S03.E09: Where There's Smoke There's Fire

[AnimeMania]

Jenny and Beau investigate the mysterious death of a rookie smokejumper while Cassie picks apart Walter’s story, convinced something isn’t adding up. Meanwhile, Emily finds herself at Dewell and Hoyt while trying to keep busy, and Sunny and Buck work to put themselves back together after Walter’s arrest, leading her to reveal her biggest secret to Cormac and testing his allegiance in the process.

Premiere Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2022      10pm     ABC

[SueB]

Tonight’s episode comments:

Time jump - WTH, I did not see that coming.  Sloppy police work.   We got our guy.  He confessed to ONE murder and now we are holding him based on that confession and a wood carving?!?!?!   And where is his court appointed lawyer?!?!?  

Carla kills Chemistry - Jensen Ackles had chemistry with a lamp stand in Supernatural.  How is there ZERO chemistry with Carla?   And it looked like he was trying!   I.  Cannot.  Compute.
 

Cassie Blows Up Relationship with Cormac!   How was this possible?   They were perfect!   I understand Jenny’s got her back but she needs to go apologize to Cormac and get that tall drink of water back onto the dance floor.  

I LOATHE the fear for Emily’s life   I know I’m being manipulated in those previews.  It still is working.   *throws a snit*

Mainlining the manpain.  They better not hurt Emily.  It’s not going to be a single man tear   It’ll be the whole ugly sobbing.   Let’s keep the manpain to ‘dead partner history’ please.

Insufficient Poptart in the episode.   I need a certain  amount of Pop time.

Donno never disappoints.  Tonya needs to listen to him.

Sunny sings beautifully but is not too bright.  Running around the woods alone?  Nope.  

Looking forward to next week.  I’ve got my eye on you writers… no killing Emily.  

 

Just for fun

So I posted my speculation in the previous episode just prior to tonight’s episode  

I’ll give a  ‘tally’ of how I did:

Theories (posting just before the tonight’s episode):

Killers  

Bleeding Heart:   Buck sniffing the blood — I like him for the entire Bleeding Heart murder spree. (10/10) Walter knows but Sunny doesn’t.(10/10) on Sunny, unknown on Walter (tbd - to be determined)  Buck is also mental. (10/10) And Buck knows Walter knows   It’s why he’s framing him   (tbd)

Luke: Buck, again.  He wanted him silenced. (tbd - but I like my chances)

Future Deaths

Avery: By Possum. (tbd and tbd - Possum may be gone)  I’m pretty sure Avery was involved in the crypto scheme BEFORE the camping trip.  (Wrong! 0/10) I think he took the family on the trip as a cover to go after Paige & Luke.  Remember, he went into Paige & Luke’s tent BEFORE Paige went missing.  But he doesn’t know the sequence.  Which is why he simply didn’t take the journal before.  

Cormac: By Buck.  (Tbd and tbd - but I don’t like Cormac’s chances). Sunny has a buttload of Karma coming her way.  That wonderful young man is gonna die. And it’ll be awful. And it’ll be an accident but he’ll die none-the-less.  

My Irrational Fear

That they kill off Beau.  This show is a hen house and he’s a rooster.  It’s a problem. (tbd)

Revealed Secrets

Carla de Lugo:  That she met Avery while defending him from some slimy business deal and she knows he’s corrupt.  That’s why the overreaction to the SEC news.  And that’s why Avery is leaving camp, because he knows he may not get her back.  He’s cutting and running. (0/10 - she just apparently has a big issue with his lying.  0/10 Avery didn’t run — feels like there is a continuity error in the last shot of him walking with a packed backpack and no fallout at the camp) 

Avery: As stated, was involved even before the camping trip.  Beau is going to loose his shit. (Repeat)

Beau: Carla spilled the beans on the worst of it.  But there’s more there on how his partner died. (tbd - lots of manpain but not clear how much of a story it will be) 

Sunny: She’s just a lying liar who lies.  She makes too many mistakes to be a frequent killer.  (10/10)
 

Next Episode:

Possum & company start killing glampers.  They don’t care about body count.  (-10/10 I was so completely wrong, I’m going to take points away — poor dead ranger isn’t even mentioned!)
 

