The BEST episodes of Baywatch season 8

Every episode of Baywatch season 8, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Baywatch season 8!

This long-running series follows the adventures of a team of lifeguards on the crowded beaches of Los Angeles County. Veteran lifeguard Mitch Buchannon watches over the younger lifeguards that come and go with each passing season as they keep the beaches safe for vacationers. Frequently he must take action to save them from the raging seas and from the raging tempers that sometimes flare up between the young guards in this stressful job.

Last Updated: 12/12/2024Network: SyndicationStatus: Ended
Rookie Summer
star
7.79
24 votes

#1 - Rookie Summer

Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/1997

It's the beginning of the summer and rookie school has just started. Cody meets his old diving instructor from Hawaii there. Her name is Lani McKenzie, and she has problems with her ex-boyfriend Darren. He can't accept that she has left him. When Darren approaches Lani and Sheryl while they are jogging on the beach, he and Cody end up in a fight. Later Lani is kidnapped by Darren and held hostage on a boat. However, Cody manages to locate the right boat and is able to bring Lani out of there, with a little help from her as well. Meanwhile, Manny wins the rookie competition and is really excited. When Mitch tells him that he can't become a lifeguard, due to the fact that he can't see well enough without his contact lenses, Manny freaks out and break one of the windows in Mitch's office. He also refuses to accept the offer to take a job at the local beach club. The Chief wants to promote Mitch to Captain after Samantha's departure. The Chief blames Mitch for Samantha's departure. She lef

Writer: David Braff
Watch Now:Amazon
Eel Niño
star
7.70
20 votes

#2 - Eel Niño

Season 8 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/10/1997

When Cody is driving on the beach in a lifeguard truck, he suddenly sees a huge hole in the sand. He alerts Mitch over the radio. When Mitch arrives, he tells everyone of the Santa Ana syndrome. It's a warm wind that comes in from the desert and it bring all weirdoes down to the beach. Mitch calls the county and lets someone fill up the hole with new sand. Max from the county arrives in his tractor. He tells Cody that the lifeguards get all the credit for everything that happens on the beach. Nobody cares about the guy watching the sand. Later, two jet skiers get into trouble when they collide into a sand bar. Lani goes out to rescue them and has to walk over the sand bar. Cody and Sheryl arrive in the call car and Cody walks over the sand bar too. They have now found the missing sand. Later, Mitch is surprised to find out that the lifeguard trucks are gone. Someone has stolen them from the garage at headquarters. On the beach, a man with a metal detector finds that something large is

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
Watch Now:Amazon
Bon Voyage
star
7.70
23 votes

#3 - Bon Voyage

Season 8 - Episode 20 - Aired 5/4/1998

Neely, Donna and Lani are going on a cruise to Alaska. Lani is going to pose for Inside Sports on the cruise ship named the Dawn Princess. Cody doesn't want her to go there without him because he is afraid he is going to lose her like he lost C.J. Meanwhile, Neely tells Mitch that she is bringing Ashley to Alaska. It turns out that she has located her ex-husband Peter there. She will take Ashley to him because Ashley needs a family. Mitch doesn't want her to do that, because he doesn't want to lose them. But Neely decides to go anyway. Hobie has entered a competition where he has written an essay. If Hobie wins the competition, he will receive four tickets to the same cruise ship as the girls, sponsored by Princess Cruises. Hobie wins the competition and receives four tickets. He gives Mitch and Cody two tickets, but he hasn't decide who the third one is yet. Meanwhile, two jewel thieves is bringing up their emeralds from the bottom of the ocean. One of them, Leslie Stryker wants to do

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
Writer: David Braff
Watch Now:Amazon
Charlie
star
7.67
21 votes

#4 - Charlie

Season 8 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/1997

April's brother Charlie and her mother Paige are living with her in her small apartment. It's very hard for April to see Charlie so sick and that everyone is being nice to him out of pity. Everyone has been told that Charlie has a rare form of cancer and that he is getting treatment for it at UCLA. Later April tells Mitch that Charlie isn't being treated there, they just use him for research. A scientist is trying to find a way to detect this type of cancer. That means that Charlie doesn't have so much time left to live. She also tells Mitch that having Charlie around must be such a downer for everyone. But Mitch assures her that Charlie is really inspiring. All the lifeguards take care of Charlie and he has the time of his life with them. Mitch takes him out on a wind jet and he gets the opportunity to drive it. He also writes a song together with Hobie. Meanwhile, it's time for the annual Taplin dory race. Mitch and Newmie have won the event seven years in a row now, but this year, M

