02x12 - The American Dream

[bunniefuu]

Deep into the gold mining
season...

This is getting dangerous.

...things fall apart...

Steve r.: [ Groans ]

I blame myself
for john dying.

...and the pressure
gets to be too much.

[ Horn honks ]
bull!

Most turn tail and quit...

Yeah, I'm done.

...but a few keep dredging.

Shawn: yeah!

Zeke: look at that.

It's hard
to be this damn good.

Guess who gets the gold?

[ "Gold in these hills" plays ]

♪ Listen up close, now ♪

♪ What I say ♪

♪ I'm a-gonna head out west
one day ♪

♪ I heard about a fortune
to be made ♪

♪ And I'm a-gonna get it,
now, just you wait ♪

♪ 'Cause I heard
that there's gold ♪

♪ In these hills ♪

--Captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪ Gold ♪

Narrator: nome, alaska...

Emily: overnight, all this ice
formed over the harbor.

This is frozen solid
for the winter.

Narrator: ...the cold has
set in with a vengeance...

Shawn:
if it keeps this [bleep] up,

We ain't gonna make it
back out there.

Narrator: ...and the port
is covered in ice.

Emily:
I didn't expect the harbors

To start to freeze over
like this.

[Bleep]

Dehring: how deep is it?

Three inches of ice.

Narrator: with the season
speeding to a close...

It's a never-ending battle here
to keep everything running.

Narrator: ...everyone's
got to get on the gold.

On the christine rose...

Steve p.: You ready to go?

We're ready to go.

...co-owners steve
and shawn pomrenke

Prepare for what could be
their last trip

Before the bering sea
freezes over.

Yeah, it's getting cold
[bleep] damn it.

How many more days
are we gonna get here

Before we're
really, really froze out.

I don't know.

Well, all right, then.
Let's get going here.

Let's get out there.

Steve p.: The worst season
for weather-wise I've ever seen,

But we need a couple hundred
more ounces on this last run.

Shawn:
the harbor's freezing up

And my guys still don't have
a paycheck.

We got to find some damn gold.

Narrator:
so far this season...

They just shut us down.

They just shut
the christine rose down.

Narrator: ...the pomrenkes
have been slowed down

By a lease dispute...

I don't want to daddy
to go to jail.

...and shawn's stint
behind bars.

Now they need 80 ounces of gold

Just to break even
and pay their crew.

You've got 40 ounces
for wages right now

To split between
four of you guys.

[Bleep]

Moen: it's not cheap
living up here in nome.



I'd be in the hole.

We averaged


Welcome to guatemala.

Shawn: okay, we're getting ready
to take off here.

We're gonna get out
and mine no matter what.

The whole harbor is iced over.

Three inches thick here,

But we're breaking it up
as we go.

He used the bucket,
and I slide it across the ice

And cut it with the teeth.

We'll make the goal.

Narrator: down the harbor
on the anchor management...

Slow down!

...captain scott meisterheim
and new hire joe dehring

Break through the ice
their own way.

Right now, I'm pushing
an ice field the size of --

What? Six football fields?

That's a whole lot of weight,

And you can easily slice
one of these pontoons.

They're only aluminum.

You do that -- season's over.

I'm not in
for a cold swim right now.

Narrator: six weeks ago...

...struggles with debt...

On the hill right now
staring at me,

Up my a*s, wanting some money.

Narrator: ...and alcohol...

Dehring: don't touch me.

...caused scott to crack.

No matter how
[bleep] cold it is,

I got to get gold
in that box today.

Narrator:
now clean and sober,

The captain hopes to salvage
a disastrous season.

Meisterheim: there's not much
time to be [bleep] around.

There's gold out there for me,
and I got to get it.

Narrator:
on the wild ranger...

I just don't want to gooch it
because that ice is sharp.

Narrator:
...scott's rival, vernon adkison

Inches his way
out of the harbor.

It's very important to me

To make those 100 ounces
for the season.

I have one last shot
to make this 100,

And if I can't,

Then I might have to sell
my equipment and pull out.

Narrator: for the captain,

This summer's
gold dredging season...

Get on the plane
and get the hell out of here!

