Tag: Henry Ian Cusick

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’ Returns and Sheriff Beau Has All Our Hearts

‘Big Sky’ Returns and Sheriff Beau Has All Our Hearts

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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.

gifs becauseofthebowties

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.

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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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Protective Dad Beau Arlen to the Rescue – Big Sky Goes ‘Duck Hunting’

Protective Dad Beau Arlen to the Rescue – Big Sky Goes ‘Duck Hunting’

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Last week’s episode of Big Sky was so action packed and full of twists and turns that I could barely live tweet it – there just was no down time! Here’s an update of what happened to our favorite Sheriff, Beau Arlen, last week – and where we leave the rest of our Big Sky inhabitants…

The episode picks up right where we left off, with clueless Luke at first thinking it’s a good thing that he’s run into ex-girlfriend Paige in the woods, but she knows he picked up that rock to kill her – and so does Walter, who “gives him a head start to make it more sporting.” Uh oh, Luke.

Beau finally arrives at the murder camp and Emily throws herself into his arms with “Daddy!” and awwww he finally gets to hold his little girl, reassuring her “I gotcha, I gotcha”.

She’s distraught, telling him how she found Mary and thought she was hurt until she saw her eyes. Poor Emily – at least her dad is here now.

Love seeing this protective Dad side of Sheriff Beau, and Jensen Ackles channels his own protective dad reality to make this scene full of tenderness.

Em tells her dad that she doesn’t think Luke could have killed Mary, but admits that’s just a feeling she has.

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