Back in January and February, I was looking forward to seeing The Big Sick. Then I spent March and April listening to people insist that 1) The Big Sick is the greatest comedy ever and 2) if you don’t see and love The Big Sick, then you’ll somehow be responsible for the end of the world. Nothing turns me off quicker than excessive and oppressive hype.
That said, I still hope the movie’s good because I will definitely be seeing it.
Much as how all of the early films in the MCU were leading to the creation of The Avengers, all of Netflix’s Marvel series have been leading up to the creation of The Defenders!
The time has come.
I assume that, while the Avengers are defeating big-budget threats, The Defenders will keep peace on Earth by fighting Sigourney Weaver and ninjas in hallways.
Oh, and Elektra’s back…
Today, Columbia finally released the first trailer for their adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower!
I love the idea of Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey playing rivals but, in all honesty, this trailer … well, I don’t know how I feel about this trailer. Watching it, I found myself flashing back to watching both Tomorrowland and Prisoners of the Lost Universe. (No, that’s not a good thing.) Columbia is advertising this with “In a world of superheroes, there is only one gunslinger” but, to be honest, this could just as easily be a trailer for the latest entry in either the MCU or the Superman Kills People saga.
That said, trailers are often the worst way to guess what a movie is going to be like and I still hope The Dark Tower is good!
(By the way, the comments section underneath the trailer on YouTube is really annoying. Yes, Roland’s black. Yes, the Man in Black is white. Get over it.)
“It was a dream! We live in a dream!”
— Phillip Jeffries (David Bowie) in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Even among fans of the show, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is controversial.
If you read Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks, you’ll discover that many members of the television show’s cast either didn’t want to be involved in the film or didn’t care much for it when it came out. Fearful of being typecast, Kyle MacLachlan only agreed to play Dale Cooper on the condition that his role be greatly reduced. (Was it that fear of being typecast as clean-cut Dale Cooper that led to MacLachlan later appearing in films like Showgirls?) Neither Lara Flynn Boyle nor Sherilyn Fenn could work the film into their schedules.
When Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me premiered at Cannes, it was reportedly booed by the same critics who previously applauded Lynch’s Wild at Heart and who, years later, would again applaud Mulholland Drive. When it was released in the United States, the film was savaged by critics and a notorious box office flop. Quentin Tarantino, previously a fan of Lynch’s, has been very outspoken about his hatred of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. When I first told people that we would be looking back at Twin Peaks for this site, quite a few replied with, “Even the movie?”
And yet, there are many people, like me, who consider Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me to be one of David Lynch’s most haunting films.
It’s also one of his most straight forward. Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is a prequel, dealing with the events leading up to the death of Laura Palmer. Going into the film, the viewer already knows that Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) is full of secrets. They know that she is using drugs. They know that she is dating Bobby (Dana Ashbrook), while secretly seeing James (James Marshall). They know about her diary and her relationship with the reclusive Harold (Lenny Von Dohlen). They know that she is a friend to innocent Donna Hayward (Moria Kelly, somewhat awkwardly taking the place of Lara Flynn Boyle). Even more importantly, they know that she has spent the last six years of her life being abused by BOB (Frank Silva) and that BOB is her father, Leland Palmer (Ray Wise). The viewer starts the story knowing how it is going to end.
Things do get off to a somewhat shaky start with a nearly 20-minute prologue that basically plays like a prequel to the prequel. Theresa Banks, who was mentioned in the show’s pilot, has been murdered and FBI director Gordon Cole (David Lynch) assigns agents Chester Desmond (Chris Isaak) and Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland) to investigate. Chester and Sam’s investigation basically amounts to a quick reenactment of the first season of Twin Peaks, with the agents discovering that Theresa was involved in drugs and prostitution. When Chester vanishes, Dale Cooper is sent to investigate. Harry Dean Stanton shows up as the manager of a trailer park and David Bowie has an odd cameo as a Southern-accented FBI agent who has just returned from the Black Lodge but otherwise, the start of the film almost feels like a satire of Lynch’s style.
But then, finally, we hear the familiar theme music and the “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign appears.
“And the angel’s wouldn’t help you. Because they’ve all gone away.”
— Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
A year has passed since Theresa Banks was murdered. The rest of the film deals with the final few days of the life of doomed homecoming queen Laura Palmer. Laura smiles in public but cries in private. She is full of secrets that she feels that she has to hide from a town that has literally idolized her. She has visions of terrifying men creeping through her life and each day, she doesn’t know whether it will be BOB or her father waiting for her at home. She knows that the world considers her to be beautiful but she also know that, within human nature, there is a desire to both conquer and destroy beauty. When she sleeps, she has disturbing dreams that she cannot understand but that she knows are important. At a time when everyone says she should be happy to alive, all she can think about is death. Everywhere she goes, the male gaze follows and everything that should be liberating just feels her leaving more trapped. For all the complaints that Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is somehow too strange to be understood, it’s not a strange film at all. This is David Lynch at his most straight forward. Anyone who thinks that Laura’s story is incomprehensible has never been a 17 year-old girl.
