TV Recap: “Big Sky” Shows Just How Wild the Kleinsasser Family Can Be in “No Better Than Dogs” (Episode 12)

Trouble in Lochsa County continues in “No Better Than Dogs,” the 12th episode of Big Sky. Picking up on the cliffhanger ABC left us with last week, Jenny is stuck in a ditch with the deranged Rand standing over her with an axe while Cassie has been arrested by an officer who drove past the police station. Here’s a recap of this exciting new episode.

Jenny, looking up at Rand from the pit of cow carcasses, draws her gun and tells him to drop his axe, which he does. “Now you’re going to let me walk away,” she says as she continues to aim at him while trying to step over a dead cow, causing her to trip. Rand takes his chance to pounce, pinning Jenny down when suddenly the scene is illuminated by the lights of a car. John Wayne points his rifle at Rand and commands him to get off her as Jenny gets back on her feet, holding her gun at John Wayne, who surrenders. “I don’t want any trouble,” he tells her, letting Jenny climb out and claiming that his brother Rand was just defending the ranch from trespassing. Jenny tells him all she wants is to inspect the caretaker’s cabin to check on Blake’s story.

From the backseat of the police car and handcuffed, Cassie uses her phone to call the Dewell & Hoyt office, letting the voice mail record her saying the name of the officer (Deputy Al Gregor) as she pretends to talk to herself, recounting that they passed the police station and took a right. She asks the officer to look at her, hoping it will find the humanity in him, and also asks to be taken to the station. He stops the car and says “This is where we say goodbye.” As he opens her door, she uses her free legs to kick him to the ground and makes a run for it, tripping shortly after and finding Deputy Gregor on top of her, grabbing a rock and hitting her in the head to knock Cassie out.

John Wayne drives Jenny to the caretaker’s house. Before going inside, she asks him if he saw Blake or Rosie on the night she was allegedly attacked. When he says no, Jenny also asks if he knows where Rosie is. “I don’t keep track of Blake’s ladies,” he tells her before she heads in.

At Dewell & Hoyt, Jerrie is playing back Cassie’s voice message for Mark, hearing her describe passing the police station with Deputy Al Gregor and turning right. Mark decides he’s going to head out there to see if they’re in trouble, promising to call Jerrie if he finds anything out.

Jenny is inside the cabin with her flashlight and gun drawn when John Wayne scares her, asking if she found any clues. She borrows his lantern and goes into the bedroom, finding a blood stained mattress. John Wayne exits the house as she looks under the bed, finding the bottle of bourbon Blake reportedly took from the bar that night. She hears tires and looks out the window to see John Wayne driving away, leaving her to walk off the big ranch alone in the dark.

Cassie is being dragged across the ground, slowly coming to and heaving voices. Her phone falls out of her pocket and a male voice says “She was recording this. What are we gonna do?”

Jerrie is at The All In with Jimmy for Karaoke night. After a little bit of flirting, her name gets called and she approaches the mic to sing “Gasoline and Matches.” Looking out into the crowd, she thinks she sees Ronald (in Arthur’s disguise) and she starts to freak out, walking off stage to boo’s as Jimmy chases after her. She tells him who she saw and he leaves with her for protection.

Jenny is driving her truck when she comes upon Cassie’s truck on the side of the road. Getting out to take a closer look, she finds that the windshield has been shattered and someone set fire to the insides.

Cheyenne Kleinsasser is in the horse barn when Blake enters and asks if his sister is still mad at him for leaving. “I woulda gone too if I had a place to go,” she tells him, to which Blake tells her she just needs to go. “If you don’t go soon, chances are you never will,” he fears. Cheyenne tells him she doesn’t think he’s guilty and talks about a poster in her room that he gave her of a white lion, which she thinks about every morning. She talks about how special and powerful that lion is, but how there will always be poachers who want to kill it and take some of its power. Finding some courage, Cheyenne tells Blake that she’s overheard John Wayne and Rand talking about mineral rights on the ranch and that they were there the night Blake allegedly abused Rosie. “The next day they made a big show about finding her,” she says as John Wayne enters the barn. “What are you two talking about?,” he asks. Cheyenne says they were talking about spirit animals, hers being a white lion. John Wayne says his is a wolf before adding “Dad wants to see you guys for breakfast.”

Mark is at the sheriff’s office asking Angela for Sheriff Wagy. The nervous receptionist offers him a butterscotch, to which he says “Sheriff first, please,” before taking one anyway. Cut to Cassie waking up in what looks like a dark closet hearing voices outside. We see Sheriff Wagy scolding Deputy Al Gregor. “What in the hell were you thinking bringing her back here?” At the desk, Mark tells Sheriff Wagy that he believes a deputy picked up his friend last night. “Right, the gal who shot that state trooper,” he condescendingly says before adding that she resisted arrest. “This is where you answer the phone,” Mark says just before Anegla’s phone rings and she tells Wagy it’s from the governor’s office. Answering the phone, Wagy gives a series of affirmative “Uh huhs” before hanging up and walking to his office. Mark smiles and takes another butterscotch candy.

