Get ready for tonight’s brand new episode of Big Sky with last week’s wrap up of the adventures of Sheriff Beau Arlen – in which he gets to indulge his fanboy side and do some badass stunts, probably much to the delight of actor Jensen Ackles. Last week’s episode once again opened with a Supernatural-esque creepy scary moment – a noise downstairs, a woman wakes her husband to check it out, when she runs downstairs to see what happened she finds him dead on the driveway. And someone driving away in his sportscar!
I half expected the ‘Supernatural’ title card to flash onscreen!
Here’s my what-happened-to-Sheriff-Beau-in-this-episode wrap up of what happens next. First, Beau in jeans and denim jacket, prominent beau…bow legs looking fine as he and Jenny and Cassie investigate the burnt out blue and white Suburban.
Beau gets a call – which he answers with the very Sheriff-like “Arlen, talk to me” – and off they go to investigate the murder of the poor husband.
Turns out it’s a 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, which Beau definitely appreciates. Yes, we get fanboy Beau and some shades of Dean Winchester all in one this episode!
“No way he would’ve left his Baby naked and exposed,” Beau says, and every Dean Winchester fan swoons at Jensen Ackles calling a car ‘Baby’. At a convention recently, someone asked about the Supernatural shout outs in Big Sky and Ackles admitted that yeah, those are put in by him – and that the show has been totally down with going along with that. (Excellent marketing strategy, gotta say). Anyway, Beau is smart, figuring there’s probably a lojack on it.
Everyone flirts with Hoyt in this episode, including the cop watching the car until they get there – to no avail. He tries hard, but she’s clearly not interested. Beau is mostly interested in the car, swearing when he opens the trunk and sees that someone cut her up.
Beau: Savage!
(Also every Supernatural fan half expected Jensen Ackles to open that trunk and find a devil’s trap and lots of weapons in it, let’s be honest…”
Hoyt says she’s not dating any more cops.
Beau: You are a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
That’s another Supernatural shout out, from a question Sam asked in Season 5: Riddle wrapped inside an enigma wrapped inside a taco?
Keep ‘em comin’, Big Sky!
Hoyt and Beau have an ongoing tension all episode that’s like a gendered back and forth. She doesn’t understand his fascination with the Trans Am, telling him when he calls her to come investigate not to “get your boxers in a bunch, I’m coming!” What is it, she wonders, that makes guys so fascinated with these cars – lost youth? Looking for a sense of manhood?
Beau shakes his head, a bit affronted. I kinda don’t blame him if that’s a knock at being a fan, though it may be more a knock at midlife crisis coping strategies.
Arlen does some male bonding with Poppernak instead.
Beau: Hey Pop, what am I about to ask you?
Poppernak: How many of this car registered in this state?
Beau (grinning): Look at the brains on Pop! And she thinks I only keep you around for your looks…
Hoyt: Okay, boys…
Jenny and Poppernak investigate the guy who owned the car who recently got out of jail, another car fanboy who named his car Delilah. Something Poppernak understands, saying he had a poster of the same car on his wall. I’m kinda loving all the fanboying that’s going on in this episode.
I bet actual car enthusiast Jensen Ackles had a good time playing with all these pretty vehicles. Anyway, the old guy is kinda charming and convinces them he’s not the bad guy.
Meanwhile Beau investigates another guy with a similar car. He finds the door open and walks in, the guy being calm and kinda charming so Arlen is kinda charming back (which he does oh so well).
Beau: Saw that car parked in your driveway, got me jealous…
The guy says he’s skeptical about their plan of “using my baby out there as bait” and Arlen starts to get suspicious. Beau has good instincts, like I’ve said before. When the man says he has to go let his dog out, Beau finds a turned over framed photo of the owner with the car – except that guy is not the guy who just left!
And we get this lovely profile view…
Beau finds that poor man tied up, and the other guy stealing the car!
Two weeks in a row Beau (and Ackles) have had a chance to be truly badass – this time he pursues the fleeing car, leaping up onto the hood and hanging on long enough to slap a tracker on the side of the car before the guy swerves and tosses him off. I had to grin at this moment, that grin on Beau’s – or is it Jensen’s – face!
He lands hard and rolls, and ouch, that must have hurt. He calls Hoyt still flat on his back on the road, and later limps back into the office.
Hoyt notices and asks him if he’s hurt, but he shrugs it off, saying he coulda had a career as a Hollywood stunt man. She eye rolls, but on finding out he managed to place a tracker, she smiles.
Hoyt: Nice work, Hollywood.
By the time they find the car though, it’s parked in a garage with the driver shot dead in the front seat. They notice he’s got a prison tattoo and that something was cut out of the trunk, and realize it’s the charming old ex con after all.
Jenny kicks the door in and they confront him as he stares at the box retrieved from the trunk that is apparently “the ultimate collectible.”
Hoyt once again expresses disbelief, and the old guy says “that’s because you’re not named Mickey…”
Beau’s eyebrows go up instantly.
Beau: No!
Hoyt (annoyed): Come on, boys!
Beau talks the old guy out of going for a weapon by promising that if he lets them take him in, he’ll let him have one last look at what’s inside. Good thinking, Beau!
In other words, Beau totally gets it, fanboy to fanboy. And it works! The guy surrenders, then gestures at the box, saying they had a deal.
