Moonshiners (2011–…): Season 2, Episode 8 - Troubled Waters - full transcript

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.

Tonight on "Moonshiners"...

Things ain't looking good
Right now.

We just lost our still site.

Aah!
Get off of me!

You broke my finger!
Ow.

This keeps on getting
More complicated.

If these guys
Are pulling tobacco today,

They could be moving on
To the next field.

I got trouble.

Fire!



Moonshine is a part
Of our history.

It exists, but it doesn't,
Almost like a myth.

I'm america's
Most-wanted moonshiner.

That's not a good feeling
To be wanted by the law.

I live on the edge of anarchy.

Police! Search warrant!

It's very hard
To catch moonshiners.

Let's skedaddle.

They're very smart.

There can only be one chief.

I'm wondering if we're gonna
Pull this thing off.

Uh-oh.

Golly, that's good.

We could supply
The whole world with moonshine,



And everybody would be happy.

If you really love your country,

You're gonna have to
Love moonshine.

Graham county, north carolina.

Jeff and mark were preparing
To run two stills simultaneously

For the first time this season.

Jeff brought his wife, lynn,
And son, lance, into the fold.

But it could all go south.

Jeff and mark's water source
Was choked off by soot,

Forcing them to use
A loud motorized pump.

But the noise blast

Could be an alarm
To anyone in the vicinity

That something's going down.

Utilizing the bird calls
They've established...

...Mark warns lynn and lance
To abandon their still site

And get out of these woods.

But there's no answer.

The law is
Just around the corner.

Deputy sheriff chuck

Has received key intel
From a confidential informant

About a moonshiner who's running
Multiple stills in the area.

300 miles north,
In the mountains of virginia...

...Tickle's got his work
Cut out for him.

With his still hand howard
M.I.A.,

He must forge ahead in preparing
The mash for his first run.

It's only me here right now.

I don't even have my still hand
Here to help me,

And right now,
All I can do is just go with it.

But he's not alone.

No, I didn't.

I didn't think
Anybody owned this.

So, um, can I rent the land
From you?

Well, we're not gonna have
No trouble.

I'll have it out of here.

*bleep*

I got trouble.

He owns this property.

This is what goes along
With the territory.

He says
He ain't gonna call the law,

But I ain't so sure of that.

The pot's too big
For me to move by myself,

And I got to have it out of here

By the time
The damn sun goes down.

Things ain't looking good
Right now.

We just lost our still site.

Just across the county
In climax, virginia,

Making liquor
Isn't the only thing

Occupying tim's time and energy.

He's living a double life.

In between moving
His top-secret stash

From one hidden location
To the next

And trying to build his dream
Of a distillery,

He's also the town's fire chief,

A responsibility
He takes seriously.

When I was 16,

My house caught on fire
Christmas night.

I dragged my mother
Out of the house,

And my dog died
In the house fire.

So that's how I got started
In the fire department.

Some days, it's stressful.

Climax has had its share
Of different calls...

...Plane crashes,
Shootings, and murders.

And we actually had a moonshine
Still to blow up one time.

It was in the middle
Of the night,

And some guys had a moonshine
Still up in a tobacco barn.

The gas tank ruptured in there,

And it blew up and got some guys
Burned real bad.

You know, this is a place
To have moonshine.

I mean, everybody knows it
And everybody's in the business,

But if something happens,

I'm still the chief
Of the fire department.

I'm still responsible
For the community itself.

400 miles to the southwest...

...Not much has gone as planned
For josh and bill.

They completed
Their underground still,

But not in time
For the festival.

And when they were finally ready
To mash in,

They discovered
Toxic black mold.

It smells down here bad.

We got black crud growing
On our framing.

It's molded.It's all over it.

These rookies
May be down and out,

But they're not done for.

As luck would have it,

They have access to the last
Site barney made liquor,

In the depths
Of a thick bamboo forest.

And you think we're gonna
Be able to drag the still

Up through this?

Well, we might have to cut
Some damn bamboo out of the way,

But yeah.

So far,
The worst part about it --

It's hard to get to.

And the best part about it --
It's hard to get to.

Man, that's a mess.

Barney barnwell
Was one of my best buddies.