Current tally = (40 - 10)/80 or 37.5% with 8 tbd’s left.  

Edited December 1, 2022 by SueB

[BornToDie]

I really hope Jensen has some genre roles lined up, because he really needs some better material than what he’s being given here.  I am generally enjoying Beau and certain other characters and the main storyline, but it would be nice to get some character moments for him and maybe for Jenny too, but instead it’s another silly case-of-the-week sucking up time.  And how convenient that the culprit in said case confessed so quickly and everything is tied up in a neat little bow.  Cassie, who knows there’s some seriously fishy shenanigans going on in the woods, including multiple deaths, goes skulking around without any backup.  Buck and Walter are seriously creepy, and I do feel a bit sorry for Cormac after finding out about some of the family secrets.  But it would nice to get more about Beau than general allusions to his partner and brother and two-minute interactions with everyone except Jenny (even though Emily annoys me and I don’t feel there’s much chemistry with Carla either).

Edited December 1, 2022 by BornToDie

[Dowel Jones]

This show should branch out into one of those yellow cover manuals - Private Investigation For Dummies. 

Step 1 - Always approach a suspect from the same end of the hall.  Don't waste time sending one partner down to the other end to block his escape.

Step 2 - Always go out in the woods without backup.

McDonno's Restaurant seems to be holding its own.

[MAK]

WTF?  I gotta stop thinking of Big Sky as a cop show. 

They searched Walter’s cabin, found Paige’s blood, and put everything back in the chaos scheme that Walter had his stuff. Okay then… Beau and Jenny don't split up and surround the suspect. PD's are given access to interrogate prisoners unsupervised.  

I love Sheriff Beau and his jackets, he has a new one, if not two, each episode. Much like Jenny’s shirts and jackets. So glad his Airstream has so much closet space for them, not. At least Jenny has a whole house for her t-shirts and short jackets.

Can Cassie ever investigate anything during daylight?  She found a random loose floor board, but missed a whole ass trap door with stairs?  Great searching.

Carla has zero chemistry with anyone on this show. Really awkward with Beau. It’s like she’s speaking with her new neighbor about watching her kid after school. This is your ex-husband!  The father of your child! Why is she acting like all of them just discovered that Beau is the father, and wants to get to know his kid? Her meeting with Avery did not come across as a husband and wife going through issues. I’ve not seen the actress in anything else. Is it her or the writing/directing?

How did Avery know who to contact to return the $15 million? 

Sooooo… Buck is the original Bleeding Heart killer? Still think Walter is a red herring. Poor guy. Reba is really creepy as Sunny. Great singing.

As usual, Donno and Tonya stole the show. “Have fun wasting your time” to the veggie burger lady was hilarious.

Still don’t understand the central mystery. The only unknown is who killed Luke and the original Bleeding Heart killings. Since Walter confessed, nobody is investigating anything anymore.

I don’t want Sheriff Beau to be the killer, and I don’t know how he can be, but it would give Jensen something to do. His talent seems to be wasted in this role.

At least the glamping thing is over.

I really gotta stop watching Big Sky as a cop show. 

[wlk68]

9 hours ago, SueB said:

Theories (posting just before the tonight’s episode):

Future Deaths

Cormac: By Buck.  (Tbd and tbd - but I don’t like Cormac’s chances). Sunny has a buttload of Karma coming her way.  That wonderful young man is gonna die. And it’ll be awful. And it’ll be an accident but he’ll die none-the-less.  

Yeah, this. I also feel that poor Cormac is not long for this world but still not 100% sold that it will come at Buck's hands. I'm bracing myself.

[SueB]

@MAK Good question about how did Avery know.  I feel like we missed at least two scenes. 

Scene 1: A scene  where Possum & Jimmy stop Avery from leaving camp. Avery convinces them not to kill him because he can figure out the encrypted phrase and get the money. 
 

Scene 2: A scene where someone tries to contact the ranger and tell him the road block is over.  And Jimmy acknowledges using the rangers radio with a muffled ‘copy’.  That at least gives them time to dispose of the body.  But anyway you slice it — this is a gaping plot hole. 