This is the bleakest of all of David Lynch’s films. There is none of broad humor or intentional camp that distinguished the TV show. After the show’s occasionally cartoonish second season, the film served as a trip into the heart of the darkness that was always beating right underneath the surface of Twin Peaks. It’s interesting how few of the show’s regulars actually show up in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. None of the characters who represented goodness are present. There’s no Doc Hayward. No Sheriff Truman. No Deputies Andy or Hawk. No Pete Martell. No Bookhouse Boys. Scenes were filmed for some of them but they didn’t make it into the final cut because their tone did not fit with the story that Lynch was seeking to tell. The Hornes, Dr. Jacoby, Josie, none of them are present either.
Instead, there’s just Larua and her father. As much as they try to deny it, Laura knows that she is going to die and Leland knows that he is going to kill her. Killer BOB and the denziens of the Black Lodge may be scary but what’s truly terrifying is the sight of a girl living in fear of her own father. Is Leland possessed by BOB or is BOB simply his way of excusing his own actions? If not for Leland’s sickness, would BOB even exist? When Laura shouts, “Who are you!?” at the spirit of BOB, she speaks for every victim of abuse who is still struggling to understand why it happened. For all the talk of the Black Lodge and all the surreal moments, the horror of this film is very much the horror of reality. Leland’s abuse of Laura is not terrifying because Leland is possessed by BOB. It’s terrifying because Leland is her father
David Lynch directs the film as if it where a living nightmare. This is especially evident in scenes like the one where, at the dinner table, Leland switches from being kindly to abusive while Laura recoils in fear and her mother (Grace Zabriskie) begs Leland to stop. It’s a hard scene to watch and yet, it’s a scene that is so brilliantly acted and directed that you can’t look away. As brilliant as Ray Wise and Grace Zabriskie are, it’s Sheryl Lee who (rightly) dominates the scene and the rest of the film, giving a bravely vulnerable and emotionally raw performance. In Reflections, Sheryl Lee speaks candidly about the difficulty of letting go of Laura after filming had been completed. She became Laura and gave a performance that anchors this absolutely terrifying film.
“Mr. Lynch’s taste for brain-dead grotesque has lost its novelty.”
— Janet Maslin
“It’s not the worst movie ever made; it just seems to be”
— Vincent Canby
If you need proof that critics routinely don’t know what they’re talking about, just go read some of the original reviews of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
And yet, having just rewatched the show and now the movie, I can understand why critics and audiences were baffled by this film. This is not Twin Peaks the TV show. There is no light to be found here. There is no comic relief. (Even Bobby Briggs, who had become something of a goofy anti-hero by the time the series ended, is seen here shooting a man in the head.) There is no exit and there is no hope. In the end, the film’s only comfort comes from knowing that Laura was able to save one person before dying. It’s not easy to watch but, at the same time, it’s almost impossible to look away. The film ends on Laura’s spirit smiling and, for the first time, the smile feels real. Even if she’s now trapped in the Black Lodge, she’s still free from her father.
Since this was a prequel, it didn’t offer up any answers to the questions that were left up in the air by the show’s 2nd season finale. Fortunately, those questions will be answered (or, then again, they may not be) when the third season premieres on Showtime on May 21st.
Previous Entries in The TSL’s Look At Twin Peaks:
Last night, I finally saw the latest Werner Herzog film to be released in the United States, Queen of the Desert.
Queen of the Desert has actually been around … well, I was going to say forever but actually, I first started to hear about it in 2014. It premiered (to less-than-enthusiastic reviews) at the Berlin International Film Festival in February of 2015 and was released in Germany later that same year. Originally, it was going to get a wide release in America but then IFC acquired the distribution rights and ended up sitting on it for two years. (During that time, Herzog went on to direct another film, Salt and Fire.) Only last month did Queen of the Desert finally get a very limited theatrical and VOD release here in the United States.
Despite all of the bad things that I had heard, I was still looking forward to seeing Queen of the Desert. Why not? Werner Herzog is one of my favorite directors. The star of Queen of the Desert, Nicole Kidman, is one of my favorite actresses. Of course, there was also the Franco factor. I knew that Queen of the Desert featured James Franco in a small role and, if you’ve been reading this site for a while, y’all know how I feel about James Franco.
Having now watched it, I can say that Queen of the Desert is not the disaster that so many have been insisting. That doesn’t mean that it’s a great film or even a good film. It’s a very middle-of-the-road film, one that is too well-made to really be a disaster but, at the same time, is never as memorable as it should be.
Queen of the Desert tells the story of Gertrude Bell (Nicole Kidman), who abandoned a safely comfortable but restrictive life in turn-of-the-century Britain so that she could explore the world. In the film, Gertrude falls in love twice and, following the unhappy (and tragic) conclusions of those affairs, she always returns to the Middle East, where surviving the harshness of the desert and exploring the ruins of past civilizations brings her peace and gives her life a greater meaning.
