‘Big Sky: Deadly Trails’ Recap – ‘Duck Hunting’

Written by Emily Auskaps

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 308 of ‘Big Sky’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.        

​Jenny and Beau are among the swath of law enforcement officials that descends on Sunny Barnes’ camp after the discovery of Mary’s body in the woods. Sunny is upset that Buck brought her body back to camp, but he assures her it’s for the best. There may be lingering DNA evidence of Buck on Mary or vice versa. Sunny’s losing her composure but Buck calms her with the reminder that Luke is still out there and pinning the murders on him still makes sense.
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Carla and Emily are relieved at Beau’s arrival, Avery less so. Tension between ex-husband and current husband is immediately palpable.

Jenny is instantly suspicious of Tonya and Donno when she learns that they are current guests at the camp. They claim they are merely there vacationing, and the murders are wrecking the experience.

With the entire camp now a crime scene, Jenny and Beau go about questioning everyone. It’s common knowledge that Luke and Mary were hooking up. Buck puts extra effort toward making Luke sound like a jerk. Sunny feels like they failed Mary. Carla found Luke to be stressed and nervous, to Emily he seemed scared, warning her there were bad people at the camp. Avery can’t resist mentioning the $15 million in crypto that Luke had, though he says he thought Luke was joking about it.

Jenny wants to make another sweep through Luke’s tent. She tells Beau she thinks the money changes how they need to look at things; Beau thinks that Avery is likely full of it. Jenny finds Paige’s phone under Luke’s mattress where Sunny planted it. Jenny and Beau find it strange that Luke would go through all the trouble to bury Paige’s bag in the woods to cover up having killed her, kill Mary when she finds Paige’s bag, then leave behind evidence in his tent. Something doesn’t add up.

A large search of the woods turns up yet another body, this time it’s Luke. His body is found by the rocks, shot by a bow and arrow.

Cassie is surprised the next morning to learn Cormac Barnes is missing from his parents’ camp and thus is a person of interest, as she spent last night with Cormac at the Boot Heel. He had told her he was going back to the camp when they parted ways.

Cassie finds Cormac at his parents’ house. He went there to find a bill of sale for the blue and white Suburban but was only able to find the title. He also found mysterious baby items in the attic but doesn’t mention this to Cassie. Cormac is surprised to learn from Cassie that Mary and Luke are dead; his parents hadn’t told him a thing.

Jenny and Beau decide to talk to Tonya and Donno again after learning that Luke and Paige used fake last names to check in to camp just days after they both quit their jobs as data entry clerks. Beau and Jenny surmise that the $15 million in question may be stolen, thus explaining Tonya and Donno’s presence at camp.

Tonya is happy to point Beau in Avery’s direction. Avery is an expert at archery after all, and he was the one to mention the money. Tonya tells Beau he can even confirm how much time Avery and Luke spent talking with his daughter, Emily.

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Jenny’s unsure they should proceed with the information Poppernak uncovers when he investigates Carla and Avery’s backgrounds, but Beau insists they leave no stone unturned. It turns out that Avery’s company is under investigation by the SEC for defrauding investors. $15 million would be tempting to someone in Avery’s situation. Avery also hadn’t told Carla a thing about being investigated. Carla is livid at the discovery and tells Avery she will be taking time and space from him when they return to town.

After returning to camp, Cormac confronts his parents over the discoveries he made in their attic and their failure to inform him of the murders at camp. They blow him off, telling him they have far bigger problems than things he’s finding in attics, and warn him away from Cassie. He tells them he’s sick of being lied to as he leaves.

Once alone, Buck wants to come clean to Cormac about everything, including his half-brother, but Sunny isn’t on board. Buck insinuates that with Luke dead, he might be willing to throw Walter under the bus.

Cassie tells Jenny that Cormac has a solid alibi, but Cassie wants to take a closer look at Buck who lied to her about selling the Suburban. Jenny and Cassie question Buck about moving the body, he says he didn’t want bears to get to Mary. Buck does acknowledge recognizing the man in Cassie’s composite sketch but claims he doesn’t know who he is or where to find him.

Cassie is now convinced this man in the woods is the one responsible for the murders. With Cormac’s help, they locate on a map where Luke saw a light the night of Paige’s disappearance. It’s outside of all the marked trails of the camp, Sunny was keeping campers clear of the area.

All Tonya and Donno want to do is get Paige’s journal and get out of there. However, Tonya flips through it to find that someone got to Paige’s journal first; the key pages have been torn out.

Avery has taken the pages, and with them in his possession, he sneaks off in the night to leave camp.

Sunny makes it to Walter’s cabin ahead of Jenny, Beau, Cassie, and their posse to warn Walter to run before it’s too late. Walter is resigned to his capture, but Paige is desperate to escape, claiming she’ll be killed if she’s found. Walter decides to show her his escape route and stay behind to buy her time.
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As Sunny watches, Walter surrenders without struggle and is taken into custody. Jenny agrees with Cassie that it was too easy. Something about this is off.

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