Perhaps the writer for Ep 9 thought believed Ep 8 answered those two questions.  And the. They cut those scenes for time.  But while the audience can ‘fill in’ that Possum and Jimmy were looking straight at Avery preparing to run off, there is NO plausible cill in for the ranger.  

[thuganomics85]

Yeah, I'm not going to pretend I know much about law enforcement, but even I know that it would be much, much wiser to surround the suspect first before announcing yourself instead of... just both being at the same spot and then yelling at him.  Come on, Jenny!  Although, since Beau is the sheriff, shouldn't he be making these calls?  I guess it is nice that he trusts her enough to not micromanage, but he can be kind of too hands off as a boss at times.

As for the case itself, it was fine, but it was so obvious that Coop was going to be the killer since they did the classic bit of having him pop up and say a bunch of lines for reasons that weren't really needed, so you knew he was going to factor back in at some point.

It's really saying something about Carla as a character that she's technically in the right and yet I still almost find Avery more likable or at least interesting.  Of course, even if he did manage to crack the code, I suspect they are still not in the clear.

Emily sticking around as an intern for Cassie and Debbie is a bit pact, but I'm glad she's at least back to her somewhat level-headed self after she briefly acted like an idiot at times the past few episodes.  Granted, she is still the smartest teen by far to ever appear on this show.

Part of me is glad that Cormac now knows the truth, but another part of me worries this means he is doomed.

So, Buck is possibly the original Bleeding Heart Killer, after-all?  Can't see what else this could mean.

Sunny and Paige facing off, now?

Really could watch an entire episode of Donno and Tonya's Adventures with Diners and Criminal Enterprises.  So relatable!

[MAK]

6 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Really could watch an entire episode of Donno and Tonya's Adventures with Diners and Criminal Enterprises.

This should be S4.

[Brian Cronin]

Carla has the protective instincts of a dandelion. 

Really, the true test of a shitty writing versus perhaps-still-shitty-but-at-least-trying is when you have characters do unrealistic things because you need it for your plot instead of having them act realistically, and just have things go wrong so that your plot can still happen. You know, instead of Carla being all, "Nah, I'll just put my daughter in danger," it could be that they're captured while on the run (like get caught at a gas station or whatever). It's a simple, but important difference to better TV writing - put in the extra steps for the sake of your characters WHILE also keeping your plot in play.

[MAK]

2 hours ago, Brian Cronin said:

Carla has the protective instincts of a dandelion. 

Another gripe about the character --- why is it that both her ex and current husband tell the daughter "just don't tell your Mom"? That is a really weird dynamic for both the Dad and the Step-Dad to have in common. Is she so disconnected that she never realizes that she is being consistently left out of the loop of whatever?

[roamyn]

So the consensus is that Buck is the Bleeding Hearts Killer.

I still like Sunny for burning down the adoptive parents house, and did that article say two kids?  Boy & girl?  Obviously Walter is the boy.  What happened to the girl?

I still can’t determine if Avery knew abt the crypto ahead of time or not.

I’m sorry, but Dean Winchester would’ve shot the masked thief in the leg before letting him go.  And who called Cooper for it the minute he appeared onscreen?  👋

I actually thought Walter’s explanation for the wooden figures to be very Native American and spiritual.  Makes sense since he’s been trapping and living like a mountain man for many years.

And that poor Ranger and his family.  I guess no one cared that he never showed back up for work/home. 

[FlickChick]

19 hours ago, roamyn said:

I still like Sunny for burning down the adoptive parents house, and did that article say two kids?  Boy & girl?  Obviously Walter is the boy.  What happened to the girl?

I think it might be Paige. Walter took care of her and told her how to get away knowing he would be brought to the Sheriff's station. His caring for Paige was so obvious and I don't think we saw any romantic scenes between the two.

[roamyn]

4 hours ago, FlickChick said:

I think it might be Paige. Walter took care of her and told her how to get away knowing he would be brought to the Sheriff's station. His caring for Paige was so obvious and I don't think we saw any romantic scenes between the two.

Paige is too young I think.  Walter is at least 39, and Paige looked to be mid-late 20s.  Plus, Paige did kiss him on the lips.  Walter’s got starry eyes for Paige.