Big Sky 3.05 – Sheriff Beau Gives Hugs, Rides a Motorcycle, and Saves His Popstar!

This was a good episode of Big Sky for Beau Arlen admirers. Not a very good episode for poor Deputy Poppernak though.

Here’s my what-happened-to-Sheriff-Beau-in-this-episode recap – in which we got some heroics, some hugs and some hints of Beau’s maybe troubled past…

We also got a teaser photo from bts on set thanks to Kylie Bunbury (Cassie) of Jensen Ackles taking a probably well deserved nap, after some intense weeks of doing double duty promoting and producing the new show ‘The Winchesters’ and also being Sheriff Beau Arlen.

It’s the Sheriff’s day off, so he’s shopping for a motorbike for Emily at Gorilla Dave’s, acknowledging that her “overprotective mom” probably won’t like it, but hoping it’s better to ask forgiveness than permission.

I can imagine that he clashed with Carla over things like this in the past, but he’s also now clearly feeling like he’s losing his daughter as she’s been camping with Avery. A glimpse of Beau’s sensitivity and vulnerability when it comes to his daughter, and also the anger that’s bubbling around in there in competition with Avery.

“What’s that you say, you’ve never seen Emily so happy? That’s because you took her glamping and I bought her a bike,” he says, imagining a conversation with either her mother or her stepfather and him being the preferred parent. He must really be feeling insecure and hurt if he thinks he has to buy Emily’s love. Ouch.

His day off goes downhill in a big way when the owner confronts a guy outside and gets stabbed with a screwdriver. Beau snaps into Sheriff mode and runs after him – I’m reminded of Dean Winchester running so fast while filming ‘The End’ that none of the other actors could keep up with him, though Sheriff Beau does not run quite that fast.

(Fans theorize his pants are pretty damn tight…that’s okay, wardrobe…)  He leaps a fence as smoothly as Dean Winchester however, and though he doesn’t catch the guy, he does get the license plate of the truck he escapes in.

“I got you,” he says as it disappears.

Beau and Poppernak investigate, Beau saying he has a bad feeling about it all. I say this every week, but he has very good instincts!

Poppernak ends up questioning the wrong person and suddenly has a gun pointed at his head and is taken hostage.  Beau sees the truck and realizes Poppernak isn’t answering his phone and also that’s the truck he’s looking for, and we get a real glimpse of Dean Winchester then.

Beau: Sonofabitch that’s him!

No Supernatural fan will ever hear Jensen Ackles say ‘sonofabitch’ and not hear (or miss) Dean Winchester.

A very worried Jenny and Beau find the Deputy’s phone and realize he was in the truck too.

In the back of that truck, one of Poppernak’s captors asks the other if he’s going to kill their hostage. He says he doesn’t know, and oh no, this is not good. The captors aren’t exactly getting along well either, so the whole situation is way too volatile and you can tell Poppernak knows it.

Beau and Jenny figure out the bad guy is a former motocross rider who always escapes on a motorcycle and disappears afterwards, and that he’s stealing a lot more than bikes. Beau takes charge, giving orders and coming up with a plan and is it hot in here?

He also tries to reassure Jenny that they’ll find her partner.

Beau: I’m gonna give you a hug. We’ll find him.

Sheriff is a badass with a soft side. You can tell he’s worried too, but trying to be there to bolster Jenny.

Their hug is interrupted by a mm hmm-ing officer who says that one savings and loan hasn’t picked up their calls, so off Jenny and Beau go to try to rescue Poppernak.

cap: sensitiveham

The robbery has gone pretty south already, with the twitchy guy shooting some poor bank employee – I actually jumped when that happened because it came out of freaking nowhere!  He argues with one of the captors, Heather, who has been more reluctant to kill the Deputy but is now determined to find her mother’s safe deposit box instead of leaving.

Hearing that, the motocross guy who hasn’t been getting along with her anyway raises his gun to shoot her!

Guy: You weren’t gonna make it outta here anyway…

Poppernak shoves the vault door closed, saving her – and locking himself in with her. Bad guy gets away on a motorcycle per usual – or does he? Sheriff Beau hops on another bike conveniently left outside and gives chase – shades of Alec on Dark Angel many many years ago. And yes, I thought it was just as hot now as it was all those years ago.

I wonder how much of that Ackles actually got to do? Because I have a feeling he would have enjoyed the hell out of it.

Beau almost loses him, but uses his smarts to instead stop at the truck that’s clearly waiting to be the getaway vehicle.

When the bad guy pulls in and says start it up, instead Beau appears with the driver at gunpoint. Hah!

Beau: Hands where I can see ‘em.

Jenny, meanwhile, finds Poppernak held at gunpoint by Heather.

Jenny: Okay, Pops?

Heather threatens to blow his head off, then pistol whips him and knocks him down, so no, he’s not really all that okay. Jenny plays along and tells Heather they’re getting a car for her, while Heather laments that her mother – her own flesh and blood – cut her off and stole her inheritance, as though that is a sufficient explanation for what she’s currently doing.

