TV Recap: “Big Sky” – Season 2, Episode 17 – “Family Matters”

Is the Bhullar’s time in Helena coming to an end? Season 2 of Big Sky is coming to a close and in the penultimate episode, titled “Family Matters,” the cartel family seems to be imploding from within. After being absent for several episodes, Scarlet also makes her return. Here’s a recap of the 17th episode of Season 2.

Sheriff Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) is in the emergency room after being shot by Richard Ford. Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) comes to pay him a visit and finds a male nurse (Darryl Deloach) seemingly tending to him, but secretly hiding a syringe in his hand. Jenny becomes suspicious of him when he knows her name and when she refuses to leave, he says he will give them some time. After exiting the room, another nurse comes in (Ramona King) and tells Jenny that Tubb isn’t allowed any visitors. When Jenny explains that another nurse told her it was okay, she learns that there aren’t any other nurses working in the ward. She steps out into the hallway to look for the mysterious man, but there’s no sign of him.

Jag Bhullar (Vinny Chhibber) is asleep at the wheel in his black SUV in a private airport hanger’s parking lot. His father Verr (Bernard White) wakes him up by knocking on the glass, with his father late for his scheduled arrival. On the drive home, Jag brings up what he and Ren agreed on in the previous episode, asking their father to step down and let them run the business. Verr is extremely hostile and bitter about the conversation. When they arrive at Ren’s cabin, he storms inside, ready to tell his daughter off. But he instead finds himself at the business end of a gun held by Richard Ford (Dallas Roberts). “The three of us, we’re taking a ride,” Richard tells them.

At Dewell & Hoyt, Jenny tells Cassie Dewell (Kylie Bunbury) and Denise (Dedee Pfeiffer) about Tubb and the mysterious man in his room. Switching the subject to Richard, the women discuss his steps thusfar and come to the conclusion that his next move will likely be to confront the Bhullars. Jenny and Cassie decide to pay Ren a visit and find the door ajar, drawing their guns as they search the house. They find Ren Bhullar (Janina Gavankar) and Travis (Logan Marshall-Green) tied to chairs upstairs. Ren tells them that a man came into their home, tied them up, and took her father and brother, but she doesn’t know where. Cassie has an idea of where they went and Jenny decides not to untie Ren and Travis as they leave.

Richard has forced Jag to drive them to the place where his dead son Mason’s car was found. Ordering them out of the car, he leads them towards the river where his son’s dead body was found after overdosing on their drugs. As they walk, Verr tells Richard that if his son was doing drugs, he must’ve been weak and that he knows what it’s like to have a weak son, referring to Jag. He offers Richard some money to spare his life, which Richard turns down, saying his only choice now is which one of them to kill first.

While tied together waiting, Ren tells Stone (Travis’ alias) that she would like to swap secrets, saying she noticed some vibes between him and Jenny. “I know you’re a cop, Stone,” she reveals. Travis at first denies it, asking who else he has to kill to prove his loyalty. Ren continues talking about how she figured it out, saying that she wondered why he hadn’t arrested her yet, but then realized that he is seeking vengence for the death of Kate Garza. “I looked into her,” Ren monologues. “She wasn’t just my dad’s girlfriend, she was an informant and my dad found out and she disappeared and now you want to know what happened to her. Isn’t that right, Travis?” Ren knows everything, but when Travis asks her why he’s still breathing, she admits that she’s not sure why she hasn’t killed him yet.

While driving, Jenny contemplates out loud the idea of letting Richard eliminate Verr and Jag for them. Cassie reminds her that this is not who they are. Jenny shifts her focus to worrying about getting Richard out of this situation alive. They find Jag’s SUV parked where Mason’s abandoned car was found.