That’s a theme that should be familiar to anyone who has watched any of Herzog’s documentaries or feature films. The problem is that, as told in this film, there’s no real spark to the story or to Gertrude as a character. Herzog’s best work has often dealt with people driven to the point of madness by their obsessions. Think about Nicolas Cage in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Think about Timothy Treadwell, obsessively living with the grizzlies until one them ate him in Grizzly Man. Consider the introverted eccentrics who explored The Cave of Forgotten Dreams or even Christian Bale’s refusal to allow himself to be broken in the POW film, Rescue Dawn. Think about Klaus Kinski in just about every film he ever made with Herzog. For that matter, just think about Werner Herzog himself is Les Blank’s documentary, The Burden of Dreams. Nicole Kidman would seem like an ideal choice for Gertrude and she does a good job with the role but, as written, Gertrude never has that touch of madness. Unlike Aguirre, she’s not looking to conquer nature. Unlike Fitzcarraldo, she’s not trying to bring “civilization” to the isolated spot in the world. Unlike Timothy Treadwell, she’s not even trying to literally become one with nature. Instead, she’s just someone who deals with heartache by going on a trip. I do that every time I spend the weekend up at Lake Texoma.
(The real-life Gertrude Bell died, under somewhat mysterious circumstances, of an overdose of sleeping pills. Whether it was suicide or an accidental overdose is not known. In the film, the circumstances of her death — which seem very Herzogian, to be honest — are glossed over by an end title card that simply informs us that she died in 1926.)
As I said earlier, Queen of the Desert is disappointing but it’s not terrible. Visually, it’s quite stunning and the scenes of the sand blowing in the desert are often a hundred times more interesting than the film’s storyline. Whenever Herzog is letting his camera focus on the desert or glide over the ruins of an ancient palace, you can understand why Herzog wanted to make this film. But, unfortunately, the film keeps returning to a story that’s about as middling as an old soap opera.
Nicole Kidman does a good job as Gertrude but she runs into the same problem that she ran into with Grace of Monaco. She’s stuck with a script that repeatedly tells us that the lead character is fascinating without ever really giving her a chance to prove it. (Before I get any angry comments, I know that Grace Kelly was fascinating and I’m sure that Gertrude Bell was too. I’m merely talking about the way that they were portrayed in their biopics.) As the men in her life, James Franco and Robert Pattinson are both ideal but Damian Lewis is a bit on the dull side.
All in all, this is not one of Werner Herzog’s best but, with all that said, I’ll still follow him anywhere that he chooses to go.
On top of everything else, today is Law Day!
Now, I know that Law Day sounds like a made up holiday but, believe it or not, it is very much real. Dwight Eisenhower proclaimed the first Law Day on May 1st, 1958 and it has been observed every year since. In fact, Congress even made it one of those official holidays that no one has ever heard of.
36 U.S.C. § 113 states, in part:
(And since anyone can put anything they want on Wikipedia, you know it’s true! That said, I have actually been to a few Law Day luncheons and they are just as much fun as you would think they are.)
So, with all that in mind, enjoy the special Law Day AMV of the Day!
Anime: Ace Attorney
Song: Everybody Wants To Rule The World, performed by Lorde
Creator: purplemonkeypants AJ
Past AMVs of the Day
“How’s Annie?”
— Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in Twin Peaks 2.22 “Beyond Life and Death”
“The Log Lady stole my truck!”
— Pete Martell (Jack Nance), same episode
“Some of your friends are here.”
— The Man From Another Place (Michael Anderson), same episode
“I’ll see you again in 25 years.”
— Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), same episode
Here we are.
Starting exactly one month ago, we started our Twin Peaks recaps. I handled some, Leonard handled some, and Jeff handled some. Gary added a post on David Lynch’s first three short films. Val shared music videos that were either inspired by Lynch or directed by Lynch himself. Jeff devoted his Movie a Day posts to reviewing films that all had a Twin Peaks connection. As Leonard put it on twitter, projects are fun and I know we certainly had a lot of fun putting all of this together.
But, all good things must come to an end and, at least until the third season premieres on Showtime later this month, we have reached the end of Twin Peaks. Episode 30 brought the story to a temporary end. (The movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, was a prequel about the last days of Laura Palmer. It’s a haunting film and one that we’ll look at tomorrow but, at the same time, it doesn’t offer up any answers to any of the questions that the finale left hanging.)
A little history: Twin Peaks was a huge success during its first season but, during the second season, ratings plunged. According to the book, Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks by Brad Dukes, neither David Lynch nor Mark Frost were as involved during the second season as they had been during the first. As compared to the genuinely unsettling first season, the second season struggled to find its voice. Was it a mystery? Was it a broad comedy? Was it a show about the paranormal or was it a soap opera? It was all of that and, for many people, that was too much. Today, of course, audiences are used to quirkiness. They’re used to shows that straddle several different genres. It’s no longer a revolutionary idea to be openly meta.
