TV Recap: “Big Sky” Season 2, Episode 10 – “Happy Thoughts”

The 10th episode of season 2 of Big Sky is called “Happy Thoughts” and the characters will definitely need those to get through all that comes their way this week. When we last saw our heroes and villains, Ronald and Scarlet had killed Agatha and possibly Wolf, Jag and Dhruv murdered Bridger’s karate teacher, and Jenny was still trying to make sense of everything. Here’s what happens next.

A blue truck pulls up to the Horizon Motel, inside it is Scarlet (Anja Savcic), who is driving, her daughter Phoebe (Zoë Noelle Baker), and a wounded Ronald Pergman (Brian Geraghty). Scarlet puts on sunglasses to go check in alone, but Phoebe tells her she doesn’t want to be alone with Ronald. While Scarlet goes inside, Ronald talks about their plans to move to Alaska and live in a cabin where he can protect them. Phoebe tells Ronald that she had a dream and he’s going to die. He tells her none of his dreams ever came true, adding that his mother told him it was a sin to talk about your dreams.

Sheriff Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) and Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) exit the karate studio, which is now a crime scene. Jenny has a feeling that this murder is connected to Max and her friends, saying she knows that Bridger is a student there and that he was present at the time of the teacher’s murder. She plans to question him about it, but first she needs to find T-Lock.

Max (Madelyn Kientz) and her mother Rachel (T.V. Carpio) have been brought in for questioning by Jenny and Deputy Poppernak (J. Anthony Pena). Rachel reveals that she lied to Jenny to protect her daughter. Neither of them know where T-Lock is and Jenny tells them they’re in danger until he and the money are found. In private, she asks Poppernak if they can set up surveillance at their house. He says they don’t have the staffing for it, but she asks him to at least setup routine drive-bys. She asks about the security footage from the stolen RV and he tells her he’s been met with resistance, but she asks him to push harder. They get a call and Deputy Popernack tells Jenny that they’ve found Jag Bhullar.

Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury) enters Dewell & Hoyt, which still has police tape surrounding it. She looks at the corkboard and then down at the profile of Ronald on the floor, still marked for evidence. She goes to see Mark Lindor (Omar Metwally) about his theory that Ronald killed her father, but he has now convinced himself otherwise. She tells him she’d like to visit Wolf Legarski anyway and he tells her they will go together.

We see Wolf Legarski (John Carroll Lynch) motionless on the floor of his barn. A dog comes in and licks his face, crying. He is suddenly shocked awake, coughing. He pulls himself up, bleeding from his head and side. He pulls a First Aid kit off the wall and sits on a bench, tending to his wounds.

Dietrich (David Meunier) and Bob (Alex Knight) go to the hatch in the field and open it, Travis (Logan Marshall-Green) inside blinded by the light. Bob tosses him some fried chicken as a last meal, getting ready to shoot him as he pleads with Dietrich, saying he can help get his money back. At the last minute, he comes clean, saying “Dietrich, you’ve got this all wrong. I’m a cop.” Bob laughs and says he’s lying, but Travis goes on, saying he’s not after them, he’s trying to take down the Bhullar cartel, promising to help them. Dietrich thinks on it.

Ren Bhullar (Janina Gavankar) comes downstairs in her new cabin, telling Tonya (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) how much she loves it. She gives Tonya a new project to find drivers to help deliver ingredients to make fentanyl with hopes of setting up a new factory there. “We’ve just got to figure out shipping. I need safe and secure transport.” Tonya says she thinks she knows some people. Their conversation is interrupted by Jag (Vinny Chhibber) and Dhruv (Yuvraj Dhesi), with Jag asking for privacy to speak to his sister. He scolds her, saying they already talked about not setting up shop here. Ren knows it’s a good idea and suggests they call their dad to propose it to him. Jag tells Ren to stay in her lane, but she tells him they both work for their dad, she doesn’t work for him. They are interrupted by a knock at the door, with Jenny and Poppernak entering to take in Jag and Dhruv for questioning about the murder of Gary, the karate teacher.

