Big Sky Series Review

If you’re a Disney Plus subscriber you may have noticed that a few weeks ago Disney introduced the Star section to the site. This new section which is available in much of the world, but not in the United States, allows Disney to share content that is from the Fox library of content. It also allows them to share more adult themed shows and movies then what we’d normally expect from the brilliant but somewhat limited sections of Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and National Geographic.

One of the much hyped new shows is Big Sky, and if you’re considering what to watch from the new Star section, this is certainly a series worth checking out if you’ve already seen the 24, The X-Files, Lost etc.

Big Sky tells the story of corruption, kidnap and survival, and focuses on an ensemble cast that includes the very Norman Bates like Ronald Pergman, played by Brian Geraghty, as a trucker who kidnaps women, and is assisted by Rick, a crooked cop played by John Carroll Lynch. Ronald kidnaps two sisters Grace and Danielle, impulsively after they upset him, and whilst he has already kidnapped Jerrie, a transfeminine sex worker played by Jesse James Keitel.

Together they face surviving being kidnapped and held captive and attempt to escape, whilst Jenny Hoyt and Cassie Dewell, played by Kathryn Winnick and Kylie Bunbury respectively investigate the sister’s disappearance.

The show is filled with tenses moments and plot twists, but at times does feel like it’s a little light weight and not as hard hitting as it could be. The tone is ever so slightly inconsistent and the gravity of the kidnapping and the way it’s handled does fall into what I’d expect from a teen drama at times. With such heavy subject matter I couldn’t help but feel that this could have pushed the intensity of the situation a bit harder and that wouldn’t have harmed it at all.

Kylie Bunbury does well as the lead and as an audience member I both wanted to see Cassie succeed in rescuing the kidnapped women, and also was worried when she faced moments of danger. John Carroll Lynch has the ability to come across as both a harmless nice cop and suddenly a malicious threat and when we got a couple of stand offs between Cassie and Rick in the series his threat seemed real.

One of these encounters between them ended with Cassie shooting Rick in the forehead and this was shocking as this allowed her to rescue the kidnapped sisters and Jerrie, but left me wondering what the series would be about now that they were safe.

As it turned out, despite having a bullet through the head Rick somehow survived and this continued on in the show until the end when he is eventually killed by his wife, who is played by Brooke Smith. An interesting piece of casting for the show as Brooke famously played the kidnap victim in the Silence of the Lambs some 30 years ago. This story of Rick surviving didn’t feel like it worked very well though as he was presented almost comically with dopey dialogue, and whilst this was hinted at as just being an act, he never seemed like he’d get out of police custody as it was known that he was a criminal.

If perhaps he had been released or something so he was a credible threat to his wife who then killed him in self defence it would have been more satisfying rather than she just kill him with the same hammer he considered killing her with, and then she is taken away arrested.

It also felt of note that after Cassie shot him, and the kidnap victims were saved they played little role in the conclusion of the series. Jerrie continued on most prominently and although she was able to play a vital role in the locating of Ronald towards the end of the series (as by this point he had killed his mother, a vicar and had a child captive) the series did quickly move from it being about the kidnap victims and more onto showing how Ronald becomes Norman Bates.

I think from the early get go most viewers must have expected that Ronald would eventually kill his mother, but his carrying her down to the cellar and keeping her there was beyond homage. It’s a genuine shock when he uses his mother’s body to trick the police and we see her dressed as the kidnapped boy. It’s moments like this where the show does feel more exciting and like it has real meat on the bone.

The rescue of the kid from another of Ronald’s misdirection’s is another exciting but questionable moment where whilst good, you do have to suspend your disbelief. Rather than just dump the kid at the side of the road he carried the vicar’s body and placed it behind the wheel to auto drive a car just to waste the police’s time whilst he escaped. This was fun, but overly elaborate. I also didn’t know that you could get automatic driving cars like this. If you can then cool, but was something where I was more interested in the technology and googling if you could get cars like this in real life then the plot in motion.

A few minor points aside the show is certainly something I’d say is worth a watch on Star on Disney Plus. It could be a bit harder hitting and there are a couple of questionable ideas included, but over all a great cast and a twisty plot make this a good watch.

These are somewhat minor points though in what was overall an enjoyable series.

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