There’s never a dull moment in Helena on Big Sky. “Dead Man’s Float” isn’t your typical episode, unusual for its absence of Cassie Dewell. While this season’s overarching story surrounding the Bhullars is still center-stage, the apparent end of the story for Ronald Pergman makes it feel like the ABC drama is moving in a different direction now. This episode also loses Max and her friends, seemingly for good, as Jenny becomes involved with a new Helena family. Here’s a recap of the 14th episode of Season 2 of Big Sky.
(ABC/Anna Kooris)
Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) pulls up her truck to meet Travis (Logan Marshall-Green) in the woods, asking why he called her there. “Do you trust me, Jenny?”, he asks as he pulls back a tarp in the back of his truck to reveal the dead body of Bob (Alex Knight). Jenny is shocked as Travis tells her that he knows she’s looking for him. He’s been given orders to make Bob disappear and he didn’t want her wasting her time on a fruitless assignment. “You can’t expect me to let you walk off and bury him,” Jenny says with anger. “Well, it’s not up to you Jenny,” Travis replies, prompting Jenny to question his loyalty. She asks him to at least tell her who killed Bob. “I don’t know,” Travis lies. She asks him to be honest with her about what really happened with Kate. “So the handler finally got to you,” Travis scoffs. Jenny continues to ask questions and Travis snaps, yelling “WHAT ELSE DO YOU WANT FROM ME?” Jenny has the same question of Travis as she backs away towards her truck. “I love you, Travis, but this is too far. Just go bury your body. I can’t do this anymore.” Jenny drives away.
Ren Bhullar (Janina Gavankar) sits at her patio table in the same chair Bob died in, recounting what happened for her brother Jag (Vinny Chhibber). He’s surprised that she’s okay with that level of violence and she accuses him of only being okay with violence so long as he doesn’t have to get directly involved. Jag switches the subject to Stone (Travis’ alias), asking if she trusts him now. “I Don’t trust anyone, but we need him… for now.” Jag tells Ren that it’s best to only trust family, which she says she doesn’t trust either. He asks her to trust him, saying “I know we’ve had a rough road but I am your brother and I’m all you’ve got right now.” Jag asks Ren if she’s talked to their father lately, explaining that he saw Verr looking out the window yesterday seemingly lost in thought. Ren jokes that perhaps he was thinking of Alicia, bringing up how strange it is to see their father happy.
We’re introduced to a new house. Richard Ford (Dallas Roberts) wakes up his daughter Hayden (Keara Lloyd) asking if she’s seen her brother Mason, who didn’t come home last night. He was supposed to help his dad pull up a fence and tasks Hayden with finding him. A short while later, Hayden pulls up to her brother’s truck in the woods. Music is playing inside and the door is unlocked. She opens the door and turns off the ignition, noting the empty beer cans littering the floor. She calls out for him, walking around and seeing him passed out on the bank of a river, more empty cans around him. He doesn’t respond to her verbal commands to wake up so she begins prodding him, rolling him onto his back. His mouth is coated in dry white debris as if he was foaming at the mouth. He’s dead and in his right hand is a little bag of white pills with four black dots on them… just like the ones Jag inspected in the previous episode.
Mason’s truck quickly becomes a police crime scene, with Sheriff Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) already on the scene when Jenny arrives. She’s surprised to see Deputy Poppernak (J. Anthony Pena) back to work, who fills her in on everything they know so far. He explains that the deceased’s sister called the police and they sent her home to prepare her parents for the bad news. Taking Jenny to the body, Poppernak pulls back the blanket, and Jenny’s face is one of shock. “Oh my God, it’s Mason Ford. I know the whole family.” She pulls the blanket back over his face.
(ABC/Anna Kooris)
Jenny and Poppernak arrive at the Ford residence and Richard’s wife Mona (Laurel Harris) answers the door. “I’m so sorry,” Jenny says as she hugs Mason’s mother and asks if she can come inside to talk. Sitting around the kitchen table, Richard is on edge and demanding answers, referring to his son’s death as a murder. Jenny explains that they have to wait for a coroner’s report, but that the case isn’t being ruled a homicide. She asks if Mason had a history of depression or drug use and Richard becomes enraged. Jenny recognizes a look of awareness on Hayden’s face and asks if she knows anything. Timidly, Hayden says “He drank beer sometimes,” cut off when Richard slams his fist against a kitchen cupboard. Mona tries to calm Richard down by explaining that Jenny is just trying to help. Jenny decides to end the meeting but tells Mona and Hayden to contact her if they need anything. She promises to get answers for the family, hugging Mona again before she leaves.
Mark Lindor (Omar Metwally) helps Denise (Dedee Pfeiffer) tidy up around Dewell & Hoyt, grunting as he carries boxes, but saying he prefers this to physical therapy for the wounds he endured in the standoff with Wolf and Ronald. Denise talks about how she’s been filling up her free time with podcasts while Cassie takes time off. Mark says he’s been on a tech break and offers to stay at Dewell & Hoyt to help out while he’s on medical leave. Denise tells him to grab a desk.
