Big Sky Season 2 Episode 16 Review: Keys to the Kingdom
Richard Ford is truly a man about town!
He spends all of Big Sky Season 2 Episode 16 traipsing around trying to figure out everything he can about the Bhullars. And along the way, he’s menacing and weird, and he even manages to shoot someone.
But this is Big Sky, so naturally, it will take more than a few hours to apprehend a dangerous man.
Richard is a grieving father who is not in his right mind. Consumed by guilt and rage, Richard wants to exact revenge not only for his son but also for someone else’s son, daughter, or friend who may be next to die horrifically due to the rampant drugs filtering through his small town.
Everything Richard is doing is wrong and dangerous, but man, if you can’t sympathize with him a little.
What haven’t the Bhullars gotten away with at this point? They kill and do whatever they please with seemingly no consequences, and it’s frustrating as hell.
And it’s not like Jenny and Tubb aren’t trying because they are, but what will it take for something to change?
Since Cassie and everyone knew Richar was going after the Bhullars, why they didn’t have anyone staking out their house is beyond me. And it’s those little details that sometimes make Big Sky so infuriating.
I understand that we’re watching a fictional story, but sometimes things are so outlandish that it’s not even fun.
What continues to be fun, though, is everything Ren and Jag. Ren is the best villain this show has ever seen, and I love that she has the lightbulb moment to go after her dad while commiserating with her brother.
The two siblings started on completely opposite sides, but their forced proximity in Montana has forced them to bond and join forces. Each hour it becomes increasingly more transparent that not only is Veer may be losing his edge, but he’s totally undecided on where he sees the future of the business going.
He’s got his own agenda that he’s keeping hidden from his kids, and it’s reached the point where enough is enough, especially as Ren and Jag are solely behind getting the Montana operation up and running.
Forcing Veer out is the only available option because Veer isn’t being truthful with them. It’s pretty hard to work in tandem with someone you can’t trust, and right now, they can’t trust him.
But if they think Veer will roll over and let them take over, they’re not as bright as I think they are. And they’d also be naive to think the fight stops with their father because Alicia will be standing right next to him, ready to protect her man, and it’s going to be a hell of a fight seeing those two sides go at it.
Now, the hour ends with Richard holding Travis at gunpoint, and he will probably make his way inside to Ren as well, but I think it’s safe to assume that Richard is perhaps not long for this world. As has been proven time and time again, going up against the Bhullars equals automatic death.
But once that’s out of the way, be on the lookout for a massive internal brawl between the drug peddling family. It was sweet to see them play nice for a while, but it was always heading here.
Moving on to perpetual Bhullar hater Travis, that man is messy, messy, messy.
He has the nerve to come at Jenny and tell her to stop making plans, but what exactly is he doing? He’s just willy-nilly, flying by the seat of his pants and painting a massive target on his back by continuing to bring up his dead girlfriend whenever he gets a moment alone with Ren.
He’s chastizing Jenny when he’s the one who needs some kind of a plan because whatever he’s doing isn’t working. Every time Ren looks at him, you can see the wheels are turning. And while he probably had Ren wrapped around his finger at one point in time, those days are long gone.
With only two hours left, it’d be a miracle if Travis made it out alive because he’s out of his depth. Though, I appreciate his quasi-loyalty to Jenny.
With Cassie fully back, we did get a tiny sliver of Cassie and Jenny time, but between the search for Richard Ford, and Tubb’s shooting, we didn’t even get to see the ladies gossip about Cassie’s night with a certain US Marshall!
When Mark showed up on Cassie’s doorstep at the end of Big Sky Season 2 Episode 15, he made his choice. At that moment, he was deciding to pursue things with Cassie, and they were very clearly on the same page.
Their morning after was cute and another stark reminder of their chemistry. Cassie never smiles more than when she’s in his presence, and I love that for her because Cassie is so often burdened by pain.
They both bring out each other’s playful sides, and their conversation at the office also highlights the vulnerability they’ve allowed themselves to show with one another. And while they very much needed to have the conversation about Mark and Jerrie, it just felt tacked on and weird here.
Cassie: You’re doing that thing. Talking and not saying anything.
Mark: Okay. Um. I have to confess there was a moment between us.
Cassie: Oh. A moment?
Mark: We kissed. I didn’t plan for it, but it sort of happened.
Mark should have always told Cassie from the start about Jerrie, not necessarily because he owed her that, but because they’re all friends who work together. To avoid having the awkward conversations later, he could have been upfront.
Jerrie is gracious and understanding, which I always thought she would be, but the show is insistent on keeping the intrigue of this love triangle going. While Jerrie and Cassie got their short moment to talk things through, Mark and Jerrie haven’t talked since she basically laid down an ultimatum.
But fear not! We’ll get Mark and Jerrie on a long road trip, where I’m sure the conversation will shift to Cassie, and we can keep the triangle forever strong by never letting it die.
And speaking of the road trip, it looks like we won’t close out this season without another run-in with Scarlet and Phoebe!
Hopefully, Mark and Jerrie can find Scarlet, arrest her, and place Phoebe into a stable, loving household somewhere far away from Scarlet. And hopefully, this is where the entire Legarski and Ronald story ends for good. If the show gets renewed for a third spin, there is absolutely no reason to continue carrying this story forward.
Big Sky would do best to have either one central story spanning the entire season or two split evenly amongst the season. When they can hone in on a story and fully develop it, this show becomes can’t miss.
Odds and Ends
- I totally forgot that Bryce was Jenny’s CI. And he was not a very good one. RIP Bryce! Too bad for you; your charms just didn’t work on Tonya. She’s officially crossed over to the dark side with Donno right by her side.
- Mona being on drugs was a twist I didn’t see coming! I imagine that’s how they’ll eventually break through to Richard and get him to stop his reign of terror.
- Mark Lindor, the chef, is something I didn’t know I needed in my life.
We are barreling toward the finale, and I can confidently say I have no clue where things will wind up. One thing I can probably guess is that someone will die, but aside from that, there are so many different directions the show could take us!
Let me know in the comments what you thought about this installment and where you feel things could go!
Make sure to watch Big Sky online ahead of the final episodes so you don’t miss a second of the action!
Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.