Making a run
Where we used to make moonshine,

It makes it
All the more special.

It's like carrying on
A tradition.

Barney always said,
"Do the best you can.

That's all that matters."

That's what I'm doing.

I tell you what.
I'm gonna dread cleaning it out.

I'm glad we're moving
To one of barney's last spots,

But it just seems like we're
Starting over from square one.

120 miles to the northeast...

...After getting jeff's family
To safety,

Jeff and mark survey the lake

To determine
What red flags they set off

By using a loud water pump.

The ramifications are serious.

It could mean game over
For these veteran shiners.

Coming up...

There a spider on me?

Oh, my god! It is!

Spiders? Aah!

I don't do spiders.

Aah!

You need
Some damn man skin.

There's supposed to be a still
Down here on the lake.

When I'm coming up the lake with
A little bit of shine on me,

A lot of things can go wrong.

Having a partner
In the moonshining business

Is a thing of the past.

At this point, tim's lost track
Of tickle completely.

Tickle could be getting in
Over his head

Because if he gets down there
And don't know what he's doing,

He don't have any help --

I don't know how
He's gonna get any help.

If he does get some help,

Then he's gonna
Have to train them.

It's not everybody
That knows how to do this stuff.

And if things get rough,
Then he's gonna go down.

He's gonna get in trouble.

But he needs
To stay focused on his mission.

He has one last supply of shine

Hidden in a nearby
Tobacco field.

On the black market,
Tim's shine is so valuable

That this last batch is worth
An estimated 10,000 bucks.

But the tobacco harvest
Is fast approaching.

He'll soon be
In a race against the clock

To transfer his shine
To a safer location.

I can see this trailer
Up ahead right now.

These guys
Are pulling tobacco now.

If these guys are pulling
Tobacco in another field today,

They could be moving on
To the next field.

And I don't want to move
The moonshine

Back onto my property again.

I'm trying to hide this stuff.

This keeps on getting
More complicated.

Tim has to be certain

His supply
Hasn't been discovered.

With tobacco harvesters
All over the area

And law enforcement
All over him,

He needs stealth and speed.

Walking right up to his
Stockpile in broad daylight

Puts a bull's-eye on his back,

So he surveys the area from afar

To assess how long he has
Before he makes his move.

When they start to getting
Yellow like that,

That's showing
It's getting ripe.

You can kind of feel it, too.
It's getting real sticky like.

That's when the guys are gonna
Come in and start pulling it.

Tim needs a plan right now.

Well, I got an idea now.

I got a plan.
We'll get us some hay.

That's what I'm gonna do.

300 miles to the south...

Gun-shy
After the loud water pump

May have compromised
Their still site,

Jeff and mark decide to split up
And lay low for a while.

Now jeff's on a new mission.

An old friend and fellow
Moonshiner is in a bind.

Jeff is going to lend him
The first still he ever owned.

Mike's brother
Is in desperate straits.

He's drowning in medical bills,

And moonshining may be
Mike's only chance to help him.

My baby brother is facing
Diabetes and kidney failure.

He'll soon be going on dialysis.

When legendary moonshiner
Jim tom isn't shining,

He keeps busy with his lucrative
Side business --

Selling his one-of-a-kind
Copper stills,

Which go for an average
Of 2 grand a pop.

Josh and bill have
A monster task ahead of them --

Cleaning up
Barney's old still site.

It's smelling like
Damn swamp down here.

It may be a dump now,

But this is their only hope
To make moonshine

Before the season
Passes them by.

I'll be glad to get all this
Done and make some liquor.

Is there a spider on me?

You can pull him off.
I think he's on my ear.

Oh, my god! It is! Ugh!

You want to get him for me?

No! Hell no! Aah!

I need some gloves.

You need some man skin
On your hands.

I don't like spiders, man.

You don't need gloves.
You need some damn man skin.

Aah! You see it?
It just ran off my boot.

I'm out of here.

Man, if there was a damn
Olympic event on spider evasion,

Damn, you'd bring home the gold
Every time.

I'm a spider-o-phobe.

I don't want to be
Within five miles of a spider.

I can handle
Just about anything --

Bears, ticks, but spiders?

