TV review: Big Sky
TV wizard David E. Kelley has really been on a crime thriller roll.
As showrunner for recent hits such as Big Little Lies and The Undoing, he works his magic again with his latest Disney+ series Big Sky - albeit with less prestige and star power, and more humour.
The first curveball is that the arguably most famous cast member, Ryan Phillippe, is a mere cameo.
He and Kylie Bunbury play private detectives. They team up with his estranged ex-cop wife (Katheryn Winnick) to search for two teen sisters and a transgender sex worker who have been kidnapped by a long-haul trucker (Brian Geraghty) on a remote highway in Montana, and end up unearthing a human trafficking ring.
It has John Carroll Lynch as a shady state trooper who will send chills every time he is on screen, whether he is referencing the Covid-19 pandemic and Blue Lives Matter or being a sexist, racist sociopath.
Although there are gaps in the procedural and cliches and stereotypes abound, the soapy, fast-paced show is powered by strong female characters and suspenseful plot twists.
Big Sky is not up there with the greats, but there is certainly enough space in TV land for yet another watchable entry into the genre.
BIG SKY (NC16)
Score: 3/5
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