WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Big Sky Season 1, Episode 5, "A Good Day to Die," now available on ABC.
ABC's Big Sky is known for shocking moves, evidenced by how the lead investigator into kidnapped girls in Montana, Cody (Ryan Phillipe), was killed in the premiere. Now, the midseason finale delivers yet another unexpected moment when it kills John Carroll Lynch's Rick, one of the main abductors and a state trooper who's been shipping women off to Canada.
However, while one villain falls and another tries to find redemption, the series may have unwittingly created a new and even more sadistic tyrant.
Rick's partner, Ron (Brian Geraghty), left him with the women to go home as his mother Helen (Valerie Mahaffey) has been nagging him after seeing all the drama on the news. She knows her trucker son has some sick ways and parts of her think he's a reserved psycho. But Helen has contributed to this, with pampering, hints of sexual abuse and an overall needy, unhealthy relationship with him.
When she confronts Ron again and asks if he had something to do with the women being taken, Ron loses his cool and chokes her. He wants out of the trafficking game as he has feelings for one of the victims, Jerrie, but Rick kept pressuring him. Ron's also eyeing Rick's estranged wife, Merilee, so he does seem to have major issues over who he wants to be with. Helen, though, has ensured he never got a chance to think straight with her accusations and judgemental behavior.
But her constant probing here causes Ron to break down and admit what he's done, placing the blame squarely on Rick's shoulders. The twist, though, comes when Helen comforts him and reveals she now has a plan. At first, it seems it might be to clear his name, but seeing as Rick's dead and they don't know, the show needs a new villain. It seems as if Helen was just jealous all along of Ron choosing other girls over attention from her and her suspicions really weren't because of a moral, ethical compass.
Seeing as she hates prostitutes -- the victims of most kidnappings -- Helen's dark aura could see her take over Rick's job once she finds out he's gone and be a new kind of mother to Ron. She's always wanted him to have a bigger job and help save the world, and while he's not a lawyer or doctor, this is the divine purpose she hoped for. Helen is an opportunist, and seeing as Ron's confessed, she now has him right where she wants him.
Big Sky stars Katheryn Winnick, Ryan Phillippe, Kylie Bunbury, Brian Geraghty and Valerie Mahaffey. It will resume Tuesday Jan. 26 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.