season with his father missing back home. To date, he still hasn't been found.
      • At one point, Sig took a call from Jake's mother with the news that they'd found his dad's empty car. His somber reaction:

She said "Keep Jake busy so he can't dwell on it." (beat) Well, that I can do.

    • Guess which deckhand accidentally stabbed himself in the wrist and was back to work fifteen minutes later. If you guessed anyone other than Jake Anderson (who also wasn't allowed to properly recover (to paraphrase, "'No lifting, no stooping, lifting, lifting, lifting...' If you can't lift then what's the point of you being here?") you haven't been paying attention.
    • Since he apparently hasn't stopped crabbing, would this make him an Iron Woobie?
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