‘Big Sky’ Recap: ‘The Shipping News’

Written by Emily Auskaps

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 213 of ‘Big Sky’. To revisit the previous episode, click here.    
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​It feels, briefly, as though things may be beginning to wrap up and wind down. This episode wasted no time in mourning the loss of Ronald Pergman, and before the opening credits, the syndicate has taken care of Wolf Legarski as well. But there is another intense and wild story unfolding.
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The Bhullars now have their Montana drug production up and running, and Tonya seems to have deeply involved herself in all aspects of their operations and is working to make herself indispensable to Ren. In addition to arranging for transportation, she will also be overseeing the first shipment.

Travis is also trying to keep Stone in good standing with Ren by returning the bag of cash that Bob had absconded with, which does please her. She rewards him with a couple of stacks of bills and the responsibility for helping to take care of the next day’s shipment with Tonya.

Dietrich is finally forced to face the music for the disaster with the drugs and money in a meeting with Veer and Jag Bhullar. Travis warns Dietrich against attending the meeting, convinced it is a trap, but Dietrich is a good as dead if he doesn’t go. Dietrich endures a beating from Jag that Veer forces Jag to commit, but escapes with his life and the possibility to get back in with them if he can again prove himself useful.

Bob continues to cause mayhem and chaos for everyone with whom he interacts. His booby-trapped basement kills two of Jenny Hoyt’s deputies and lands her partner, Poppernak, in the hospital. Come to find out, it isn’t just Tonya and Travis overseeing the Bhullars first shipment of drugs, Bob is there too, hiding in the vegetation and watching.

Tonya and Travis decide they will each follow one of the trucks until the drop is successfully made. Tonya will soon come regret declining Donno’s offer to ride shot gun with her, as Bob has selected her driver to hijack. Still five miles from the drop point, a flaming carousel horse in the middle of the highway causes the driver, Jamison, to stop his truck and exit the cab to investigate. Bob kills him with one shot as Tonya stands there watching, helpless. Bob appears around the truck, gun drawn on a traumatized Tonya, who simply nods when Bob asks if there are drugs amongst the cargo.

Dietrich learns of Bob’s latest antics when Travis and Jenny pay him a visit at the Boot Heel, warning Dietrich to turn the drugs over to them if Bob does show up. And just like clockwork, Bob appears from the shadows the moment Jenny and Travis leave. Dietrich is less than thrilled to see Bob but agrees to sell the drugs with him. Little does Bob know; he’s just provided Dietrich with the perfect way to ingratiate himself with the Bhullars. Instead of drug buyers, Donno and Dhruv arrive to collect both Bob and the stolen shipment.

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Unfortunately for Travis, Bob has a bargaining chip to play to spare his life: he tells Ren that she has a mole, Stone is a cop. Though Ren hardly reacts, rage visibly flashes through her eyes at the revelation of such a betrayal. She calls Travis and sweetly requests he come see her.
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Meanwhile, Travis’s handler from State, Lila Dodge, pays Jenny a late-night visit in her office. Turns out, Travis has not checked in with Lila once, and that his story for targeting the Bhullars was mostly false, other than the fact that it’s personal for him. It wasn’t Travis’s partner that Veer Bhullar killed. Travis had managed to turn Veer’s mistress into his informant, and then proceeded to fall in love with her. Travis has never gotten over her disappearance and blames Veer.

Travis quickly realizes he’s in serious trouble when he arrives to find Bob sitting there. Bob is beyond smug at having turned his death sentence into someone else’s. In his desperation, Travis decides there is only one way to save his own life at this juncture; he stabs Bob to death with the knife off the table, demanding to know if that is the behavior of a cop. Only Tonya looks away, horrified to be witnessing yet another murder in the same day. Clearly, she is developing regrets about joining the Bhullar cartel.

Things are increasingly precarious for Travis, both with the Bhullars and Jenny Hoyt. It seems inevitable that a reckoning is near for him, he can only get away with so much for so long now that everyone is catching on to the fact that he’s playing for both teams.

Tonya, who began the episode full of confidence and satisfaction with her work, has begun to remember how brutal the Bhullars really are, and that violence will continue to be a regular part of her life while she works for them. She clearly never fully considered the consequences until now.

The bodies continue to drop, and the chips keep falling into place. Chaos continues to reign and should make for a fascinating and wild ride to the end of this season for all the characters involved, if they live that long.        

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