16x08 - Jane's Affliction

[bunniefuu]

The end of ice mining
looms on the horizon.

And the fleet is
at the end of their rope.

As the twisted whims
of the Bering Sea tie
the miners in knots...

...who can grab
a lifeline and pull
themselves to victory?

And who
will lose their grip
and come crashing down?

That's the agreement!

All right. you.

Pick up on aisle five.

With the grind
of the winter campaign
wearing on her...

...Jane Kilcher's
bringing in some much
needed moral support.

Hello.

Hi. Hi!

Snow above.

I'm so excited!

- Whoo!
- Kate.

This season's been
tough all around,

I'm not gonna lie.

Uh-oh.

It's been
a struggle getting
the hang of ice mining.

...66.

At-- At least it's something.

We have virtually no gold

and with this team,
the pressure, is like,
breaking us down.

- Okay.
- Whoo!

Okay. Got it.

So, I guess I'm gonna drive?

You're--
You're driving.

Because I've driven
with you before.

It's been months since
I've seen a friendly face

and right now I
really need that.

So, I asked my cousin Kate
from Texas to come up

and witness this madness
that I'm going through.

And then which
way are we going?

Um...

Go forward.

- We can decide--
- Well, obviously.

Now what would
you do without me here?

Whoo-hoo!

Oh, my God.

Honestly, at this point,
I'm hoping that this team
can have, like, one day

without any fighting,

and we can actually
have, like, at least
one successful dive.

For once.

Kate, this
is Jeff and Eddie.

Eddie, Jeff.

Kate. She's a hot mess.

Just like me.

Just like me.

- So, this is the shack.
- Wow.

And I actually
sit, like, right there.

If I wanna talk to the diver,
I have to press this to talk.

I'm like, "Hello,
see any gold?"

I'm like, "Whoo."

That's what happens there.

It's crazy that this is what
I've been doing this winter.

I can't
even write,
I'm so cold.

I've never seen an ice
mining operation before.

When Emily said she needed
me to be her eyes and ears,

of course I said yes.

Oh, you're
moving the whole shack?

Wow.

Uh...

Get the holes done.

- Yeah.
- Okay.

I don't even think we're
gonna get a dive in today.

That's the way things
have been going.

So I'm gonna show
Kate around Nome.

The boys will text me when
they are ready to dive.

Fingers crossed.

All right. Well, we're gonna
get out of your hair.

I'm gonna go get fried
food at the Gold Dust.

Don't go through
withdrawal for me.

Bye.

You guys ride safe!

Thank you.

Bye.

I got two
weeks left in the season.

It's coming to an end.

As winter mining
reaches the homestretch,

Nome's resident king has
his back up against the wall.

We're getting our asses
handed to us this year.

This season I took a chance.
Left the Tomcod

and moved over
to the East Tract.

We got to spend
most of the season
close to the town.

But I don't know
the ground that well.

Honestly, that
gamble is biting me
in the a*s right now.

If I'm gonna hit 100
ounces and stay on top,

I'm gonna need better ground.

I don't know how many
holes we've done.

We always see gold but

when you're running
to heat it, it's gotta be
really good gold.

I sent Joe out ahead
of me to check one last
spot on the East Tract.

If he doesn't find anything
worth staying there for,

I'm gonna admit defeat,

we're gonna move the whole
operation to the Tomcod.

Huh.

Oh, where, oh,
where did my Joe go?

One shack's still here.

Where in the hell did Joe go?

I see. Oh, look at that.

Thought this was gonna
turn out to be a good
spot but obviously not.

No gold.

Crap, he's already gone.

All the way down
to the Tomcod,
six miles down the coast.

Well, there's your answer.

I don't make many mistakes
but East Tract was one of 'em.

So, it's time to head
to the Tomcod.

I'm tracking Joe right now.

I'll find him. I got a trail.

He left me some bread crumbs.

Wish he would have
left me some flakes
of gold I can follow.

Here we go.

No gold?

