Big Sky‘s Merrilee Legarski might want to hold off on planning a funeral for her husband, Rick… because, as we learn at the end of the series’ winter premiere, he’s not dead!
As viewers will recall, Cassie Dewell fired a bullet into the Montana state trooper’s forehead at the end of the fall finale, right after she found him with the three women he was planning to traffic to Canada. And that’s where Tuesday’s episode picks up, with Legarski bleeding out on the floor of the All In Bar’s basement. He’s transported to the hospital, where he flatlines but is revived yet comatose.
Cassie is incredibly shaken by what she’s done; throughout the episode, she (understandably) hovers on the edge of a panic attack. When Jenny arrives on the scene as emergency personnel are seeing to Jerrie, Grace and Danielle, she’s full of hope about Cody. But that’s quickly dashed when Sheriff Tubb’s officers excavate Cody’s truck, with the dead P.I.’s body inside. Jenny screams and falls to her knees in grief, while Cassie looks on and silently cries. (Side note: Even in her deep loss, this woman’s commitment to a detailed braid is commendable. At one point in the hour, even when she’s been sobbing her eyes out at home, Jenny is rocking a plait that would make Elsa jealous.)
At home, Ronald and his mom are freaking out. The police are going to search Legarski’s house to try to link him to the sex-trafficking, and if they find the hidden room where Rick kept all of his records, Ronald is toast. What’s more: Thanks to the recovered victims, the cops know that the other kidnapper is a long-haul trucker with a custom paint job on his vehicle. So Ronald repaints the cab of his truck and messes with the license plate, then hatches a plan to break into the Legarski home to eradicate anything tying him to the crime. (There’s still the rather huge part about Grace, Jerrie and Danielle being able to identify him, but ONE THING AT A TIME, MOTHER!)
Jenny and her son, Justin, hold a funeral and memorial service for Cody; the reception afterward includes some warm moments between the widow and Cassie, including when Cassie steps on stage to sing Neil Young’s “Harvest” — Cody’s favorite song — after a choked-up Jenny can’t make it through. Afterward, both women find themselves back at the office. “I never thought it would be you that would help me get through this,” Jenny tells her, and the bonding moment prompts Cassie to offer Jenny Cody’s spot in the private-investigator practice. Jenny scoffs, but eventually agrees — just until the Legarski case is put to bed.
Elsewhere, Jerrie is walking home when a man wearing a baseball cap calls her name and starts chasing her. Turns out, it’s just a guy she knows named Jimmy who “wanted to make sure you were OK.” The dynamic between them is a little unclear — it seems like he likes her, but she tells him the days she could talk to him “are over.” Still, she seems like she might actually like his concern. At her place, though, there’s a note reading “You don’t learn” on the door, harkening back to what Ronald often said to his captives.
Unbeknownst to everyone, over at the hospital, Rick’s fingers twitch, his heart rate monitor starts beeping faster, and then he opens an eye!
Now it’s your turn. What did you think of the episode? Sound off in the comments!