‘Big Sky’ Recap: ‘You Have to Play Along’

Written by Emily Auskaps

Caution: This article contains spoilers for Episode 203 of ‘Big Sky’.
​
We open on an empty construction site, where inside a trailer Ren offers Tonya, who is bound to a chair, a bag of ice cubes for her bruised face. Ren demands to know where Sam hid the drugs and money, Tonya pleads ignorance. Ren mentions that someone from the sheriff’s department vouched that she’s innocent, catching Tonya by surprise. Ren enjoys this, pleased to let her know that someone working for the sheriff is on her side. Ren isn’t buying Tonya’s claims of knowing nothing of Sam’s business, finally angrily disclosing that Sam is dead. Tonya, of course, is devastated. Ronno, who has been enjoying himself far too much going through Tonya’s purse all this time, makes a discovery. He hands Cassie’s business card to Ren who demands to know why Tonya has it. Tonya admits to hiring a P.I. to find Sam, and Ren is visibly livid.
​
Jenny and Cassie report Tonya’s apparent kidnapping after finding her apartment ransacked. Tubbs informs them that they will need to coordinate with the state police as this ties in with a larger case the state is already investigating. Jenny and Cassie meet up with Travis to liaise on the case. Travis seems almost indifferent to Tonya’s disappearance, far more concerned with the higher ups involved in this drug ring than a woman that is unaccounted for, which instantly gets under Cassie’s skin. After Travis departs, she teases Jenny, remembering him from the group they encountered the night they met at the bar.

Max finds T-Lock methodically pawing through all the belongings in her bedroom. Max lashes out, demanding an explanation. Leering, T-Lock informs her that he doesn’t believe her stories about the money to pay for her mother’s crown or the baggie of drugs and that he will be watching her. Disgusted, Max resignedly tells him to just put back her things when he finishes his search and storms out.

Max goes to meet Harper, who seems more concerned that Max stood her up the previous night than the fact that T-Lock caught Max with the drugs and is wildly suspicious about both that and the money. The two are interrupted when one of Harper’s coworkers comes looking for her. Harper takes this opportunity to introduce Max to Dylan, the guy that is supposed to be selling the drugs for them. Upon realizing who Harper is meeting with, he cheerfully leaves them to go cover the kitchen. Once alone again, Max is appalled that this is the guy they will be dealing with to unload the drugs. Harper reassures her, but she seems to have growing doubts.

At the farm, Wolf and the woman from the garden discuss Scarlet and Ronald as she brushes out his long gray hair. She is pleased with Scarlet, while Wolf is disgusted with Ronald and concerned that they may need to “put the animal down.” She implores Wolf to give Ronald another chance, and to consider shaving his facial hair to more resemble his twin, Rick.

Back at the construction site, Ren has left Donno to keep watch of Tonya, who is insisting that she needs to use the bathroom. Barely acknowledging her, Donno plops a trash can in front of Tonya. She squawks angrily in protest. He still barely looks up from his crossword, instead presenting her with one of the clues. She successfully solves it, and he deems this worthy of a trip outside. While squatting behind a tree just out of Donno’s sight, she acquires a pointy branch which she then stabs into his thigh and awkwardly and frustratingly runs slowly away.

Outside Dewell and Hoyt, Ren sits in a vehicle on her phone, assuring a man named Jag, who calls her sis, that she has things there under control and there is no need to send anyone else to assist.

---

Jenny calls Cassie, telling her that two bodies have been discovered and that she’s on the way to pick her up to head to the scene. Ren watches Cassie as climbs into Jenny’s truck outside of the P.I. office, and the follows them out of town.
​
Jenny introduces Cassie to Poppernak when they arrive on the scene, who tells them that one of the bodies is Sam Teske, who happened to have ID on him, and a second body yet to be identified. A crowd has gathered at the scene where the bodies were found by fly fishermen, including Bridger, who was alerted by the police scanner he purchased with his share of the money. He encounters Ren who makes an indelible and unsettling impression on him.

Ren meets with Deputy Harvey, who intended to inform her of the bodies she’s just seen, which greatly displeases her. He’s heard that Tonya is missing, but she tells him to focus on finding out what Cassie knows, and the location of the drugs and money, as those are what the boss cares about. Harvey mockingly reminds her that her boss is her daddy; nonplussed she tells him the clock is ticking.