It’s breakfast time at the Kleinsasser ranch and Cheyenne and John Wayne have an argument that leads John Wayne to punch his sister’s arm, who responds by jabbing him in the leg with a fork. Horst gets mad, scolding Cheyenne but not John Wayne, telling her she should know her place and apologize. Margaret is fixing Horst’s coffee listening to the conversation, spitting into his cup and turning around when he demands it. He takes a sip and she asks if it’s okay. “That's a damn fine cup of coffee, that’s one of your talents,” he tells her before criticizing her bacon. Blake asks him to stop and Horst says he just wants to have a little fun, commanding his wife to sit down as she does so, looking tearful. With her needlepoint on her lap, Margaret pricks her own finger.

Horst makes an announcement that John Wayne is taking over the ranch, prompting Margaret to speak up. “Well, what about Blake?,” she asks. Horst says Blake “Violated the moral turpitude clause of the ranch covenant” and Blake responds by saying he doesn’t want the ranch. Horst tells the family that a lawyer is drawing up the paperwork and that he hopes it’s all done before he dies, telling the boys they’ll need to ride the fence lines to make sure nobody gets in their business. Blake leaves the table and walks out.

Horst and Blake are riding their horses around the perimeter of the ranch when Horst talks about his burial wishes. He refers to the situation with Rosie as “Nonsense” and Blake says he didn’t do it, prompting Horst to quote the bible before adding “We’ve all seen that girl.” Horst says Blake broke his mom’s heart when he left and Blake starts to explain why he left when Horst cuts him off. “It told you to forget about that. It’s easy. You put that in a box and you bury it and you forget where the hole is and the green grass grows all around, all around.” Whatever Blake was referring to, Horst says he did it to protect Rand, the same as he would do for any of the boys. “Not a day goes by I don’t think about what we did, what you made me do,” Blake says as he rides his horse away.

Mark is driving Cassie away from the police station, commending her phone call as smart thinking. She believes the other officer helping the deputy drag her body was Sheriff Wagy and Mark agrees that they’re likely working with the Kleinsassers. Cheering her up, Mark shares the news about catching Ronald on camera sleeping on his mother’s grave. “I left him a note,” Mark tells her, adding that he’s waiting for approval to put in around-the-clock surveillance at the grave. “We’ll get him. Behavior like that means he’s got compulsions he can’t control.” They pull into the Grey Cliff Inn and Mark tells her to reach out if she needs anything. She tells him she needs help finding Rosie.

Some time later, Jenny arrives at the room with a pack of ice for Cassie’s head. “Sorry for what happened to you,” she tells her partner, asking if she wants to talk about it. Instead, Cassie asks about the bottle in a clear bag on Jenny’s bed. She tells Cassie there’s a dent in it and she thinks the bourbon might be drugged because the toxicology report was missing from the file they were given.

Scarlet is folding laundry when she finds a note in one of Arthur’s pockets that says “I’m always with you,” indicating that he’s been back to Helen’s grave. She goes to the living room where Arthur (Ronald) is playing dolls with Phoebe, pretending one of them has a head injury because of a fight with her sister. Phoebe tells him to kiss her to make it better and he says boys don’t kiss dolls. Scarlet picks up a doll and kisses her forehead, saying “I’ll always be with you.” Ronald gets an agitated look in his eyes.

Jenny is back on the ranch talking outside with Blake and she tells him something doesn’t look right about the night he allegedly attacked rosie. He doesn’t want her dragged into something he can’t get her out of, asking her to forget the case and leave town. “This is my problem to fix,” he says as John Wayne pulls up and tells Jenny “I see you made it home last night.” John Wayne tells Blake their dad wants to see him. “Just promise me you’ll go,” Blake asks as he leaves.

It’s movie night at Scarlet’s and it’s Arthur’s turn to pick, choosing Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Scarlet doesn’t like his choice, saying “He murdered those children.” Arthur defends his choice, arguing that Wonka gave Charlie and his grandfather the opportunity of a lifetime. “I’m not in the mood for a movie. You can watch it yourself,” Scarlet says as he says okay. She tells him that’s the wrong answer. He asks if he did something wrong and she pulls out both the note and the taster, telling him “For every lie, you get a shock.” He tells her he went to The All In for Karaoke Night, adding that he was in the musical Guys and Dolls in school. She shocks him and he confesses that he wasn’t in the show, he just wanted to be. Asking about the note, Arthur says “It’s old” and she shocks him again. “The truth is I found it and I thought it was sort of sad, like a lost note,” he tells her, believing he found it for a reason just like he found her. He adds that the note made him think about her. “I have a fragile heart, Arthur,” Scarlet replies. “But I think that I’m falling in love with you.” As they hug, he smiles, touching her hair.

