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Early this year, Deadliest Catch star Todd Meadows suffered a fatal fall overboard.

The accurately titled reality series covered the aftermath, but also what came before.

Prior to his death, Meadows had a video call with his family — promising his three young children that he was “being safe.”

This is heartwrenching. And it all played out on the series’ Season 22 finale.

Todd Meadows’ final words to his kids, revealed

On February 25, Todd Meadows fell off of the Aluetian Lady approximately 10 miles north of Dutch Harbor, Alaska.

Though his crewmates recovered him from the water within about 10 minutes, he was unresponsive.

First aid and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead.

The medical examiner determined that he died by drowning with probable hypothermia.

Extreme cold water can have a deleterious impact upon consciousness and one’s ability to move. Even if Meadows was conscious after hitting the water, that could have changed very quickly.

Before Meadows’ tragic death, he had a video chat with his family, including his three children — ages 1, 2, and 4.

Speaking to the Deadliest Catch cameras, he expressed that it was a “heart-wrencher” that his children do not understand why he is gone for so long.

Meadows promised his son that they could go fishing for salmon upon his return.

“I hope you’re being safe. If you’re not being safe, you better be safe,” his daughter told him at one point.

Meadows assured her: “Oh, I’m being safe.”

‘This is a devastating loss’

Naturally, the death of a Deadliest Catch star, while not new or unique, is both tragic and a sensitive topic.

“We are deeply saddened by the tragic passing of Todd Meadows,” a spokesperson for the Discovery Channel announced after his passing.

“This is a devastating loss,” the statement affirmed.

“And,” the spokesperson affirmed, “our hearts are with his loved ones, his crewmates, and the entire fishing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

Fans, too, are reeling from this news. To some viewers, the sort who don’t follow news about reality shows, they learned of his passing for the first time when watching the finale.

For the bulk of the 1980s, an average of 31 Alaskan crab fishermen died each year.

Those numbers have improved — and there have even been fatality-free years.

But the dangers are real. And a huge part of the peril of this work is that entering the water can easily mean never emerging alive.

Our hearts go out to Meadows’ family. His children are extremely young, but old enough to miss him.

They will, when they get older, at least have Deadliest Catch to keep their father’s memory alive in certain ways. That is something.