Joe's
already been working.

He said he found
a potential hot spot.

I'm praying he's right 'cause
moving this whole operation,

it's a big risk.

- Yeah.
- Oh, thanks
for the sign too.

Appreciate that.

Now it's gold time.

Let's get to work.

I'm gonna go see some
of this gold that Joe's
been talking about.

He's gonna suck some
of it up. Oh, yeah!

You know I am.

Oh.

Oh, dang.

Loud and clear.

Wow.

Look at all of this stuff.

Look at all of it!

Let's get back
in money-making.

Okay, good. Go.

- Up, up, up, up.
Higher up.
- Higher up.

In winter's
waning days,

Chris McCully is looking
to lasso the gold count title.

We still have two more
weeks and we can't slow down.

It'd be really insane

to pull more gold
than Shawn this winter.

At this point, it's looking
like a very real possibility.

We just gotta close
strong and I think we
can pull this one off.

Luckily, we're on some
real hot ground.

And we call it "Wall Street."

It's just where the money is.

The plan is we're gonna send
me and John down there

so that we can reap
some dividends.

- Power on?
- Power's on.

Now I'm gonna send John first
but I got this diver named Bo.

He's new but I'm gonna
break him in up top first.

With so little time left
into our season,

we need to keep
our operation flawless.

Whoo!

Is it out?

Oh, . Oh, God!

Oh, my God.

I started idling up, that
thing gave up, like...

Almost k*lled my
operation, dude.

My air compressor, the lights.

The intake, the generator.

Good thing they're
still running though.

We got a giant leak
in the hose, um...

We can't really
mine like this.

We don't really have
a backup for this

but hopefully it's an easy fix
so that we can get back going.

It needs to be--

They fire it up, it's--

Water spraying over here.

It's like the water
park down here.

Tape.

Tape.

Tape! He's wrapping a high
pressure hose with tape.

Dude, come on.

It's not gonna come
close to cutting it.

I have to go
to the store and, uh...

Uh, get a Band-Aid for that.

Like a real fix
solution to it.

We need a proper
sleeve to fix this.

So I got to run back
to town and pick one up.

For now we're dead
in the water until we
get this thing fixed.

And that means
we're losing money.

And we're losing it fast.

Yeah, I better go do that now

before I-- we waste time.

Let's just
keep bringing it up,

and then when you think
that's good enough to weld
on and everything,

we'll put it to that level.

Right on.

With limited
time left this season,

Kris Kelly's sea crawler dream

is hanging on by a thread.

That's good!

Okay.

Andy's cutting off
one restrictor ring

for the swivel nozzle.

Mike's welding
on the other side.

If you would have told me
in the beginning that

winter would almost be over,

we have no gold, we'd
be messing with this
thing all day long,

I'd tell you, "Just
k*ll me right now."

I never dreamed it would
waste our whole season

just getting the gold
trawl up and running.

It starts off on the right,
now it's all
the way on the left.

Do you think that's a problem?

Well, then why didn't you
take care of that problem?

If we can ever get
that thing working,

it would be a game changer.

But if it keeps
needing to be fixed,

Reaper Nation is done for.

This will make sure
that we don't get rock
jams all day long.

I hope.

No, this will.
This will make sure.

So, what I'm gonna do is,

I'm gonna take
this reducer ring,

and we're just
gonna hard weld it...

to this.

And then, uh,

we'll be able to blast
the out of everything.

You like that, huh?

A million things have gone
wrong with this bad boy.

But the only thing that's
holding us up right now

is the rock guard
we've installed.

The crawler sucks up
everything in its path.

Without a rock guard,
it gets rock jammed easy.

With it fixed, that
shouldn't be an issue.

We should just be
sucking up gold nonstop.

I think we're gonna have

- the most amazing
thing on the water.
- Yeah.

And we're ready
to go back in the water.

Coming down.

It's going down.

It's flat on the ground.

Okay, there we go.

- We're good to go.
- Yeah.