But in 1991, Twin Peaks was the show that ABC both didn’t know what to do with and, by the end, didn’t really want. It was regularly moved around the schedule and, often, weeks would pass without a new episode. Consider this: nearly two months passed between the airing of The Path to the Black Lodge and the final two episodes of the show. (Miss Twin Peaks and Beyond Life and Death were both aired on June 10th, 1991.)
For the final episode, David Lynch returned to direct and, though hardly anyone saw it when it originally aired, it’s an episode that left such an impression that — 25 years later — Showtime agree to bring the series back. The third season of Twin Peaks will premiere later this month but until then, let’s go ahead and recap Beyond Life and Death.
One last time, we open with Angelo Badalamenti’s beautiful theme music and those haunting shots of Twin Peaks.
We start at the sheriff’s station, with Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) and Andy (Harry Goaz) having a moment. Lucy talks about how scared she was when the lights went out and then says she found herself wondering what would happen if they were stuck in an elevator in the hospital and she went into labor. Andy replies that, if that happened, he would deliver the baby “in front of God and everyone.” Awwwww!
In Harry’s office, Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Hawk (Michael Horse) stare at the cave drawing while Harry (Michael Ontkean) says that he has deputies in three counties looking for Windom Earle. Windom appears to have vanished. Cooper replies that the only hope they have of finding Windom and Annie is in the map.
“Fire walk with me,” Cooper says, softly, “Fire walk with me.”
Pete (Jack Nance) steps into the office and announces that the Log Lady stole his truck. I love the way that Jack Nance delivers the line, “The Log Lady stole my truck!” (Sadly, Nance was murdered just a few years after the end of Twin Peaks.) Pete says that, when last seen, the Log Lady was driving into Ghostwood Forest.
“Pete,” Cooper announces, “the Log Lady did not steal your truck. The Log Lady will be here in one minute.”
“12 rainbow trouts in the bed,” Pete says.
This triggers Harry’s memory. He announces that there is a circle of 12 sycamores in Ghostwood Forest. It’s called Glastonbury Grove. Hawk says that Glastonbury Grove is where he found the pages from Laura’s diary. Cooper suddenly says, “That’s the legendary burial place of King Arthur! Glastonbury!”
“King Arthur is buried in England,” Pete says, dismissively, “Last I heard anyway.”
Right on time, The Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson) shows up at the office.
“Where’s my truck?” Pete demands.
“Pete, Windom Earle stole your truck,” Cooper says.
Pete looks very confused. Jack Nance really acted the Hell out of this scene. (Interestingly enough, Catherine Coulson was, in real life, Nance’s ex-wife.)
The Log Lady ignores Pete. She has a jar of oil that she hands to Cooper. The Log Lady says that her husband claimed that the oil was the opening to a gateway. Everyone agrees that it smells like scorched engine oil. Cooper has Hawk bring in Ronette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine), who says that she smelled the oil the night that she was attacked and Laura Palmer was killed.
Out in the woods, a pickup truck comes to a stop in front of Glastonbury Grove. Inside the truck, Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) forces Annie (Heather Graham) to look at the 12 rainbow trout in back. Annie tells Windom that, if he’s going to kill her, to go ahead and get it over with. Windom says that there is plenty of time for that but, right now, he is enjoying the fear that he is feeling.
(After being portrayed in far too cartoonish a manner over the past few episodes, Windom is finally menacing again. For that matter, this is the first — and, as fate would have it, the only — episode where Heather Graham seems to be truly committed to her role as Annie. This episode directly challenges anyone who thinks that David Lynch is merely a visual artist who can’t direct actors.)
As Annie recites Psalm 141, Windom drags her through the woods. Windom shoves her into the the middle of the grove.
“I tell you, they have not died,” Windom recites, “Their hands clasp, yours and mine.”
Suddenly, in the middle of the woods, the red curtains appears. Windom leads the now zombified Annie through them.
At the Hurley House, Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) is looking over the heavily bandaged Mike (Gary Hershberger) and Nadine (Wendy Robie). Meanwhile, Ed (Everett McGill) is cheerfully talking to Norma (Peggy Lipton) by the fire place. (I like the fact that, with everything that’s going on, Ed and Norma are just happy to be together.) Just as Ed and Norma start to dance, Nadine suddenly gets her memory back and starts to shout about silent drape runners. Nadine demands that Ed make everyone go away.
At the Hayward house, Eileen (Mary Jo Deschanel) sits in her wheelchair and stares at Ben Horne (Richard Beymer). Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) comes walking down the stairs, carrying a suitcase. Eileen begs Donna not to leave but Donna starts screaming about not knowing who her parents are. Ben steps forward and apologizes. He says he only wanted to do good. He wanted to be good. He says that it felt good to finally tell the truth.
Doc Hayward arrives home and is not happy to see Ben. Ben is begging for forgiveness when, suddenly, his own wife (Jan D’Arcy) comes walking through the front door. She demands to know what Ben is trying to do to their family.