Hey! I need
some cooperation here!

...has been one headache
after another.

Whoa, whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa.

This isn't happening,
I don't think.

I'm not seeing any gold.

But with diver steve riedel
fired from his crew...

I got to let you go.

Okay.

...vernon hopes his "a" team can
reach his 100-ounce season goal.

All right.

Vernon: I've spent every dime
I've got on this operation.

Cashed in my retirement, I put
up my savings -- everything.

It's all or nothing
at this point.

Narrator: a mile away,

Vernon's ex-diver steve riedel
has found a new rig --

The 20-foot clark,
captained by grant wilkins.

Steve r.: I like the clark
a lot better than the ranger.

I think vernon wanted me gone
the whole summer.

He was just putting up with me

And then found
the opportunity to fire me,

And that's what he did.

Vernon doesn't deserve any gold

Because he's a bad manager
and a bad miner,

And he's way over-extended

And he made
a lot of foolish mistakes

And he doesn't know how to mine.

He doesn't know
how to find the gold.

He doesn't know
how to set an anchor.

I hope all of his boats sink.

Okay, I don't hope that.

Narrator: on the edge...

Zeke: we need to get underwater
and get some gold,

'Cause this season's
been hard.

It's been the hardest season
I have had,

And I cannot imagine
having a harder season,

So I want to at least
just end it

On a little bit
of a high note.

Emily: it's the bitter end.

I don't think there's an end

That can be more bitter
than this one.

Narrator: one week ago...

John answered the door
with a loaded .44 magnum,

Spun the cartridge,
and put it to his head,

And pulled the trigger.

Narrator:
...captain zeke tenhoff

And emily riedel lost diver
and friend john bunce.

Today, they're dredging
for the first time

Since putting john to rest.

Emily:
I'm glad this is happening.

I'm glad that we're able
to get out

And we're not just sitting
on the shore.

I spent so much time
with john on this boat.

The only way that I can enjoy
being on this boat again

Is if I go out
and have a good day.

It was a really hard year,
but I have hope for the future

And that I need to finish
what I started.

This ought to be good.

Throw it in here.

Narrator: zeke's hired his


As a deckhand.

Gabe: it's colder than
a hooker's heart out here.

You can't really tell
by the looks of it,

But [bleep] damn.

Emily: the temperature
affects everything.

All of our engines need
to take some time to heat up.

The water lines just froze.

It just makes everything
a lot harder.

Zeke: it's getting
really cold out here.

I at least want to get
on the bottom.

Just a little bit more gold.
Just a little bit.

So far this season,
we've only done about 35 ounces.

That's just not cutting it.

I'm $250,000 in debt
in hospital bills,

And the only thing
that's gonna get me out

Is getting
into the gold real good.

Narrator: but with john gone,

The captain's gonna have to
salvage his season by himself.

Zeke: I didn't expect emily

To be completely unable to dive
this season.

Emily wants
to keep working up here,

But I don't know how to tell her

That I'm not gonna be able
to watch her

Go under the water anymore.

How's the vis?

Oh [bleep] oh [bleep]

Narrator: on the edge...

Oh [bleep] oh [bleep]

All right, um, all right,
just, zeke, the uh...

The...

[Bleep]

Zeke: hey.

The, uh...

[Bleep]

Hey, a blue hose
that connects to the pump

Blew off
on the rear engine.

Narrator: ...a blown pump hose
kills the dredge's suction.

You're gonna have to
come up.

Zeke: aah.

Why aren't there any
hose clamps on that?

Did they just bust off?

Yeah, they just blew off.

Gabe: those hose clamps
might have just came off there

'Cause they were old.

End of the season, equipment
is sitting in the harbor

Or out in the water
for months now,

And now's the time
when equipment fails.

[ Engine turns over ]

Narrator:
with pressure restored...

...zeke gets the edge
on the gold.

Four miles away
on the wild ranger...

Vernon: we're here.

This is the dive site.

Now it's just a matter
of visibility.

Everything else
is damn near perfect.

It's just if we get the vis,
we can do some good.

If not, not gonna be so good.