Jerrie (Jesse James Keitel) throws flowers away, the kitchen of her parents’ house full of vases following the death of her mother. Jerrie’s Dad (Jeff Kober) reflects on her mother’s herb garden, saying “This last week, it meant the world to her… and to me.” Jerrie says she’s glad she came and her father suggests that they make a meal together using her mother’s herbs. “There’s no such thing as overstaying your welcome; This could be your home again,” he offers. Jerrie tells him that she has a career and friends waiting for her in Helena. “I’m gonna miss you,” her dad says, their emotional wounds seemingly healed. She asks her dad to visit her sometime.
As Travis (Stone) returns to Ren’s house, Donno watches him suspiciously from the porch. He wants to see Stone’s hands to make sure he really got them dirty disposing of Bob’s body. Stone pulls his hands away defensively, asking “Do you still think I’m a cop?” Donno answers the question by pulling up security footage of Stone stabbing Bob in the neck, threatening that if Stone hurts Ren, he will kill him.
Jenny finds Hayden at the store where she works, asking to speak to her privately. Jenny informs Hayden that her brother died of a drug overdose, saying “Honey, I’ve known you forever. You can trust me. Is there something you need to tell me?” Hayden opens up a pouch on her hip and pulls out the bag of pills she found on Mason’s body, saying that she panicked and took them, not wanting her parents to know. “Mason doesn’t do drugs, it just doesn’t make sense,” she adds, telling Jenny that she doesn’t know where he got them from.
Jenny visits Dewell & Hoyt to sign the lease, asking Denise if she’s talked to Cassie. Denise has urged her to take a little more time off. Jenny tells Denise about Mason Ford and Denise is shocked, telling Jenny that she will call Richard. The two of them went through a recovery program together and she wants to make sure he doesn’t slip. “No matter what, a parent always blames themself,” Denise says.
That night, Ren is in bed when she hears something outside of the house. She looks through the window and sees the shadow of a man walking through the field in the backyard. She grabs her gun and rushes to Jag, bringing him along for support. Outside, they sneak up behind the man, who is reciting a poem called “Bridge” by Jim Harrison. It’s their father, Verr Bhullar (Bernard White), and his behavior is very confusing to Ren and Jag. Verr says “It’s time,” motioning his kids to go back inside to talk.
Sitting around the living room, Alicia (Constance Zimmer) says that she is the one who told Verr to step outside for some air. Verr explains that reciting things is calming for him, opening up about why he really fled Canada. “We ran into some trouble in Toronto.” Verr says he was betrayed by a man named Vikrum, who drained several accounts, which Alicia caught. Verr tried and failed to kill Vikrum and is embarrassed. “We are in Big Sky country now,” he says. “I have my family, my health, and now you have the truth.” Verr closes himself off to further questions, but when Ren asks if he’s worried that they will come after him, he says “If they do, then God help them all.”
The next day, Donno (Ryan O’Nan) stands in the kitchen cooking a pot roast when Tonya (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) enters, noticing that something is wrong. She coaxes him to start talking and he reveals that he’s worried about Ren. He describes Verr as being unpredictable and also adds that he doesn’t trust Stone. “Whatever happens, we have to have Ren’s back,” he tells Tonya, implying that she may have to kill people in this job in order to protect her. This was a concern Tonya had back when she first agreed to work for Ren.
Mark has settled in at Jerrie’s old desk, his dog Jim on a dog bed by the side of it. Denise cuddles with Jim when Jerrie walks in, surprising them all. Jerrie and Mark hug and she asks to be brought up to speed on everything she missed.
At the Sheriff’s Department, Tubb shows Jenny the forensics report from the pills Hayden found on Mason’s body. It’s Fentanyl, synthetic opioids that were cut with something to heighten the effects, which make them last longer and make them easier to overdose with. Tubb tasks Jenny with finding out how Mason got the drugs.
Truck driver Bryce (Travis Hammer) visits Ren’s house to tell Tonya that he quits following the murder of Jameson, who was driving the other truck of steaks with drugs on board. He isn’t interested in hearing what Tonya has to say so Donno stops him by pulling out a knife. Bryce pulls back his flannel to reveal a gun at his hip and Tonya deescalates the situation by asking both men to stand down. She offers Bryce a 20% raise, adding that the man responsible for Jameson’s death is no longer a threat. Ren comes downstairs and sees the conversation in action. Ren pulls Bryce close and whispers to him that if he walks away, Ren will kill them both. He asks for double the price and Tonya agrees. When Bryce leaves, Ren asks if that salary is in the budget and Tonya reveals that she offered him less than they talked about originally, so they’re still good. Ren is proud of her.
