NOTE: this post contains spoilers for Big Sky season 3 episode 8, “Duck Hunting." Catch up with the mystery by reading our Big Sky season 3 episode 7 recap.
Secrets and lies are starting to cause fractures in important relationships. After Mary’s (Sofia Embid) death everyone is on edge, especially Sunny (Reba McEntire) and Buck (Rex Linn) who don’t want the police or Cassie (Kylie Bunbury) sniffing around the camp. But when Emily (Cree Cicchino) finds Mary’s body it guarantees that Arlen (Jensen Ackles) and Hoyt (Katheryn Winnick) are going to get drawn into the events going on in and around the camp.
Paige confronts Luke
Picking up where episode 7 left off, Paige (Madalyn Horcher) finds Luke (Anirudh Pisharody) in the woods with Walter (Seth Gabel) standing behind him. Paige tells Luke she needs the journal with the crypto key in it, but Luke says he doesn't have it. Paige doesn't believe him and Walter tells Paige he saw Luke pick up a rock he was going to use to kill her the night they were in the woods. Luke manages to slip away and runs. Paige is upset, but Walter tells her he'll deal with it. It doesn't look like things are going to end well for Luke.
Everyone's a suspect
Back at the camp Arlen and Hoyt show up to investigate Mary's death. Suspicion is everywhere at the camp as Hoyt and Arlen narrow down the suspect list. They are immediately suspicious of Tonya (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) and Donno (Ryan O’Nan) because they know these two are not there as a happy couple taking a vacation, which is what they told Sunny.
While Hoyt and Arlen question the campers, Sunny and Buck have a tense conversation in their tent. Sunny is concerned about the attention Mary's death is bringing on them and Buck is concerned they’re risking everything to protect Walter. He continues to go along with Sunny but he’s clearly worried about Sunny's commitment to protecting Walter and what it might cost them.
Most of the campers throw suspicion on Luke. Luke is a convenient target since he's disappeared and he's been acting strangely since Paige disappeared. Emily says Luke told her there were bad people in the camp and he was planning on leaving. She reveals she was following Luke in the woods when she found Mary's body. That makes Luke seem like the best primary suspect.
Until Hoyt and Arlen find Luke’s body in the woods, shot with arrows.
Secrets and lies take center stage
After the discovery of Luke's body, Hoyt and Arlen focus on everyone that wasn't accounted for at the time of Luke's death: Buck, Avery (Henry Ian Cusick), Cormac (Luke Mitchell) and Donno. Luke was killed with a bow and arrows from the camp's equipment shed, which was open. Avery has some experience shooting with a bow, but so does Buck. Cormac is quickly cleared by Cassie, who was with him at the bar at the time Luke was killed.
But Cormac is starting to wonder what Buck and Sunny are doing and if they have more of a connection to this than he knows. After leaving Cassie at the bar he goes to Buck and Sunny's home. In the attic he finds the title to the truck that was burned, the one that Buck said he sold. He also finds photos of a young Sunny with a small boy, a baby blanket, a hospital bracelet for a baby boy and other mementos.
Cassie finds Cormac at Buck and Sunny's house and asks what he’s doing. He tells Cassie about the title and that Buck never sold the truck. He asks if he's a suspect and Cassie tells him no, but that Buck is.
At the camp, they confront Sunny and Buck. Sunny tells Cormac the photo was her with one of his cousins. When he brings up the bracelet she and Buck distract him and deflect his questions telling him they need to focus on what’s going on at the camp with Mary and Luke's deaths.
But more secrets come out. Doing some research, Hoyt finds out Avery is under investigation by the SEC for misleading shareholders. She points out that the $15 million in cryptocurrency stolen by Paige and Luke could help his situation a lot. She questions Carla (Angelique Cabral) to see what she knows while Arlen questions Avery.
Naturally Avery doesn't take too well to being questioned by Carla's ex-husband. He lawyers up and refuses to answer any more questions. But both Hoyt and Arlen got what they wanted. Carla now knows about the lies Avery was telling her and is ready to separate from him once the trip is over. Avery packs a bag and gets ready to leave on his own.
Walter
Cassie and Hoyt question Buck. When she reveals the sketch done of the man she saw in the woods and with the truck, Buck is clearly uncomfortable. The sketch is unmistakably Walter. Buck hedges and says that, yes, he has seen that man before, but only a couple of times. He doesn’t reveal who Walter is or his connection to Sunny.
Hoyt, Arlen, Cassie and the police prepare to do a night search of the woods. Cormac reveals an area in the woods where there is a cabin deliberately left off the maps by Sunny so the campers wouldn't go there. It's Walter's cabin. As the police close in, Paige panics and manipulates Walter to protect her. Walter shows her a secret path out of the cabin and through the woods and tells her to run.
Walter gives himself up to the police, without admitting anything, to give Paige time to get away. Walter gets taken into custody for questioning. But back at the camp Mr. Jimmy, Tonya and Donno's boss, has secretly approached the camp with Possum (Darius Rucker). They are hiding in the woods surrounding the camp preparing to make a move that could lead to even more deaths.
New episodes of Big Sky air on Wednesdays on ABC. Catch up with the the latest episodes on Hulu or ABC.com
