‘Big Sky’ Recap: ‘A Good Boy’

Written by Emily Auskaps

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 212 of ‘Big Sky’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.
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After a season full of twists and turns, and endless loose threads, there is beginning to be an endpoint in sight for the multitude of characters we have met this season or last. In a show that has made expecting the unexpected a viewing requirement, one never knows who will even survive to the next episode. After following Ronald for so long, we are finally granted some closure to the hunt for momma’s crazy baby boy. The wild look in Scarlet’s eyes at the end of the last and beginning of this episode belay how desperate she has become, and Scarlet is more dangerous than a wild animal when cornered or threatened.

The good doctor that Scarlet has followed home is unfamiliar with the untethered pair, but wisely notes the crazed look in Scarlet’s eyes, and of course the barrel of the gun pointed at him and begins to comply with her orders. He is further persuaded when his wife is tied to a chair and held at gunpoint by Scarlet while he works to save Ronald.

As he works, Dr. Cowley makes a fateful discovery. He finds the microchip that Wolf Legarski implanted in Ronald’s neck, and shows it to Scarlet, telling her it’s usually used in pets. Scarlet no doubt is able to work out the source of Ronald’s microchip in her mind, and that it likely means they are being tracked. Scarlet buys them some time by forcing the doctor’s wife to swallow the microchip and drive away.

It temporarily works, the signal activates and leads Wolf, Lindor, and Cassie right to the wife’s vehicle. Approaching with guns drawn, the poor wife raises her hands and tearfully begs them to help her husband. After a moment in which she collects herself, she shares that she was forced to swallow the microchip and that her husband is still being held at their home. Finally, Lindor and Cassie know Ronald Pergman’s location.

Night has fallen by the time the three arrive at the doctor’s property, Wolf immediately spots his truck. Inside, the doctor has finished with Ronald and insists that he needs rest, but Scarlet won’t hear of that. She demands the doctor give Ronald something to wake him up. The doctor prepares a syringe as Scarlet hears Lindor’s Jeep pull up outside. After the injection, Ronald immediately begins to come to. The doctor has decided this is his chance to act, to get away. As Scarlet lovingly bends over Ronald, the doctor removes a bone chisel from his medical tools. Just as Ronald and Scarlet exchange I love you, the doctor stabs Scarlet in her neck. It would have been very wise to do that before injecting Ronald, as he sits up from the table and in one motion, snaps the doctor’s neck.

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Leaving Wolf handcuffed in the Jeep, Lindor and Cassie enter the house with guns drawn. They quickly discover the bodies of Dr. Cowley and Scarlet. They separate to clear the house, which is under construction and filled with opaque tarps draped everywhere, making their search through the dark house for Ronald even more tense. Upstairs, Cassie discovers Phoebe watching something on her tablet wearing headphones. Downstairs, Ronald lurks in the shadows, observing Lindor, before slipping out a ground level window.

Though wounded, Wolf is still a large strong man. It doesn’t take him long to yank free the handle he was handcuffed to and free himself. He won’t be stopped from getting to Ronald.

Ronald is caught completely by surprise when he is attacked by Wolf on his way to the barn. Wolf is quickly able to relieve him of the gun Scarlet had been wielding. But like a villain in a James Bond film, Wolf chooses to relish in the moment too long, before he kills Ronald. Lindor orders Wolf to lower his weapon from behind Ronald. Wolf scoffs at the idea of Ronald’s arrest. Lindor shoots Wolf who also manages to get a shot off which hits Lindor. Ronald scrambles to collect both guns and heads for the barn.

Hearing the shots from upstairs, Cassie leaves Phoebe to go check out the gunfire. Lindor is wounded but conscious and tells her Ronald went into the barn. Cassie immediately heads that way despite Lindor’s protests.

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Ronald is again lurking in the shadows, sneaking up on Cassie as she moves through the barn. He attacks her with a large meat hook, hitting her in the shoulder. He admonishes Cassie as he prepares to shoot. If only she could have left him alone and stopped looking for him. Suddenly, the barn door slides open and there is Phoebe. She tells Ronald her mom is hurt and needs help. Phoebe lingers in the doorway and Ronald orders her to back to the house. But dear Phoebe has distracted Ronald long enough for Cassie to extract the hook from her shoulder.

As Ronald turns his attention back to Cassie, she nails him through the back of his neck with the meat hook. She hisses at Ronald to look at her, he pleads that he was a good boy. She tears the hook back out and Ronald drops lifelessly to the floor. Finally, Ronald is dead.

But fear not, for Big Sky still has twists and surprises waiting for us in the form of the Bhullar family cartel and the increasingly suspicious behavior of Travis. Though Ren can obviously barely tolerate her brother, Jag, she still needs him to think they work together. They share their doubts about their father’s sudden desire to pull up roots in Canada and move operations to Montana, and about their father’s girlfriend, Alicia.

Ren tries unsuccessfully to get her father, Veer, to tell her why he wants to leave Canada. As he walks away, a waiting Alicia asks if he told her yet, to which he replies it is not the time, leaving us to speculate as to what secret the two of them share. One thing about the Bhullar cartel is glaringly obvious: the men do not fully appreciate the intelligence and resourcefulness of the women around them. But when has that ever backfired?

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