Jenny: Flesh and blood doesn’t always make you a good parent. Don’t let her ruin the rest of your life, I can help you.

Jenny is, of course, talking about her own flawed mother too, and I think a part of her did want to help. Heather, however, is unconvinced. She decides that Jenny is playing her, and Poppernak is again in danger – but Jenny tackles her and knocks her out. You don’t mess with Hoyt’s friends!

Meanwhile, up in the woods at the camp, Walter bandages Claire’s wounds after he saved her from Luke bashing her head in with a rock, but he’s also creepy as hell.

He at first tells her he’s going to clean her wounds with maggots (it’s actually antiseptic) and every time he touches her hair or kisses her hand, she looks absolutely disgusted. She’s using him anyway, though, asking him to go on a secret mission to the campsite to get something for her.

Emily keeps trying to get more information from Luke and he keeps telling her to stay out of it. Em’s mother Carla has joined her and Avery.

Tonya and Donno have also arrived, pretending to be a married couple (which Donno appears to be enjoying a bit too much). He also tells Sunny he wants to ride a white horse and call it Gandalf.

Sunny (deadpan): Well it already has a name, but you do you…

Tonya and Donno threaten Luke, who says that Claire took the $15Million with her. Whoa, that’s a lot of money!

All is not peachy with Sunny and her hubby either, who reminds her that they agreed that Cormac would never know about Walter, but Sunny insists that she’ll love her firstborn no matter what he does, and when she asks Buck if he’s with her, he answers ‘always’.  She tells him some of the truth then, about the hiker falling (though we know Walter was there at the very least) and about the blue and white Suburban that has his DNA in it. Buck agrees to take care of it.

Avery, Carla and Emily play cards and Carla has totally misinterpreted Emily’s interest in Luke, and I love Emily more every episode. Cree Cicchino plays the most realistic teenager I’ve maybe ever seen on TV, making a face when Carla and Avery flirt and nearly eyerolling when she shares her concern about Paige being missing and Avery talks Carla out of wanting to call Beau about it.

Avery: Don’t worry…I’m the professional worrier…Trust me.

Me and Emily probably: Oh no, don’t trust him….

Avery confronts Luke later, saying he recognizes a seed phrase when he hears one, knows that it opens a crypto account and saw Paige’s journal and the gun. He says Luke should tell him if he’s in trouble, but Luke says he just wants to enjoy the rest of the trip. Hmmm. How exactly does Avery fit into all this??

Beau and Jenny go out for drinks with Poppernak, pranking him by saying he’s fired for doing terrible police work, the two of them grinning as he figures out they’re kidding.

Look at that smiley boy! Uh, sheriff. Sorry.

As the Deputy goes to get them a round of drinks, Beau realizes Jenny’s got something on her mind.

Beau: How are you holding up?

She says that the day got her thinking about her mother, and Beau goes for some levity, asking if she’s going to rob a bank too?

Then he gets more serious.

Beau: All we can do is the best we can. At the end of the day, all relationships have to be a two way street. Even blood. Maybe especially blood.

The sadness in those eyes…Ackles, as always, is amazing at showing us that moment of vulnerability.

Jenny at first claims not to like the “cowboy wisdom”, but then admits she actually likes it.

Who can blame her?

I’m really wondering if he was talking about his brother. What happened between them? Does Beau blame himself maybe for his brother’s death? I need to know more!

Beau is uncomfortable, but decides to accept the compliment.

Beau: We don’t really blush in Texas… maybe we just get drunk.

“To family,” they toast.

And I cannot wait to find out more about Beau Arlen’s!

The last scene belongs to Cassie, and of course it’s creepy as hell, because this is Big Sky.

Cassie is still trying to figure out what happened to the hapless dead hiker, finding the creepy carved doll on his body. The coroner rules his death an accident, but Cassie doesn’t believe it. Neither does Denise, who insists it’s tied to the bleeding hearts murder.

She meets with his grieving parents, who say that the little carved figure cannot be his – he hated ‘trinkets’. Cassie calls Cormac, who comes over and immediately starts flirting with her. Cassie flirts right back, and the two of them are kinda adorable. He says he’s seen the red heart carved into the figure before – carved on trees near the camp. For some unknown reason, Cassie goes up there alone after dark, finding the heart by flashlight as she walks through the creepy woods and a great music cue plays, something about ‘dear mother, dear mother…and no man’s land.’

She finds the blue and white Suburban on fire, and as she watches it burn, Walter watches her.

CREEPY.

And once again I can’t wait until next week!

Beautiful caps by spndeangirl

–Lynn

You can read Jensen Ackles’ thoughts on fandom

and how fans have impacted him (along with the

rest of the Supernatural actors’ thoughts) in Family

Don’t End With Blood and There’ll Be Peace When

You Are Done. Links at:

J