Watch Now:Amazon
Night of the Dolphin
star
7.59
22 votes

#5 - Night of the Dolphin

Season 8 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/23/1998

The episode starts with a lot of people gathered around a dead dolphin. Mitch and April arrive in a lifeguard truck and Mitch lets April transport the dead dolphin to the Marine Lab. Later some drug dealers make a deal on the beach. Behind some bushes, Garner Ellerbee is sitting on a horse named Earl, watching them. When the deal has been made, Garner starts riding towards the drug dealers. Two of them drive off on ATVs, and the third one disappears on a wave-runner. During the chase, Garner passes the tower where Mitch and April are talking. They join him for the chase in a lifeguard truck. Garner and Mitch capture the drug dealers and Mitch and Garner catch up on their lives together. It turns out that Garner now works for the Federal Police Unit. They are drug traffickers on the beach, trying to find suppliers. Garner tells Mitch about the drug smuggling ring that is operating off the coastline. In order to mark drug drop sites in the ocean, the drug dealers use a phosphorescent che

Watch Now:Amazon
White Thunder at Glacier Bay (2)
star
7.52
25 votes

#6 - White Thunder at Glacier Bay (2)

Season 8 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/18/1998

After an escalating, heart-stopping chase across a glacier, Mitch rescues Hobie and Leslie. Mitch returns to the Dawn Princess with a romantic proposal for Neely.

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
Writer: David Braff
No Way Out
star
7.48
21 votes

#7 - No Way Out

Season 8 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/26/1998

Manny's old homeboys come to the beach and confronts him about lifeguarding and his white girlfriend April, and Manny starts feeling ashamed of April. When Manny's mother Teresa unexpectedly turns up on the beach to tell Manny how proud she is of his accomplishments, she meets April. But she doesn't know that she is Manny's boyfriend. When April realizes this, she gets sad. When Taylor shows Teresa a picture of Manny and April taken at a barbecue, she realizes that April is Manny's girlfriend. When Teresa meets Manny, she tells him not to confuse his life as a lifeguard with his old life in the barrio. This helps Manny a lot and he decides to give his relationship with April a chance. April is upset because Manny didn't tell his mother about them and she decides to go scuba diving with Craig. Once underwater Craig and April see a shark. They find refuge inside a pipe tunnel. Suddenly they are forcibly sucked through a power plant intake pipe at tremendous speed. They end up in a metal

Full Throttle
star
7.48
21 votes

#8 - Full Throttle

Season 8 - Episode 17 - Aired 3/2/1998

Neely asks Mitch if he knows a cheap hotel she and Ashley can stay in while her apartment is being renovated. He tells her that they can move in with him and Hobie. Because Neely works as a waitress in a bar during the evenings, Mitch gets to baby-sit Ashley a lot and he get more and more attached to her as time goes by. When Neely is fired from her job by her boss Tommy, and learns that her land-lord ripped her off, Mitch tells Neely that she and Ashley can move in with him permanently and Neely accepts the offer. Ashley plays poker with Mitch, Newmie and Cody and she wins. Newmie and Cody compete against April and Jordan in a friendly scarab race. But when the women lose, they want a rematch. They compete in a water skills competition including wave-runners, windsurfing and paddle-boarding. But despite a good effort from the girls, Cody and Newmie end up winning the competition. Also, two rich local hotshots named Spenser and Cooper, wants to challenge Cody to a big charity race to b

Directors: Lou Stout
Missing
star
7.46
24 votes

#9 - Missing

Season 8 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/24/1997

Mitch receives a call that Caroline needs all available assistance during a rescue. Apparently a young girl named Rosanna is missing. Her mother Lucinda is real worried, but she doesn't speak any English, just Spanish. When Many finally arrives to the beach, he translates everything Lucinda says. When Manny asks Rosanna's younger sister Nikki what happened, she tells Manny that Rosanna was very sad and that she waited for the lifeguard on duty, Cody, to leave his tower. When Cody left to meet Lani at the movies, Rosanna went into the water, and Nikki never saw Rosanna coming out of the water. Mitch organizes a search unit. All available lifeguards are sent to the beach. J.D. and Sheryl have been out on surfboards but couldn't find anything. Later Manny finds out that Cody left his tower 4:57 p.m., not 5 p.m. This upsets Mitch who doesn't like when a lifeguard leaves the tower early. Meanwhile, Cody meets with Lani and she tells him that she just got a call from headquarters. All lifegu