On the farm, Ronald, Scarlet and Wolf’s lady sit down to a nicely set table for lunch. Wolf joins the table with a wicked grin on his freshly shaved face, and Donald is taken aback. Wolf digs into his plate and commends Scarlet on the meal, much to Ronald’s disgust. He is even more disgusted by the meal and demands cereal, his comfort food. This irritates Wolf immensely, but he manages his anger and offers to add something for Ronald to the “Happy Reward Table,” which Ronald is informed already contains something for Scarlet, which Ronald may not know about as knowledge is a privilege he has yet to earn.

Wolf instructs Scarlet to take Ronald back to the barn since he refuses to eat. She promises to follow the rules and Ronald is taken aback by the apparent affection shown to her by Wolf. As they head to the barn, Ronald tells Scarlet that they need to run, to escape this place immediately. She tells him that’s exactly what Wolf wants him to do and pleads with him to try to get along here. Ronald claims that they had been free before this. Scarlet tells him that they were never free, simply on the run, and that here they are protected from the other men Ronald was working with. Ronald refuses to listen to her, and Scarlet is visibly hurt, telling him that if he loved her, he would listen to her. He insists he is doing this because he loves her, and he storms away to find an escape. Wolf, expecting exactly this behavior, shows up on the other side of the barn with a cruel grin on his face, and tells a devastated Scarlet to go back to lunch.

Back at the department in Jenny’s office, Cassie and Jenny learn that the second body found was able to be identified by fingerprints, a man nicknamed Ringo. Harvey saunters into her office to offer his help, having heard about the bodies being found. Jenny assures him they’ll let him know if he’s needed, but as he leaves, she casually asks how he happened to come across the crash in the first place, as it was far off the road. Cassie chimes in, curious about what he observed at the crash site initially. He catches the suspicion in their tones, and, trying to turn the tables, smugly inquires about their hunt for Ronald as he leaves. Armed with the identity of the second body, Jenny heads to meet Travis and Cassie returns to Dewell and Hoyt.

Tonya is still running away from a wounded and enraged Donno. She rushes through the trees, yelling for help. She finally makes it a deserted-looking café and races for the door. She barges inside, still screaming for help. An elderly man working there greets her with concern. Tonya uses the restaurant’s phone to call Cassie for help, who puts her on speaker for herself, Jerrie, and Denise. Tonya begs for help as Donno bashes into the place. The elderly man attempts to defend himself and her with a baseball bat but is quickly dispatched by Donno and his knife. Tonya hysterically tells Cassie that he’s going to kill her and just manages to let her know she’s at the Bad Clown Café before Donno severs the phone cord.

---

Jenny meets Travis somewhere off the beaten path. He lets her know that the cartel has sent a cleaner to handle the situation, which we know to be Ren. They begin to kiss, and Jenny nearly ignores Cassie’s call about Tonya when it comes in. Cassie and Jerrie arrive at the Bad Clown Café only to find the body of the elderly gentleman as Tonya and Donno are long gone. They are spooked by Jenny, who arrives moments later to the café.

Max and Harper are busy in Max’s shed gathering the bag of drugs when T-Lock unexpectedly arrives home. In a panic, they create a diversion by beginning to kiss intimately, which stuns and confuses T-Lock, just as Max expected. He awkwardly leaves them alone. Max then takes this opportunity to press Harper about how much she cares about the money versus how much she cares for Max. Harpers admits she does care about the money, but not more than Max.

There is a full response from the sheriff’s department at the Bad Clown Café as we see the body wheeled away. Tubbs finds it curious that Tonya called Cassie instead of the police and insists that Jenny stay behind to process the scene while Jerrie and Cassie go to check out a construction trailer that Jerrie had spotted earlier. Cassie and Jerrie assure Jenny that they will keep her apprised of anything new.

In their home, Bridger tells Madison about seeing the bodies from the accident being found and about the strange woman he encountered while he was there. They agree to tell Max and Harper about the bodies, but not the woman.

With the department mostly empty for the night, Deputy Harvey asks Madge at front desk for the sign in sheet from the day after the truck accident. She seems wary of his motives, but obliges anyway, giving him Bridger Ryan’s name.

Harper returns to her house with the bag of drugs alone in the dark. She realizes that the man that previously accosted her and Max is watching her from his van across the street. She rushes inside and locks the door.
​
Ren finally makes it back to the construction site to find a wounded and bleeding Donno, and a bound, gagged, and screaming Tonya. Ren is furious at both Donno, for letting her escape, and Tonya, for running, but most especially about the dead body left behind. As they argue, a truck pulls up outside the trailer. Out step Cassie and Jerrie. Inside, Donno cocks his gun and warns Ren to take care of this or he will. Cassie and Jerrie begin to approach by the light of their flashlights, unaware of what waits just inside the trailer.

---