TV Recap: “Big Sky” Season 2, Episode 8 – “The End Has No End”

It’s that time of year where some of your favorite TV dramas go on a midseason hiatus. For Big Sky, last year’s midseason break was a split between cases for Cassie and Jenny, but this season we’re left on a bigger cliffhanger. Here’s a recap of season 2, episode 8, titled “The End Has No End.”

Ronald Pergman (Brian Geraghty) is free again and after a long walk down the highway, he comes to a gas station where he finds a camper with bumper stickers on the back, one of which reads “The End Has No End.” Having watched the driver exit, Ronald goes inside and startles a woman, who warns him that she has bear spray. Ronald tells her that’s okay and the next thing she knows, she is thrown from her own camper as Ronald takes the wheel and drives away.

Travis (Logan Marshall-Green) has T-Lock (Arturo Del Puerto) at gunpoint over a cellar door in the middle of a clearing. T-Lock begs for his life, promising that he didn’t kill Smiley and confessing that Smiley was going to help him sell a bag of drugs he found. Travis sternly asks for more details about how he found the drugs and T-Lock lies, saying he found them on the side of the road. Travis asks about the other bag full of money, which T-Lock doesn’t know about, and then asks where the rest of the drugs are. T-Lock tells him they’re in a shed at his house. Travis’ phone buzzes and he orders T-Lock to get on the ground as he answers. The call is from Dietrich (David Meunier) who tells Travis that Smiley is confirmed dead and that Ren tried to send him a box with Smiley’s severed hand inside. Travis asks Dietrich what he should do with T-Lock and he is ordered to kill him. Travis marches back to T-Lock, holds out his gun, and fires. But T-Lock isn’t dead. The bullet hit the binds on his wrists, breaking them free. T-Lock thanks Travis for his mercy.

Seeing the other end of Dietrich’s call, he sits at a table at Boot Heel across from someone else off-camera. Just after hanging up, he says “I don’t trust him. Smiley wanted to talk to me for a reason. You ready to get to work?” The camera pans around and we see a man with a beard, who goes unnamed in the episode but is credited as Bob (Alex Knight).

Sheriff Tubb (Patrick Gallagher) meets with Jenny Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) and Deputy Poppernak (J. Anthony Pena) as they debrief him about the hand they found in the box at Boot Heel. Jenny tells him that this incident is part of the drug war happening in town, the same one that she was investigating before he pulled her off the case to let the state handle it. Tubb brings up Harvey because he’s the one who allegedly took the drugs and money and Jenny tells him she doesn’t think he did it. Sheriff Tubb dismisses Popernak and confides in Jenny that he’s been debriefed by the state about the Buhler family. Jenny tells him that she’s already met the daughter, referring to Ren, and he cautions that the rep he spoke to thinks the undercover officer working the case has flipped sides, referring to Travis. In the interest of keeping people safe, Jenny asks for the case to be reassigned to her and Tub agrees. “Jenny, don’t make me regret this,” he warns her.

Ren (Janina Gavankar) arrives home to find a surprise waiting for her in the form of her brother Jag (Vinny Chhibber) and his right-hand man Dhruv (Yuvraj Dhesi). She gives both a hug before warning Jag that if he touches her people again, she will hurt his manhood, referring to the way he abused Donno when they arrived in the previous episode. Ren insists that she has everything covered and Jag tells her he only came to prevent their dad from showing up. He gives her until the end of the week to get the drugs and money back before Dhruv starts dropping bodies.

Cassie Hoyt (Kylie Bunbury) makes herself a sandwich in her kitchen, dancing while she does it when her dad Joseph (Jeff Joseph) enters and asks what, or who, has put her in such a good mood. “I don’t know, we’ll see, it’s still early,” she tells him, clearly reeling from the kiss with Mark in the previous episode. He tells her he put an offer down on his dream ranch and she reminds him that there is another interested buyer, but he has a feeling things will work out in his favor. Cassie abandons her sandwich when she hears a knock at the door, opening it to find Jenny. She comes in and tells Cassie that she found out that Tonya is working for Ren. She asks Cassie to talk to her to try and get more information.

