User Reviews

Spoilers. There's your warning. I have no idea of these are spoilers, but you get a warning anyway.

Funny season 8 comes out of the box with Todd Hoffman starting to huff and puff as young Parker simply recites the truth and tosses it in his face. As always, Todd was talking big and the kid basically tossed it back at him. Sure, the kid can be a punk, but what I see is Hoffman being so jealous that now he sees the kid as some enemy he must attack. I guess the truth hurts every time. Love that Todd was so insulted and desperate to save his crippled ego on camera, he came with the 100 ounce gold bet with Parker. It will be fun to see Todd have to cough it up.

Tony Beets should have fun moving his second bucket dredge. From when first seen on the series, the locations of Beets' operation always been somewhat a mystery. This second dredge he is recovering is not in an easily accessible location at 63° 4'48.71"N, 139°14'55.87"W. The Beets family hideout frequently seen on the show is at 64° 0'4.38"N 139° 4'45.24"W.

Previous seasons have pretty much followed 3 story lines:

Parker mines steadily on proved ground and, in spite of too many mechanical problems given their revenue, still mines more than the others combined. We all loved John Schnabel so this is a fitting homage to John's legacy of inspiring younger miners.

Todd and the Hoffmans start with lots of hope, optimism, braggadocio, then thank God for the little gold they do find while never reaching their goals, and sometimes appearing to lose it all on one bad decision after another, like the jungle mining in Guyana, or the slim deposits in unproven ground in Oregon. More often than not, the Hoffmans are showing us that perhaps you may not find what you seek after all due to lack of experience, capital, and bad decisions.

Tony Beets gives us a view back to another era, that of seafaring pirates, pillagers, and what I see as almost 'viking' determination to kick the butt of everything in his way until he dominates his domain. He has such disdain for other people that he'd probably like a completely unmanned dredge in his fantasy utopia. You always have to admire his 'get the ******* job done already' attitude, which would work well in wartime, but he'd get a lot more done even with his leadership and a company of people he treats and pays well. Tony, please, after decades in America, learn HOW to pronounce "dredge", it's just one syllable, not two.

Tony has a medieval commission schedule demanded of Parker, 20% of all mining revenue up to 5000 ounces while 10% is standard -then 30% at that level, which if I get this correctly, its not what is over 5000 that's 30% but all of it, so Parker pays 20% up to 4999 then suddenly loses 10% more for the next ounce? Insane, he should have a sliding scale so there's no incentive for creative math, lack of incentive to continue full bore until the weather stops you.

Now that Parker has found new land to mine in S8, Episode 1, at just the standard 10%, he has absolutely no reason to mine 5000 oz. He and Todd began S8 with a 100 oz bet on the season's total as well, so I smell a plot, a way for Parker to thumb his nose at Tony and 'give' Todd 100 oz that would have gone to Tony if each miner gets near the 5000 oz goal. That is, Todd gets 5000, Parker just stops at 4999 or less, saves 10% in commission, gladly gives Todd 100 oz that would have just gone to Tony's greed and apparent lack of math skills.

Season 8 hints at being a more interesting season than simply watching Parker dominate the overly-optimistic whose dreams are usually much larger than their skills as complete system analysts, who devise a workable plan that they can put into action with a competent company of skilled workers.