Up until this season, I would have described Discovery Channel’s “Deadliest Catch” as one of the most repetitive shows on television.

It’s a seemingly endless cycle of putting bait into crab fishing pots (giant metal cages), dropping them onto the chosen fishing grounds, pulling the pots back onto the boat, unloading the crab and staring the process all over again. Some have said Bering Sea crab fishing is the most dangerous job in the world, but at times “Deadliest Catch” made it seem like one of the most monotonous.

For five seasons, viewers watched boats like the Time Bandit, Northwestern and Cornelia Marie fish off the coast of Alaska, content to witness the grueling grind of hauling and setting pots, momentarily interspersed by dangerous storms or additional footage of Coast Guard helicopter rescue teams responding to other boats’ distress calls. It was interesting at first, but after a couple years the routine was getting boring.

To liven things up, veteran crew members would haze the new deck hands or play practical jokes on each other and other boats. During early episodes this season, two boats swapped two young deckhands to give them a taste of working with a new crew. In a needless bit of artificial tension, the boats swapped the two back by sending them floating in the ice cold sea to be plucked out of the water by their home boats. For all the talk of how dangerous it is to go overboard, I wondered why they didn’t wait to until the boats returned to shore to switch the two men back.

But that was the last time this season has needed to manufacture drama. Since then, “Deadliest Catch has been nothing short of gripping.

First, Time Bandit captains/brothers Jonathan and Andy Hillstrand talk about retiring despite not having a clear successor to take over the boat. Jonathan’s son, having grown up the son of a fisherman, ponders his role as a new father in the face of all his time spent away from his kid and the break-up of his marriage. Next, Northwestern captain Sig Hansen works his crew hard, as is his way, but injuries to his deckhands, including his brother Edgar, foment resentment. Edgar, too, considers finding a new career.

This is where fate really begins ratcheting up the drama. Loveable young deckhand Jake Anderson, who got word his sister died during the filming of a previous season, learns that his father has gone missing back home. How much bad news can this kid get? Over the course of several episodes, he gets bits of pieces of information over unreliable phone lines as authorities and family members continue searching for his dad. The discovery of his empty truck in a remote area leaves Jake scared, anxious and crushed, miles away from his family.

But the real kicker, the thing that’s had me tearing up the past several Tuesday nights, has been the saga of the Harris men on the Cornelia Marie. Captain Phil Harris has had his share of health problems caught on camera in seasons past. His sedentary, high-stress job combined with smoking and a poor diet previously resulted in a blood clot and hospitalization. This season, Phil discovered his son, Jake, has been stealing his prescription pills. Jake, turning his back to the camera, confesses to his father in a whisper that he’s addicted. Phil threatens to take him to back to land and never see him again. Shortly thereafter, Phil is found on the floor of his cabin, having suffered a massive stroke and clinging to life.

News outlets reported Phil’s death in January, and the knowledge of how this is all going to end actually makes “Deadliest Catch” harder to watch. Friends and family gather at the hospital and celebrate when the doctors tell them it looks like Phil’s condition is improving, that he might be out of the woods. Seeing their relief and happiness is crushing in light of what’s to come.

This year a confluence of personal tragedy and melodrama across the fleet have added up to lightning in a bottle, ratings gold. To its credit, “Deadliest Catch” has let it all unfold in a very organic way. Nothing seems forced or put on for effect. Having watched these people fish for years, they’ve become like friends to the audience. It’s impossible for long-time viewers not to be affected when watching the heartbreak unfold on screen.

“Deadliest Catch” airs Tuesday evenings at 8 p.m. on Discovery Channel.