Cheyenne finds her mother alone in the kitchen and asks her to talk. Margaret dismisses her daughter with an excuse that she has a headache and a lot of work to do. Cheyenne rattles a bottle of pills that gets her mom’s attention and she asks for two. “Why do you let him speak to you like that?,” she asks as her mom swallows the pills. She defends Horst’s behavior, saying he doesn’t mean anything by it. “Yes he does, and him giving the ranch to John Wayne, that’s going to be a disaster,” Cheyenne says, blaming her mother for standing by and letting it happen. “What do you think is gonna happen when Daddy passes?,” she adds, knowing that a future at the ranch under her brother’s leadership will be bad. Margaret starts to cry and tells Cheyenne to leave. “There’s nothing for you here,” she tells her daughter. Cheyenne tells her mom that she knows what’s going on with all the trucks coming and going from the back pasture, threatening to throw the pills down the drain. Margaret freaks out and pins her daughter against the wall, Cheyenne pleased to see her mother taking some form of a stand for herself.

Blake, Horst, John Wayne and Rand are all in the horse barn talking. “You invited those investigators out here to poke in our business,” Horst tells Blake. In turn, Blake threatens to tell everyone what’s been going on if Horst goes anywhere near Jenny. His father laughs at his son’s threat and beats on him, Blake holding his arms up in defense but not fighting back. “You have not got the balls to hit me,” Horse says. “You think you’re better than me? You’ve no better than the maneure you walk on.” Blake leaves and Horst turns to Rand, asking him if he’s “Flying straight,” about to tell him to do something.

John Wayne follows Blake out to his cart and tells him their dad is just looking out for him. “I’m going to do something I should’ve done a long time ago,” Blake tells his brother as he drives away.

It’s night in the woods and Cassie and Jenny drive up to a gate. “This should be where Rosie’s place is,” Jenny says, looking at her phone. Mark apparently was able to get her cell phone records and traced it to this location. They hear a rifle cock behind them and a woman says “Put your hands where I can see them, now turn around slowly.” It’s Rosie, who says “Mind telling me what you’re doing here?”

Inside Rosie’s cabin, Cassie and Jenny reveal that Sheriff Wagy, Deputy Gregor, Rand and John Wayne don’t like them asking questions about her. Rosie says she knows they’re looking for her, but she doesn’t know why and doesn’t want to find out. Asking about the night she was attacked, Rosie says “It just didn’t make any sense,” revealing that they were having a good time and then all of her memories go black. She thinks she was drugged because her memories are similar to a friend of hers who had been drugged before.

Blake is digging in a corner of the ranch. “Damnit,” he yells in frustration, not finding what he’s looking for as he grabs a beer and cracks it open.

“I’ve known Blake my whole life, this didn’t seem like a thing he would do,” Rosie tells Cassie and Jenny. When Jenny asks if anyone else was there that night, she reveals that she keeps getting flashes of Rand in her foggy memories. “I’m sure of it.” Cassie and Jenny look at each other, having made a breakthrough in the case.

Blake has found something, a belt buckle with a name etched into the back. He holds it in his hands as John Wayne finds him, asking him to get out of the hole he dug himself into. “His name was Cole, he was just a kid who showed up looking for work,” Blake mourns, John Wayne adding that he remembers Cole stole a truck and disappeared. “That’s not what happened,” Blake says. “Pa woke me up that night, took me down to the cabin and there he was.” Blake tells his brother that their dad said it was an accident, with John Wayne buying into that story. “No it wasn’t. Rand killed him.” Blake adds that Rand bragged about it later and he saw the bloody shirt in his room.

Cheyenne is watching and listening to Blake and John Wayne’s conversation from a car that’s turned off. Blake tells John Wayne that the family deserves whatever bad things have happened to them as John Wayne picks up the shovel and says “We need to bury him back up.” Blake says “It’s over…. Burying this is not going to wash away what you’ve done.” Taking the shovel, John Wayne hits Blake in the head and we see the silhouette of his body fall to the ground as Cheyenne covers her mouth with her hands and gasps.

Big Sky will return on April 27th with an episode titled “White Lion.” Here’s a description of next week’s episode:

Cassie and Jenny hear that a body has been discovered on the Kleinsasser ranch and, fearing the worst, Jenny takes the investigation up a notch, but the Kleinsassers have a plan of their own. Meanwhile, Cassie teams up with Lindor to follow a hot lead on Ronald, who, suspicious that his whereabouts have been revealed, decides to do some damage control—or perhaps just damage.