I don't do spiders.

Aah!

We got a little ways to go

Before we can start bringing
A still down here.

A little ways?Well...

Got to bunch to do
To get this hole up and running.

We're this close
To the end, man,

And ain't no giving up now.

We're gonna keep on plugging
Through it.

Coming up...

Whoo!
I could breathe fire with that.

And we both got a little bit
Of liquor in us, and...

Eh.

Aah! My finger!
You broke my finger!

Damn! Where?!

There are few people in america

Who can call themselves
Fire chief,

Entrepreneur, and moonshiner.

Tim has come up with
A clever hiding spot

For his secret stash
Of moonshine --

Hay bales.

Now, with tickle gone,

Tim once again calls
On his friend still bill.

Bill, he's always been
There every time I call him.

Whatever needs to be done,
He goes along with it.

We got to figure out

How we're gonna get one of these
On the truck.

You know, around here,
Everybody's got hay.

You can set off a bale of hay
Right by the mailbox,

And it'd be no big thing.

But actually inside of it,

We're gonna put moonshine in it
Is what we're gonna do.

Tim's got himself
The mother of all hay bales,

Measuring roughly 7'x6'.

The plan is to fit
His entire 100-gallon stash

In the bales,
50 gallons in each one.

He'll use a chainsaw to cut into
The dense center of the bale

And hollow it out.

After filling them
With jugs of shine,

He'll conceal the open end
By packing it with hay.

Yeah.

All right. Look, bill.
We got one shot at this.

All right.

A miscalculation here
Could be disastrous.

The 7-foot wheels of hay
Weigh up to 1,500 pounds.

And when you're ready,
We're gonna push it
On the truck.

Tell me when you're ready.
We'll push it.

Tim has no idea if his old
Trusty truck's suspension

Can handle this massive amount
Of weight.

1...

2...

3.

There it goes.

Okay.
I'll be darned.

Now we've got to get
Back home.

We've got
A little project to do.

Mike has enlisted
An old friend, tweedy,

To help brew the moonshine
He'll need to make

For his brother's
Medical treatments.

But tweedy's not
Your average moonshiner.

A vietnam vet
And special forces operative,

Tweedy's seen his fair share
Of difficult situations,

To say the least.

We're gonna set the...

Tweedy just scared off
A deadly copperhead snake.

As tickle peels away
From the still site,

He's reeling from a major blow
To his moonshine operation.

It's good to be
Your own boss, you know?

But also, on the same note,
If something goes wrong,

I'm the one
That's got to answer for it.

I've tried to do the things
I think tim would have done,

But me and tim think different.

So I hadn't done
Exactly those things.

I've done exactly
What I thought I'd do.

And the road ahead,
It ain't gonna be easy.

I got a lot of work to do
By myself,

And it's a whole lot of work
For one man.

Mike and tweedy waste no time

Dragging their materials
To the site

So they can start mashing in.

This is the first time they've
Made shine in over 15 years.

Like old gunslingers
Back in the saddle,

They need to learn
To shoot straight again.

Also known as mountain dew,
Corn squeezins, and panther pee,

Good whiskey is the end goal
For mike and tweedy.

Before it can start to ferment,

The corn mash
Needs to be heated with water.

It's a delicate process.

The mash could burn
In an instant.

While two veteran shiners
Struggle,

Two rookies
Are back to square one.

With barney's old still site
Finally clean,

Josh and bill get to work
On a platform

To support
Their massive still setup.

Let's basically lay this out

And see if we got
Some straight lines, man.

But while bill puts
His nose to the grindstone,

Josh is already on a break.

Whoo!
I could breathe fire with that.

Well, I'll tell you,
It's pretty frustrating

That we've been working
On this project for two years

And we haven't made
The first run of liquor yet.

I'm so ready to recoup some
Of this money that we've spent.

It's gonna take some work
To get the thing up and running

To where we can get
Some liquor out of it.

Oh, man.

Come on, man.

Ain't no damn sitting log,
Damn it!

I ain't playing, man!
Put the damn lid on the thing.

I'll take you.
*bleep*

Relax, dude.

Josh! Josh!

Aah! My finger!
You broke my finger!