Scarlet’s daughter Phoebe (Zoë Noelle Baker) is playing in her bedroom when she hears a noise from the closet that scares her. She runs to her bed when Agatha’s sister Iris (Jackie Jones) comes in to tell her she’s going out for ice cream, offering to bring some back for her. Phoebe tells her that there’s a monster in her closet and Iris doesn’t even look around, just says she thinks Phoebe would like strawberry swirl and leaves. Alone again in the room, Phoebe watches as her closet door slowly slides open and Ronald emerges into the dark bedroom, holding his finger to his lips to tell her to keep quiet.

Cassie finds Tonya (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) working on a laptop at a coffee shop and sits with her, accusing her of having more to do with her boyfriend’s disappearance than she initially said because of who she’s working for now. Tonya defends herself, saying that her boss is in real estate, but Cassie tells her she’s part of the Buhler cartel and asks if Ren is the one who really kidnapper her. “Deputy Harvey kidnapped me,” Tonya lies. Cassie tells Tonya that she can come to her if she needs help, but Tonya asks if this is just about the ranch her dad wanted to buy. Cassie tells her it’s not and Tonya tells Cassie she’s going to get breakfast, indicating that she should leave. “Wow,” Cassie says in disbelief as she exits the coffee shop.

Max (Madelyn Kientz) and Harper (Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson) slept over at Madison’s (Lola Reid) house, waking up when Bridger (Jeremy Taylor) knocks on the door to tell them that Creary (Ryan de Quintal) is awake. They go downstairs to find him feeling better and ready to leave their care. He warns them that the cartel won’t stop looking for them until they return the bags of drugs and money. Max says they know they can’t keep them. The rest of the gang look confused by this statement.

At the Sheriff’s Department, Popernack tells Jenny that he got the fingerprints back from the coffee cup she submitted and is waiting to hear if they’re a match for the keychain found at the scene of Harvey’s death. He also informs her of a call that just came in from a woman claiming her boyfriend is missing and the last time she saw him, he was going to sell some drugs he found.

Travis pulls up to Max’s house and sees the shed T-Lock told him about. He goes inside and kicks around on the ground until he finds the loose floorboards, lifting them up and finding the bag of drugs. He hears tires on the gravel and looks out the window to see Jenny and Popernack arrive at the house. Jenny looks at the shed for a moment before going inside the house to meet with Max’s mom Rachel (T.V. Carpio). Rachel’s story is that her boyfriend T-Lock found a bag of drugs and was going to turn them in to the police when he went missing. Jenny asks if she ever saw the drugs and Rachel says no, but he told them they were in the shed. Jenny asks Rachel to show her the shed and when they step outside, Jenny notices that the door is now open, but was closed when she arrived. She draws her gun and orders Rachel to get back inside as she and Popernack investigate, entering the shed to find floorboards pulled up and no bag underneath.

After a long drive, Jerrie (Jesse James Keitel) arrives at her parent’s house and her dad (Jeff Kober) welcomes her inside. The home is full of pictures of Jerrie as a kid, a mantel even has her old horseback riding trophies. Jerrie’s dad offers her coffee or whisky and when she declines, he admits that he’s having whisky because he’s nervous about having her home. Jerrie asks where her mom is, who is dying of cancer, and her dad points to the closed bedroom door. He offers her whiskey again and she changes her mind, joining him for a shot. However, her dad quickly offends her by suggesting that he go in first to prepare Jerrie’s mom for the shock of seeing her. Jerrie rolls her eyes and tells him she will go in alone. We see her open the door and say “Hey mom.”

Denise (Dedee Pfeiffer) is still bundled up at her desk because the boiler isn’t fixed yet. Mark (Omar Metwally) comes in just as Cassie and her dad enter the office from the back room where they were inspecting the boiler. Joseph meets Mark and Cassie asks to speak with Mark in her office where she tells him about Tonya working for Ren and that they’re buying the ranch her dad was dreaming of. Changing the subject to something more romantic, Mark tells Cassie that he can’t stop thinking about their kiss yesterday and invites her to dinner tonight. She tells him she’s helping her dad fix the boiler, but asks if they can go on a date this weekend and he says yes.

