#Big Sky Season 2 Episode 8 Review: The End Has No End

Okay, so what did Cassie Dewell do to the Big Sky writers?

She’s hardworking, intelligent, strong-willed, and warm when you get to know her, and yet she keeps going through tragic situation after tragic situation.

Big Sky Season 2 Episode 8 saw Cassie lose someone she loves dearly. And this loss is immeasurable.

You never get over losing someone. You may learn how to deal with the loss, but you never get over it.

The pain and grief stay with you forever, but with time, you pick up the broken pieces, and you put them back together again into something new and different.

Cassie had to do that after her husband died and after Cody’s death as well.

Now, she will have to find a way to deal with her father’s death, who died by Ronald’s hand in her very own office.

Throughout the series, we’ve seen Joseph Dewell sporadically, but his presence had increased as of late, and that should have been the first clue that something bad was going to happen.

Veteran TV viewers know that a periphery character suddenly getting increased screentime and a mini-plot of their own typically means SOMETHING horrendous is on the horizon.

Joseph and Cassie got a few heart-to-hearts as of late, and he set his sights on buying a ranch and fulfilling a dream for himself. He was a good man who loved his family, and he didn’t deserve to ever have to face the monster himself.

Have I mentioned lately how awful Ronald is? It’s wild that we’re still subjected to him every week when Big Sky could have very well turned this series into one in which there was a new big bad every season, and that’s it.

Carrying Ronald over to this season has added nothing of value. Wolf’s introduction and the whole ranch plot have been needless, and if anything, it just takes away from some of the greater aspects of what has been a very dull Big Sky Season 2.

The few bright spots can’t possibly drown out every scene of Ronald claiming he’s a changed man and acting as if he and Wolf are just two sides of the same psychotic coin.

Ronald’s obsession with Cassie leads him right to Dewell and Hoyt when he should be about a million miles away from there. It’s a truth so inevitable that even Wolf tracks him there in the end.

This is one of the problems with Big Sky. The storytelling is thin and jittery, and too often, things get wrapped up in a predictable and boring way.

I audibly groaned when Wolf appeared to knock Ronald out because it just means Wolf will drag him back to the ranch, and we’ll have to suffer through more scenes of two terrible men trying to out terrible each other.

But I digress, the ramifications of Joseph’s murder will be sad, but it will be interesting to see if they’re able to track it to Ronald. And what that does to Cassie, who has been far removed from the case for some time now.

Will this draw her back into things? You have to assume it will.

Joseph: So, something or someone, in particular, got you in a good mood?

Cassie: I don’t know. We’ll see. It’s early.

Joseph. Good. You deserve something good. We all do.

And what timing, huh? We’ve had multiple episodes in a row of Cassie smiling and letting her hair down and finding some enjoyment for the first time in a long time, courtesy of her letting Mark slowly into her heart.

And now, she must deal with the untimely death of her father.

If you were to read my notes while watching that quick little office scene between Mark and Cassie, all you would see in bold letters is, ‘THEY LIKE EACH OTHER SO MUCH.’

As it stands now, it feels like the pseudo-love triangle is skewing toward Mark and Cassie, but that could be because Jerrie isn’t currently in town. And either way, it’s sure to hit a snag as it would be normal for her to put her love life on the back burner again.

Or maybe they’ll surprise us and have Cassie lean on Mark. As well as Jennie, as she grieves and figures out what to do next for her family.

Speaking of Jenny, she was in full cop mode here, and in one day, she made a ton of progress.

Rachel was noticeably cagey when questioned about T-Lock’s supposed disappearance. And it put Max directly into Jenny’s line of sight, but everything on this end kind of stalled once Travis made his way to her house.

Is Travis dirty? That’s the million-dollar question.

If he had truly gone off the rails, you’d think he would have killed T-Lock like he was supposed to. Leaving him alive is just another loose end hanging around that could come back to bite him in the future.

But hearing that he has a personal vendetta against the Bhullar’s makes it clear that while maybe he hasn’t gone rogue, he’s following his own path. And part of this path involves getting closer to Ren, but how close to Ren will he be able to get with Donno always looking over her shoulder?

Right. We’re family I got you. So, I’m gonna give you until the end of the week, then Dhruv here’s gonna start dropping bodies. And I’m taking you back to Canada because Dad said so.

Jag [to Ren]

And that’s to say nothing of Jag, who quite frankly doesn’t make that much of an impression in the short amount of time we spend with him.

Though, his introduction feels like a set-up for the second half of the season, which will no doubt involve an all-out assault on the Bhullar cartel at some point.

Considering how blah this season has been, they’ve at least crafted a story (minus the Ronald stuff) that all connects.

Ren knows that Bridger at least has the money, and Cassie and Jenny are super close to connecting Harper to the scene of Harvey’s murder, so the kids are still caught up in all the mess. But the walls feel like they’re closing in on everyone.

The money is still actively missing, so Ren is still on the warpath. Dietrich is like two steps behind everything, and he’s looking for Stone’s Travis head on a platter, while Travis is trying to gut the Bhullar’s from the inside out, and Jenny and the police are trying to avoid an all-out drug war.

That’s an excellent place to stop for a bit and re-calibrate.

Hopefully, this will also be the beginning of the end of time spent at the ranch of horrors. It’s time for the show to move beyond all things Ronald Pergman.

Odds and Ends

• RIP Joseph. He was a devoted father and grandfather, and, sadly, he was able to get the ranch but never got to step onto the property as it’s the owner. Will Cassie take over the ranch in memory of her father?

• We checked in very briefly with Jerrie, and I’m not sure if more scenes got cut or something, but it felt very disjointed from the rest of the hour.

• Agatha, when she deals with Wolf, is a total mood. She seems wildly unbothered by all the chaos going on around her.

• Give Denise something to do, Big Sky! She’s paid her dues!

• Did it look like Ronald grew extra facial hair overnight, or was it just me?

I’m not sure if people are loving or hating this season thus far, so please weigh in below and let me know what you think!

What surprised you most during this installment?

Do you trust Travis?

More importantly, should Jenny trust Travis?

While we wait for the show’s return, make sure to watch Big Sky online so you can join the conversation. 

Whitney Evans is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.