Yeah, .

Oh, you see
the sand over--

Ooh, I like it like that!

I like it like that.

That's my perfect material.

A little bit of sand
over the cobble.

Yes! It's alive.

It's like a two-ton anchor's
been lifted off my shoulders.

I was starting to lose hope.

I literally was
not expecting it

to push everything around
like a plow.

I've already
taken this whole stretch.

Look at Andy over there making
more gold than he ever has.

Leave that rock alone.

Look at that.

You're a child.

Now, we just have to push
hard and mine as much
material as we can

and pray, pray this crawler
doesn't break down.

Now, get
the material below it.

Yeah, look at that.

- Look at how much material.
- Oh yeah, look
at that material.

Nice and fine.

We're actually
removing more material today,

we're probably getting
more gold per hour
than we ever have,

and we're not breaking
a sweat doing it.

Look at how well
that thing works!

Across the ice...

So, it's like, we're
pretty much set off
to just cruise here.

Despite a close
call last time out,

Zeke Tenhoff is pressing
his luck yet again.

Just dialing these
last, uh, minor details.

There's a bunch
of good gold and, uh,

it's going out
under the sand
over that way.

So this season has been
pretty good so far.

We set a minimum
goal of 25 ounces

and we're most of the way
to that number by now.

And that's because we
found a pretty hot pastry.

But the thing is, is that
it's under these crazy
dangerous pressure ridges.

And these ice blocks
are basically causing
near-death experiences.

What's up?

Last time out, a really
big chunk of ice broke off

and nearly plugged
up the hole.

We moved to an area
where the pressure ridge
isn't quite as dangerous.

It's still gonna be dicey
but the gold is so good

that we can't really
just pass it up.

Especially this
late in the season.

So bring it on!

All right.

Whoa!

Look at that!

It's so spooky.

This is one of the more
dangerous holes.

Um, just the way the pressure
ridges come down

make these really
sharp snags, um,

that tangle the tether.

That's our lifeline, um...

When we're down there,
if we don't have, uh,

a way to get back up
and we're tangled up,

there's no other way
than to make a mask off
emergency ascent.

Which is pretty much every
diver's worst nightmare.

Um, the saltwater has
a lower point of freezing.

We're looking
at 27 degree water.

Uh, you don't want
that on your face.

Okey dokey. Roger that.

I've bumped it up a little bit
after you said it was cold.

Okay. Well, I'm just going
tiny increments so it doesn't
go too hot or too cold.

I'm trying to just
give tiny little things.

All right. What are we
gonna find down here?

All right, try
and plow it through.
Let's see what's under there.

Oh!

Yeah!

Oh, look at all those pieces.

Hell, yeah. That's awesome.

It is.

Zeke is seeing some good gold.

Which is what we needed.

Hopefully, uh, we can

keep following
the trail of crumbs.

Four miles east...

Jane's team is up
and mining but without
their captain-in-training.

No nap time.

Pull me-- Pull me
up before you go to sleep.

- Cold gold.
- Cold gold?

All right. Let's do it.

Thought you were
gonna call, text.

Thought you were gonna text
when you were gonna go diving.

- What?
- I thought you were gonna text
when you were gonna go diving.

I hadn't heard from the guys

and lo and behold,

they're already suited
up and they're diving.

Like, what the hell?

Oh, you
haven't been in yet?

Jeff, I'm just really
feeling disrespected
about communication.

I thought we had
clear communication, when...

When it's time to dive,

- you guys would let me know,
or give me, like, a notice.
- Jane...

No, it's not this
one incident!

It's a lot!

- Uh, what I'm saying--
- It does matter.

Emily told me when
I came out here,

this operation would be
ready to go.

I'm not here to be
treated with disrespect.

The agreement was,
when you're diving,

that I didn't need to
stand around,

but you're still
doing mechanical issues.

- Jane--
- Don't come down on me,

I'm the one
that's disrespected,
not you!

