Big Sky S03 E04 Recap: Carrion Comfort

Air Date:  Wednesday October 12/22

On October 12/22, Big Sky’s episode 4 “Carrion Comfort” aired on ABC.  Before we delve into this Big Sky S03 E04 Recap, there’s a bit to unpack here.  Carla, Beau’s ex-wife, has arrived on the scene.  Bit of tension there.  This episode was who-done-it heavy with the murder investigation, but things have really begun to heat up in the Barnes family.  It would seem that Buck knows all about Walter, and he is not happy.  Buck and Walter do not like each other, and Sunny may be forced to choose between her recluse son and her husband.  On a happy note, Cormac and Cassie seem to be launching a little romance.  I think.  Avery is still a mystery.  He’s not a likeable character and we still don’t have details on his relationship with Luke and Paige.  Emily is still very suspicious of Luke, but by the end of the episode we discover that Paige is still alive.  However, what we don’t know, is whether she is Walt’s guest or his prisoner?  Donno and Tonya, continue to walk a fine line between restaurateurs and cartel-puppets.  Cassie’s missing person case regarding the backpacker Mark Woodman, has just evolved into either an accidental death or murder investigation.

Episode Recap

ABC BigSky-Masked Man watching Jody

This week’s episode opens up with a woman (Jody) clearing away dishes from a dining table.  She accidentally knocks a wine bottle onto the floor, and it shatters.  In clearing up the glass she cuts herself.  As she is wrapping her finger we see a masked figure outside her sliding glass door, who promptly disappears.  She steps outside to take the broken glass to the trash bin and notices the yard gate is open.  She goes to close the gate.  When she returns to the trash bin, the masked figure appears behind her.  When she turns and sees him, he is brandishing a knife.

Beau and Jenny are on their way to the crime scene, but we can see that Jenny is upset.  Beau asks her where her head is at, and she says she’s fine.  They are obviously getting to know each other well enough that Beau knows when she’s lying and tells her so.  He reassures her, that they will fix the situation with her mom.  Beau suggests that they take the win.  Gigi helped them catch a murderer.  Jenny says it’s personal.  Beau tells her the bills are marked, but Jenny says she no longer wants to talk about it.  They arrive at the crime scene, and we are immediately launched into this weeks who-done-it mystery.

ABC BigSky-Beau and Carla

In the middle of the Cutter case, Beau’s ex-wife Carla shows up outside the station just as Beau and Jenny get a break in the case.  She says she is in town and is heading up tomorrow, to see Avery and Emily on their camping trip.  Beau seems taken aback by Carla’s sudden appearance and Jenny bridges the silence by extending her hand and introducing herself.  Beau and Carla’s exchange is tense and Beau is obviously not happy that the whole camping trip happened without Carla talking to him about it.  She claims they did talk about it, but he wasn’t listening.  She was supposed to be up there but had a work emergency.  She just wants to check-in with Beau regarding the missing backpacker to find out if there is anything to be concerned about.  Beau tells her there is nothing to worry about, and reminds Carla that Emily is supposed to be staying with him for the weekend once the camping trip is over.  After Carla leaves, Jenny takes delight in teasing Beau about still being in love with with his ex-wife.  He claims he is not.

While the murder case progresses, and things heat up between the members of the Barnes family, there’s a new development for Donno and Tonya.  A stranger enters the Blue Fox Diner and chats with them.  He says that his boss has a problem and Ren Bhullar thought they could help.  All he tells them is that his boss had something taken from him and he wants it back, along with the people who took it.  He asks that Donno and Tonya deliver these people to them, and they will be very well compensated.  He leaves an envelope and says he will be in touch.  After he leaves, Tonya opens the envelop and we see the pictures of two people; Luke and Paige.

ABC BigSky-Photos of Luke Paige

Tonya and Donno talk about whether or not they are going to take the job of finding Luke and Paige.  Tonya has a rule that there are no “hits,” and this request is just about searching for people.  Donno says the search is only stage one.  Stage two, they will be expected to kill them, and then stage three they will be expected to dispose of the bodies.  They won’t get paid until after stage three is complete.  Donno volunteers to do some digging and check out Luke and Paige and show Tonya what he finds, then they can decide.

At the end of last week’s episode, we saw Gigi enter Donno and Tonya place with the bag of stolen money, but so far Tonya is not sharing any details about what is going on there.  They both know that Gigi is Jenny Hoyt’s mother.  When Donno asks Tonya about it, she says she will tell him when she is ready.

By the end of the episode, Donno tells Tonya that he has located Luke and Paige.  He told her that they are registered under fake last names at a camping outfit close by but seem to be very bad at laying low.  Tonya thinks maybe this job will be easy and tells Donno she’s always wanted to go camping.

Case of the Week

Beau and Jenny pull up to a crime scene and Poppernak fills them in.  The victim is Jody Cutter, 46 and her daughter Autumn found her body this morning.  She is dead in the yard with her throat cut.  Estimated time of death was 2am.  They commiserate about the crime and wonder if she was sexually assaulted and/or dragged to her current location.  The backdoor was left open, and they found the shattered glass in the kitchen.  They found blood at the side of the house by the gate, and on the back door.