Ow! My finger!
My finger! My finger!

Ow! Ow!

Please leave me alone.

Oh, it's broke!
Look at it!

It's even crooked!I asked nicely.

You broke my -- you broke
My *bleep* finger.

Today we started drinking
A little early.

I really didn't mean
To break your finger.

You broke my finger.

One thing led to another,

The next thing I know,
We're wrestling around.

Now I got a broke finger.

Let me see it.Don't you touch my finger.

No, I'm gonna put it back.

Oww!

And we both got a little bit
Of liquor in us, and...

Eh.

That threw a wrench
In our production today

Like you couldn't even imagine.

Coming up...

I got to get this moonshine
Out of here.

Now my truck won't crank.

This ain't good at all.

In south carolina,

Josh and bill are suffering
From the liquid flu.

I can't believe
You broke my finger.

It made it tough.

Everything we're doing's
Moving and bumping.

And every bit of it,
You need your fingers for,

So it's made it
A little aggravating.

They don't trust

That yesterday's drunken attempt
At building a platform

Will suffice.

So, they take it apart
And start from scratch,

But they're hurting
And moving at half speed.

I'm worthless
As tits on a boar hog.

Feeling that rough today?

Pretty much.

Every time we get so close
We could taste it,

Something else comes along
And knocks us three steps back.

That liquor was supposed to
Motivate us yesterday,

Wasn't it?

It did motivate me.

Meanwhile, in north carolina,

Mike and tweedy are setting up
Security measures at their site.

They're not exactly
In tip-top shape

And could use
All the help they can get

As protection from intruders.

What they lack
In modern know-how

They make up for
In macgyver-like ingenuity.

Tweedy has a few tricks
Up his sleeve.

With fishing wire and tin cans,

They'll assemble trip wires that
Act as an early-warning system.

A special forces commando

Is never short
Of defense procedures.

Tweedy is no exception.

They position
The trip wires methodically

Around the perimeter
Of the still site.

Ready?

A few counties away,
Mark hits the lake

To come up with alternative
Means of making some quick cash.

There's one legendary gangster

Who used american waterways
To transport his shine --

Al capone.

He moved his liquor across
The moonshine superhighway

Created by the great lakes
And st. Lawrence river.

Even winter didn't slow
Him and his crew down.

When the temperatures dropped,

Smugglers switched
From boat to car

And drove their shine
Across the frozen waterways.

But nothing's foolproof.

Every year,
As the spring thaw would set in,

A few unlucky drivers
And their moonshine-laden cars

Would break through the ice
And sink.

Moving across the lake at night

Will give mark
More protection from the law,

But nothing is a guarantee
When it comes to moonshining.

He'll roll the dice on this one.

Now that tim has his hay bale,
He'll make good use of it.

He'll transform it into a vessel

To carry
Over $10,000 worth of shine,

Turning operation bird nest
Into a reality.

You know, around here,
Everybody's got hay.

Yeah, this is the ideal thing

Of hiding the moonshine
Right in plain sight, you know?

You can set off a bale of hay
Right in the front yard,

Right by the mailbox,
And wouldn't be no big thing.

It looks like it's gonna work.
We just got to work at it.

It's gonna take some time

And just keep cutting
And cutting and cutting

Until we get deep enough
And big enough.

We're gonna put as many jugs
As we can get in this thing.

I think this is gonna be perfect
Right here.

So, I'm thinking, like,
Right at that tree right there.

Right there?In the middle right there.

We can hook on that.

It's a pretty good, stout tree,
Probably.

Tim's plan is to hide
The hay bale in plain sight.

He thinks he's found the ideal
Site along the side of the road.

It's close enough to his house

That he can drive by
Inconspicuously

Without anyone
Suspecting foul play.

I got
Some straps and chains.

We'll wrap it around it
And wrap it to a tree.

I'm gonna back up
To these trees.

Right.

And then I'm gonna drive out,

And it's just gonna jerk it
Out the truck.

You're just gonna try to do like
The old tablecloth thing?

Yeah.

And it's gonna land
Just like that.

And we're gonna keep from
Turning it over, right?

I want to keep it upright 'cause
It got the hole in the top.

