On May 16, 2022 it was announced that country legend Reba McEntire would be joining the cast as a series regular of the ABC drama Big Sky for their third season.
In that announcement, we found out that she would be playing a character named Sunny.
View this post on Instagram
Joining her as a new series regular was her real-life boyfriend, Rex Linn.
View this post on Instagram
He played her character’s husband, Buck Barnes. Together they run a company called Sunny Day Excursions, and they specialize in glamping. From the previews, Buck and Sunny had sinister looks, so we expected them to be the villains.
Throughout the season, we’ve seen Sunny hide her eldest son Walter, who is the supposed “Bleeding Heart Killer” away, cover up crimes, and be, just super shady, about very minor things. Buck, on the other hand, the the penultimate episode, was revealed the be the actual Bleeding Heart Killer, and he was readying his next victim, Paige.
Paige wounded him in her escape, so badly she thought she killed him. He ended up gaining the strength to not only drive back to town, but to kill the man he stole the car from! Once he was in town, he kidnapped Emily, Sheriff Beau Arlen’s teenage daughter, and Denise, Dewell & Hoyt’s office lady.
As the sheriff’s department, along with private investigator Cassie Dewell, try to find Emily and Denise. Buck takes them on a wild goose chase, which ends with Beau giving up Sunny for information on his daughter. He does not receive the info, so once again, they are hunting Buck.
A diversion and an explosion derail the search. As Buck is fleeing, Sunny asks him to take her to the spot where he proposed many years ago. There, he says he knows she can’t forgive him for all he’s done, but he is glad she is still by his side. She gives him a kiss and says that this would be goodbye. Walter walks out with a knife and Sunny tells Buck, “I told you I had a plan.”
Walter attempts to kill Buck, but Buck grabs a large rock and starts beating Walter with it. Beau and Undersheriff Jenny Hoyt show up and Beau tackles Buck down the mountain. Once they make it to the bottom, they struggle to fight for a knife since both their guns flew from their hands.
Sunny picks up a gun and points it at Hoyt. Buck tells her to shoot, but she changes her target at the last second and shoots Buck in the heart.
She is arrested immediately, but at this point, she knows her fate is to spend many years in jail. She felt she had to make him pay for killing her son, and for murdering so many other people along the way.
As she says, “Some bills you’ve just gotta pay yourself no matter what the cost.”
Meanwhile, Cassie and Buck and Sunny’s son, Carmac, track down the Barnes’ old cabin in the woods and eventually find Emily and Denise tied up in an old mine shaft. Emily is reunited with her dad, Sheriff Beau.
At the hospital, Walter is expected to survive and Carmac (who just recently learned of his brother) comes to visit him in a sweet reunion. Sunny asks Cassie to look after Walter and Carmac, whom she has begun a romantic relationship with.
In a very small update from last episode, Donno is alive and he asks Tanya about the kiss she gave him. He enjoyed it because clearly he is in love with her. She also reveals that they ended up with all the money everyone was fighting over all season.
Beau shows up at Jenny’s house and they have a beer. He reveals his ex-wife and Emily will be moving back to Houston, but he may not join them since he has demons there. He isn’t sure what his plans are bug he says the town “needs a sheriff.” He then thanks Jenny for everything and put his hand on her knee. She holds his hand and looks at him, continuing their season-long “will they, won’t they” dynamic.
No word on if Big Sky has been renewed for Season 4…yet!