Reba McEntire's Sunny Barnes is beginning to crack up, and it's a joy to watch
Murder is a-brewin' on Big Sky as things are starting to go increasingly awry for Reba McEntire's Sunny Barnes. In this week's episode, "The Bag And The Box," Sunny is beginning to feel the forest walls close in on her as Cassie (Kylie Bunbury) investigates Walter's burnt-out truck, putting on a real show with Buck (Rex Linn) to explain why it's totally not their truck anymore. (He thinks he sold it to a young guy named Ron? Maybe Bob?)
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Of course, all this is before Paige's leopard print overnight bag somehow managed to wiggle its way out of the hole Sunny buried it in, leaving camper Mary (Sofia Embid) to discover it on a solo run through the woods. After finding the bag, Mary dashes off to find someone to tell, only to stumble on Sunny and Buck in the woods. Sunny feigns surprise about the bag's existence and heads off with Mary to look into it, only to have Mary quickly realize that Sunny's whole story about talking to Paige and the bag's quick disappearance really don't hold that much water. She starts to make a break for it only to run into Buck and a big ol' hunting knife. He stabs her with it before she sees it coming, and now the pair have yet another dead camper on their hands to explain.
Elsewhere in Big Sky country, Cassie and Cormac (Luke Mitchell) are slowly wooing each other, a process that's made all the more complicated by the fact that Cassie suspects Cormac's parents are murderers, and he really has no idea what they're up to. (Or at least he seems not to.) She's got a working sketch of Walter now that she's hanging around, and hopefully, someone will be able to put a face to a name.
An unexpected twist to Walter's past
Meanwhile, Walter (Seth Gabel) is still holed up with Paige (Madalyn Horcher), who he thinks he's controlling but who really might be working him. She's sent him on a couple of fishing expeditions into camp to find her notebook with the crypto code, but he's come up empty. She seems to be using minor physical touch to endear herself to him, in part because I think she knows he's a bit of a loose cannon and in part, because I think she knows he's starved for affection—particularly female affection—and that he might bend under a little TLC. She opens up to him about stealing $15 million with Luke (Anirudh Pisharody), and he opens up to her about his scandalous past, confessing that his one-time adoptive parents abused his sister Meredith while making him watch and in return, he burned down their house with them inside.
Is a Jenny and Beau romance in our future?
Beau (Jensen Ackles) and Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) are involved in a bit of Trans Am three-car monty this week as they're off investigating the episode-opening murder of one Diego Mendoza. Turns out his only crime was owning the wrong car at the wrong time, as an ex-con Mickey (Brad Leland, who played the excellent Buddy Garrity on Friday Night Lights) was looking for his prize possession hidden in the trunk of one of three 1979 Trans Ams registered in Montana. He eventually finds it with the help of his cellmate, but not before Beau almost gets run down by one of those rogue Trans Ams. He and Hoyt end up back at Mickey's to call him out on his misdoings, only to find that he's gotten ahold of his beloved item: A mint condition Mickey Mantle rookie card. One sold a few years ago for a little over 12 million dollars, so while I certainly don't condone murder, you can't blame the guy for wanting to get it back.
Speaking of Jenny Hoyt: This whole episode, she's the subject of a heaping helping of male compliments, from the beat cop who tried to buy her a cup of coffee to the charming Mickey. Everyone in Montana seems to want to let her know she's a looker, and while that's generally a little creepy and professionally undermining, considering no one's going out of their way to tell Beau that, it also seems like the show is laying the groundwork for a Hoyt-Beau rendez-vous. He pointedly notices every one of those come-ons, and when Hoyt makes an offhand comment about never dating a cop again, he questions whether she really means it. She throws it back at him, of course, asking if that's personally disappointing to him, and he brushes it off, but it does feel like we could be building to something more romantic here, which I'm all for, provided it can stand the test of time. Jenny's been through too much romantic trauma for a show that's only on its third season, and I'd like to see Jensen Ackles stick around a bit.
From the preview at the end of the episode, it looks like next week, we're getting guest appearances from Lyle Lovett and Darius Rucker. A quick Google reveals that Lovett will be playing a character named Tex, who's described as an expert tracker with a dark side hidden beneath his courteous cowboy persona. His character is also a musician, so hopefully, we'll get to hear Lovett play a few bars. Rucker will play Possum, a hired gun who works at night like his namesake and who's acting as Tex's partner on whatever job they've been hired to do.
Random observations:
- My name is Marah, and I'll be recapping new episodes of Big Sky for Wide Open Country from here on out. I can't wait to see Reba McEntire continue to crack under the pressure of her own perfection, and I invite fans of the show to send me any and all theories on my Twitter.
- I didn't mention the goings-on of Tonya and Donno, but the comically criminal duo is still trying to suss out what happened to Paige while also tracking down Walter. He and Donno had a pretty good and menacing chat on a ridge, and I'm glad they got those two weirdos together.
- Also, we're all of the opinion that Emily's stepdad Avery is weird, right? Because something's not right with him, beyond just sneaking into Paige and Luke's tent. I don't buy whatever he's selling for whatever reason.
READ MORE: Who's Who in Montana: A 'Big Sky' Season 3 Character Guide
