"Mel does not fuck with stingrays. Mel does not fuck with stingrays in such a profound way that I felt the spirit of an old Black dad who never forgave stingrays for what they did to Steve Irwin. Tonight, Mel's behavior was that of a man with such a distrust of strange animals, but he contains enough grace to give them the space to flourish."
"I cackled at Mel's misunderstanding of the size of a stingray. "I thought they were the size of a dinner plate." Is it possible that Mel thought they were swimming with Dover soles? When the friendliest stingray guide said to Mel, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, buddy," and Mel said, "I can imagine," I realized I'd been waiting so long for Mel to reveal some personality that this tiny moment of old Black dad skepticism fed a part of me that had been starving."
Mel refuses to interact with stingrays and reacts to them with deep distrust and humorous skepticism. He misunderstands their size, thinking they are as small as a dinner plate, and responds awkwardly to a guide's encouragement. That brief stingray encounter reveals a quirky, relatable personality trait. Later, Mel has a baffling dinner date with Cindy where he refuses to commit to plans or a future. He suggests he could have married quickly and divorced later, indicating doubt about wanting to remarry. The episode frames Mel's reluctance to commit as the season's central obstacle to a relationship with Cindy.
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