When everyone works together towards a common goal, Big Sky shines brighter than the supermoon on the deadly trails Sunny was trying to hike on.
On Big Sky Season 3 Episode 7, Cassie, Hoyt, and Beau made headway on the case of the Bleeding Heart Murder, and it’s all connecting back to Sunny Day Acres, which honestly, isn’t so sunny.
On the surface, it definitely seems like Walter is responsible, but I’m not convinced. Walter is strange, there’s no doubt about that, but the killing’s are not his M.O. Walter is a lurker and a stalker who is also a bit obsessive, but we’ve never actually seen him hurt anyone. The missing hiker Mark fell to his death after Walter’s presence scared him, but he didn’t kill him.
The only people Walter was known to kill are his adoptive parents when he was younger, and it was in a rage after they hurt his friend, Meredith.
What we know about the Bleeding Heart Murder is that his weapon of choice is a “curved blade knife” that was never found.
And you know who else just killed a young woman with a knife? Buck. And while I initially thought Buck was just a devoted husband, the way he smelled Mary’s blood on his hands after he killed her and seemed to enjoy it gave me serial killer vibes. He was all too comfortable killing this woman; it was definitely not a one-off.
We’ve been so preoccupied with pointing the finger at Walter that we totally didn’t see what was right in front of us. The person we should really be investigating is Buck.
I don’t have an explanation as to why Walter’s figurines include the red heart, nor do I know why he was lurking around the woods on prom night when Blaire was murdered, but it’s possible that he knows Buck’s secrets.
The bottom line is that the Barnes family is truly disturbed, and poor Cormac is stuck in the middle of it all. He’s suspicious enough as he notices his parents are hiding something and acting rather shady, but he can’t seem to place their odd behavior just yet. I think that if he’d talk to Cassie, they might be able to put two and two together, but the missing piece, for now, is Walter.
When they find Walter, it’ll lead them to Buck, unless Mary’s freshly discovered body, by Emily of all people, will do that instead.
Buck and Sunny conjured up a plan to take a supermoon night hike with the campers so that they could “stumble” upon Mary’s body, along with Paige’s belongings, and let everyone assume that Luke was some kind of Romeo killer, but I don’t think anyone is going to believe that, especially because since Emily found the dead body, Beau is 100% going to be involved. And Beau comes with Jenny and Cassie, who are all making some progress when it comes to Mark’s disappearance and the mystery of the Bleeding Heart Murder.
The point is—it’s all unraveling, and Sunny was right to think that Emily’s persistence was going to be a thorn in her side.
When Emily encountered Buck in the woods after locating Mary’s body, I was sure she was going to be his next victim, so I’m glad that she made it back to base camp safely.
But I hope this is a lesson to Emily to stop putting her nose in other people’s business, especially when someone like Luke gives her a piece of advice to leave because the camp is filled with bad people. I would go home and never look back!
I think every single person at that camp has had a gut feeling that something isn’t right, so why are they still sticking around?
The mystery of the Bleeding Heart Murder really kicked into high gear after someone broke into Dewell & Hoyt and tore the place apart, leaving a cryptic “Come Get Me” message written in blood. Poor Denise was inside at the time and scared to death, but it was evident that it wasn’t the actual murderer since he never pursued her despite her keys jingling at the absolute worst time and giving away her hiding spot.
The series was trying to bait-and-switch us with Del Lucan, the father of the first BHM victim, Blaire. Joe, Blaire’s boyfriend at the time and a key suspect, first pointed the finger at Del, claiming he was obsessed with his daughter. When Cassie made it to Del’s place, she found a bulletin board filled with pictures of Blaire and key pieces of the investigation, which made Del look suspicious, not to mention the way he came in there with his shotgun and threatened Cassie.
However, when she called him out for murdering his daughter, his tough guy facade disintegrated and he confessed to breaking into D&H simply to remind people that his daughter’s murder continues to go unsolved.
“The killer is still out there,” he warned ominously before Cassie located a composite of what looked like a young Walter, who I believe was there that night but again, not the man responsible for the murder.
I’m still missing some key pieces to connect Buck to it, but I’m thinking he may have gone under a different identity. It’s all just too coincidentally, and I’m hoping that as Cassie, Jenny, and Beau dig a little deeper, the answers become more and more obvious.
Elsewhere, Luke, who was trying to evade Tonya and Donno, stumbled into Paige, very much alive, in the woods. The look on her face was menacing, and the fact that Walter was behind Luke with an axe was unnerving, but again, I don’t think the intention is to kill Luke, I believe she wants to scare him into handing over the drive with the $15 million on it.
And that means a lot of people want what Luke has. Tonya and Donno tried to remove themselves from this situation after realizing that it wasn’t exactly what they signed up for, but the people that hired them—guest starring Darius Rucker and Lyle Lovett as Possum and Tex, respectively—weren’t interested. They wanted Luke dead or else they threatened to burn down the bar with Tonya and Donno inside. Understood.
Donno informed Tonya that for the first time in his life, he had something to lose and he didn’t want to keep being a hitman, but she glossed over his very vulnerable moment by suggesting they ask for double the money instead. Donno is so in love with that woman, he would do anything for her. I wish she reciprocated those feelings and acknowledged his desire to by done with the game.
Maybe finding Luke and Paige could be their last job? If they make it out alive that is.
They’re also keeping an eye on Avery, who Tonya describes as a shady finance dude who knows about the $15 million and keeps asking too many questions for his own good. I still can’t pinpoint whether Avery is a good guy or simply moonlighting as one, but I guess we’ll find out. Much like Emily, he needs to learn to keep to himself instead of sticking his nose into business that doesn’t affect him because he has no idea who he’s messing with and how much trouble Luke and Paige are involved in. It could cost him his life.
Either way, bad things are happening at Sunny Acres, and now that the cops and detectives are about to descend on that place, it’s bad news for everyone. Cassie will surely have her confirmation that something eerie is going on in that camp as this is now the third time she’s been summoned there under strange circumstances.
What did you think of the episode? Do you think Buck is dangerous?