Narrator: ...vernon adkison
is back on his honey hole

For what could be
his last chance at gold.

It's very important to me

To make this 100 ounces
for the season.

Right now, everything I've got's
riding on this operation,

And if we can't produce,

Things are gonna get really
tight financially in my world.

Getting ready to go do a dive
and put some gold in the box.

Narrator: first up, dan autey,
steve riedel's replacement.

Galipeau:
it's been nice having dan down.

We produced as much gold
in 10 days

As what steve and I had gotten
the whole season.

What's it looking like
under there?

Um.

I have about six inches
of visibility.

It's a murky sea.

This is definitely the worst
conditions I've seen.

Vernon:
we got to get some gold,

But visibility
has not cleared up.

If we don't get
that 100 ounces, it's like --

There comes a time

When it's just not
a reasonable thing to do

To keep pouring money
down a dry hole.

I literally cannot see
the bottom of the ocean.

But now it's getting down
to the end of the season,

So we've got to
take advantage of it,

In my opinion,
regardless of visibility.

All right,
let's start dredging.

Dan was showing good aptitude
for this kind of business.

He'll stay down
as long as daryl,

And I think he works
as hard as daryl.

He's just a hard-charging
individual.

We just need
one more good cleanup

At this point in the season.

Vernon:
the wild ranger's cooking.

We've got a super team.

This definitely seems like
the turning point.

Hey, dan, have you got down
to a pay layer?

Down about, I don't know,


I'll see
what it feels like anyway.

I can't really see it.

You know, dan, it's good
having you down there.

Hopefully,
even without visibility,

You'll be able recognize
what you're in.

Steve couldn't even tell whether
he was in a hard layer or not.

Narrator: on the clark...

Time to get the gold.

...steve riedel is a new man
with a one-track mind...

Jump in the water, man.

...to beat vernon
and the wild ranger.

We've got extreme gold fever
out here on the clark.

Loud and clear, steve.

Can you tough any cobble
down there, steve?

How do you feel
about dredging by feel?

Steve's a natural.

I can't even see
where I'm dredging.

I'm just going for it.

[ Groans ]

What's up, steve?

Did it feel like
it was sequentially

Giving less and less air?

It's getting
less and less air.

Narrator:
in the freezing water,

A diver's exhaled breath can
turn to ice in his regulator.

Over time, the ice can build up
and block off his air supply.

Well, the water temperature
has gone down so low

That the regulator's freezing up
on him and he can't breathe.

So we're gonna have to
plumb a bypass

Into our suit-heater system

And pump some hot water
directly onto the regulator

To keep it from freezing up.

Narrator: grants routs hot water
over steve's regulator

To prevent the build-up of ice.

Wilkins: how's it working
for you down there, steve?

I'll just stay down here
for a second

And sort re-acquaint myself
with the abyss.

[ Groans ]

[ Grunts ]

Ohhh.

Can't breathe?

Short of breath?

Aah!

[ Chuckles ] oh, man.

This is turning into some really
seriously stressful [bleep]

You know? [Bleep]

Okay, here we go.

Steve's been
having trouble breathing,

And it seems like
everything's going wrong.

Everything's frozen.

It's just a mess.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator:
on the anchor management...

Meisterheim:
what's going on?

That would have been
my investor.

I haven't reported in
in a while,

And he was kind of concerned.

Of course,
'cause they want their money,

And I don't have it.

Dehring: we'll get
this b*tch fired up.

All right.

Come on, baby.

[ Engine turns over ]

Ready, skipper.

Can you see
anything, scott?

Can you get the nozzle
off the rope?

Yeah.

There you go.

That's good. Feels good.

Ha-ha!

Yeah, baby!

I don't know
why I keep doing it.

I keep doing it
because I'm here now,

And eventually,
I'll be successful,

And I'll be way more successful
than any of these guys here.

Narrator:
seven miles up the coast

On the christine rose...

[ Radio chatter ]

The weather man says
there's a big storm coming.

Narrator:
...a forecasted winter storm

Signals the end
of the summer season.

Moen: we're coming down
to the crunch time right now.

The season's coming to an end.

We got the north winds are
blowing this cold weather in.