ABC BigSky-Werewolf Cam Footage

Beau suggests they canvas the neighbours to see if anyone has cameras that might have caught something.   Beau and Jenny talk to both the husband and daughter.  The husband was working all night and the daughter stayed at her boyfriend’s house.  They don’t know of anyone strange that has been hanging around and nothing is missing from the house.  They wonder if it is a random attack, but Jenny tells them in most cases it’s someone the victim knows.  Beau and Jenny are not ruling anyone out yet, but they don’t think it’s random.

They pulled footage off a camera that one of Jody Cutter’s neighbours set up and saw the image of the masked stranger who looks like a werewolf.  They see blood on his sleeve and think that Jody fought back with the broken bottle she had.  They head out to chat with the family again.

Beau and Jenny show back up to the Cutter home and Grant is not at home, but Autumn’s boyfriend Derek is there with her.  They show them the picture of the masked man and neither Autumn or Derek recognize the mask.  Beau asks Derek to pull up his sleeves.  He doesn’t have any cuts.  They ask again if there is anything they can tell them that might help them figure out who killed her mom.  Derek urges Autumn to tell Beau and Jenny what they know, but she was withholding the information because she didn’t want her dad to find out.  Her mom was having an affair.

Beau and Jenny have the name and address of Jody Cutter’s boyfriend Craig, and they enter his shop full of antiques.  They find masks there.  Craig admits to being with Jody the previous night.  He says they had dinner and a few drinks together.  They look at his forearms and he has no cuts either.  Beau shows him the picture of the masked man and asks Craig what he can tell them about it.  He said it belonged to Jody.  She bought it from him because her and Grant were doing a Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf thing for Halloween.

Beau and Jenny show up at Grant’s bike shop and talk to Scott.  They are looking to confirm Grant’s alibi, but Scott said he went out for pizzas while they were working.  He said that Grant headed over to their shipping warehouse.

Beau and Jenny are on the road.  Poppernak calls and tells them that he is at the shipping warehouse, and no one there has seen Grant all day.  They think Grant lied to Scott about where he was going, so Beau and Jenny turn around and head back to the Cutter house.  When they get there, they find that Grant Cutter has been stabbed, and call an ambulance.  All Grant is able to tell them when he comes to at the hospital, is that Scott has taken Autumn.

ABC BigSky-Beau Jenny Shoot Scott

Beau and Jenny show up at Scott’s home but neither he nor Autumn are there.  Beau thinks the dimensions of the house look weird.  They want to take another look around and go upstairs.  They hear a thud and find a door at the back of a closet.  Once inside they find Autumn drugged and chained.  As they look around for a key to unlock the chains, Beau can see evidence that Scott has been planning this abduction for years, since Autumn was a child.  The lights are cut and Scott crawls out from under the bed and attacks Beau from behind.  Jenny tries to help and is knocked down.  Beau and Scott continue to fight, and Scott is stabbed with his own knife and goes down.

Jenny kicks the knife away from Scott, and Beau checks his shoulder.  Scott cut him and Jenny goes over to see how bad it is.  Beau sees that Scott has gotten up and is coming after Jenny, whose back is turned.  Beau spins Jenny so her back is against his chest, giving her shooting arm free reign, and she puts three bullets into Scott.  This time he goes down for good.

Beau and Jenny deliver Autumn to her dad at the hospital.  Beau wonders why the “monsters always win” even when we get them.  Jenny says Grant and Autumn have each other.  “A loving dad can’t protect you from everything.  But it goes a long way.”  Beau asks if she is still talking about Grant, and Jenny just pats him on the chest.  She is obviously talking about Beau.

Deadly Trails Saga

ABC BigSky-Cormac Sunny Talking

Back at our Sunny Day Excursions glamping site, Sunny chats with Cormac asking if he as seen his father, as he missed breakfast.  Cormac said he’d check the trail.  Cormac says he is making a supply run into town and Sunny reminds him to mind his own business down there.  Especially not to discuss their missing guest, Paige.  Cormac said he got a good look at the trail and saw no evidence that Paige was on the trail back to down.  Sunny offers up the excuse that Paige probably took another route to town.

Sunny asks Avery and Emily what their plans are for the day and Avery said either a hike up to the lake or a group trail ride.  Emily said she wants to go look for her lost knife.  Sunny hands her replacement knife and Avery takes it off her.  Emily says she wants to find her knife anyway, as it was a gift from her dad.  Emily asks Sunny if she knows whether or not Paige made it back to New York okay, and Sunny said she did.  It’s obvious that Emily does not believe her.