- Yes, you are,
I'm telling you are...
- Jane--

...because my feelings
are hurt.

- That's--
- And also
communicate with me.

And our agreement was,
for when you dive...

You let me know,
and you did not.

You just--

That's the
agreement!

All right, you.

You just--

That's the agreement.

All right, you.

She is going to
call you.

Well, you're gonna
get that phone call.

Yeah, dive!

And then we'll
have a talk,
I'm not staying now!

Because you
don't say you don't
need me.

And then you're not
doing anything
till Emily talks to you.

Well, guess what,
she's gonna
talk to you.

And don't be bitching
me out when I'm the one disrespected.

The things that are
coming out of your mouth
are so rude.

And I am here to be
part of the tender.

But we agreed that
there'll be a phone call
for when you're ready to dive.

That was
the agreement.

unacceptable.

Everything I said
was right,

and everything he said
was absolutely,


Well, that was BS.

My job specifically
out here for Emily

is to oversee
the operation
while she's gone.

For them to go
and do a dive,

and not tell me,
and then why'd you
have to be like,

so condescending
about it.

Ooh.

It's just not okay
in any way.

The team is in tatters.

Hey!

So, I don't wanna
stay out here,
I feel like...

Like, I feel like
he owes me an apology.

And I don't...
I-I started by
just saying

I feel disrespected,

and he just kinda
got nasty with me.

And saying that you don't
need me here to dive...

It would've been
really nice to
have you guys here earlier.

- I was waiting
to come.
- Right.

- Well, I'm happy
that he's doing good.
- I know, right?

All right, well,
I'm gonna let you go,

I mean, I'm-I'm always
willing to work things out.

Absolutely.

Well, all right,
well, hope you guys
get lots of gold.

Hey!

Look at that,
that's beautiful, too.

- You can totally tell
the place you could take it.
- Yeah.

With the Crawler,
working at full force,

Reaper Nation might finally
have a line on success.

See that line
you've just made,

you just clear-cut
that whole area.

It worked better than
I thought it was going to.

I think, in the
last three hours,

we've done more ground
than we have in a


Borderline home run.

Depends on how much gold
I see in the box.

If I see a
coat of gold,
that's a homerun.

Finally, we actually got
a couple great hours in
with the Crawler,

no broken rock guard,

no getting stuck
on the sea floor.

Now, it's working the way
God intended,

or at least the way
I intended.

The true test is
if we have gold in there,

or are we just high
on our own supplies.

I'm shocked.

You know,
I knew it was gonna work,

but I didn't think
it was gonna work this good.

Now we're gonna
actually see if there's
any gold in the box.

Mike...
both engine's down!

Let's just see,
whatever we get
is what we get.

Hey, look at that
big piece of gold.

Holy mother
look right there, dude.

Yeah, dude,
this feels nice.

Gold there,

- gold...
- Buddy, we got gold
all through those.

Oh, look at that
little tinker right there.

Boom, it's real life gold,
it's all coming together.

We got a half a day in today.

Now we just need to
put the peddle to the metal.

Full days,
no problems for
the rest of the way.

Let's just pile up the gold,
and save our season.

Huh, we did good.

- Yay yay yay yay!
- Wait for me, buddy.

Good job, everybody.

- I don't know who
I'm talking to.
- Me.

- You, good job, Andy.
- ...your old age.

- Well, Andy, you know what,
you're a genius...
- You wanna kiss my boots?

...you put all this together,
and make everything happen.

Kiss my toes.

No need to even
work hard anymore.

Across the ice...

Yeah!

And I'm a little over
yonder a little bit.

In the
home stretch of winter,

Zeke Tenhoff's
under pressure...

Ridges.

Zeke's, uh, been down there
for about five hours today,

so we got a
good chunk done.

Well, that's good,
at least there's
a bunch of gold down there.

All right, I'm gonna
run the pumps down
and pull that tether in.

Roger.

The gold is looking hot!
That's good news.

You gotta work for
a lot of thunder,
a lot of sand.

