Big Sky concluded its initial set of episodes on December 15 with a doozy of a twist in Good Day to Die.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
As seen in the preview (watch here), State Trooper Rick Legarski is about to hammer his sleeping wife’s head. He even sees himself doing the deadly deed but abruptly changes his mind.
Instead, the big guy strokes Merilee’s hair and tells her that he is going to change. He is going to be a better husband but that remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Grace, Danielle, and Jerrie take their minds off their current situation by singing. Their harmonies are decent but their moods remain unchanged. They’re beyond anxious.
Ronald returns to their temporary jail whereupon he tells Danielle it is her fault that she and her sister are there.
The blondie with the sharp tongue goes off on their captor, telling him he is beyond pathetic and always has been. Then, she dares him to beat her up but he doesn’t fall for this attempt at freeing Danielle from her chains.
“Today’s the first day of the rest of your life,” he declares to the three victims as he leaves. They have no idea what the demented man means by that strange statement.
As he exits the barn, Ronald notices broken glass and surmises that someone else has been on the kidnapping scene. After Legarski is notified, the Montana State Trooper makes a beeline for the barn to see what Ronald is talking about.
He then notices an extra set of tire tracks, causing him and Ronald to believe Cassie and Jenny have followed Legarski to the scene of the crime.
As a precaution, Legarski decides to dispose of the three victims earlier than planned.
Cassie’s father assists his daughter on Big Sky
Cassie’s dad’s buddy helps her by finding an old blueprint of the crime scene. Apparently, there’s a hidden basement in the abandoned building.
After that, Cassie and Jenny learn via Legarski’s tracker that he has returned to the inconspicuous hiding place.
On the way to find out what’s happening, the investigators contact Sheriff Tubb. When asked about the information she provides, Jenny admits she illegally planted a tracker on Legarski’s ride.
Cassie and Jenny turn up at the remote location at the same time as Tubb and his backup team gets there.
Unfortunately, when Cassie and Jenny finally discover the hidden basement, they also discover it is empty.
Legarski urges Sheriff Tubb to arrest Cassie since he insists she lied about what had been going on.
Cassie and Jenny don’t give up on Big Sky
Cassie and Jenny agree to continue looking for the missing women. Jenny is bailed out while Cassie continues to hunt for the girls who have been shifted to the All In Bar’s dank storage area.
At that point, Legarski has had enough of being a kidnapper. He tells Ronald that his wife went dancing without him and has concluded that his nasty side job is causing his marriage to fall apart.
After that, Ronald is tasked with cleaning up the girls, so he wipes their faces and gently brushes their hair.
As he dresses Jerrie, she does her best to convince the psychotic man to do a good deed by letting all of them go.
No dice.
Ronald can’t be persuaded but he does seem uncomfortable with this decision.
Back at the office, Cassie finds out that the fisherman’s truck has been located less than two miles from the old farmhouse. Cassie realizes she needs to get into Legarski’s head in order to find the three missing women before it is too late.
Around this time, Ronald has returned home and is told by his mother that she thinks he has something to do with the missing girls. She then calls her son “a sexual pervert.”
This riles the lunatic, who attacks his mom, almost choking her to death.
Back at the bar in Big Sky
Back at the All In, Legarski learns that the people who are going to buy the captured women are only 20 minutes away.
He goes down into the basement storage area whereupon Jerrie begs him to keep her but to set free the innocent girls.
His response?
He slaps duct tape over their mouths so they can’t taunt him any longer.
Cassie gets back to the barn after a brief visit with Merilee at her shop. She wants to know what this woman knows about the kidnapping case, telling her that she believes her husband is involved.
Merilee is adamant that her spouse would never do something like that. She also mentions he is a creature of habit who always eats at the same time and in the same place.
Cassie realizes he does so at the All In Bar. That is also where Cody was last seen and that is where she initially met the Montana State Trooper.
Jenny has been sprung by then and promises to meet Cassie at the abandoned bar ASAP.
Legarski is in trouble on Big Sky
The scene shifts to Legarski, who hears another vehicle turn up at the All In. He believes the Canadians have arrived to take the girls away.
Nope.
It’s Cassie, who heads to the cellar after Legarski calls out to indicate where he is.
The badass PI sees him and draws her gun while standing at the top of the stairs.
Down below, Legarski does his best impression of a calm character as he tells Cassie she is about to shoot a very important law enforcer.
Cassie keeps her victim at gunpoint while the girls try to get her attention by making as much noise as they can given their mouths are pasted shut.
Legarski insists he has arrived to rescue these victims but Cassie doesn’t buy the excuse.
As he reaches for his gun to kill her first, she screams at him to freeze.
He tells her he sees that she is nervous and shaking and so she won’t shoot him. In fact, he tells Cassie he will do her a favor and count to five before he puts a bullet in her unless she caves.
At the count of four, Cassie shoots Legarski squarely in the forehead.
What happens next?
You’ll find out in five weeks when Big Sky returns on January 26.
ABC’s Big Sky is on hiatus.