Directors: Parker Stevenson
Writer: David Braff
Lifeguard Confidential
star
7.38
21 votes

#10 - Lifeguard Confidential

Season 8 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/1997

The episode starts with a man named ""Riptide"" Roger Peltyn flying over the beach with his helicopter. He keeps bothering the lifeguards. He tells everyone about the fantasies he has about Donna, he calls J.D. the ""Daytona pier killer"" and he bothers Newmie during his workout. Lt. Taylor Walsh watches everything on TV and gets upset. She storms out of headquarters and tries to force him to leave by waving her arms. Mitch sees this from the TV in the weight room and runs out to stop her. He knows that this is exactly what ""Riptide"" wants. Taylor tells Mitch that ""Riptide"" must have a spy at Baywatch. Otherwise he can't possibly know so much about the lifeguards. J.D. has no place to stay at and Cody tells him that he can stay with her and Caroline for a while. He plans on sleeping in Stephanie's old bedroom but Cody tells him that no one is allowed to sleep there. So he ends up in Caroline's bed since she is away to New York. She is auditioning for a part in the TV-series ""Shannon's Hope

The Choice
star
7.32
22 votes

#11 - The Choice

Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/1997

J.D. from Daytona Beach was a rookie at Baywatch years ago. Now he camps on the beach, and Donna tell him to leave the beach. Later she finds out who he is. J.D. has come back to Baywatch to apply for the vacant lieutenant position. It's between him and Taylor Walsh, a smart, confident and ambitious young woman. The Chief has recommended Taylor. Skylar is doing an exercise under the pier when something goes wrong and J.D. has to rescue her. But J.D. becomes paralyzed under the pier and Newmie is forced to rescue Skylar. When Mitch asks what happened, J.D. just tells him that he didn't see Skylar. Later Skylar asks J.D. why he lied to Mitch, and he tells her the truth. It turns out that a man died in his arms two years earlier at Daytona Beach. Later on during a rescue, instead of rescuing himself, J.D. places himself between the victim and the boat. J.D. is knocked out and Mitch has to rescue him while Taylor rescues the man in the boat. Mitch finally has a tough decision to make about

Countdown
star
7.30
20 votes

#12 - Countdown

Season 8 - Episode 13 - Aired 2/2/1998

When Mitch is in his tower, he sees a little girl named Bridget activating a hand grenade. He runs to her and throws the grenade into the water just before it explodes. Then he finds another hand grenade next to two little boys. Cody comes over and he helps Mitch locate the broken box on shore and account for all the grenades that were stored there. Later Mitch speaks to an old Navy SEAL friend of his. His friend tells him that a boat with a lot of explosives have been stolen. He and Cody locate the boat at the bottom of the ocean, and they dive down to it. As Mitch and Cody are searching the room, they notice how unstable the boat is and decide to come back later. Then the two villains, Ray and Vance, return to the boat. They surprise Mitch and Cody who are caught and tied up inside the boat. Before Ray and Vance leave, they set a bomb to explode. Mitch manages to get free and fights with them. He wins and heads for the scarab where he alerts the Coast Guard. Then he returns down and

Directors: Rick Jacobson
White Thunder at Glacier Bay (1)
star
7.26
23 votes

#13 - White Thunder at Glacier Bay (1)

Season 8 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/11/1998

On the Dawn Princess, Mitch and Cody surprise Neely and Lani by showing up where Cody tries to stay close to Lani during her photo shoot aboard the ship.

