Gold Mine was the first episode in the second series of the BBC crime drama Hustle, which aired on March 29th 2005.
Synopsis[]
The crew are back, and eager to resume their work conning rich, vain, gullible marks out of their money, when they learn an old-time grifter friend of theirs has been jailed for conning an arrogant property developer. The victim turns out to be one who thinks he can't be conned again, and is willing to jail con artists who try to do so.
Danny is eager to do prove he can, and makes a bet with Mickey he can come up with a scheme to con the unconnable a second time round. But while heis eager to see the young talent fail, believing it's impossible, the question on his lips is whether he is willing to prove a point even if it means the others going down as well...
Plot[]
Cold Open[]
Mickey and his crew - Danny, Albert, Ash and Stacie - have returned from a well-earned break, eager to resume their work as grifters. Even though Danny has spent his time away to hook up with different women, pretending to assume different roles; the latest being a airline pilot. Securing a new hotel suite for themselves, with Mickey convincing the hotel's manager that everything is above board, the group set to work finding a new mark.
At the same time, an old-time grifter Harry Holmes (Ronald Pickup) is meeting up with property developer Howard Jennings (Charlie Creed Miles), to complete a con on him after giving him a convincer to a scheme he claims will be lucrative. Only things take a turn for the worse when Jennings reveals he knows he's being conned, having taken his convincer's money for himself, and recorded their conversations, which he swiftly sends to the police, after announcing he intends to press charges against him.
Full Episode[]
At Eddie's bar, Eddie is somewhat displeased to see the crew are back, pointing out that they never paid him the money they owed on drinks they have had. Naturally, Mickey cheekily gets him to give them a round of drinks after he states his intention to bar them. But whilst the crew are discussing on who to con next, Eddie informs them about the situation with Holmes. In prison to visit him, the crew learn about how Jennings entrapped him the moment he gave his convincer to them. Holmes had not known that his mark, a rather arrogant man, had been conned before and wised up to the grifiting game by researching everything he needed to know to avoid being conned again.
Danny, believing Jennings shouldn't have done this, on the grounds that the developer should have learnt to be a better person, theorizes that he needs to be taught a lesson and should be conned again. Mickey is reluctant to this, as trying to con someone who has been conned before could only lead to trouble. Danny is adamant that Jennings is so arrogant that he can't be conned again because he now knows what to expect, that his arrogance could undo him again. Convinced he can pull it off, Danny makes a bet with Mickey that he can con Jennings a second time, wagering 50p on the challenge; Mickey, initially laughing this off, agrees in seriousness, believing this will teach the young grifter a lesson. Albert is intrigued, believing that Danny intends to show a good trait for a grifter - thinking on their feet to stay ahead of the mark - but errs on caution to the fact Mickey often does the long con with a plan.
In his briefing, two hours after making the bet, Danny states that Jennings cannot be conned in the usual fashion, as he will smell a rat, so they must try a different approach. He reveals that his plan is to convince the mark to purchase a plot of worthless land within London, on the belief it is the site of a Bronze Age gold mine - a site historians believed to exist in the area, following a major find of Bronze Age gold artifacts recently. Danny points out Jennings will be eager to do this - a while ago, he was outbid on some land by another developer, who struck it rich when the plot held Bronze Age treasure; the find infuriated Jennings, who took a golf club to his glass desk. Mickey is concerned that the con, a treasure hunt-like scam, has too many loopholes, but Danny is convinced it will work. However, unsure Danny knows how to rope in Jennings, Albert offers him a brief lesson at a bar. In a fantasy moment, time freezes, and Danny - nicking some money to pay for his "lesson" - is asked to identify things about a male drinker, that can help him make out that he's their friend. When he picks out a few things, Albert demonstrates how to read his subject: this includes highlighting things such as a ringless finger, indiciating the subject is divorced; and a tightened belt on his trousers, indicating the subject lost weight.