Scarlet helps Ronald into the motel room and gets him on the bed. She takes a look at his wounds, promising to make it better. She takes Phoebe to get supplies to tend to Ronald’s wounds, walking past a security guard on the way in. Phoebe watches as her mom stashes items into her purse instead of the basket, the security guard (Daniel Pattison) noticing and following her. He approaches and asks to see inside her bag. Scarlet tries to get out of the situation by flirting, which doesn’t work. Handing over her bag, she then holds a knife to the guard’s abdomen, threatening to stab him if he doesn’t let her and Phoebe walk out with the bag full of stolen goods. “My mistake. Have a nice day ma’am,” he says as Scarlet takes Phoebe’s hand and leads her out of the store.

In the interrogation room, Jag is uncooperative, telling Jenny that she can’t keep him there and repeatedly answering her questions by simply asking for his lawyer. Jenny thinks she’s broken through to him by accusing him of answering to his sister and working for her, but he holds back. Jenny leaves and goes behind the double-sidede mirror to talk to Poppernack, telling him they should go check on their witness.

Tonya meets with a trucker named Bryce (Travis Hammer), who wants to know what the cargo would be for the job. Tonya tells him he will be paid well but can’t ask questions, but he is hesitant to take the job. She tells him the people she works for don’t like questions and he understands that there’s a threat in there, saying “Sounds like I don’t have a choice.” Tonya responds, “No, you don’t,” as she gets in her car and tells him she’ll be in touch.

A housekeeper (Kelly Phelan) at the Horizon Motel enters Ronald’s room as he sleeps on the bed. She sees blood on the blanket covering him and gets closer to check on him, asking “Are you ok?” Ronald asks her to go away, but she says she will call an ambulance. He jumps out of bed and lunges after her, strangling her neck against a vanity. She grabs a lamp and hits him in the head, racing for the door. But Ronald is too fast, he jumps on her from behind, drags her to the floor, and strangles her to death.

Jenny and Poppernack meet with Bridger (Jeremy Ray Taylor) at his house, his parents Chuck (Marty Lindsey) and Samantha (Martha Magruder) observing the conversation. Jenny holds out the photos of Jag and Dhruv, expecting Bridger to confirm them as the men who killed his karate instructor. Instead, Bridger tells them those aren’t the guys and he’s never seen them before. Jenny is dumbfounded and she notices Chuck and Samantha look at each other knowingly, Bridger now afraid to make eye contact with her. As Jenny leaves, she pauses and says “Bridger, what really happened? Did the cartel come here and threaten you?” He says he was just mistaken about what he saw and Chuck intervenes, telling Jenny that she’s done and any further contact should go through him. She notices suitcases lined up by the door. “You going somewhere?” It’s clear that Jenny has overstayed her welcome, but she calls one more thing to Bridger before the door closes: “Bridger, we can protect you. You just have to trust us.”

Jenny tells Sheriff Tubb what happened, realizing that their only witness is no longer cooperating. He asks about T-Lock and Jenny doesn’t have any leads. He asks if her friend Travis could help, saying that it may be worth the risk to contact him while undercover.

Ren cleans her guns at the kitchen table when Jag and Dhruv return home. “A thank you would be nice,” she says, revealing that she got Bridger’s family to change their story. “Thanks, Ren,” Dhruv says. “You’re always looking out for me.” Ren winks at him, but Jag shows no gratitude. He reminds her that their dad just wants the money back. “Eh, I’m done with that,” she says, getting up to leave. Jag asks what she’s doing and she just says “You’ll see.”

Poppernack goes to the gas station where the RV was stolen and sits with a clerk (Marissa Pilar-Montez), who searches through the security footage. They find the RV pulling in and he watches as Ronald gets in when the driver goes into the store. “Holy mother of mackerel, we’ve got you,” he says.

Tonya returns to Ren’s house and finds herself alone with Jag, who tries to get information from her about what Ren is up to. She proves her loyalty by saying that he should talk to Ren directly. They bond over each having a sister that can be difficult. Jag tells her they’re on the team, suggesting that Tonya should walk him through Ren’s plan to catch him up to speed.

Scarlet and Phoebe return to the motel and Scarlet notices that the door is ajar, a housekeeping cart parked outside the room. She tells Phoebe to wait as she goes to check things out, finding Ronald on the floor with the dead housekeeper. Later, Scarlet brings Phoebe into the room and tells her this motel doesn’t have a pool or free breakfast so they are leaving. She asks Phoebe to grab her things and she sees a human foot sticking out of the closet. Scarlet has to help Ronald walk to the truck in his weakened state.

