Tag: Dedee Pfeiffer

Jensen Ackles’ Beau Arlen Makes Us All Cry in the Season Finale of ‘Big Sky’

Jensen Ackles’ Beau Arlen Makes Us All Cry in the Season Finale of ‘Big Sky’

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The season finale of Big Sky was both what I expected and not at all what I expected – and doesn’t that just sum up the show perfectly? Season 3 was the season that Sheriff Beau Arlen came to town, which is why I started doing these recap/reviews after watching the show sporadically during its first two seasons.

Will he be back in Season 4? Will the show be back in Season 4? We don’t know. And I guess that’s not a bad way to leave it! But after the tour de force that was Ackles’ portrayal of the Sheriff in the finale, many fans are sure hoping we get to see him again.

The episode picks up right where we left off, crazy Buck ditching the van he’s got Emily and Denise in. He stops at a bar to find another vehicle and some hapless guy hears the women screaming and assures them he’ll help them.

So of course Buck kills him and steals his truck, stopping to wave at Emily and Denise with a smile after he drops the poor guy to the ground by snapping his neck. SO creepy.

Carla shows up at the rendezvous site as they’re taking Avery’s body out, distraught and calling for Beau.

Also? Extreme bowlegs there.

He comforts her, and shows himself to be the better man by telling her that in the end, he needs her to know that Avery did everything he could trying to save Emily.

Unfortunately, he says, they think that Buck Barnes has her, which makes Carla even more distraught and who can blame her? Beau reassures her.

Beau: Listen to me, I’m gonna find her and bring her back. Okay?

God knows it’s clear he desperately wants to, more than he wants anything in the universe.

I know I’m in the minority, but I really liked the evolution of Beau and Carla’s relationship in this season. Ackles has said that he played Beau as still in love with Carla, and to me that came through – he’s gentle and protective with her, reassuring her with his touch and with the intense eye contact that shows her how much he cares. And I think she realized that as the season went on, turning to him more and more and forgiving him – or perhaps understanding just how much his partner’s death damaged him – so that they could respect each other again. As co-parents definitely, but maybe as human beings too.

They figure out that Denise and Emily are still alive at least, and call Cassie to help.

Meanwhile, Sunny packs a bag, including her gun, when there’s a noise in her house. It’s Walter, who’s snuck in without the cops seeing him because, as he tells his mother, you didn’t raise a fool. He’s changed his mind about not wanting to see her anymore because Buck is alive. Sunny says she has a plan to set everything right. Sunny and Walter team up? What could go wrong?

Poppernak tells Sunny to sit tight and not go anywhere, the Sheriff is on his way and she can’t leave. Then the smoke alarm goes off in Sunny’s house and when he comes in to see what’s happening, crafty Sunny drives away.

Oops.

Back at the office, Beau, Jenny and Cassie watch the surveillance footage of Buck and see that he drops something, so they investigate, Cassie suggesting that maybe Cormac will recognize it.

Cormac does – it’s a keychain made of bone and it opens a gate that he thinks he might recognize, so he and Cassie go off to investigate.

Before she leaves, Cassie too reassures Beau that they’re going to get Emily and Denise back. Beau looks increasingly distraught – I cannot imagine what it’s like to have to wait and try to stay calm when you know your child is in such danger.

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Big Sky Nears the End of Season 3 with the Emotional ‘Are You Mad?’

Big Sky Nears the End of Season 3 with the Emotional ‘Are You Mad?’

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The answer: Hell yes! Just about everyone is mad in this episode, especially Sheriff Beau Arlen. And with good reason!

(And it turns out, some people fit the alternate definition of that question too…)

Here’s a recap of the penultimate episode and all things Beau Arlen as we head into the season 3 finale! The episode is a tension-filled roller coaster from the very first moment. Sunny comes home to find bloody handprints on the wall, calling for Buck – but it’s Paige who responds, carrying a big knife. She accuses Sunny of siccing her psychotic husband on her.

Paige: I killed him, and I’m gonna do the same to you.

Sunny holds her off, then Jenny and Cassie show up and tell Paige to drop the knife, it’s over.

Meanwhile, our favorite sheriff is in his office, looking at a framed photo of Emily as a baby in a ‘Daddy’s Girl’ frame.

He calls to check on her and she answers as she comes back from the coffee shop, juggling coffees and banana bread.

Emily: Consider me checked. Talk later?