With this information on hand, Danny heads out to a bar frequented by property agents and developers, using Albert's lesson to get in close with Jennings. Finding he is having a bet on who can charm a female customer, Danny uses his grifting skills to make out he is charming her, in order to impress the mark. After his friends leave, Jennings questions Danny over his skill, to which he claims he works for a property company that recently moved into the city and which is seeking to secure land that will net them money. Pretending to be cocky, he tries to invites Jennings to see them the next day to know more, but when the mark refuses, Danny inadvertantly decides he should meet them now. Ringing up Mickey, he leaves him and Ash forced to rush in and set up the company in an office building much sooner than they like. Despite this, they manage to have things in place when the mark arrives, whereupon they make certain he is left alone in Mickey's "office" so as to find details on the plot his company intends to buy - a plot Ash procures in the background, from a scrap merchant along the Thames.
To ensure Jenning is hooked, Danny arranges for him to be reminded about the Bronze Age find before roping him, and has Stacie visit the exhibition they are in, in order to swap out the information cards of the museum with ones made by the crew to back up their story. Stacie, herself, poses as an assistant at the museum when Jennings arrives to examine the find, roping him further with the story of the hidden gold mine likely being within London. Albert poses as an expert at the museum, who offers his services to identify the site of the mine should it be required, believing the hidden mine's location will make the plot it is on worth a fortune. Danny is delighted with how things go, even seeing the mark to discuss more about the deal and his willingness to help Jennings sabotage it for his own profit, unaware the mark is recording their conversation with some reservation about the whole situation. On his own, Mickey has a quiet word with Albert, stressing how he fears Danny is going to undo himself with the mark, but Albert convinces him that even if wants to teach his protege a lesson, Mickey must weigh in whether he wants to bring everyone else down to prove a point.
Later that day, Jennings agrees to visit the plot of land that Mickey's "company" is planning to buy and invites Danny to join him, convinced that the plot might be hiding a hidden Bronze Age find. After calling him, Danny is delighted to witness Albert being called in to join them, but Stacie becomes concerned when the mark calls her to invite her to the site, making her worried something is wrong. The next day, Danny, Albert and Stacie join with Jennings to visit the plot, with Mickey waiting out of sight, and Ash posing as the plot's owner - an rather bullish figure with a distrust of their presence. The mark swiftly asks Albert to conduct a test of the site, to which, per Danny's plan, he claims it has the potential for holding a vast wealth of hidden gold beneath the ground. Thankful for this, Jennings makes a call, and the group become shocked when the mark brings in his own team of experts. Mickey soon arrives, acting in his capacity as a now furious developer to Jenning's underhand tactic, only for the mark to point out he is suspicious that he is being conned again, and that his own experts are here to confirm if Albert's findings are genuine. Danny, panicking, can only watch on as the experts prepare to test the site, until Ash shoots at the ground, claiming to have hit a rat that he picks up dead from the ground.
To Danny's disbelief, the experts, once they complete their tests, tell Jennings the site has traces of gold in it. As a result, Ash is given a hefty sum in cash for the plot, as the mark looks forward to finding any gold under it. When the crew leave and return to Eddie's to split up their take, Danny is convinced his plan worked as he hoped and tells Mickey to pay up - only to learn that he had covered for him behind the scenes. Mickey reveals the plan had a huge flaw in it, and that to protect the crew, he had prepared something in advance, knowing what Jennings was going to do. Ash was instructed to fill some shotgun shell cartridges with gold dust and then shoot these at the spot the experts were to test; the dead rat he pulled from the ground had been prepared in advance and taken from his person, in order to cover up what he had done. Mickey points out that while he respected Danny's thinking, he felt a well organised plan was still important, before boasting he had won the bet as a result. Danny refutes this, causing the pair to clash, as the others leave the bar, overhearing Danny wanting to double up on the bet. Mickey, naturally, tells him to shut up.
Trivia[]
- The mark in the episode is Howard Jennings.
Gallery[]
