Big Sky returned with a bang last week – and with lots going on, including with our favorite sheriff, Beau Arlen. Here’s my Beau-intensive recap (which is in part a great excuse to post lots and lots of caps and gifs of Jensen Ackles making Beau Arlen the latest in a long line of ridiculously hot and complex and heartbreaking characters that we all fall in love with). So enjoy!
But first, the story. The episode picks up just where it left off, Jenny finding her mother in her house bloody and roughed up and frantic, saying she messed up and needs her help, insisting the 30 grand she stole is gone and she grifted the wrong guy. Jenny is at the end of her rope, saying she can’t do this anymore, tying her mother’s hands and preparing to take her to jail, Gigi insisting they have to get out of there, it’s not safe. And sure enough, the bad guys break down the door, taking Jenny down in the process – and drag her mother out.
Poor Jenny.
And where’s our favorite sheriff? Curled up on his deck chair outside under a blanket while Carla and Emily sleep in his trailer. Keeping watch, a rifle at his side ala Dean Winchester with his knife under his pillow.
Emily joins him, saying she can’t sleep, and he gives her his blanket. I love Dad Beau.
He tells her that Avery isn’t a good guy, that he tried to steal $15 Million, that he put Carla and Emily in danger.
Beau: What does she see in him?
Then he thinks better of that.
Beau: Sorry, I shouldn’t say that to you.
I love that even in the brief glimpses we get of him, we see that Beau tries hard to be a good parent to his daughter. He’s not perfect, and he knows it, but he tries. His conflicted character, pulled by his anger to say things he shouldn’t and not keep the right boundaries with Emily, feels realistic, and we relate to his struggle to do the right thing even though what he really wants to do is badmouth Avery from one side of the world to the other.
Emily says maybe Avery’s afraid of losing Carla if he doesn’t have money.
Then she asks a serious question that has apparently driven a wedge between Beau and his family for quite some time – what happened in Houston with his partner?
Beau deflects, saying she knows what happened, but Emily calls him on it, saying he never talked about it.
Beau: Not much to talk about.
It’s painfully clear that’s not true, to us and to Emily, and Ackles lets us see every bit of the pain Beau is still in after the loss of his partner even as Beau tries to deflect. Sometimes when people are grieving, it cuts them off from the other loved ones in their lives, and it seems like that happened with Beau after he lost his partner, perhaps out of the guilt he feels about it. That’s pretty tragic, because then it’s loss on top of loss, and that’s hard to get through. Beau is still suffering from both those losses – his partner and his family. Damn it, I’m caring way too much about this character who is most likely a one season addition to the show, but I just can’t help it!
Emily: Mom never needed you to be perfect, she just wanted you to let her in more.
She leaves and goes back inside, leaving him looking so sad it broke my heart. Jensen Ackles can make you feel every bit of what his character is feeling, and it HURTS.
And damn it, he looks so good while he’s hurting and it’s all confusing as hell and please give me more of it.