What the

- Is it completely stuck?
- Yeah.

It's a serious
safety issue, uh...

If that tether is snagged,
there's no way for
the diver to come up,

other than de-mask
and come up.

That sucks!

So, we gotta disconnect
that mask
and pull it through?

Can you still
make it up?

Super sketchy.

Tether snag.

Pretty much, that's like,
the diver's worst nightmare
right there.

No, I mean it's...

- It's trapped in there.
- Yeah.

The ground under
these pressure ridges

has been such a
double-edged sword.

The gold is very good
and consistent,

but it's just the
third time that it's

almost k*lled one of us.

I seriously thought
I was about to
have to ditch my mask.

I know it's super risky
to keep diving under
these pressure ridges,

but gold mining
is supposed to be crazy.

Words don't do it justice.

Not really any way to
explain how
dramatic that is.

There's a
giant iceberg...

and he's like,
actively lassoing,

and he's like,
lassoing t*rture ice ball,
and it's

Jams your tether
above... against the ceiling,

and it's like, "Oh, no!"

I replay a mask-off
and set it in my head
all the time,

just because that's uh,

pretty much
worst case scenario,
you know?

The good news
is that the gold
is really good.

I realize that
it may be crazy

to keep diving under these
pressure ridges,

but bring on the crazy.

It was a good day,
I got a bunch of
hours in diving,

I put a bunch of
gold in the box.

Across the ice...

Man, this is a
beautiful ground, Joe.

She is, isn't she?

Aw!

Mr. Gold's efforts
to pull ahead of Chris McCully

are currently on ice.

This ground will
make us millionaires,

if we just figure out
how to suck it up.

Yup.

Oh!

I say, uh,

we know what's here.

It's a frozen ground,
it ain't going nowhere.



Yes, sir.

All right,
coming on up.

Yes sir, yes sir.

I guess the
good news is-is

we got a great spot
to come to,

after the thaw happens
in the summer.

But, the bad news is,

we're trying to hit
a 100 ounces,

and get
in front of McCully,

and we came up
completely empty.

And the time's running out
on the season.

It's not good.

The pressure's gonna be on
big time the rest
of the way.

Yeah, we're moving tomorrow.

This ground is frozen,
we can't move it
fast enough.

Yeah.

Let's just keep moving.

As Shawn packs it in...

I got the parts
to fix it, for sure.

Things get off-track
one in a while,
so I had to be out here,

getting things
straightened up,

making sure the operation
keeps running.

Back from town,

Chris McCully's hoping
his late season push

isn't about to get hosed.

All right,
I got the sleeve
for this hose,

so, hopefully,
we can get this thing
patched up,

and we're on our way ASAP.

I'm always the last person
to find out, you know?

Someone up,
and didn't wanna tell me,

and then just
try to fix it.

And then I find out later.

So, it turns out
it wasn't just a leak,

it's got cracks everywhere.

Someone in the team
didn't tell me
and tried to hide it.

Ah!

So now,
I really gotta scramble.

There we go.

It's like ripping up a,
a phone book.

We're gonna splice it
in the middle,
that's the trick.

Bend it over.

Yeah, there we have it.

Prime her up.

Let's see
how this thing goes.

Go ahead.

More.

Wait, wait.

This hose is fried,
it's cracked
all over the place.

So, I'm gonna have to
run back to town,

and grab another section.

We're done for the day,

and that means no gold.

I can't really think
of a worse outcome,

especially this late
in the season.

We gotta get
as much as we can get.

I'm getting the sense,
the end is near.

And now,
another episode of
Social Hour with Vernon.

All right.

Let's see what's happening
out there on the internet.

Everything in Nome
is expensive.

Fuel is like,


Than it is in the
Lower 48.

Food is off the charts.

We're paying down
Manhattan prices,

right here in this
little place of
Nome, Alaska.

Well, I've got my eye on

a, uh, little
bottom crawler.