ABC BigSky-Buck Inspecting Tree

Cassie is still looking for the missing backpacker.  The missing person’s case seems to be connected with the glamping outfit, as evidence points to the fact that he was seen up on Deadman’s Drop earlier in the investigation.  Cassie shows up at the station and asks Beau and Jenny if they can have their techie guys look at a photo she has of Mark Woodman, that was sent to his parents from his phone.  The picture was taken at a place called Logan’s Pass, but Cassie suspects that someone sent it to throw them off the trail.

Buck is inspecting one of the trees that has the heart shape carving in it when Sunny shows up.  Buck says that she promised that Walter would stay in the woods, and its obvious that he is back as Sunny has been lying and sneaking around.  Buck says that Walt is dangerous and as they talk, we learn that Walter was put up for adoption and the parents who adopted him were murdered and that Walt did it.  Buck said he trapped them inside their house, set it on fire and watched it burn.  Buck says to Sunny that Cormac is our child, and Walter is not.  He threatens Sunny to end things with Walter or he will.

ABC BigSky-Vultures Circling

Cormac shows up to an outdoor shop for some supplies and runs into Cassie.  He offers her some advice on what to buy.  She tells him she is going to climb down Deadman’s Drop.  Cormac says he is coming with her.  When she refuses, he said climbing requires the buddy system.

Sunny shows up to Walt’s cabin and tells him he has to pack up.  She will come back after nightfall and help him move to the hunting cabin down by the creek.  Walt says it’s a trailer full of mold and he doesn’t want to go.  She finds a strip of bandage with blood on it and asks Walt whose blood it is.  He says its from the backpacker.  She admonishes him.  If the authorities found the backpackers DNA all over a swatch of fabric Sunny says he’d end up in prison for life.  He says to leave it and he will burn it, but she takes it with her.

ABC BigSky-Dead Mark Woodman

Back at the glamping site, we see Luke having a heated discussion with Avery, telling him that Emily has to stop following him around, making accusations.  Luke walks off and Emily approaches Avery asking him about it.  He made it seem that he is on her side, but that her mom will be arriving tomorrow, so they need to keep all her suspicions about Luke secret between them.  Carla thinks they are bonding, riding horses and having fun, not looking into some girls disappearance.  They agree to keep it quiet.

Cormac and Cassie are still hiking in the woods looking for Mark Woodman.  She asks Cormac where you would hide a body in the woods and he says, “that’s a hell of a question to ask on a first date.”  But he suggests they look where the vultures are circling, but it’s a long hike that will take them until after dark to get there.

ABC BigSky-Paige is Alive

We find Emily in the woods looking for her knife and she comes across Luke again.  When they talk Luke tells her that he did not hurt Paige.  Emily still doesn’t know what to think, but Luke tells her that he really, really needs her to stay out of this.  You don’t know what you are dealing with.  After he walks away, we see Emily pull her phone out and she has recorded the conversation she had with him.

Cormac and Cassie are still in the woods and it’s dark.  Cormac sounds like he’s going to suggest they have another date, just as Cassie points out the dead body of Mark Woodman, their missing backpacker.

As promised, Sunny has returned to help move Walt to the cabin by the creek.  She has Buck with her.  When she walks in, Walt reacts to Buck being there and there’s some pushing and shoving.  Buck tells Walt he’d rather put a bullet in his brain then watch him drag his mother down.  Sunny breaks it up and threatens Buck real trouble if he ever touches Walt again.  Buck tells her the boy will be the end of her someday, and then he leaves.

Walt refuses to move to another cabin and he cowers when his mother comes close, but she just hugs him.  She tells him she loves him and then leaves.  Walter then opens a door to his sleeping quarters, and we see Paige.  She’s alive but it looks like her leg is injured.

Cast

Questions

1. There is still no word on who is carving heart-shapes into forest trees and painting them red. Is this linked with the old mutilation case?
2. Paige and Luke obviously perpetrated theft against some crime boss. With Ren Bhullar suggesting that Tonya and Donno assist in finding them, it would seem they will be visiting Sunny’s glamping outfit.  What did Luke and Paige do?  Who is this crime boss?
3. What does Avery have to do with Paige and Luke?
4. Emily keeps pushing the foul-play agenda regarding Luke and Paige. Luke has warned her off, telling her she has no idea what she is dealing with, but we know now that Paige is alive.  Does Emily’s persistent poking at the Luke/Paige situation put her in danger?
5. Sunny stole Paige’s things and buried them, and she told Emily that Paige got back to New York safely.  If Paige is found, Sunny will be exposed as a liar.  Is Paige in danger from Sunny as well as Walt?
6. Cassie’s missing person’s case will evolve into something else. Accidental death or murder?  What will Sunny do to Cassie once her investigation inevitably begins to tighten around the Barnes family?
7. Who sent the old selfie pic from Mark’s phone to his parents?
8. Clearly Gigi is in league with Tonya. What is this about?  She stole the money, but the bills are marked.  What will come of that?

Each week look for the following:

• This week’s episode recap,
• The case of the week,
• The Deadly Trails saga,
• Questions,
• Cast Grid.

Watch ABC for the next episode of Big Sky Deadly Trails, this Wednesday October 19^th at 10 pm.