This week on Big Sky, mysteries abound as the shady Sunny Barnes continues to be in the center of developments in the missing hiker case. Meanwhile, Jenny, Poppernak, and Beau have another conspiracy on their hands. Read on to find out what happened in this week’s episode of Big Sky, “The Woods Are Lovely, Dark And Deep.”
It’s Not Always Sunny in Montana
We open to the closing scene of last episode, where Sunny is talking to her apparent secret son, who we discover is named Walt (short for Walter). Walt shows Sunny the missing hiker who fell off of the Deadman’s Drop and she sends him away, saying she’ll deal with him. The fallen hiker begs her for help but she says she has a child to protect and comforts him while he dies what seems like a painful death.
Sunny’s husband, Buck, questions why she was gone in the middle of the night. She lies about taking an innocent walk, but Buck doesn’t seem to be buying it. However, when Beau and Cassie come sniffing around, he back Sunny up that lots of people could be traversing Deadman’s Drop (even though the route is closed… sure).
Meanwhile, our favorite bickering couple goes into the woods to argue after Paige flirts with Cormac. We learn that they’re biding time at Sunny’s resort until they can go back for “the money” (mysterious much???). Throughout the course of this argument, they get lost in the woods. Sunny, Buck, and Cormac inform the campers they’re missing but that they expect to find them easily (with Emily carefully documenting everything through video). Avery suspiciously glances at Paige and Luke’s cabin — almost as if he knows something, We cut back to the couple, Luke and Paige, who stumble upon a cabin in the woods — not a good sign for them. We learned earlier that Walt has a cabin out in the woods where he lives, isolated, to prevent any trouble. The two continue to argue, and eventually break up. Luke even grabs Paige in a chokehold at one point. She hits him and threatens to kill him if he ever touches her again. Luke picks up a big rock and is seen walking after her.
Avery snoops in Paige and Luke’s cabin, finding a gun and journal. Emily catches him snooping and he pretends that he just mistakenly wandered in there. Emily suggests (rather forcefully) that the other campers join the search for Luke and Paige. Sunny reluctantly agrees and tells them to fan out. Immediately, she goes to look for Walter, who doesn’t appear. She finds Cormac and tells him to keep an eye on the other campers. It’s unclear if he knows something, but he seems to have a somewhat contentious relationship with Sunny, who berates him for not acting like a “grown man” and asking too many questions.
WitSec and Hitmen and Conspiracies, Oh My!
Tonya comes to Jenny for help at the station. She wants help removing a squatter from the Bhullar’s old home, which she’s trying to sell. Jenny and Poppernak arrive to find Donna manhandling a guy — Geof (with one F) — who claims he lives there due to Montana squatter laws. However, Jenny finds a gun, lots of cash, and multiple IDs and passports.
Jenny locks Geof and Donno up, and Geof has an attempt made on his life by a random who got thrown in the drunk tank. Geof’s prints don’t come up in the system, but they do find him on the internet: real name, Paul Carlson. He’s a whistleblower for Redman Aircraft, a multimillion-dollar company producing faulty planes set to launch, endangering countless lives. However, he got cold feet and ran off before testifying. Jenny arresting him put up red flags, allowing hitmen to find him.
Beau comes back to the station, and Avery, Poppernak, and Jenny find that Redman Aircraft’s CEO disappeared two weeks earlier, adding even more mystery to Paul’s case. Interrogating Paul, Beau and Jenny learn his plan is to run for the Canadian border. They try to convince him to testify and go into WitSec. Beau promises nothing will happen to him (famous last words, my friend).
A U.S. Marshal comes to pick Paul up. Beau calls her office to verify she’s legit and they send Paul off with her. However, they also send Poppernak to trail them. Surprise surprise, the marshal takes an alternate route with Paul, leading Jenny and Beau to join the pursuit.
Beau, Jenny, and Poppernak storm the cabin where the fake Marshal has brought Paul. They manage to get the drop on her (or rather Poppernak drops her with a lamp. Didn’t know he had it in him). Beau finds the missing CEO in the basement, who turns out to be Paul’s insurance policy. They’re confident that together they can take down Redman.
Avery is in a rush to get back home, but Emily is still concerned about Paige and Luke. Emily wanders off from him for a bit and finds a trail of blood on rocks. We see notably solo Luke washing his obviously bloody body in the river. Emily takes pictures (a true crime girl at heart), but Luke turns around and sees her. The screen goes black (duhn duhn duhnnn).
Cassie and Beau: Dynamic Duo
A tip leads Cassie and Beau to Deadman’s Drop concerning the case for the missing hiker. After finding two sets of footprints on the decommissioned trail and a water bottle, they decide to head to Sunny’s ranch to update them and ask some questions (do they have questions? Yes. Does Beau want to spy on Emily? Also yes). When Cassie and Beau question Donny and Buck, they appear evasive, insisting lots of people could have been up and down Deadman’s Drop even though the trail is closed.
Beau manages to corner Emily for a chat and encounters his nemesis, the stepfather Avery. Emily brushes him off in typical teen fashion, but after Beau’s been assured that everything is going fine, he leaves (looking down in the dumps) with Cassie.
Back at Dewell & Hoyt, Cassie discovered the water bottle she and Beau found belonged to the missing hiker. Denise tells Cassie her friend’s kid that went missing around that area disappeared from Deadman’s Drop. Cassie is skeptical of the possible connection considering it was 20 years ago, but the murder was never solved and was thought to be linked to other murders.
Jenny and Beau visit Cassie in her newly moved-in ranch home. As they get to talking (and drinking tequila, a staple for those three I tell ya), Cassie tells him about the prior murder Denise was talking about. Beau is worried about Emily, and tries to check in with her. His message can’t be delivered due to her lack of service, and he seems extremely worried about her safety.
Ending on lots of cliffhangers, next week’s episode promises to be an exciting one (especially considering that promo). Will Emily escape Luke’s wrath? Will Walter continue to wreak havoc? Will Beau and Cassie finally admit their obvious attraction to one another? Just me wondering that last one? Okay.
Big Sky: Deadly Trails airs on Wednesdays at 10 p.m. ET/9 p.m. CT on ABC. If you haven’t already, be sure to catch up on the first two seasons on Hulu, check out our other content on the show here (including episodic recaps), and stay tuned for more updates.
