‘Big Sky’ Recap: ‘Nice Animals’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode Fourteen of ‘Big Sky’.
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At this point, the ABC series, Big Sky, has established itself to be one of the most unconventional crime dramas out there. Simply because week in and week out, this series finds a way to thumb its nose at every single trope that the genre sends our way and the end result of this has been nothing short of spectacular. For this storytelling decision has treated fans everywhere to unique and surprising stories, the kind that put them on the edge of their seats and keep them guessing at every single turn as to what might happen next. But while that has made for some powerful entertainment for certain, some of the tropes and clichés present in crime drama simply cannot avoided since they are essential to telling stories in this vein.
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Take for example, the moment when everything falls to pieces for the criminal. Because without trouble dropping into the criminal (or criminals) lap, mistakes don’t get made and if that doesn’t happen… they don’t get caught. And while that is indeed a cliché of sorts, it is a realistic one to say the least, since it happens often in everyday life and well… this particular aspect of crime dramas is relevant to our discussion today, simply because chaos and strife entered the lives of all of the current villains on this series. For ‘Nice Animals’ saw trouble begin to form for the Kleinsasser family, a great of deal of which came from the inside. Because Cheyenne finally told her mother about what she saw that fateful night and that led to some serious strife at the ranch.

For the truth motivated Margaret to finally stand up to Horst and express her violent plans for the end of his life, and it even prompted her to put John Wayne in his place at his brother’s funeral and she even stormed off when Horst tried to do one of his patented ‘iron fist’ conversations with the family, making it clear that everything was beginning to fall apart for this twisted clan and that their empire might finally be at an end. A point that was also hammered home in this tale, by way of Jenny’s investigation into what exactly was going on at the ranch. Because thankfully, she survived the motel incident whereas… Angie did not and that only pushed Jenny further to solve this case and bring the Kleinsasser family to justice and well, she might finally have something, evidence wise, to make that happen. 

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Because at long last, Gil opened up about his time on the ranch and explained to both Jenny and Cassie that the fracking boom two decades ago, led to ecological disaster. The kind where toxic waste was everywhere and well… Horst saw an opportunity to use that to his financial advantage. So, he signed a deal with Sheriff Wagy and the oil companies to store that waste on his property, a gross act that would bring about all kinds of trouble for his family if it was exposed to the public and well, that is closer to happening than ever. For the closing moments of Jenny and Cassie’s journey, had them getting photographs of the offending poison and the surprisingly large amount of human remains in the disposal drums. Evidence that will end Horst’s reign at last, provided of course… our dynamic duo can escape Rand once again.
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Yet while all of that could have carried this episode for the entire hour, the Kleinsasser clan wasn’t the only one seeing trouble come their way. For dear Ronald knew that with the authorities searching Mary’s house… it would only be a matter of time before they came knocking on Scarlet’s door. Which motivated him to drag his love and her daughter (and Mary’s corpse) out into the woods to hide from the U.S. Marshals and to hide the body. An act that seemingly was about to go off without a hitch until young Phoebe followed Ronald into the woods in the middle of the night and saw him burying Mary’s body. Which now puts Ronald in quite the precarious place, one where he won’t be able to talk his way out of this mess and where he might be forced to kill again and well… that’s quite the incredible way to end this particular tale.

Because just like that, the stakes are at their highest for every single storyline in this series. For Horst will undoubtedly give the order to protect his secrets at all costs, leaving Jenny and Cassie and Gil in grave danger. Plus, Scarlet and Phoebe need be afraid for their lives because we know full well what Ronald is capable of when he’s cornered. But while we wait to see where this tension takes us next, we can celebrate one engrossing story. One that did a wonderful job of reminding us that crime often doesn’t pay and that its power never lasts and truly it is going to be interesting to see if the faux pas committed by our villains in this tale, will indeed serve as their downfall in the next couple of episodes or if this series once again has something sneaky up its sleeve, to surprise us all when season one comes to a close. Until next time.

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