Arriving at the riverbank where Mason died, Jag asks his father to let him lead the conversation. Jag apologizes to Richard for the death of his son as Richard forces them both on their knees. Jag tells Richard that he’s not a killer, but Richard is now swayed. “This is for Mason,” he says as he cocks his gun. Verr chimes in, telling Richard to kill Jag and explaining that his son is in charge of everything, ultimately responsible for Mason’s death. Richard is stunned as Verr stands up, brushes the dirt off his pantes, and begins to walk away. The camera stays tight on Verr’s face as he walks. We hear Jag shout “Dad!” The sound of footsteps on gravel. A gunshot. Verr takes a few more steps before he decides to turn around and see what happened. Richard is standing. Jag is on the ground motionless. Verr turns around and keeps walking as if nothing happened.

Jenny and Cassie rush to the river (they completely miss Verr) and find Richard staring at the river next to Jag’s limp body. They draw their guns and command Richard to put his gun down. “I’m sorry,” he says as he points his gun at his own chin. “I’m going to go see Mason now.” Jenny gets Richard to stop by asking him to think of his wife Mona. He says she’s innocent, but Jenny reveals that the drugs Mason overdosed on belonged to Mona. Richard is in disbelief as Cassie tells him that his daughter needs him. “A girl needs her father and I know this because I lost mine,” she pleads. Richard begins to cry as he drops his gun and falls to his knees. Cassie rushes to check on Jag as Jenny puts handcuffs on Richard. Cassie announces that Jag has a pulse and she calls an ambulance. Jenny tells Richard that everything is going to be okay. “No it’s not,” he whispers.

Ren and Donno (Ryan O’Nan) arrive at the emergency room to see Jag and bump into Jenny. “Your brother got shot because of what your family is doing in this town,” Jenny tells Ren, who asks if her father has been found yet. When Jenny says she can’t help her, Ren says “Fine, I’ll have Travis look into it.” Jenny stops, realizing what Ren has just revealed. Jenny pretends not to know anything about Stone being a cop and even keeps a straight face as Ren reveals that Travis killed Bob in an attempt to keep his cover. “I sure hope nothing bad happens to your father,” Jenny responds as she exits. Left alone, Ren asks Donno to keep her company in the waiting room while Jag is in surgery.

Verr’s girlfriend Alicia (Constance Zimmer) comes home from a workout to find Verr alone. She asks what happened to him, but before he can answer, the door opens and Ren and Donno return from the hospital. Ren tells Alicia that her brother was shot in the chest but Verr somehow walked away from their captor. When Ren and Alicia press Verr about what happened, he refers to Jag’s shooting as simply the cost of doing business and the result of his children trying to take him down. Verr accuses Ren of kicking Jag to the curb once he’s out of the picture.

Scarlet (Anja Savcic) and Phoebe (Zoë Noelle Baker) enter a fast food restaurant and wait a few moments when a mobile order is set on the counter. Making sure nobody is looking, they grab the bag of food and milkshake and rush out the door, bumping into a man and dropping the shake. Humbert (Brian Landis Folkins) is overly friendly, offering to get them a replacement and even offering them a ride to wherever they’re going. Scarlet seems fearful of him, pushing Phoebe behind her back and activating her taser. When a police car in the drive through flashes its siren for them to move out of the way, Humbert turns around to find that Scarlet and Phoebe have vanished.

Jenny visits Sheriff Tubb and tells him that Jag is recovering just down the hall. Even though Richard shot him, Tubb asks how he’s doing. Jenny tells Tubb that Travis has disappeared, clearing out of his motel and his phone apparently deactivated. She tells Tubb that Ren found out that Travis is a cop and he advises her to forget about him. He changes the subject, sharing that the county is sending an acting sheriff with more experience than her down to cover for him while he recovers. He has noticed a guard outside his door and she tells him about the man she found in his room. She isn’t sure if he was sent by the Bhullars or the syndicate.

Alicia goes to Verr to ask him to sign some insurance paperwork for Jag, but she asks him for more information about what happened. He talks about how his kids keep proving to him that they’re not ready to run the business, but Alicia suggests that he’s the one whose not ready to let go. He is upset by the comment and accuses her of being nothing without him. Alicia tells Verr that her love and counsel both have limits and that he can either walk away or fight his children until the day he dies, but either way, he’ll be doing it without her. She gives him a kiss on the forehead before leaving.