Donna looks at Doc Hayward and starts to chant, “You’re my Daddy! You’re my Daddy!” Eileen looks away, which is a polite way of saying, “No, Ben’s your Daddy and you’ve got a half-sister that everyone likes more than you.”
Ben tries to apologize again and, after 29 episodes of never losing his temper, Doc Hayward finally snaps and punches Ben. Ben falls back and hits the back of his head on the fireplace! Oh my God! Is Ben dead!? Is Doc Hayward now evil!?
(I know the answer but I’m not going to tell you until the end of this review.)
At the Martell House, Andrew (Dan O’Herlihy) is all excited because he’s figured out that the key is the key to a safety deposit box. He steals the key from the pie plate and replaces it with a duplicate. However, Pete steps into the room just in time to see Andrew doing it.
In the woods, Cooper and Harry come across the abandoned truck. They walk into the forest but Cooper suddenly announces that he must go alone. Cooper takes Harry’s flashlight and walks through the forest. Eventually, he hears the hooting of an owl and comes across Glastonbury Grove. Cooper steps into the circle and the red curtains appear. As Harry watches from a distance, Cooper steps though the curtains.
(Though it may just be coincidence, the red curtains always make me think about the opening of Dario Argento’s Deep Red.)
Cooper finds himself in the red curtained hallways. He walks until he reaches the room from his dreams. As the lights stobe, the Man From Another Place (Michael Anderson) dances while a lounge singer (Jimmy Scott) sings about Sycamore Trees. The Man From Another Place eventually hopes into a velvet chair. It’s deeply unsettling to watch because we know that, behind one of those curtains, BOB is lurking.
In the forest, Andy finds Harry. They sit outside of Glastonbury Grove and wait for Cooper to return.
Morning comes. We get a few final shots of the countryside around Twin Peaks. The mountains. The bridge where, 29 episodes ago, Ronette Pulaski was discovered battered and nearly catatonic. The forest. The countryside was beautiful when we first saw it but, after spending 31 hours in the world of Twin Peaks, it is now impossible to look at that wilderness without wondering what secrets are being concealed beneath the tranquil surface.
Harry and Andy are still sitting outside of Glastonbury and there is something truly touching about the sight of these two friends loyally waiting for their third friend to return. Andy volunteers to go to diner to get them breakfast. Harry says, “Yes.” Andy lists off all of the usual Twin Peaks food. Coffee. Pancakes. Desert. “Yeah,” Harry replies. When Andy finally asks if Harry wants pie, Harry falls silent. How can anyone eat pie with Cooper missing?
Meanwhile, at the bank — OH MY GOD! YOU MEAN WE’RE NOT GOING TO THE BLACK LODGE TO FIND OUT WHAT’S GOING ON WITH COOPER YET!? — an old lady sleeps at the new accounts desk. (It’s a very Lynchian image, to be honest.)
Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) comes in and says hello the elderly bank president, Mr. Mibbler (Ed Wright). Mibbler is really happy to see Audrey, even after she explains that she is going to be chaining herself to the vault as a part of her environmental protest. For whatever reason, almost all of David Lynch’s film features at least one elderly character who moves slowly and is utterly clueless about the world around them. Mr. Mibbler is certainly a part of that tradition.
(Speaking for myself, I like the way that the scene in the bank is shot and acted but it still frustrates me that, during the 2nd season, Twin Peaks could never quite figure out what to do with Audrey. When Kyle MacLachlan vetoed any romance between Cooper and Audrey, it pretty much destroyed Audrey’s storyline. To make us believe that Cooper and Audrey could actually fall in love with other people, the writers kept Cooper and Audrey from interacting and, as a result, it often seemed that Audrey was trapped in another, rather less interesting show. While Cooper investigated the Black Lodge and Windom Earle, Audrey was stuck playing Civil War with her father and improbably falling in love with John Justice Wheeler. Even in the finale, Audrey mostly serves as a distraction from the show’s main storyline. The character deserved better.)
Andrew and Pete show up at the bank. Mibbler is shocked to see that Andrew is still alive but Andrew is more concerned with opening up that deposit box. It takes Mibbler a while to find the box but when he does, he promptly opens it. What’s inside the box? Well, there’s a note from Thomas that read, “Finally got you, Andrew. Love, Thomas.” And there’s a bomb, which promptly explodes.
Oh my God, is Audrey dead!? Well, the episode never reveals who died or survived in the bank. However, having looked through the recently published The Secret History of Twin Peaks, I know the answer and I will reveal it at the end of this review.
At the Double R, Major Briggs (Don S. Davis) and Betty (Charlotte Stewart) are sharing a booth and, as opposed to the way they were portrayed all through the first season, they appear to be very much (and very playfully) in love.