We'll give her
the last heave-h* here

And see what the hell
we can come up with,

See if we can come up
with another 100 ounces.

Moen: we either find gold,
or we don't find gold.

If we find it,
everybody's happy.

If we don't find it,
everybody's [bleep]

Shawn: now I'm just gonna take
a couple pans.

Narrator:
with one last chance

To dredge up
the entire crew's salary,

Shawn tests the grounds
before digging in.

Moen: all this gold is going
straight to wages for the crew,

And so every ounce
counts right now.

Every ounce [bleep] counts.

It'd be nice to get
a couple more days out there,

But this weather
ain't gonna let us stay out.

Holy [bleep]

That's the best pan
I've ever seen in my life.

Whoo!

That's money there.
We're making some money today.

We might make our goal yet.

It's hard
to be this damn good.

If it definitely works out,

I got a golden seat
right here in this excavator.

Narrator:
on the wild ranger...

Autey: turn my light
back on, please.

...diver dan autey has been
cranking for five hours.

What's it looking like
under there?

The waves are pushing
everything around a lot.

Nothing but sand.

Can't see the gold.
There's not enough...visibility.

But a coming storm
is churning up the waters

Off the coast off nome.

Vernon:
things are not looking good.

Sounds like we've got
a big lump rolling in here.

We got some scattered
whitecaps out there.

Whoa, baby.

Visibility's
really bad.

This is getting dangerous.

Let's call it.

Narrator:
with the conditions unworkable,

This looks like the end
of the wild ranger's season.

Too much chances for mishaps
and not enough chances for gold.

Narrator:
a mile away on the clark...

Steve r. [ Groaning ]

[ Groaning ]

...after struggling for four
hours through bad visibility,

Steve calls it quits.

All right.

This much visibility --
four inches of visibility.

Wilkins:
done? You're done?

I'm done.

This is the end of the season.

This is it.

This is our last chance,
and it's not happening.

Let's pull anchor, get the heck
out of here, and go home.

All right,
let's go, steve.

Narrator:
on the anchor management...

Do you at least got
a foot or two?

Dehring: you might as well
have duct tape on your mask.

You can't see a thing.

Wind picks up, and it just
lifted that silt up,

And visibility went away.

It's frustrating.
It really is.

[ Coughs ]

That may have been the only wind
that we have this season,

And just can't see anything,
no visibility.

Guess we're done for the day.
That was quick.

But if you don't try,
you don't make no money.

Meisterheim: untie the anchor
and get the [bleep] out of here.

Dehring: yeah.

I got investors
breathing down my neck

For their money and I don't know
what else to do.

So there's a chance I won't be
back next season --

Huge chance I won't be back.

But I just got to
play it by ear.

Gonna see what happens.

Narrator: nine miles
up the coast on the edge...

Zeke, gabe and I
are pretty worried about you

Because it's
all rough up here.

...the storm rolls in.

All right, you get your
rosy little cheeks up on deck.

The swells are a lot bigger.
It's making me nervous.

Ohh.

Visibility was good
until this wind started blowing.

It started to get choppy.

Then that just k*lled
the visibility

Down there for me.

But I definitely sucked up
some gold.

Yeah, to hell with this.

Whoa.

Okay.

Let's get this dredge
the hell out of the water.

This summer's been nothing
but pain and suffering.

Aah!

See what I mean?
Pain and suffering.

[ Laughs ]

Zeke:
it's a really good feeling

To be putting
this summer behind us.

I guess it always
could have been worse.

I mean, more people
could have died.

I think that's the only way
it could have been worse.



Good riddance to 2012,
as far as I'm concerned.

We got a little gold.

You know, we had some losses.

But...

We're undefeated.

Narrator:
six miles west of nome...

Wish we could have got
another week or two in,

But that's life.

Narrator:
with a winter storm approaching

And 80 ounces short
of breaking even,

The christine rose
is the last dredge standing...

We're done. We're done for this
year -- this rotten year.

...until now.

Shawn:
it's frustrating as hell to quit

Because if there ain't gold
in that box,

I ain't gonna get a paycheck.

Pulling the anchors for the last
time this season, 2012.

