Ah, Big Sky! Your premieres never disappoint.
Big Sky Season 2 Episode 1 was another stellar start to the season, setting us up with something new and something familiar as well.
Jenny and Cassie are back, baby! And while they may not be working together at the moment, they’re still going to be partners to the bitter end.
With only a few weeks passing by from the closing events of Big Sky Season 1 Episode 16, everything is still fresh. And the emotions from Jenny’s shooting and Ronald’s escape are still raw and torn open.
Cassie: Okay, so, you’re leaving Dewell and Hoyt to do what?
Jenny: I want to wear the badge again. Just want to make sure you’re okay with it.
Cassie: Of course, you’ve already made up your mind. I just want you to be happy.
Jenny examines her brush with death and realizes that there may be something bigger out there than Dewell & Hoyt. And it’s something that makes a lot of sense for Jenny, as she seemed to be considering it long before that fateful day on the road.
Jenny is a great investigator, and that’s literally what a cop is, but with the power of the badge behind her, there are more things she can get done. She can avoid obstacles and hurdles just by showing up with a badge, which works for Jenny.
On the flip side, Cassie has no desire ever to wear the badge, and that’s commendable. She excels at Dewell & Hoyt, and that’s where she belongs. But this doesn’t mean the girls won’t work together again because they’re about to collide on a new case.
Big Sky Season 1 had two distinct long arcs (and one throwaway case we pretend never happened). And here, it seems they will follow the same course with an arc that is just getting started.
Dropping us into the life of Max is a curious call until we see she has a relationship with Cassie. That immediately makes her about twenty times more interesting because, on the surface, all we can see is that she has a mother who appears okay and a creepy man dating her mother living in her house.
So, what first feels like just an odd introduction takes on something more when you realize she’s about to be involved in something that will more than likely bring Cassie into the mix eventually.
And boy is it SOMETHING.
The two men meeting up for a drug deal gone bad felt SUPER random, and it didn’t make any sense why it was something bigger until that bag came to life in the backseat.
Big Sky does the jump scares really well, and that was a good one!
Now, in real life, those kids probably call 911 and don’t decide to go down and investigate themselves. But this is not real life!
Taking the bags was risky because if the dying man was telling you that someone was going to kill you, why wouldn’t you just run for your life and leave whatever they are presumably after in the car?
Taking the bags now ensures that someone will be looking for them.
Whoever shot the driver dead will clearly end up being the big bad and part of something much bigger than we are aware of right now. Ronald Pergman and the terribleness that was the Kleinsasser’s will be tough bad guys to follow.
But Big Sky does a decent job establishing their villains and setting up the mysteries, though they can sometimes suffer from too much villainy and not enough plot.
That’s what plagued the Ronald storyline all last season, and we’re still carrying the weight of Ronald with us into Big Sky Season 2.
I am on the record as not thinking it was necessary to bring this storyline any further. This should not be a show about Ronald on the run abusing people and just slipping through Jenny and Cassie’s hands. It could be so much better than that, but they are hellbent on bringing Ronald along.
So, since we’re not getting rid of him anytime soon, they better expand this whole trafficking ring and how it’s all connected to the state troopers because that’s the only reason I can see as to why they didn’t wrap everything up in the last season and start fresh here.
They can only sustain the two completely separate stories for so long before it just doesn’t work. The best part about Big Sky has been and will always be Jenny and Cassie working together. But it’s very much become Jenny doing other detective work, and Cassie stuck on Ronald, with the occasional collision.
And now that Mark is back, he is also singularly focused on Ronald. And while Cassie and Mark are fabulous together, would it kill the writers to have everyone working on something together at the same time?
Speaking of Mark Lindor, his quirky sense of humor and open crush on Cassie was back and better than ever. Can I get a show of hands of who is ready for Cassie to get some love and maybe just ONE night where the weight of the world isn’t on her shoulders?
(I imagine every single person with their hands raised right now because it’s what Cassie Dewell deserves.)
Jenny got to have a fun night with a handsome boy and no strings attached, and GOOD FOR HER.
Also, side note, Jenny has had QUITE the lookers in her past!
But anyway, there is something about these people in Montana that everyone shows up, and they automatically seem suspicious. We were all onto Rick from the second he showed up (though we didn’t know HOW deep.)
And some of us were distrustful of Denise initially and Mark as well.
So, basically, we won some, and we lost some. But Travis being undercover will come back somehow, and perhaps it will all end up colliding with the drugs, money, and the dead men in the truck.
What it most likely won’t relate to is RICK LEGARSKI BACK FROM THE DEAD AND HOLDING RONALD HOSTAGE IN A SHED!
Okay, it’s not actually Rick, and more likely his eccentric twin brother with a very long and well-maintained rat’s tail. But talk about a what in the world type of moment?
If we’re stuck with Ronald, we might as well go full circle and bring Legarski back as well. Let’s just hope they’ve got some new tricks up their sleeves, and we’re not in for a repeat of past sins.
Odds and Ends
- Dewey could not have been any creepier, but his quick death was unexpected. It did feel like he was trying to warn Cassie, and if she wasn’t letting it go before, she would most certainly not stop now.
- That deputy paired up with Jenny was too damn cute with all his office gossip. I hope he sticks around!
- All the kids they introduced were not that appealing, but there is still time for them to grow. And still, time for us to try to figure out who’s stalking them in the woods.
- It will be entirely too soon if we never have to see Tracy and hear his stupid nickname.
- Cassie will really feel Jenny’s absence if she has to keep going off the books with Jerrie and Mark, who steadily try to stop her at every turn. Just let Cassie Dewell, Cassie Dewell!
Welcome back to Big Sky, Montana, people!
There’s a new mystery afoot, and I can’t wait to hear what you guys thought about this subdued but fun premiere!
Where do you think things are headed?
Was Jenny right to re-join the force?
Do you think something is up with Travis?
Are you ready to be done with Ronald?
Drop me a note or two down below, and make sure you watch Big Sky online so you can join the conversation this season!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.