'Bering Sea Gold' Season 9 Episode 1 Review: The Gold War begins, Kerr and Emily, hit paydirt
Spoilers for 'Bering Sea Gold' Season 9 Episode 1
It's a gold war out there in Nome. Despite the seismic shifts, there's still ample gold left to mine your way to become millionaires and the familiar faces are back with a mission to rake in as much gold as they can. The season opener spends a good few minutes with the skippers as they outline the plans for the new season. For Ken Kerr, the new "Mr Gold", the target is clear— 4000 ounces, a record-creating haul in Nome and there's a sense of self-confidence that's hard to ignore.
Emily Riedel is back with diver Daryl Galipeau. They get an early summer jump with an idea to bring in a second dredge in addition to the Eroica. It's a day at a time as they meticulously plan to extract as much gold as they're on the ocean bed. Shawn Pomrenke is a man in debt. He needs $400,000 to release his Christine Rose from bankruptcy after a deal goes sour for him. If it means doing hours of hard inland mining to rustle up the dough, he'd do it and reclaim the lost title and glory.
Kris Kelly managed to get an interesting deal with a new dredge and sets out to Fort Davis in hopes of paydirt with brother, Andy, and father, Brad. His logic would be the new altered cobble that would have small chunks of gold, while the Eroica sails up to spot Claim 14. Kerr's crew goes up to Claim 9 to open their account.
Kerr and Emily get off to great starts while Kelly runs into some technical trouble, and comes up empty-handed. Focusing on Kerr, the Myrtle Irene scoops out major chunks of cobble and the opening day sees them make go well as they extract 124 ounces of gold. A great start to the season, while Emily and Daryl hit a honey spot that gives them a good 15 ounces. That is another solid beginning for the third-gen Alaskan after 10 hours of hard work.
The focus is on the Myrtle Irene and the Eroica as they head out to their preferred spots and get a head start in the season. The episode all outlines the massive changes brought in by mother nature and is a breezy affair. With the missions perfectly clear. Perhaps, this was one of the reasons why the writers had a special airing a week before the new season opener. There wouldn't be time wasted with introductions. There isn't much drama in the episode, but it is only a matter of time.
'Bering Sea Gold' opens with a crisp episode and manages to thoroughly entertain. The show template remains the same— Mine and counts the earnings by the end of the episode. Shawn Pomrenke fans will be hoping to see the former "Mr Gold" get back in the middle of the action and would have an "Oh, yeah!" moment when he takes a dig at the Irene calling it a "Myrtle Turtle".
But for that, he needs to get a move on.
‘Bering Sea Gold’ premieres Friday, May 15 at 8 pm ET on Discovery Channel.