Warning, spoilers ahead for season 3 of Big Sky.
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We're three episodes into ABC's Montana mystery series Big Sky and the third season is already proving to be quite interesting compared to the previous two. There are a few different things going on in the Big Sky community and the biggest questions are still surrounding Reba McEntire's character Sunny Barnes. The cheerful and overly upbeat outfitter is determined to give her guests a positive experience, even if that means brushing a lot under the rug, including a dead body. We still haven't learned much about her son Walter, living alone in the woods, but we know that neither of them are up to any good and are willing to do whatever it takes to keep their secrets hidden.
So what do you think so far? Is the country star proving to be a convincing villain a few episodes into the new season? Based on these five instances in episode 3, I'd argue she's doing a pretty darn good job.
She puts on a great fake front
Episode 3, "A Brief History of Crime" picks back up right where we left off -- Emily running away from Luke in the woods after discovering him covered in blood and washing himself off in the river. Sunny's son Cormac runs into them and together, they all head back to camp together. In the previous episode, Avery let his stepdaughter wander around by herself so he could head back to camp and at this point, he's understandably upset that she hasn't returned. Despite multiple guests expressing concern, Sunny manages to keep a positive outlook and keep calm even though we know at the back of her mind she's wondering if Walter is behind Emily's delayed re-appearance as well as the missing Luke and Paige.
She lies to her family
After convincing the camp that Luke's story about Paige wandering off alone is enough to satisfy her, she sends everyone to bed with reassuring words. When Cormac, who found a knife in the woods during his own search, expresses concern about Luke's story, she tries to downplay the situation to get him to just let it go. It's very clear she thinks Walter is up to no good and she'll even lie to her other son to make sure everyone stays out of his way.
She has Walter do the dirty work
She may be willing to help protect Walter, but that doesn't mean she's not willing to force him to do the dirty work. Even though he really had nothing to do with the missing backpacker's death (though he certainly didn't help him), Sunny instructs him that he needs to move the body far from their area. She clearly doesn't believe that her son wasn't involved and to be honest, he technically did just sit there and let him die when it would have been easy to call in help that could have potentially saved his life in time. Sunny seemed to have no problem having a body moved and hidden, so it has me wondering if this isn't the first time they've covered up a crime together.
What's interesting is Walter seems to have his own car and drives the body somewhere we don't see. After having car trouble and running into Cassie on the road, his mother slaps him for being caught and shames him for being a disappointment. What in the world are these two hiding?
She easily lies to her guests
It seems like one of the only people in camp concerned for Paige's safety is Emily. She asks Sunny if she can use her satellite phone to call her dad, the local sheriff, so that he can properly check in on Paige. At this point in the episode, Sunny has told everyone that Paige's belongings are gone from the tent and she's heard that she has returned home. Instead of blatantly telling Emily, who has no cell service, that she won't give her the phone, she breezily tells her that she already sent the rangers out and offered Paige a full refund for her trip. Seems a bit too good to be true because it is, but this seems to satisfy Emily's curiosity for the moment. Sunny really has no problem digging herself deeper and deeper into her lies.
She hides evidence
It was pretty obvious that Sunny was lying about Paige leaving abruptly and getting a refund, but it was interesting to see that Sunny herself took Paige's leopard bag from her tent and buried it in the woods. She finds Paige's hidden gun and takes that back with her, but seems to have no problem completely erasing this guest from her campsite. Does she actually know what happened or is she just assuming she's dead and missing? It's a bit presumptuous to just completely bury her belongings but maybe she knows more about what Walter is capable of than we do...
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