Beau honors it, opening the box. He and the old guy stare.
Jenny: A… baseball card??
It’s a Mickey Mantle rookie card, worth millions. The old guy sighs even though he’s going to jail, saying it was worth it. He honestly didn’t seem all that happy to be out of jail anyway, saying he missed the built in company.
Hoyt and Beau celebrate with a drink, joining Cassie. She spots Cormac and goes to talk to him, Beau grinning and calling after her “Ohhhh take your time…” He asks Jenny if she meant it about never dating another cop.
Hoyt: Why, does it break your heart?
Beau: Oh, you wish!
I really like that they’re NOT romantically involved and am really enjoying their partner dynamic, so I hope that doesn’t change actually.
Meanwhile, in the creepy backwoods story lines, Paige is miffed that Walter didn’t find her bag with her journal in it. She doesn’t give up though, continuing to manipulate Walter and saying she knows he’d never hurt her. Playing with fire, Paige!
Luke takes Donno and Tonya to the place where he lost Paige, Donna intermittently holding a knife on him. Luke tells them that Paige’s journal has a seed phrase in it that unlocks an account. Donno finds one of the carved blood hearts on a tree and begins to suspect someone else has Paige. Later he spots Walter scoping out the camp and confronts him, a truly weird twosome who are half confrontational and half understanding each other as fellow weird people.
Donno: You’ve got that I-live-in-the-woods vibe.
He advises Walter to be a lot quieter if he really wants to spy. I kinda love Donno. He tells Tonya and Luke that there’s a man living in the woods.
Tonya: What kind of man?
Donno: The kind that lives in the woods.
Serious, I kinda love Donno.
Walter tells Paige that they’re looking for her and she panics, confiding in him that she and Luke stole a lot of money. Walter swears he’ll protect her, sharing the story of his friend Meredith who his adoptive parents were mean to (and made him watch?), so he burned their house down while they slept so they could never hurt her again. Paige, girl, you really should be running – but then again, she’s caught between a rock and a hard place now.
Cassie does not endear herself to Sunny and Buck by inquiring about the Suburban, which was registered to Buck. He insists he sold it and can’t remember to who, but when Cassie leaves Sunny gives her a look that is downright scary. Cormac is becoming a bit suspicious of his parents, though, asking them about Cassie’s visit. They reassure him but he’s definitely wondering if something’s up at this point.
When they run into each other at the bar, Cassie goes to talk to Cormac. Cormac notes that Cassie is asking his parents a lot of questions and says they’re good people.
Cassie: I want that to be true.
Cormac: So do I…
Denise is convinced that the missing people and dead hiker are connected to the bleeding heart murders, especially because there’s a red heart on the carved figure that was on the hiker’s body and there are some carved into trees in the woods. She offers to check the message boards (of what Cassie calls wannabe detectives).
Avery and Carla and Emily continue their weird family energy, Emily telling her mom about Avery snooping around in other people’s tents, and Avery claiming he was worried about Paige being missing but lied to Emily because he didn’t want her to get worried and call her father – “so your dad wouldn’t run up here like the hero he is.”
I don’t think Emily believes him. Still loving Emily’s realistic portrayal of a teenager in a complicated family (and a complicated situation)
Carla worries that “the Beau thing is a little crazy”.
Understandable that Avery would be a bit jealous of Beau Arlen though, just saying.
Big Sky loves to give us shocking final scenes, and this episode was no exception. One of the campers goes jogging in the woods (why is everyone always out alone in the woods??) and finds Paige’s distinctive bag dug up probably by animals (apparently Sunny didn’t do a great job of burying it). The jogger runs into Sunny and Buck and tells them, and Sunny goes with her to find it. On the way, however, the woman puts two and two together and realizes Sunny has to be the one who buried the bag. She starts screaming for help, only to be stabbed in the back from behind by Buck and collapse onto Sunny.
Good people, Cormac, sure sure. Reba seems like such a nice person in real life but she is scary as hell as Sunny!
I wonder who will bite the dust next time! And what Beau Arlen will be wearing…
New episode of Big Sky on ABC tonight – I can’t wait!
caps by spndeangirl
–Lynn
You can read Jensen Ackles’ thoughts on fandom
In his chapters in Family Don’t End With Blood
and There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done –
links on the home page or at:
I always enjoy your recaps! This one has me turning on that episode of “Big Sky” to watch again before tonight. And I ❤️ ❤️your last line. Made me smile and chuckle!
Cormac is still sus though. He still has Emily’s knife 😕
Okay, is that the Impala as Miss August on the calendar in the first victim’s garage?
If it is, I missed it!
Emily still drives me crazy. As a person of law enforcement family for real this character shpuld (would) know better tjan to do the stupid things she pulls. Repeatedly. Beau would have taught her better than that
Eh she’s 16 knows everything and is immortal. Probably didn’t think anything about it until she found Mary. The family dynamics between Emily Avery Carla and Beau are as interesting as the actual mystery for me. I have questions. I need answers.
Also, after having seen tonight’s episode.. 3×6 and 3×7 take place on the same day apparently. So they weren’t getting drinks .. they were apparently getting lunch!
Someone on Twitter has been piecing together a timeline for the season and according to them only 8 days have passed. Beau, Jenny and Cassie have been having a busy week!