All right, let's get the hell
out of here and head home.



It's that time of year
when you've got to pull out,

No more mining.

Narrator: as the season ends
and winter arrives,

The fleet takes stock
of it's last haul.

[ Laughs ]

Zeke: we can just
wash these into that,

And then we can classify it
into another tray.

Okay.

At zeke tenhoff
and emily riedel's apartment...

This is the last of our mats --
I mean, last of the season.

We got to clean it all out,
add it all up.

Narrator: ...the miners
refine their material

To get their last paycheck.

Zeke:
I always love seeing gold.

It almost doesn't really matter
how much it is.

Seeing any amount of gold
is awesome.

I know. It's so tantalizing
and mesmerizing.

So [bleep] beautiful.

Zeke:
it was a really hard year.

My plan for next summer
is to be back on the edge.

I know my little brother gabe's
gonna be working with me.

I know I need some other people.

I don't know who they're
gonna be -- maybe emily.

I don't know.

You know,
at some point, emily,

We're gonna
have to acknowledge the fact

That since john died --

I mean, I think about that
pretty much constantly

And it weighs
really heavy on me.

And with you diving,

Every time you go underwater,
you panic,

And I can't have
another person dying

And it being on my conscience,
you know.

One is enough.

Are you firing me?

No, I'm just, like --
when you're diving with me,

I'm responsible for you.

And that's,
like, more weight

Than I feel
like I want to carry.

Zeke, I'm fully aware that it's
dangerous for me to dive

Because I have panic attacks.

I don't need you
to tell me that.

It's not [bleep]
your responsibility

To tell me about
what I'm going through

Because I know already,
zeke.

That's why I'm
going to get trained.

But when we're out there,
whether you like it or not,

You're letting me
be the boss.

I'm asking you
if you're firing me,

And you're
not answering me.

I'm not trying
to be ambiguous.

I don't know
what to do about it.

It really does
worry me, emily.

I'm really worried
about the people that I love,

And I blame myself
for john dying,

And I cannot blame myself
for you dying, too.

I'm feeling a lot of things
that I really disagree with,

Like blaming yourself
for john's death.

I didn't know
that you were doing that.

You can't do that.

Two days before john died,
he showed me his revolver

And he showed me the cartridge
that had one b*llet in it.

And I knew john
was on a bender,

But at the time, I just thought,
"well, john goes on benders.

It'll be all right."

But, no, that's enough
on my conscience right now.

Okay, well...

I just want you
to understand

That there's no way
that I can absolve myself

For the responsibility if
something were to happen to you.

I think it would
[bleep] ruin me.

Narrator: at the pomrenke's
cleanup shack...

Shawn:
holy crap, that's heavy.

...shawn processes
the last gold of the summer...

Holding her down.

Fire in the hole.

...looking for profit
and the crew's wages.

It's not like we're
paid by the hour.

We get paid
by how much gold we dig,

So it's pretty scary right now.

There we go.

Yeah!
Got to like it.

Could be one
for the books.

One for the books.

I'm gonna go give this
to the father nugget.

Steve p. I'm hoping for a couple
hundred more ounces.

We need to make as much gold
as we possibly can

To cover our expenses
to pay myself and the crew.

Narrator: at the pomrenke's
cleanup shack...

...the christine rose needs
at least 80 ounces of gold

To pay their crew
and finally turn a profit.




Worth of gold,

Raises the christine rose's
season total to 700 ounces.

Thank god
for them last runs there.

At least we got something here
to pay the bills.

We got 700 ounces
in our hands right now,

So it makes it a decent year --
a good year.

We got enough to pay myself,
shawn, and the crew.

I'll go gather the boys.

You get this stuff
jarred up.

All right.

Narrator:
at vernon adkison's trailer...

This is the richest stuff
we've run through here.

...to salvage the season,

The captain's
looking for 60 ounces.

That'd be 42 ounces.


$69,000 For the wild ranger.

With dan on board,
we do a 42-ounce cleanup,

And that equals everything we've
done for the rest of the season.

We wouldn't have got
anywhere near this much

If it would have been
steve and i.

I mean,
it would have been...