Ronald pulls into a drive-thru with Phoebe sitting at the kitchen table in the camper. When he asks what she wants, she tells him she just wants to see her mom. As they wait for the car in front of them to get their order, Phoebe tells Ronald that she’s heard that he’s a bad man and people are looking for him. He tells her it’s not true and that he loves her and her mother and will do anything to keep them both safe. He tries to lighten the mood by singing “If You’re Happy and You Know It” as he pulls up to the drive-thru window.

Jenny finishes interrogating Rachel after discovering that the bag of drugs has been taken. She tells her to consider that her boyfriend might have left on purpose and may not want to be found. Popernack asks for a photo of T-Lock to help with the search and Jenny sees Rachel’s phone as she swipes through pictures, recognizing her daughter Max. She asks if her daughter babysits for Cassie Dewell and Jenny notices that Rachel seems nervous as she confirms this detail about her daughter.

In her trailer, Ren shows Jag photos of the ranch she’s buying on her laptop and he accuses her of trying to get as far away as possible from him and their dad. He criticizes the decision since they’re at war with the locals. Just then, the trailer door swings open and Travis enters with the black duffel bag full of drugs. Jag is suspicious that the drugs turned up the day he got into town. When Ren asks, Travis tells her that a civilian had the drugs and that Dietrich doesn’t know anything about it. He tells them that he beat the man (referring to T-Lock) for an hour before killing him to try and find out what happened to the money, but he didn’t know anything about a second duffel bag. Ren tells him she has a hunch about where to find it. Jag pulls out his phone to call their dad with the update. Travis tells them he will handle Dietrich so they don’t have to.

While all of this happens inside the trailer, Dietrich and Bob drive up and see Stone’s truck (Travis’ alias). “See, Stone’s a traitor,” Dietrich tells him. Bob has his gun ready and asks if he should kill Ren too, but Dietrich tells him no because it would just draw her dad to town. Dietrich decides that now isn’t the right time to handle Travis and they drive off.

Jenny shows Cassie the photo of T-Lock and she recognizes him as Max’s mom’s boyfriend. Jenny tells her how Rachel’s story didn’t make sense and how she went out of her way to mention that Max doesn’t know anything. She’s planning on bringing Max and her friend Harper in for questioning but is waiting to get the fingerprint results first.

Wolf Legarski (John Carroll Lynch) gets home and is furious to find out that Ronald escaped. He yells at Agatha (Romy Rosemont), who accuses Scarlet (Anja Savcic) of stealing the key to the dog collar. Wolf twists Scarlet’s arm until she confesses to helping Ronald escape. Agatha asks her why she didn’t leave with him and Scarlet tells them she believes the treatments are helping Ronald. She wants him to come back, she just wanted to be with her daughter. Agatha takes Scarlet to lock her in her room.

That night, Jenny gets a knock on her door and opens it to find Travis. She hugs him and asks if he’s okay. She reveals that she talked to Isla, his handler from the state and that she hasn’t heard from him in weeks and believes Travis has gone rogue. He reminds her that he’s undercover and that playing by the book can get you killed, so he isn’t following normal protocols. She asks him about the last time they spoke on the phone when he ended the call by saying “Whatever happens, I love you.” He tells her he’s in a dangerous situation and that he meant every word. She begs him to tell her everything but he is still tight-lipped. He does confide in her that Ren trusts him now and he met her brother and he’s hoping to get close to their father so he can bring down the whole cartel. Jenny tells him she feels like this is personal for Travis and he comes clean, confessing that the Buhler’s killed his partner, who was also his best friend, and he wants to make them pay.