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
Writer: David Braff
Hijacked
star
7.25
20 votes

#14 - Hijacked

Season 8 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/1/1997

Caroline comes back to Baywatch to keep up her certification as an L.A. County Lifeguard. She fills in on a couple of shifts during an acting hiatus on Shannon's Hope. Caroline gets to work in a tower while J.D. ends up in the switch board. Taylor does this just to separate them from each other. She also decides to give Caroline some more challenging beaches than on Mother's Beach (8.6 Lifeguard Confidential). Later a thief named Trey robs a kiosk. When he sees some cops, he grabs whatever cash he can and skates away. He sees Caroline's lifeguard truck and skates after her. He jumps into the car and pulls his gun at her. He forces Caroline to speed away and she drives onto the beach. Mitch sees the truck racing along the beach and takes off in pursuit. When Caroline suddenly steps hard on the brake, her seatbelt keeps her safe while Trey is knocked against the windshield. Caroline runs to Mitch and in the meantime, Trey walks up and disappears into the bushes. After the incident, Carol

Directors: Robbie Weaver
Out of the Blue
star
7.25
20 votes

#15 - Out of the Blue

Season 8 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/3/1997

Manny and April are being trained to be better lifeguards by doing a victim hoisting training exercise. Lt. Taylor Walsh keeps on eye on them and make sure that everything goes according to plans. The helicopter lowers the hoisting bed and the victim, this time a dummy, is secured. Now they need to reattach the hoisting device and give a thumb up sign to the helicopter. Everything seems to be working well but that's just until unsure grips causes the bed to tip over. This causes the victim to fall into the water. April tells Taylor that it was her fault. Taylor says that it's OK, because it was just an exercise. But still it could have been a real situation. As a small punishment for their failure, neither one of them are assigned any towers. Since they have some time off, Manny helps April with her designs for her fashion class. He tells her that her designs remind people too much about Wisconsin. He agrees to help her make them look like the clothes people are wearing in California.

Directors: Parker Stevenson
Writer: David Braff
Surf City
star
7.16
19 votes

#16 - Surf City

Season 8 - Episode 14 - Aired 2/9/1998

Craig tells Mitch that his ex-wife Gina is currently dating a college student. When he has told Mitch about this, Mitch tells him that April and Manny have called it quits. Later, Craig drives to April's tower in a lifeguard truck. She also tells him that she and Manny broke up. She tells him that Manny never takes her feelings into consideration, and she thinks it's obvious that he is not ready for a serious relationship yet. Manny was supposed to take April to a benefit dinner for the Children's Cancer Foundation. They are honoring her brother Charlie who died a while back (8.5 Charlie). Suddenly Manny backed out and April was left without an escort to the benefit dinner. Then some jet skiers arrive and they are driving to close to the beach. Craig warns them and tells them that they are too close to the beach. But the don't pay any attention to him. Craig and April swim out and meanwhile, a surfer caught in a wave, stands up and is hit by one of the jet skiers. The jet skiers take o

Writer: David Braff
Next Generation
star
7.16
19 votes

#17 - Next Generation

Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/27/1997

Mitch who wants Manny back in rookie school, tries to convince the Chief that the regulations against contact lenses are out of date and unfair. The Chief decides to let Manny join rookie school again if Mitch decides to take the job as the new Captain. When Lani, April and Skylar are out swimming in the water, a crazy jet skier starts driving around them. The tether of April's rescue can tangles on the jet ski intake and April is dragged through the water struggling for breath. When the jet skier suddenly stops, April knocks her head on the jet ski. The jet skier drives away and Lani and Skylar help April to shore. April doesn't want anyone to find out about this, because that would make her look like a bad lifeguard, and Lani and Skylar promise to keep it a secret. The next day, April feels dizzy and falls into the water while she is climbing the cargo net. Her foot is trapped in the net while her head is under water. Hobie has to rescue her. Later they see the jet skier again. Cody

Writer: David Braff
To the Max
star
7.00
22 votes

#18 - To the Max

Season 8 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/16/1998

April, Lani and J.D. are on patrol in the scarab, when they notice a boat and suddenly see that two men are knocked into the water by a boom. They go there to rescue them, and the third one is knocked into the water as well. The owner of the boat is named Captain Bob. He is very grateful and tells them that he owes them one. They discover that Captain Bob and his sons are diving for sea urchins, and they earn a lot of money by selling the sea urchins. When Lani and April are talking about the sea urchins in the locker room, J.D. tells them that Captain Bob have agreed to take them with him when he goes diving for sea urchins. They get to keep half of what they catch. When Cody finds out about this, he wants to go too. His car doesn't work anymore and he needs money. Lani decides to tag along even though she has a terrible cold. She can't dive because her ears won't be able to equalize the pressure properly. While they are out looking for sea urchins, they hear a call for help from a ne