What he would have
contributed

Would not have amounted
to anything.

We had 42 ounces to date.

So that's 84 for the season.

We finished the season
within spitting distance

Of my goal of 100 ounces,

So we're still in the ball game,

But I wouldn't say
we're winning.

Not yet.

We're getting there.

Narrator: for vernon's ex-diver
steve riedel...

Dang, 10:30 out.

Wish he would have
told me yesterday.

We swore to get more gold
than the ranger,

But you can't mine
with that visibility.

So I kind of feel like,
"okay, next year.

Next year,
we'll make it happen."

Narrator: his lone trip
on the clark was a bust.

Steve r.: Nome is a tough,
tough place, man.

Mick jagger
thought manhattan was tough.

No. It's easy compared to nome.

Shawn:
oh, lookit here, the old man.

Narrator:
down the by the docks...

Finally time to get paid.

...cody moen and doug graham
await their reward

For six months of back-breaking
labor on the christine rose.

I do not want to give these guys
these jars of gold.

I do not want to, but I have to.

I hope he don't
cry this time.

What's up, grandpa?

I guess it's time
to settle up.

Here you go.

Narrator:
each deckhand gets 40 ounces,

Bringing his total summer wages
to more than $66,000.

Moen: I got good gold.

It was a [bleep] season
that came to a good end.

Thanks for putting in
a good summer's work.

Narrator: in town,

Scott meisterheim
is back to his old habits.

This season started off bad.
It ended bad.

And it was bad in the middle.

But I'm not sitting on my fat
a*s on a couch on welfare.

I'm out here busting my a*s.

I didn't get the financial part
of it that I wanted.

But it'll be
a success next year.

If I come out of nome alive,
then it's a success.

Ahh.

Narrator: at zeke tenhoff
and emily riedel's apartment...

Emily:
gold's splashing about.

...the miners weigh up
the last of their gold.

Get in there.

Oh!

It's 11 ounces.

With 11 ounces worth $18,000,

The edge finishes hundreds
of ounces short of zeke's goal.

That doesn't bring us
that close to our goals,

But we were doing pretty good
when we were out there.

We were doing
like an ounce an hour.

That's
pretty [bleep] good.

That gold's still there.
I know where it is.

I think there's a huge payday
right around the corner,

And it hasn't been
happening for me.

But I'm not gonna give up on it.

The banks that I owe money to,

They're just gonna have to wait
till I hit it.

All right.

Thanks for your help,
emily.

Emily:
zeke and i, we're broken people,

And I'm gonna work really hard

To get over the issues
that I'm having --

Take some scuba classes,
and I want to dive again.

Sleep tight.
See you.

Narrator: as the summer
dredging season ends,

Only the christine rose
and the wild ranger

Come close to their
pre-season targets.

Now all that's left
for the fleet

Is packing up their rigs

And preparing
for a long, cold winter.

Steve p.: You got 100 people
come to nome, alaska.

About two out of 100

Might make more money
than what they thought.

All right, here we go.

Three or four
might make ends meet.

There it goes.

But the others
didn't make nothing.

This is an emotionally
traumatic place.

There's so many
broken people here.

It's always disappointing,

And it's always heartbreaking
at the end of the season.

The only thing
that really gets me excited,

The only time
I'm ever really happy

Is at the beginning
of a gold dredging season.

This time last year,
I was just gritting my teeth

And bound and determined
to hang in there.

And now this year,
hey, I can live with it.

All right, I can live with it.

I'm gonna come back up here
next year and just kick a*s.

Eventually,
I will turn a profit.

There's just a thin line between
being a [bleep] and a hero.

This is where I didn't
want to [bleep] be.

Shawn.

Sometimes I wonder
if it's all worth it.

Look at the a*s end!

What about it?

Settle the [bleep] down.
[Bleep]

I thought I was
settled down.

That nut doesn't fall too far
from the tree there, I guess.

But I really am proud of him.

I just got to tweak him
a little bit.

Everybody wants to quit
and everybody wants to go home.

You know what? This is my home.

I want to work
until the bitter end.

We got it!

It's the american dream --

Start out with nothing
and end up with something.