TV Recap: “Big Sky” Season 2 Episode 3 – “You Have to Play Along”

“You Have to Play Along.” That’s not only something Scarlet tells Ronald in the third episode of season two of Big Sky, but it’s also the name of the episode. Cassie and Jenny’s new case heats up as we learn more about what’s going on at Wolf Legarski’s ranch. Are you ready for another detailed recap of the hit ABC drama?

It’s nighttime at a construction site called Helena Grove Estates. Ren (Janina Gavankar) helps Tonya (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) clean her bloody nose while Donno (Ryan de Quintal) sits in the corner looking through Tonya’s purse. Ren begins to question her captive, asking Tonya where her boyfriend Big Sam was hiding the money. Tonya says she doesn’t know anything and Ren tells her that if they don’t get it back, her boss will send someone like Donno to kill her. “I’m just a waitress,” Tonya pleads, but Ren asks her not to diminish her work and adds that a confidant at the police department told her that Tonya is a good girl. Tonya reaffirms that she doesn’t know who Sam is working with and Ren corrects the statement to past tense, telling Tonya that Sam is dead. Tonya starts to cry as Donno finds a card for Dewell & Hoyt in Tonya’s purse, passing it to Ren.

Sheriff Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) meets with Jenny (Katheryn Winnick) and Cassie (Kylie Bunbury), who tells him about Big Sam and Tonya’s disappearance. He’s surprised to see them working together again. Tubb explains that Big Sam is part of a state investigation and that Jenny will need to talk with another investigator in order to work on the case. He gives her an address.

It turns out the person in charge of the case is Travis (Logan Marshall-Green), who meets with Jenny and Cassie and confirms that Big Sam had connections to a cartel. When the girls bring up Tonya, Travis dismisses her as not being important enough to risk blowing his cover. Cassie catches on that Travis and Jenny have history and Jenny explains that they used to work undercover together. Cassie realizes she’s seen Travis before at the bar and when he leaves, she asks Jenny “Is Mr. Undercover good under the covers?” Jenny pretends she doesn’t know what Cassie is talking about and switches the subject to finding Tonya.

Madison (Lola Reid) is looking through her closet when her brother Bridger (Jeremy Ray Taylor) comes in to show off the police scanner he bought with his $2,000 from the money bag. He plans to use it to keep an ear out for any news about the cop who murdered the driver of the flipped truck (Big Sam). Madison is considering saving her money.

Max (Madelyn Kientz) finds T-Lock (Arturo Del Puerto) looking through her room and he asks her where the rest of the drugs are, holding the bag he took from her. She lies and says she found it, but he asks about the $2,000 she used to help fix her mom’s tooth and she says it was from babysitting. “Listen, I’m going to be watching you,” he tells her. Max asks if he’s going to tell her mom about the drugs and he tells her it depends on what else he finds. She calls him a “Creep” as she walks away, leaving him to turn over her room.

Tonya asks Donno if she can use a bathroom, but he slides a garbage pail towards her. He works on a crossword puzzle and she helps him solve a line, so he shows her a little humanity and takes her outside by a tree, turning around to give her privacy. While Donno practices attacks with a knife, Tonya finds a stick with a sharp end and when he comes around the tree, she stabs it into his thigh and runs.

Agatha (Romy Rosemont) brushes the hair of her husband Wolf Legarski (John Carroll Lynch) as she talks about what a lovely girl Scarlet is. Wolf complains that Ronald keeps testing him and isn’t following his commands. She suggests that he change tactics, adding “Show him the face of a friend” as she tugs on his goatee. He is upset at the suggestion that he make himself to look like his dead twin brother Rick, saying “I can’t look at that fice in the mirror.” She reminds him that before you put a dog down, you try everything first.

Max meets Harper (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) on her break behind Delia’s Restaurant where she works and tells her friend about her mom’s boyfriend finding the sample of drugs that were meant for Harper’s co-worker, Dylan. Max wants to get rid of the duffle bag of drugs as soon as possible and once again suggests they just throw them away, but Dylan (Timothy Oakes) comes outside to complain about cooking the gravy and Harper twists Max’s arm on it. Max is surprised by Dylan’s demeanor, a surly type who doesn’t seem particularly tough. Harper asks Max to trust him to get the job done.

Travis enters a bar and moves towards a man with a beard (Michael Tomsu) in the corner, scaring away the girl he was flirting with. He grabs him and growls that someone grabbed Big Sam’s girl, asking if it was someone named Dietrich. During the altercation, which turns into a fight on the ground, we learn that Travis has dirt on this man that he’s using to extract information with. The fight is interrupted by some menacing-sounding boots that walk toward them calmly. It’s a man (David Meunier) who asks what the fight was about, which Travis says was nothing. “It didn’t look like nothing,” the man says.