At the counter, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) watches his parents making out and then turns to Shelly (Madchen Amick.) He asks her to marry him. Shelly mentions that she’s still married to Leo and then she and Bobby start going, “Arf! Arf! Arf!,” which is a strangely cheerful callback to the way that Bobby and Mike taunted James Hurley at the end of the pilot. Bobby says that Leo is up in the woods, having the time of his life. A jump cut quickly reminds us that Leo is actually up in the woods trying to keep a bunch of tarantulas from falling down on his head.
Suddenly, Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) and Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) step into the diner. They walk right over to Maj. Briggs. Dr. Jacoby says that Sarah has a message for him, one that she felt was very important. Speaking in the distorted voice of Windom Earle, Sarah says, “I am in the Black Lodge with Dale Cooper. I’m waiting for you.”
And here is where the finale basically goes insane. Seen today, the final 20 minutes of this episode remain genuinely unsettling and often rather frightening. I can only imagine how audiences reacted in 1991. I did a little research (which is a fancy way of saying that I looked on Wikipedia) and, believe it or not, the top-rated television show in 1991 was 60 Minutes. Needless to say, the finale of Twin Peaks was about as far from 60 Minutes as you could get.
In the Black Lodge, Cooper still sits in the room with red curtains. The Man From Another Place tells him, “When you see me again, it won’t be me.” The Man From Another Place explains that the room with red curtain is a waiting room. (Purgatory, perhaps?)
“Some of your friends are here,” The Man From Another Place continues.
Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), dressed in black, walks in and sits down beside The Man From Another Place. “Hello Agent Cooper,” she says, speaking backwards. “I’ll see you again in 25 years. Meanwhile.” Laura vanishes.
(The 25 years explains why, way back in the third episode, Cooper appeared to be a much older man in his dream. It’s also interesting to note that, later this month, the 3rd season of Twin Peaks will air roughly 25 years after the 2nd season ended.)
Suddenly, the room service waiter (Hank Worden) appears with a cup of coffee. “Hallelujah,” he says. “Hallelujah,” the Man from Another Place agrees.
The waiter places on a table next to Cooper. Suddenly, the waiter is gone and the Giant (Carel Struycken) stands in his place. The Giant sits down next to The Man From Another Place.
“One and the same,” he says.
(Even though I know what’s going to happen, watching this scene still makes me nervous. The Giant, the Waiter, and The Man From Another Place are the only friends that Cooper has in the Black Lodge. Once the Giant leaves, who will be the next to come out?)
The Giant vanishes. The Man From Another Place rubs his hands together and gets a sinister little smile on his face. As he has done so many times since the series began, Cooper attempts to drink his coffee but discovers that it is now frozen solid. Suddenly, it’s not frozen and it pours out of the cup. Then, just as suddenly, it’s thick and only slowly dribbles out when Cooper tips the cup.
“Wow, BOB, wow,” the Man From Another Place says. He looks directly at the camera and says, his voice now much more rougher, “Fire walk with me.”
It’s an incredibly unsettling moment in an already unsettling episode. By this point, we all know what “Fire walk with me” means.
There’s an explosion. A woman (Laura or Annie?) screams. The lights start to strobe. Cooper walks out of the room and finds himself, once again, in the hallway. Having heard the scream and knowing what BOB did to Ronette, Laura, Maddy, and countless others, it is a coincidence that the only decoration in the hallway is a reproduction of the Venus de Milo, a beautiful woman who does not have the arms necessary to protect herself? As well, it is surely not a coincidence that the Black Lodge could just as easily pass for an “exclusive” section of One-Eyed Jack’s.
Cooper steps through another set of curtains and finds himself in a second room, one that looks just like the first room except that it’s deserted.
Cooper returns to the first room where The Man From Another Place snaps, “Wrong way!”
Cooper goes back to the second room. At first, it appears to be deserted but suddenly The Man From Another Place appears, laughing maniacally. “Another friend!” he says and suddenly, Maddy Ferguson (Sheryl Lee), dressed in black much like Laura, steps into the room. “Watch out for my cousin,” she says and then vanishes.
Cooper returns to the first room, which is now deserted.
Suddenly, the Man From Another Place appears beside him.
“Doppleganger,” the Man says.
Laura, her eyes white, suddenly stands in front of Cooper. “Meanwhile,” she says.
Suddenly, Laura screams and the lights start to strobe again. Still screaming, Laura charges at Cooper. Cooper runs from the room and suddenly, finds himself in the Black Lodge’s foyer. He realizes that, like all of Windom Earle’s victims, he has been stabbed in the stomach. Cooper staggers back into the hallway and, following a trail of bloody footprints, he returns to the second room.
In the room, he sees himself lying on the floor next to Caroline Earle (Brenda E. Mathers). Like Cooper, Caroline has been stabbed. Suddenly, Caroline sits up and … IT’S ANNIE! Cooper calls out her name but suddenly, the bodies disappear and the strobe lights start again.
Calling Annie’s name, Cooper returns to the first room. Annie is waiting for him. “Dale,” she says, “I saw the face of the man who killed me. It was my husband.”
“Annie,” Dale says.
“Who is Annie?”