It's about a
$5 million project,

and then I would
go out there and I would
ravage number 56.

Which is what I do
with all my money anyway.

I mean, what's to say
it would be different
if I won the lottery?

I'd just buy
more equipment

This has been
another episode of
Social Hour with Vernon.

Gather it all in here.

He's gotta clean up
the whole box again,

and it's gonna take forever,
but there is some gold in it.

Zeke Tenhoff
is hoping he roped
in enough gold

to take some of
the pressure off.

I'm pleasantly surprised.

Anytime you're
ice-diving,

you're putting
your life on the line.

But diving under
these big pressure ridges,

I feel like I'm
putting my life

a lot more on the line
than usual.

Hopefully, the results
in this sluice box

will prove that
it's worth it.

Oh, pretty.

Pan it up,
see what we got.

Come on,
get in there.

We've hit the big one.

- Right.
- Up, up...



Yeah, there we go.





is worth about $2,700.

Helping Zeke and the boys

creep ever close
to 25 ounces.

That's about what
is to be expected.


which is almost $3,000
extra that we now have.

- So, great.
- Sick.

Honestly, I would like
to see a little bit more.

These are not exactly
easy ounces that
we're getting.

There's a lot of blood,
and sweat,

and terrifying moments
along the way.

But the good news is
that we're still on course

to wind up to
where we wanna be
by the end of the season.

I'm happy with
where we're at.

Dude, I think
the results that we had

over the past,
like, three-four weeks,
are very repeatable.

Yeah.

We done.

Across the ice...

Wash it good,
no leftover rocks.

We're expecting
a different number

than the last
couple of weeks now.

Diving has
concluded for the day.

I think we're
seeing it already.

Fingers crossed.

And on the frozen
Bering Sea,

Captain Jane is returning
to tie up some loose ends.

You know,
it's the end of the season.

We don't have any gold.

Tensions are high.

I've calmed down.

It's been a rough season,
no gold,

lots of breakdowns,

we're at the
end of our ropes.

I'm like,
over being disrespected,

and it's been
a long time coming that
I stand up for myself.

If we're gonna salvage
any of this season,

it's not gonna be
fighting each other.

Hey, bring it in.

- Oh, bring it in.
- Bring, bring it in.

Yeah.

Uh, the box
looks good,

I thought you guys
had a good dive.

If we get to see gold,
it'll boost our morale.

Oh, well.

Mmm-hmm.

Okay, let's put
all the bad behind us,

and let's get
some freaking gold.

Most of the gold
is in this.

Like, black sand.

Most of it's gonna
get trapped
in the first one.

I'm already...
Oh, yeah,
can you see it, Kate?

Oh, I see it!

- Good spot.
- I know.

Definitely a good spot.

Moment of truth.

Bum-bum-bum.

Yeah!

One three five.

It's not going up.

Oh!



Which is good.


is worth over $8,000.

And while,
not breaking the bank,

it's easily the best clean out
out of the season,

for Team Riedel.

We got the band
back together
and had a really good day.

- Had a good set, guys,
good set.
- Yeah.

It's been a rocky road,

but now we're all
gonna be on the same page.

The gold is
starting to come in.

And we have
really good mojo.

So, let's finish strong.

- It was a great day, and...
- Awesome.

- Tomorrow's gonna be
a good day and--
- Encore!

- Tomorrow's gonna be
even better.
- Oh, yeah.

It was
a great dive.

Awesome.

The front-runners
both stall out.

While Team Emily and Zeke

shake up the board.

Next time,
on Bering Sea Gold...

We gotta find some gold,
and we gotta
get on it now.

It's time to
go to work.

Good to go!

You're just
one lazy

You need to do that... yourself.

Damn it!

Hit the pipe underneath.

Get in the water.

Get wet.

Get your hose.

I'm about ready
to pass out.

Whoa, yeah!

Hi!

He's loving it
down there.

Gold. Let it rain.

Oh, oh my gosh,
Emily's in labor!

Come on, baby.