Denise (Dedee Pfeiffer) brings Jerrie (Jesse James Keitel) a book called “Good Dog, Bad Dog.” She asks why she gave it to her, but Denise points to the author’s photo on the back. It looks just like Rick Legarski and the book is authored by Wolf. Denise isn’t sure if they should tell Cassie or not. When Cassie enters, she asks Jerrie if she has any new leads on Tonya’s whereabouts, informing her that Big Sam is now part of a state investigation. Jenny calls to tell Cassie two bodies were found outside of Canyon Creek and she’s on her way to pick Cassie up to go take a look.

Ren sits in her black SUV outside of Dewell & Hoyt as she talks on the phone to a man named Jag who refers to her as “Sis.” He offers to send reinforcements but she declines. She watches as Cassie exits the building and gets into Jenny’s car, following them.

While Jenny drives, Cassie speculates the body is Tonya’s. The conversation gets emotional when Cassie talks about how she still can’t believe that Jenny took a bullet for her. “I’m not even sure how to thank you. I’ll never forget it.” Jenny tears up as she reminisces about how it wasn’t that long ago that they punched each other in the face.

Ronald (Brian Geraghty) has been brought inside the Legarski home for lunch, seated opposite Scarlet (Anja Savcic), who seems content. Wolf has shaven his face but kept his hair long.  “Big day, our first meal as a family,” he announces. Scarlet helped prepare the beets, but Ronald announces that he hates beets, asking Wolf for cereal. His captor calls it “Sugar soup” and Ronald explains that it was the comfort food his mother let him have for good behavior. Wolf tells Ronald that the goal is that he won’t need rewards and will learn to control his urges, but tells him to give Agatha a list so she can pick something out for the reward table. Pointing to a corner, Ronald sees a table with a box of pancake mix, a squirt gun, a toy horse, an acoustic guitar, a photo of John Legend, and a DVD set of Cosmos. Ronald asks Scarlet which item is hers and she can’t tell him. “Knowledge is a privilege, Ronald, and like all other privileges it must be earned,” wolf tells him. Ronald says he would rather starve than eat beets and Agatha suggests that Scarlet take Ronald to the barn. Wolf tells Ronald he trusts him to follow her instructions, calling Scarlet a “Fine student” and giving her a kiss on the hand.

Deputy Poppernak (J. Anthony Pena) introduces himself to Cassie by the river and one of the two bodies is confirmed to be Big Sam. The other body had no ID. Cassie examines the bodies, which were found by fishermen, and recognizes that somebody went through a lot of trouble to make them hard to find. She fears that it’s the same people who took Tonya.

Ren stands on the periphery of the police action and notices a teenager who seems out of place. She approaches Bridger and asks if he’s into dead bodies, saying she loved horror at his age. She describes the first dead body she ever saw, which had a machete in its head. Bridger asks Ren what she’s doing there and she says work. Bridger excuses himself and Ren looks suspicious of him.

Harvey (Michael Malarkey) connects with Ren to give her a heads up about the bodies being found and she tells him he’s bad at his job since she already knew. She tells him that Tonya hired Cassie. “I can handle Cassie Dewell,” he says. Ren asks him to find out if Cassie knows anything about the drugs or money. He asks about Tonya, but Ren says “Drugs and money, that’s all I care about. That’s all my boss cares about.” He says “You mean daddy?” and Ren says “Sure do.” Ren tells Harvey he has one day.

Outside the farmhouse, Scarlet tells Ronald that Wolf has eyes and ears everywhere. He wants her to join him in running away to freedom but she argues that they were never free, always running from something. She feels protected by Wolf from the people Ronald was working with, but Ronald gets mad and says he doesn’t need saving. “The sooner you give in, the easier this will be, for you, for us,” Scarlet encourages him. Ronald says he won’t be broken down. “I’m getting Phoebe and we’re finding our way out of here,” he adds before taking off towards the fence on the property line. Wolf steps out from behind the barn and tells Scarlet to go finish her lunch. “I’ll take it from here.”

Cassie is in Jenny’s office at the sheriff’s department when they get a report with the identification of the second body, a man named Daniel Del Carprio who went by the name Ringo. Harvey knocks on the door and asks Jenny if the bodies were related to the truck accident. He brags that he was the first officer on the scene, but Cassie asks “How is it you saw the wreck? It’s pretty far off the road.” He says he found skid marks and went to check it out and she asks if he saw anything else, but he questions why she’s asking. “Because someone got there and moved those bodies,” Cassie adds. “Well, it wasn’t me if that’s what you’re asking,” Harvey responds. Getting up to leave, he sees the rock with the heart in a bag and asks about it. Jenny says she found it near the accident site. On his way out, he asks if they have any updates on Ronald Pergman, adding that he hopes this case doesn’t prevent them from finding him. Jenny gets a text from Travis asking to meet to share info.