Suddenly, Annie is a white-eyed Caroline and then she transforms into the still shrieking Laura. Laura turns into Windom Earle. As Cooper and Windom stare at each other, Annie materializes and then vanishes again. Windom says that he will set Annie free but only if Cooper gives up his soul.
“I will,” Cooper says and, for the first time, Cooper’s voice is now as distorted as all the other inhabitants of the Black Lodge.
Windom stabs Cooper in the stomach and suddenly, there’s another explosion. The strobe lights start again and Windom is screaming for help. Cooper, no longer wounded, sees that BOB (Frank Silva) has grabbed Windom. Windom screams and BOB snaps, “BE QUIET!”
(As scary as BOB is, it’s undeniably satisfying to see Windom Earle finally not in control.)
BOB tells Cooper to go. Windom, BOB explains, is wrong. “He can’t ask for your soul. I will take his!”
Windom screams as BOB literally rips his soul out of his head. Finally, Windom falls silent. As BOB continues to laugh, Cooper runs from the room. Suddenly, someone else comes running through the room and — OH NO! IT’S A DOPPELGANGER COOPER AND WOW, IS HE ACTING WEIRD!
Cooper walks through the hallway when suddenly, Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) steps out from behind a curtain. His hair is brown again but his eyes are now white. Leland smiles and says, “I did not kill anybody.”
Doppelganger Cooper appears and chases after the real Cooper. They run through the Black Lodge until Doppelganger Cooper manages to grab the real Cooper.
BOB appears and stares straight at the camera. AGCK!
Suddenly, at Glastonbury Grove, the curtains appear. Night has fallen again but Harry is still loyally sitting in the forest, waiting for Cooper’s return. When he sees the curtains, Harry runs into the circle of trees and finds the bodies of both Cooper and Annie.
Cut to the Great Northern. Cooper wakes up in bed, with Doc Hayward and Harry sitting beside him. Speaking in an oddly mechanical tone of voice, Cooper first says that he wasn’t sleeping and then asks, “How’s Annie?” Harry says that Annie is at the hospital and she’ll be okay.
“I need to brush my teeth,” Cooper says.
In the bathroom, Cooper squeezes an entire tube of toothpaste into the sink. He then rams his head into the mirror and, as the reflection of BOB stares back at him, he starts to laugh. “How’s Annie?” he mocking repeats. “How’s Annie?”
AGCK!
And, with that deeply unsettling turn of events, Twin Peaks came to a temporary end. This brilliantly directed episode ended with three cliffhangers. What happened to Ben? Who died at the bank? What happened to Dale Cooper?
I promised you answers to some of those question so, according to The Secret History of Twin Peaks, here they are:
Ben survived his injury.
At the bank, the bomb killed Mr. Dibbler, Andrew, and Pete. (Perhaps not coincidentally, both Dan O’Herlihy and Jack Nance died long before Showtime announced that it was reviving the show.) Audrey survived, largely because Pete shielded her with his body. Shaken by the violent death of both her brother and her husband, Catherine returned to Ben everything that he had signed over to her. Catherine became a recluse.
As for what happened to Dale — well, that’s question that we will hopefully get an answer to when Twin Peaks returns to Showtime on May 21st!
Well, that concludes our Twin Peaks recaps! Thank you everyone for reading and thank you, Jeff and Leonard, for going on this adventure with me!
Now, how about we all get some coffee and slice of cherry pie?
(Love ya,)
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Hi there!
Well, it’s May 1st! Not only is it International Worker’s Day but, here in the United States, it is also Loyalty Day!
What are you supposed to do on Loyalty Day? To be honest, I’m not really sure. I actually didn’t even know there was such a thing as Loyalty Day until about two years ago. I guess I’ll spend this Loyalty Day as I spent previous Loyalty Days, ironically commenting on the fact that it’s Loyalty Day.
So, with all that in mind, here’s a rather odd blast from the past (1948, to be exact) called Make Mine Freedom. It’s a cartoon about why America rules and the rest of the world sucks. Woo hoo! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition! USA! USA! USA!
As for the cartoon itself, it’s charmingly odd and will be best enjoyed by people who have a sense of humor about their ideology. (Good luck finding anyone like that in 2017. Those of us who think that both the left and the right are worthy of ridicule are becoming an endangered species.) This cartoon was produced by Arkansas’s Harding College and, online, there seems to be some debate over who actually directed it. Some sources claim that this was one of the first projects on which Joseph Barbera and William Hanna ever worked. Others insist that this film should be properly credited to either Fritz Freling or Fred Moore.
Well, whoever directed it, did a good job of exposing that mean old Dr. Utopia…
Enjoy Make Mine Freedom and happy May Day!
Last night, as thunder rumbled outside and the skies were lit up by lighting, I curled up on the couch and I watched the latest Lifetime original film, Manny Dearest!
Why Was I Watching It?
A Canadian film called Manny Dearest? As soon as I saw the title, I assumed that it had to be a sequel to Degrassi: The Next Generation, one that would follow Manny Santos as she searched for love and success in Hollywood.