Bridger’s karate class ends and Sensei Gary (Matthew Page) tells him that he needs to focus more in class. As Bridger walks out, he sees Ren waving at him out of the window of a truck, with Donno behind the wheel. Bridger runs back inside and locks the door, rushing to Gary and asking him to call the police. Gary is confused by the request and sees the friendly-looking woman at the door, telling Bridger he can’t call the police for no reason and that his doors stay unlocked during business hours, opening the door and letting Ren in. Ren enters and gives Gary a hard time when he asks her to take her shoes off. Bridger pulls out his phone and begins to dial the police and she stops him by saying “If you call the police, I have to kill your whole family.” She tells him to just give her the money and he tells her he doesn’t have it. Behind her, Gary has drawn a samurai sword, which doesn’t make her flinch because Donno is right behind him with a gun. She decides to leave, making a joke about how the sensei brought a sword to a gunfight. “Talk to you soon, Bridger,” she adds on her way out.

Phoebe wakes up when she feels the camper come to a stop, asking Ronald if they’ve arrived. He tells her he just had to make a quick stop and he gets out of the camper. We see that he’s standing right outside of Dewell & Hoyt, moving to the back and picking the lock on the backdoor. Walking through the back room, he enters Cassie’s office and smells the jacket on the back of her chair, remembering her scent from when he tried to strangle her from the backseat of a police car at the end of the first season. He sees a photo of her with her son Kai on her desk, but he is soon interrupted when the front door is unlocked and Cassie comes in with her dad. He ducks behind her desk and overhears them celebrating with a beer toast because Joseph wrote a letter that convinced the ranch owners to sell it to him. They move toward the back room.

Shortly after starting work on the boiler, Joseph tells Cassie that he doesn’t need her help and she should go home to be with Kai. He reminds her not to wait up because after he fixes the boiler, he has poker night with his friends. Before Cassie leaves, her dad notices that the back door won’t stay closed and she tells him it’s old and it does that sometimes. “I love you,” Cassie tells her dad. “I know you do,” he responds as she leaves.

Ronald remains hidden, watching Cassie as she leaves through the front door. He moves back into the office and notices the corkboard with all of his information on it, including a photo of him and his mother. He sees his police profile sketch and pulls it off the board, dropping it on the ground.

Joseph takes a break from working on the boiler to get some coffee in the main part of the office, entering with a crowbar in hand. He stops when he notices Ronald’s police sketch on the ground, bending over to pick it up. Looking around, Ronald reveals himself. “Did you come for my daughter?”, Joseph asks, holding his crowbar in a defensive position. “I think about her,” Ronald tells him. “I see she still thinks about me too,” he adds, pointing to the corkboard. “I think about how I’ll never be free as long as she keeps looking for me.” Joseph tells Ronald he doesn’t deserve to be free and Ronald tells him he’s going to leave and won’t hurt him. “Tell her to stop looking for me,” Ronald cautions as he moves toward the door. Joseph lunges at Ronald with the crowbar, but Ronald grabs his wrist and gets the crowbar from him.

Max is asleep in her bed, but she wakes up when she hears her door creak open. A hand suddenly covers her mouth to stifle her scream. “Where’s the money, Maxie?”, T-Lock asks her.

Ronald returns to the camper to find it empty, running outside and calling for Phoebe. Wolf Legarski steps out from behind the Camper door, using his walking stick to knock Ronald out. “You’ve been a bad, bad dog,” Wolf says.

The next morning, Cassie arrives at Dewell & Hoyt and the first thing she notices is Ronald’s police sketch on the floor. Not far from it is her dad’s crowbar, it looks like there’s blood on it. Droplets of blood on the ground lead her into her office where she finds her dad sitting on the floor, his back against the wall, blood leaking from his head. His eyes are open and still. He’s holding the photo of Cassie and Kai. Cassie begins to sob.

That’s the end of this episode, but as the title suggests, “The End Has No End.” ABC hasn’t yet announced a winter premiere date for the second half of season 2 of Big Sky, but if it’s like last year, we should find out what happens next around the end of January. When that time comes, I’ll be here with another recap.