Tonya is still running. Donno is wounded, but he’s keeping up behind her as she screams for help and part of her skirt tears on a bush. Tonya eventually happens upon a restaurant in the middle of the woods called Bad Clown Cafe. She rushes inside and finds a cook at work, who offers to help her.

Cassie enters Dewell & Hoyt and sees the book by Wolf Legarski on Jerrie’s desk, but there’s no time to talk about it. Denise gets a phone call from Tonya at the restaurant screaming as Donno enters and attacks the chef. Cassie gets on speakerphone and believes she knows the location of the restaurant. Donno uses a bat that the chef tried to defend himself with to bash the receiver off the wall. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he tells Tonya as he comes toward her.

Jenny meets Travis on the side of the road, climbing into his truck and noticing the bruise on his face from the bar fight. He tells her that he found out that the cartel has a cleanup man, but he doesn’t know who it is. He also says he will try to do something for Tonya, but can’t make any promises. Jenny asks him to be more careful as they start to make out, their kiss interrupted by a call from Cassie.

Ronald works to dig under the fence on Wolf’s farm when the proprietor approaches with his walking stick. He’s mad that Ronald tried to turn Scarlet against him and promises to give Ronald clear boundaries. He will implement a reward and punishment system like the one Ronald was used to with his mother. Telling Ronald it’s time for his nap, Wolf uses his walking stick to knock him out.

Cassie and Jerrie kick open the door of the Bad Clown Cafe with their guns drawn, calling Tonya’s name. They find the dead chef on the floor and a noise at the door startles them. It’s Jenny.

Max and Harper have pulled the bags out of the floor of the shed to relocate them. Max is still unsure that passing the drugs to Dylan is the right thing to do and also questions if Harper cares more about her or the money. She says she cares about both when they hear T-Lock pull up. As he approaches the shed door, the girls freak him out by making out and pretending to be caught. Embarrassed, he steps away, apologizing. The girls smile, their plan worked.

Ren’s black SUV pulls back into Helena Grove Estates and she goes to the construction trailer to find Donno nursing his leg wounds and Tonya tied and gagged in a chair. “Good day?”, she sarcastically asks.

Sheriff Tubb arrives at the Bad Clown Cafe as the chef’s body is loaded into an ambulance. He questions why Tonya would call Cassie directly rather than the police. Cassie is trying to figure out where Tonya could be now and Jerrie suggests a construction site nearby with just a trailer on the property. Jenny is ready to join them, but Tubb tells her she has to process the crime scene paperwork as the first officer on the scene. Jenny is pissed and Tubb pulls her aside to explain that this is protocol and he can’t treat her differently in front of the other deputies. Jenny tells Cassie she has to work things out at the cafe, but asks to be called if they need anything.

Harvey brings his cup of coffee to the check-in desk of the sheriff’s station to talk to Madge (Melissa Chambers). He asks about the kid who was there to report a crime the other day and whether or not he signed in. She gives him a look and asks why he wants to know, but he says “Come on” and after rolling her eyes, Madge reaches for the visitor log. “Bridger Ryan,” she reads. Harvey thanks her and leaves.

Bridger told Madison what he saw when he followed the police channel to the creek where the bodies were found, which he recognized as the men from the truck. She asks if anyone saw him and he describes Ren as a “Freaky lady.” Madison asks if the cop who shot the driver was there and he says no. “This is really bad, I’m going to tell Max and Harper.” Madison agrees that they should, but she also believes that nobody knows about the bags that they kept with the money and drugs. “That lady, I have a weird feeling about her,” Bridger adds. “I don’t think we need to tell Max and Harper about that,” Harper censors him.

Harper arrives at her house with the duffel bag of drugs. A white van is parked outside and the man in the beanie hat who saw them take the bags is watching her. Harper seems uneasy as she enters her house.

Tonya sobs in the chair in the trailer, her mouth gagged. Ren is pissed at Donno for killing someone, blaming him for the entire event. They suddenly hear tires on gravel and see headlights through the window. Donno stands up with his gun pointed at the door. Outside, Cassie and Jerrie get out of the car with a flashlight, shining it at the trailer. Inside, Ren takes a gun from Donno and puts it in the beltline of her dress. “If you don’t take care of it, I will,” she warns him. Cassie and Jerrie approach the trailer.

Big Sky returns Thursday, October 21st with “Gettin’ Right To It” on ABC at 10/9c. Here’s the episode description to feed your obsession until then.

Cassie and Jerrie search a development site and run into someone unexpected. Meanwhile, Wolf believes he is making progress with Ronald, and Deputy Harvey comes face-to-face with Bridger.