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
Memorial Day
star
7.00
21 votes

#19 - Memorial Day

Season 8 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/1997

The episode starts with two men throwing a body into the ocean. The next morning, Mitch goes out on a dive search with the two rookies, April and Skylar. A fishing boat had reported that they had seen two men dumping something into the water last night. It doesn't take long for Mitch, April and Skylar to locate the corpse. April drops her can of air while trying to scream, and Mitch helps her up to the surface. Later, April tells Skylar that when she saw the dead man, she remembered when she was a little child and she saw a dead man under the ice while she was ice-skating. April and Skylar are surprised to find out from the coroner's office that the man was probably already dead when he was dropped into the ocean. Later April has a nightmare about the incident and is convinced that he is calling out to her. In the dream, she sees his silver necklace in the water. She recalls that she saw it during the rescue as well. Therefore, she and Skylar dives down with a metal detector and manage

Quarantine
star
7.00
22 votes

#20 - Quarantine

Season 8 - Episode 18 - Aired 4/20/1998

A couple of lifeguards play a game called Over-The-Line. It's similar to baseball. J.D. claims that he used to be very good at it. But when he starts playing, it's hard to imagine that he has ever played before because he is really bad. Later Ed Symes from Symes Medical Supplies Inc arrives to Baywatch to meet with Mitch. He bothers everyone with his attitude and instant flirting with the female lifeguards. Mitch and Jordan are forced to rescue a struggling swimmer named Omar. They perform CPR and this brings him back to life. But it turns out that his condition is more serious than they thought, and he undergoes a series of spasms and other symptoms. They send him to the hospital where he will be tested. When J.D. arrives, he is excited about an upcoming photo shoot that will happen at his tower in the afternoon. Then he finds out that headquarters has been quarantined and no one can enter or leave headquarters from now on. It turns out that Omar may have carried a deadly disease. Thi

Directors: Douglas Schwartz
Writer: Kim Weiskoff
Homecoming
star
6.83
23 votes

#21 - Homecoming

Season 8 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/17/1997

Neely returns to Baywatch after a long absence, recuperating from a terrible skiing accident. When she is getting her pills at a pharmacy, a robber comes in. An old man named Mr. O'Hara is standing next to Neely and he has a heart attack and Neely is forced to perform CPR. The robber freaks out and grabs the money and runs away. Mitch and Donna watch Neely on TV. It turns out that Neely has become hooked on painkillers. Donna figures it out but Neely denies everything. Meanwhile, Lani sees a group of Native American Indians constructing something on the beach. When she walks over to them, she finds out that they are building a Chumash Death Bed. The Chumash Death Bed is built for an old indian named Eyes That See At Night. When Mitch arrives, Craig Pomeroy makes a surprise visit as the old indian's lawyer. Craig and Mitch catch up on their lives and Craig tells Mitch that he and Gina have separated. Mitch wants him to come back to Baywatch again but Craig isn't sure he wants to do that

Directors: Paul Cajero
Diabolique
star
6.83
23 votes

#22 - Diabolique

Season 8 - Episode 19 - Aired 4/27/1998

Newmie has created a kite-flying contest for the benefit of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. His nephew Todd is diabetic. While Newmie, April, Todd and some teenagers are on the pier, a man falls into the water and Newmie and April have to rescue him. Todd is a very depressed young boy, and he wants to live a normal life like all of his friends. April befriends him and Todd tells her that her uncle Mike has told him a lot about the Baywatch gang. Manny and April participates in the kite-flying contest and finish dead last with their dolphin kite. Meanwhile, Mitch has to rescue a woman named Sara on a burning boat. She attempted to commit suicide. Mitch's mother Irene has been taken care of Ashley while Neely has been in San Diego, and Irene wants to hire Sara as Ashley's nanny. She has good references and Mitch and Irene don't know that she is insane. In the middle of the night, Sara goes to Mitch's bed and tells him he called her name, although he didn't. The next day outside headqua

Directors: Parker Stevenson