There are two stories this week on Alaska, and they both take place in and around Bristol Bay, which is just outside of Dillingham. Their homebase for this 4th of July week trip is Todd’s parents’ house. The bulk of the episode focuses on the fact that eldest son Track (newly back from Iraq) is planning to take over the Palin fishing business, and has to prove himself worthy to Todd. This is presented to us through a number of sort of labored set ups; Track wrecks Todd’s boat trailer and doesn’t fix it; Track and his crew have to stay out all night fishing to have any hope of ending up in the black, and in doing so, neglect their clean up duties. To Sarah, Track’s fishing career is a good analogy for how hard work can earn you a good living. (Especially when you have your parents and little sister there to clean up your equipment, I guess.) At one point, Todd and Sarah head out into the bay to check on their progress and Todd starts calling all the shots, which aggravates Track, but in the end, it results in a huge haul of salmon. At the same time, Todd’s fishing buddy Becker (no, not Ted Danson’s old sitcom character, but that would have been AWESOME!) is also having a great day with his nets, so the whole commercial fishing story has a super happy ending.
