‘Big Sky’ Recap: ‘Let It Be Him’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Nine of ‘Big Sky’.
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Something that is truly fascinating about crime fiction, is that regardless of how epic or outlandish the crime is in a particular story, eventually it crashes back down to reality and begins to follow some of the rules of the road. A fascinating twist that is likely related to the fact, that our brains need a taste of reality in order for us to relate to or properly enjoy the story and well, this is something that hasn’t happened yet on the ABC series, Big Sky. Because this one has gone big from the get-go and it’s featured all kinds of wild twists and turns that defy reality at times. But after weeks of dropping our jaws on a consistent basis… last night’s episode of the show finally opened the door for this story to play out in a more natural and realistic manner.
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A feat that ‘Let It Be Him’ accomplished, by finally having someone ID Ronald Pergman. Because let’s be honest, there was no way he could continue to fly under the radar and hide out in his house forever with a hostage and two dead bodies in his basement. Someone had to spot him at some point, and it turns out that said someone… was Cassie. Because everyone in law enforcement in Helena was going door to door, asking if anyone had seen poor Erik and she’s the one that drew the straw to ask that very question at the Pergman estate. And the odd behavior that Ronald exhibited, along with his inflection and motions, immediately reminded Cassie of the fact that she’d met him before, at Merrilee’s shop when she went looking for Rick Legarski and well, that definitely felt organic and natural. Because in the real world, it is always only a matter of time before someone spots a criminal that is being hunted and it was nice to see that play out here.

Plus, it was equally as satisfying to see waves of police cars surround the Pergman estate. Because obviously, being spotted by Cassie meant that law enforcement would be on its way and holy cow did they arrive in force and understandably so. After all, Ronald is nuts and unpredictable and having as many officers as possible around to take him in, was the logical course of action and that setup led to one tense sequence. One where officers were wounded by boobytraps and where Jenny was racing against time to save an unconscious Erik from the basement of the home… since Ronald rigged the place the blow and well, this part of the story was one of only two segments that worked to shock the audience. Since it turns out that Erik, was actually the corpse of Ronald’s mother, and he set up such a ruse to try and trap and kill as many officers as possible, whilst he and Erik used Father Maynard’s Tesla to get away. 

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Which in turn led to a traditional chase scene, one where police took to the air and every road imaginable to try and find Ronald before he escaped the country or the state. But thankfully, Cassie and Jenny figured out he’d be using the scenic interstate routes to try and make his escape, and that allowed for them to catch up with his stolen ride and eventually save Erik and make a harrowing discovery. In that, somewhere along the way, Ronald used Maynard’s corpse to engage auto-drive on the Tesla. Meaning that he managed to evade capture after all and that would definitely be another realistic moment in this particular tale. In that, sometimes the bad guys get away in life and with Ronald back out on the road and off to who knows where… it would seem that we’ve reached the closing chapter in his story.

Speaking of closure, well the end of another storyline is what brought about the second big shocker of the night. Because while everyone was dealing with the hunt for Erik and Ronald, Merrilee was continuing to struggle with the whole mess involving her husband. Because some of his nighttime behavior, made her believe that his memory was starting to bubble back to the surface of his mind. Which motivated her to push him and try and bring his memories out so she could finally get some answers and some resolution to this waking nightmare. But the basic stuff didn’t work and that pushed her to ponder harder in regard to her husband’s quirks and behaviors to try and figure out a way into his mind, and that sadly helped her to realize that Rick was ready to kill her on that fateful night. And coming to that particular epiphany and settling into the knowledge that he would likely escape justice by playing the long con, motivated her to try one last time to get him to remember and if she was successful… she’d know for certain that her husband was a monster, and she could deal with it accordingly and well... her plan worked.

For Rick did indeed remember after all, and that prompted her to handle this revelation in the most shocking way imaginable… by beating her husband to death with the very hammer he planned to end her life with. Bringing an end to Rick’s journey in a harrowing and epic manner and what a powerful and bittersweet way to close the book on this unsettling and disturbing case. If anything, this series deserves some serious kudos for doing something this bold in the middle of a season, since this is the kind of stuff that you only see within the framework of a season finale. But it just goes to show that Big Sky will always find a way to surprise us, even when the story is grounded in reality and it will be interesting to see where this show takes us next, when it returns to the airwaves on April 13, 2021, now that its primary storyline has come to a close. Until next time.

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