A typical father and teenage daughter interaction, but I love how nothing discourages Beau from being protective of his “little girl”.

Poppernak says they found out who the guy from the hotel was that Beau shot, and Beau expresses his anger at Avery for this whole mess, saying  “that smug sonofabitch saw an opportunity to steal $15 million” without thinking about the consequences. Officer Madge interrupts them, and Beau asks hopefully if it’s breakfast burrito time?

Madge: I stopped serving men in 1999.

Beau: Okay…

I love Madge. The quirky characters in this show are a big part of what makes it so good.

She tells them the news that Paige is alive, and Sunny is currently being held for questioning.

Jenny questions Paige in her hospital bed. She says Buck took her somewhere underground in the woods but she doesn’t’ know where. Paige insists Sunny was in on it, that’s why she went after her. When Jenny doesn’t seem to be taking it seriously enough, Paige gets upset.

Paige: That psycho tortured me! He had hearts in jars, human trophies!

That gets Jenny’s attention for sure. We knew it!!

Beau questions Sunny, saying she’d better start talking. She insists she doesn’t know anything about the bleeding heart killer no matter what Paige says, that she was trying to keep Paige safe from the people she took the money from. Beau advises her to get out in front of all this, that this is her one chance, but Sunny is more concerned about Walter – now that Paige was found alive, he should be released. Maybe, she says, he could help them find Buck.

Beau considers.

I love that Jensen gets to do scenes with Reba McEntire. And though Sunny has been complicit in some not okay things, I can’t help but feel bad for her and relate to her love for her kids (even if she totally screwed that up too…)

Also, I may be entirely enthralled with Ackles in that faux fur collared jacket, especially in screencaps like that one. He looks like he maybe belongs in Game of Thrones and I would be here for that too.

Anyway, it’s more than a little unexpected that I’ve ended up sympathizing with Walter (and even with Paige a little), but I was happy to see that Walter is indeed released from prison. Sunny arrives to pick him up and he reluctantly gets in the car with her. She says he was right about Buck and she should have listened to him, but Walter is angry and hurt that she didn’t and I don’t blame him. Of course that fire wasn’t okay, but the guy was abused and then lived in the woods his whole life so I’ve got a soft spot for him.

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Big Sky – Mid Season Finale!

Big Sky – Mid Season Finale!

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I think we all expected the mid season finale of Big Sky to be creepy, scary and shocking – and it was! It was also unexpectedly tender and touching if you’re a Beau Arlen fan (which I am. Obviously.) So let’s recap all things Beau Arlen for this latest episode, as we head into a winter hiatus for the show.

We pick up where we left off (I love that this show does that), with Paige and Sunny uneasily figuring out what each other are up to. Paige says that Walter helped her and that she knows he’s Sunny’s son, and asks for her help finding her bag and her journal.  Sunny says she knows Paige was after a big sum of money and she thinks she knows who took the journal before the cops could. Paige offers to help get Walter out of jail if Sunny helps her find that journal. Who thinks this will go well? Exactly no one.

Beau and Jenny ask Walter more questions, telling him they’ve figured out his secret from the newspaper clippings Cassie found – that he murdered his parents in a house fire.

Walter: They weren’t my parents.

They ask him if he also killed the other child who was in the house, who was never found. Walter insists he was protecting her, that they hurt her even worse than they did him.

Walter: I set her free.

Beau: Meaning you killed her? The same damn thing.

They don’t believe Walter was able to survive on his own, and ask who helped him, mentioning Sunny and Buck.

Walter: Leave Sunny out of this.

Hmmmm.

Beau and Jenny confer with Cassie, who wonder if maybe Buck was his accomplice – and if the other kid (Meredith) is maybe still alive, though they haven’t been able to find any information on her.

Jenny gets a call from Pop. He’s at a friend’s daughter’s wedding, where he meets a pretty lady and has some fancy food, and then immediately it gets turned into a crime scene when the groom-to-be is killed. Poor Pop.

Jenny: There was a murder at the wedding.

Beau: Oh, come on! Hey, does this mean you’re Pop’s plus one for the wedding?

Jenny: Jealous?

Beau: Yeah, I wanna be Pop’s plus one!

So cute.

Jenny goes off to help Pop, and Denise and Emily pitch in to help find Meredith in the system. Denise calls him Bobo.

Emily: Bobo???