Scarlet and Phoebe stop at a rest stop and Scarlet locks the bathroom door behind them, freshening up at the sink. When there’s a knock on the door, she yells that they will be out in a minute. After an even louder knock, a man’s voice says “Tell me something Scarlet, do you miss Ronald?” It’s Humbert. He uses his gun to blast the lock off the door, entering the bathroom, which looks empty. He kicks open the stalls looking for them, reaching a small window that is open. He leaves the bathroom, closing the door behind him where we see Scarlet and Phoebe pressed against the wall holding their breath.

Ren visits Jag, who is out of surgery but still unconscious. She promises to buy him the beard oil he loves if he lives, which elicits a snarky response from him about how it better be organic. She jokes that his first words out of surgery are an argument, but he promises that they won’t fight anymore and Ren agrees. Jag is shocked to learn that their father walked away from the altercation with Richard completely unharmed.

Lila Dodge (Esodie Geiger), Travis’ supervisor from the state, arrives to meet with Jenny, who wants her help getting Travis out of the situation he’s in. “I’ve been telling you that for weeks,” she argues, but Jenny reveals that now the Bhullars know who he really is. Lila refers to Travis as “collateral damag,” saying he chose the path he’s on and she’s not going to spare the resources to save him now.

At Denise’s suggestion, Cassie attends her first group grief counseling session. “The man who killed my dad isn’t gone,” she shares with the group. “He’ll never be gone. And if I’m being honest, part of me wants him to stay there. It feels safer somehow to remember the pain.” She says that because of Ronald, she will never let her guard down again. After the session, Cassie gets a call from an unknown number. “I have information you want,” Scarlet says on the other end of the call. “The girls, the sex trafficking, the people Ronald and the Legarskis were working with, I have…” Scarlet is interrupted by Phoebe announcing that she’s hungry and Cassie reveals that Wolf told her about the deal he made with the syndicate to reform Ronald. She suggests that Scarlet will never be safe no matter what and suggests that she find better living arrangements for Phoebe, offering to help. Instead, Scarlet threatens Cassie’s life and hangs up the phone.

Jenny gets home late to find Travis on her couch. He came to say goodbye and she begs him to let her help him get out. He says he can’t stop until he has gotten justice for Kate. Jenny asks what about the two of them and he says he never planned on their romance, but revenge is what he came for. “Goodbye, Hoyt,” Travis says as he moves toward the door. “I’m still a cop, I can stop you,” Jenny says, drawing her gun. “You’re not going to shoot me, you love me,” Travis responds. “Deep down you always knew you were going to have to let me go.”

Ren finds Verr in the living room. “You were right,” he says, having had a change of heart after talking to Alicia. “I have lost a step and maybe it is time I step down, hand things over.” Ren is confused as he apologizes for being hard on her, saying he’s proud of the woman she’s become and that she’s a lot like him. “You have done so good and I love you,” Verr concludes. “I love you, too,” Ren says stunned. “Now let’s go see your son.”

Scarlet is parked in a neighborhood and Phoebe asks where they are. Scarlet puts on her sunglasses and asks Phoebe to just watch her show on her tablet. Someone comes out of the house. It’s Cassie, who gets in her truck. Scarlet puts her car in drive.

There’s just one more episode left in this season of Big Sky on ABC. The season finale, titled “Catch a Few Fish,” premieres Thursday, May 19th. Here’s what we know about the season finale.

In a struggle between head and heart, final resolutions are made as Jenny works to find Travis before he reaches a dangerous point of no return; meanwhile, Ren and Jag find a new familial bond and decide together how to handle their father now that he’s crossed a serious line. After receiving a startling surprise from Scarlett, Cassie changes the course of her quest for justice forever. Later, with Tubb out of commission for the time being, a new sheriff comes to town; and after getting fully acquainted with Cassie and Jenny, it seems like he may just stick around for a while.