Okay.

All right. You ready?

Ready.

Ha ha!

Are you sure
You've not done this before?

no.

It was a good idea.

Well, see,
Now it looks like

It's just
A turned-over bale of hay.

That's what it is.

Yeah, it's just
A turned-over bale of hay.

So, let's go get
Another bale.

Let's do it.
All right.

We got the still laid out
Right outside the bamboo patch.

We got to figure out a way

We're gonna squeeze it
Through all this bamboo

To get it down to our hole.

Damn.

Josh and bill
Are chugging along slowly.

The stainless still they built
Weighs hundreds of pounds.

Having to move it

Through an obstacle course of
Bamboo trees is tricky enough,

But these two are suffering
From a pounding hangover.

Ugh!

Son of a --

God almighty! This sucks!

I feel extremely good about
Being ready to make some shine.

Oh, my finger.
My finger.

I'm just ready to get it done
And make some liquor.

Looks good to me.

Meanwhile, deputy sheriff chuck

Is inching closer to victory
On a season-long investigation.

He's confident
That somewhere along this lake,

He'll find evidence
Of a moonshining operation.

Oh, where's he at?

Cutie pie's one of the most
Accurate hunters I've ever seen.

I want her to catch that rat.
Get him, girl.

If she sees a rat or a squirrel
Or anything moving, she's on it.

Get him, cutie pie.

Where's he at?

Get him.

She likes deer
And squirrels and rats.

Just about anything that moves,
She gets after it.

She's born and bred to hunt.

Uh-oh! Cutie pie, get it!

Get it!
Cutie pie, get him!

Got it.

That little field rat baby,

He didn't last five seconds
Once cutie pie saw him.

She was on him.

Rest in peace, field mouse.

Good girl.
She said, "I'm a rat terrier."

Chuck is zeroing in

On an alleged moonshining
Operation on a lakeside.

It's just a matter of time,
And he knows it.

Mark uses the cover of night

To deliver moonshine
To a customer across the lake.

And now it's time to move.

With his hay bales
Hollowed out and in place,

Tim has just one task remaining,

And it's the most dangerous.

I done looked at it,

And I just know they're gonna
Pull the tobacco in the morning.

And I got to get this moonshine
Out of here.

He needs to transfer his shine

From the tobacco field
To the hay bales,

Steering clear
Of any eyes on the road.

Now, if somebody comes up
And sees me out here

And they say something,

I'm gonna just tell them
I was looking for some deer.

I'm not hunting.
I don't have no gun,

So they can't get me
For hunting.

I was just looking at 'em.

Incredibly, tim has
No trouble finding his stash

In a tobacco field
Covering several acres.

I got these blooms.

There. You can see
That bloom right there.

That's the tobacco bloom.

Well, there's one
At the end of this row,

Right in the same row,

And that's where
I got the moonshine,
In between the two rows.

The more time
He lingers around this field,

The greater the chance he has
Of getting busted.

If you listen,

You just hear animals
And crickets and bugs --

Just normal nature making noise.

That's good.

See, if somebody comes out
In the woods,

Everything quiets down,
Everything shuts off.

So, right now,
A lot of noise going on,

A lot of things happening.

So, that's good.

Tim has successfully
Made an incognito run

To retrieve his stash of shine
From the tobacco farm.

The last piece of the puzzle
Is almost in place.

Now all that's left to do is
Tuck away the stash of shine

Into the precut hay bales.

The hay bale thing
Is the best trick ever.

It's like eggs in a next,
Isn't it?

No one's ever did this before,

And these things are sitting
Right on the side of the road.

Get out of here.

Now my truck won't crank.

This is not good.

This ain't good at all.

What's up with this thing?

We got a problem here.

This is not good.

There it went.

No.

Next time on "Moonshiners"...

hear that?

Them cops
Ain't stupid, man.

I got to get this pot
Out of here today.

What the hell is this?

There's a big hole
In the side of it,

Looked like
Somebody hit it with an axe

And done beat it up pretty good.

This could put me
Dead in the water.

That sounded like gunfire.

There it was again.

Someone needs to stop Clearway Law.
Public shouldn't leave reviews for lawyers.