Big Sky: Deadly Trails Season 3 Episode 10 Review: A Thin Layer of Rock
The fall finale of Big Sky: Deadly Trails Season 3, Episode 10, “A Thin Layer of Rock,” is full of lies and unlikely alliances.
The main story moves in exciting directions, and is thankfully unhindered by the ridiculous procedural case which keeps my interest solely through its cheesiness.
Nobody can deliver a cheesy line of dialogue or generic fare that sounds like it’s from a spoof of a cop show with such disarming charm quite like Katheryn Winnick as Detective Jenny Hoyt. It’s becoming a hallmark of the series and one that sets the crime drama apart from the many others out there.
A betrayed turned murderous bride and T-rex dinosaur bones are at the center of the silly side plot, and while it feels wholly unnecessary, it does give us hilarious crime scene quips in all seriousness—which is a combination that I, apparently, dig.
Hey, I think Jenny would be proud of that one.
The main storyline isn’t lacking in this department, either, even though Jenny is taken away from it by the gratuitous case. We get some prime Sunny, Tonya, and Donno time as the three of them warily team up to help Paige.
Sunny: If you want the money, you need each other, and that girl’s been through a lot already.
Donno: It’s hard out there for a pimp.
Sunny’s reaction to this is freakin’ priceless. This is where Reba McEntire’s guest starring role this season proves to be invaluable—in subtle, amusing quirks and tones like this.
It’s obvious that there’s no love lost between Sunny and the enterprising partners in crime, but they see the value in each other for their own interests and gains. And the episode benefits from their dynamic together as well.
Another dynamic that is kicked into high gear on this episode is the one sparking between Jenny and Beau. The shipping potential has been sporadic this season. Episode 3, “A Brief History of Crime,” jumped the gun with a poorly-executed undercover operation with the two posing as a married couple.
However, two episodes later on Episode 5, “Flesh and Blood,” and I am fully aboard the Jenny/Beau ship. But per this episode (the last until the new year), sailing into the sunset will have to wait as Beau’s ex-wife, Carla, finally serves a purpose I can get behind: as the delicious tension that threatens to keep them apart.
The tender face touch interrupted by Carla showing up with Emily to move in, albeit temporarily, to Beau’s tin can abode, is just the kind of juicy content I want from my prime time network dramas.
Big Sky knows how to do cliffhangers well and that is done here with several threads ending on intriguing notes or nail-biting circumstances. At times the season has lost my attention, but on this episode, like Paige, my attention has been recaptured.
What did you think of this episode of Big Sky: Deadly Trails? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Big Sky: Deadly Trails Season 3 will return January 4th, 2023 at 10/9c on ABC.
Featured photo: ABC/Anna Kooris
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Erin Allen
Erin is a former script supervisor for film and television. She's an avid fan of middle aged actresses, dark dramas, and irreverent comedies. She loves to read actual books and X-Files fan fiction. Her other passions include pointing out feminist issues, shipping Mulder and Scully, and collecting pop culture mugs.