Cassie: Yeah, it’s the cringiest of all time.

Beau: It’s a harmless term of endearment. What you got, Denise-ie-poo?

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Get Ready for Big Sky’s Mid Season Finale!

Get Ready for Big Sky’s Mid Season Finale!

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How is it already time for the midseason finale of Big Sky? Tonight is a brand new episode that looks like it will be even more gasp-inducing than most of them are. Meanwhile, the cast and crew are finishing up shooting the season finale this week. We know that Jensen Ackles signed on for one season of the creepy show, so there’s no guarantee we’ll see Sheriff Beau Arlen again after this season – but let’s enjoy him while we have him! Here’s my recap of all things Sheriff Beau from the last episode of Big Sky to catch us up for tonight.

As always, there were lots of twists and turns, both in the plot and, in this episode, emotionally too. Thanks for making me care about this character and showing us his vulnerable side as well as his badass side, Mr. Ackles. Now I’m going to miss him!

bts filming the finale with a Big Sky crew member

Picking up where we left off, Beau and Jenny get to do some more interrogating, this time of the captured Walter, who doesn’t tell them anything and isn’t in the system, so they literally don’t know who he is.  I forgot to mention we also get some Ackles comedic chops in this episode too.

Beau: Mind if I call you Toby?

Sheriff Beau isn’t very happy that the mystery man left them with “a damn murder cluster”. They show him the photos of the people they think he killed, and he doesn’t react to Luke or Mary. When the photo of Paige is put down, however, Walter gets emotional – and Beau definitely notices.

Walter confesses to killing Paige, determined to protect her. Sometimes I really do feel bad for Walter. But only sometimes.

Cassie questions Walter later, asking about the hiker and why he moved the body and left a figurine with him.

Walter: I didn’t kill him. People always think the worst of me.

He says the figurine was meant for protection, for when the person passes over. Cassie asks why there weren’t figurines on Mary or Luke, didn’t they need protection?

Walter: Not from me.

Sometimes Walter tells it like it is also.

Beau gets to spend that time with Emily he’s been craving, and we get to see the soft Dad side of the Sheriff, which awwww. I love his trailer set up, with the beautiful scenic vista behind it and the lights strung up all around. Nicely done, Sheriff Beau, you’ve got a real flair for decorating.

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‘Come Get Me’ – Everyone to Beau Arlen Probably

‘Come Get Me’ – Everyone to Beau Arlen Probably

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Just kidding about that interpretation above, but that was in fact the title of last week’s episode of Big Sky. The episode was not Beau Arlen heavy, but it sure was chock full of the kind of weird-creepy-scary that we’ve come to expect from the show. Here’s my wrap up of all things Sheriff Beau and everything he finds himself in the midst of! (With lots of pretty pretty screencaps because that’s part of the point of these #Beaulegs little posts)

There were so many well-done scary scenes in this episode – Denise, who I love (along with the actress who plays her, Dedee Pfeiffer) comes back from a break to find the office dark and ransacked. She hears crashes and goes to investigate instead of running like hell (like I would have done) and hides under a desk instead. Classic horror movie trope of her pov seeing the feet of a man almost discovering her when her keys jingle, but then leaving. Phew!  He leaves behind ‘COME GET ME’ written in blood though, so that lessens the Phew factor.

Sheriff Beau and Jenny Hoyt come to investigate. Beau sees how distraught Denise is and immediately tells her to “c’mere” and wraps her up in a hug, and I’m pretty sure she felt A LOT better. I’ve experienced a Jensen Ackles hug and it is always a reliable way to make ME feel better anyway.

Actually in real life, Dedee Pfeiffer clearly agrees with me, because look at those happy hug faces. Awww.

Hoyt checks on Cassie, who says no, she’s not okay, that this is bringing it all back – about her dad.

Denise’s posting on the Bleeding Heart forum is what triggered the attack, they think, speculating that the Bleeding Heart killer is back. Or maybe never left…

They go over the files of cold case killings, including the original one, a young woman named Blair. One file of a person of interest is missing, so Beau and Jenny decide to go to check out the retired officer who signed it out last. Cassie adds that she saw one of those red hearts carved into a tree near where the truck was burning – and Beau realizes there was one on the dead hiker’s carved figure too. Suddenly Beau takes it personally.

Beau: Maybe I should pull Emily out of that camp…

Everyone screaming at their TV: Yes you absolutely should!!!

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