Travis visits with Jenny and she notices how bad he looks. He just tells her he’s had a few all nighters. She asks him what he knows about a threat from the cartel to Bridger’s family and he doesn’t know the details, but says it’s something they would do. She asks about T-Lock and notices a look of recognition on his face, but Travis tells her he doesn’t know him. He asks if they can talk about something other than work and they both smile knowingly. Jenny grabs him by the belt buckle and says “You’re coming with me.”

Jag and Dhruv wait in the rain at the Helena Airport. Dhruv asks Jag if he told Ren about this, he didn’t and asks Dhruv to keep his mouth shut. Jag notices that Dhruv is soft for Ren and says “She would eat you alive, bro. Don’t even go there.”He tells Dhruv to ask Ren about Billy, her previous boyfriend who is dead. A private plane has landed and a stylish woman gets out, motioning to the assistant to step away so she can take some selfies by the jet. “Okay, come on, darling,” she calls. A man gets off the plane and Jag and Dhruv approach him, bowing. “Welcome to Montana, Dad,” Jag says.

Travis gets to the Boot Heel and finds Dietrich and Bob inside, who had a bet going that they would never see him again. “Well, here I am,” Travis says, telling them that he’s after Verr Bhullar, the head of the cartel. “Sounds personal,” Dietrich says. “Maybe,” Travis responds, not telling him what we heard him tell Jenny in a previous episode, that the cartel killed his partner. Dietrich asks about the money and Travis tells them T-Lock has it, which makes Dietrich laugh since Travis was tasked with killing him.

Jag and Dhruv ride with Verr Bhullar (Bernard White) and Alicia (Constance Zimmer) in a luxury van. Jag tells them about the things he’d like to show them in Helena, but his dad reminds him he’s not a tourist. “You called, here I am.” Verr is already aware of his son’s run-in with the police and tells him he’s worried, asking if he’s been watching out for Ren. Alicia tells Verr that she’d like to find a spa where they can get couple’s massages and Jag realizes he’s let his father down. He announces that he has a plan, but doesn’t want to reveal it in front of Alicia. Verr asks her to put on headphones and Jag tells him that he wants to build a manufacturing and distribution hub in Helena. He describes Ren’s idea to his dad, the one he told her was a bad idea. “I think there’s merit here, yes,” Verr says. “It’s very good, Jag.”

Jenny has learned that Bridger and his family has left Helena, worrying that the other kids are in danger of being threatened. Poppernack arrives with a folder, telling Jenny he got the surveilance footage from the RV being stolen and shows her a still image of Ronald entering the RV. “Oh my God,” she says. Tubb calls in an all-points bulletin and Jenny goes to call Cassie.

Cassie is on her way to Wolf Legarski’s ranch in Mark’s Jeep. She gets a call from Denise (Dedee Pfeiffer) because Jenny couldn’t reach her, who relays the information that Ronald was driving the RV that’s been parked outside of Dewell & Hoyt since her dad died. She tells Cassie to call Jenny when she can. Cassie relays the news to Mark as they arrive at Wolf’s ranch. Getting out, they walk carefully in the dark, noticing a dead dog in the driveway and that all of the animal pens are now empty. As they approach the house, they see a bloody handprint on the door. They draw their guns and hold them out as they kick open the door and enter, following a trail of blood to the hallway where Agatha’s dead body was (earlier, we saw Wolf happen upon his dead wife and grieve her loss). The house seems empty and Cassie is drawn to the table with Cocoa Chunks on it, noticing the odd assembly of objects. Mark has a realization, saying “In his book, Wolf mentioned a rewards table to train… the cereal…” They are surprised when Wolf enters the living room. “Company, it seems, always arrives when you have the most cleaning to do,” he jokes. They hold their guns at him and ask where Ronald is. He looks at the cereal and says “Damn Cocoa Chunks.” He tells them ronald is gone. “If you want my help finding him, you can start by lowering your weapons.”

Max gets home at night and finds glass broken at her front door. The house is dark as she enters and furniture seems to have been tossed around. She sees her mom’s purse on the floor, her keys nearby. She calls for her mom, but there’s no response. In the living room, the TV is on, but the picture is distorted from being damaged. She sees blood on the floor and pulls out her cellphone, calling Jenny directly. She is frantic, yelling that something happened to her mom. A hand covers Max’s mouth and picks her up. She drops her phone in horror as she screams.

Big Sky will return on ABC next Thursday, March 10th, with the next episode, titled “Do No Harm.”