(ABC/Anna Kooris)
Ren finds Alicia in the kitchen doing yoga, who offers to teach her, saying that it frees the mind of clutter so you can focus on what’s important. Ren asks Alicia what’s important to her. “Your dad,” she says, “It’s cheesy, I know, but it’s true.” Alicia talks about how she thought she would never find love again before Ren asks her to stop, switching the subject to last night’s conversation. Ren tells her she knows her father was telling the truth, Jag looked into it. She is concerned that they’re in danger and Alicia confirms that Verr thinks they may send someone to assassinate him, but he also believes being far from Toronto makes it not worth their effort. Alicia also tells Ren that she believes Verr needs to retire and that he has to make a choice between his two kids taking over. She’s suggested that he let them both lead it, but Ren says she’s the brains between her and Jag. “You just have to show him,” Alicia encourages her.
Richard works on a truck in the garage when Hayden walks in to announce that she picked up fried chicken for dinner on her way home. He asks where she and her mom were and she tells him that they went to the station to talk to Jenny. Richard is upset about this, but Hayden says that Jenny is just trying to help. He refers to both Jenny and the police as “A band of idiots.” He asks Hayden if she knows why Mason was down by the river alone and she shakes her head, leaving to go inside. Leaving Richard alone, he rests on the edge of his truck and sobs.
Ren sits by the fire that night when Stone comes in. He asks her how long she plans to hold the surveillance footage over his head. “What do you care? Same team, right?”, she asks him. He asks her what’s wrong and she mentions her dad’s girlfriend. “If you want, I could do some digging on her for you. I used to do that kind of thing for Dietrich,” Stone offers. He adds that he used to do digging on the Bhullars for him and when she asks what he found out, he mentions that Verr has a bad track record with women. He lists off a bartender, a law clerk, and a waitress in Seattle named Kate. “I remember her, she was perky,” Ren recalls. She’s not looking at Stone’s face, which is a good thing because a moment of fury washes over him as he responds, “Yeah, they always are.” He adds that if Alicia is like Kate, Ren’s problem is solved. “Why, what happened to her?” Stone doesn’t get the chance to answer, Donno interrupts saying they have a problem. Ren goes to the window and sees Jenny’s truck pull up.
Ren goes outside, backed up by Donno and Stone as Jenny walks towards her. “You just killed a kid. A kid by the name of Mason Ford died with your drugs on him.” Jenny holds up the evidence bag, which contains the pills and the report about the contents. “I just want you to know that I will not stop until you’re done.” Ren is surprised that Jenny thinks she deals drugs and seems genuinely concerned about her claim that a kid has died. She moves towards Jenny as if to hug her, but Jenny steps back and grabs her gun. “Are we doing this?”, Jenny asks. “No, we’re not,” Stone sternly replies. “If I remember correctly, you need a warrant to search private property, which you’re standing on.” Stone tells Jenny to get out of here and she moves towards her truck, adding “I’ll see you all very soon.” Ren turns to Donno and Stone to ask what they know about this, saying “I didn’t come all this way to push tainted product. You better find out what she’s talking about.” Donno offers to reach out and Ren gives him permission to get his hands dirty. She asks Stone to find out who is messing with her product. Donno eyes Stone with suspicion as Stone watches Jenny’s truck disappear in the distance.
It’s late at Dewell & Hoyt and Denise has gone home. Mark opens two bottles of beer and sits down to talk with Jerrie, who describes her mother’s death as feeling like a burden that was lifted. “You were right, you know. About going home. I’ll never forget what you did for me.” Mark tells her it was all her. Jerrie tells him that she didn’t get to say everything she wanted to say to her mother because she was so sick and it wouldn’t have changed anything. “Give it time,” he encourages her. “The anger, it lets go after a while. I promise.” Jerrie fights back tears and changes the topic to Cassie. “About Cassie, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.” Jerrie seems happy to hear that he and Cassie have finally gotten together, saying she’s surprised it didn’t happen sooner. “I’ve missed you, Jerrie,” Mark says. “Okay. So where does that leave us?”, Jerrie asks.
Jenny pulls up to Reed Calfax Trucking, drawing her gun as she gets out and examines a storm door that leads her to the basement. It’s the lab where the Bhullar’s Fentynal is produced. She looks around and determines that the place is empty, putting her gun away as she finds a jar of pills on a scale. She reaches in to touch them when a fist comes out of nowhere, knocking her to the ground. She grabs her gun and looks up, but a foot kicks it out of her hand. It’s Jag’s bodyguard Dhruv (Yuvraj Dhesi). “Bad move,” he says as Jenny stares up at him.
We have to wait to find out what happens next. Big Sky returns Thursday, April 7th at 10/9c on ABC with “This Will Not Be Forgiven.” I leave you with a description of the next episode.
With her life on the line, Jenny makes a violent decision that puts a Bhullar target on her back; but as she closes in on the family, Veer questions his children’s ability to lead and makes a major personnel decision that will change everything. Meanwhile, a grieving father tears up the town over his son’s death; and Cassie returns, ready for a fresh start, considering just how Lindor might factor into it.