(Before you say that was a silly assumption on my part, just consider the number of Degrassi actors who regularly appear on the Lifetime network.)
Anyway, it turned out that I was wrong but I was already live-tweeting the movie so I kept watching.
What Was It About?
Karen (Ashely Scott) needs someone to help watch her two sons. Alex (Mitch Ryan) is a male nanny, otherwise known as a manny. Now, if this was a Hallmark film, Karen and Alex would fall in love and Alex would end up dumping her fiancée, a recovering alcoholic named Greg (Woody Jeffreys). But, since this is a Lifetime film, Alex turns out to be just a little crazy. Not only does he become obsessed with Karen and plot to get Greg out of the picture but he also teaches Karen’s sons some questionable lessons about how to deal with bullies.
What Worked?
This was actually one of the better Lifetime films that I’ve seen this year. Yes, it was obvious that Alex was going to turn out to be crazy but that’s Lifetime. When you sit down to watch a Lifetime movie, you know that the nanny is always going to turn out to be crazy. It would have been a betrayal of the audience to not have Alex turn out to be just a little insane.
Mitch Ryan did an excellent job playing Alex. Even though he was crazy and a murderer and he regularly drugged other people, Alex was still strangely likable. Last night, the majority of twitter was Team Alex. We especially enjoyed it when he scared the Hell out of a bully who was giving Karen’s son a hard time. Take that, bully! Add to that, Alex cooked, he did the dishes, he cleaned the house, and, whenever he showed up at the house at 3 in the morning, he was very careful about not waking anyone up.
My favorite character was Cori (Jordan Largy), a single mother who took one look at Alex and decided that she liked what she saw. The thing I liked about Cori is that she always said exactly what was on her mind and she didn’t let anything hold her back. Cori was the type of person who, when she brought her daughters over to play with Karen’s sons, greeted Alex by saying, “We thought we’d come by for a quickie.”
At this point, it’s a bit of a cliché for me to praise a Lifetime film for taking place in a nice house but, seriously, Karen had a really nice house.
What Did Not Work?
I guess some people would say that it was a problem that the villain was a hundred times more likable than the people he was menacing but not me. This is was a fun and entertaining Lifetime movie. As far as I’m concerned, it all worked.
“Oh my God! Just like me!” Moments
At one point, when Alex tells Cori that he’s not interested, Cori responds with, “Your loss.” I once said the same thing while breaking up with someone and I felt good about myself for a whole month afterward.
Lessons Learned
I like to think that, between watching Degrassi and Lifetime films like this one, I’ve learned a good deal about Canada. For me, the most Canadian moment of Manny Dearest came when the police approached Alex and, despite having guns, did not open fire on him. Restraint, it’s very Canadian.
Love you, Canada!
“Butterfingers!”
— Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) in Twin Peaks 2. 19 “Variations on Relations”
“Tastes kind of woody.”
— Lucy Moran (Kimmy Robertson), same episode
Well, everyone, we’re coming towards the end.
There’s only a few more episodes to go and then Leonard, Jeff, and I will be finished with our look back at Twin Peaks. Have you been enjoying it? I hope so! And, before you feel too sad about the end of our look back, remember that, on May 21st, a new season of Twin Peaks will premiere on Showtime! Who knows? Maybe we’ll even review it on this site.
Today’s episode is the 19th of season 2. It was the first episode, since Arbitrary Law, to be written by the show’s co-creator, Mark Frost. It was directed by Jonathan Sanger, who in 1980 produced a film called The Elephant Man. The Elephant Man was, of course, directed by David Lynch. It was Lynch’s first mainstream success and it’s totally reasonable to say that, if not for The Elephant Man, Lynch would probably never had a chance to put a show on American television.
We start with the opening credits. Knowing that the show is nearly over and that this latest review series is about to come an end, Angelo Badalamenti’s opening theme music sounds even more ominous than usual. Both Joan Chen and James Marshall are still listed in the opening credits, despite no longer being on the show. Not listed: Heather Graham, Billy Zane, or Kenneth Welsh, despite the fact that the last few episodes have revolved around them.
Harry (Michael Ontkean), Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), Andy (Harry Goaz), and Hawk (Michael Horse) return to the Owl Cave and discover that someone has already turned the lever and caused the cave to collapse. “Someone’s been here already,” Cooper says, “they did our work for us.” Because Hawk can basically do anything, he notices a footprint and immediately recognizes it as being the same footprint that was found outside the power station.
“Windom Earle,” Cooper says.
“What would Windom Earle be doing here?” Harry asks.
Hey, here’s a better question — why did they leave the Owl Cave unguarded? Why didn’t they try to turn the lever themselves? Why didn’t they at least try to replace the part of the wall that fell off so that the lever wouldn’t just be out there in the open? I realize that Cooper is supposed to be silly in love with Annie right now but this is still a mistake that he wouldn’t have made during the first season.
(One of the more annoying things about the latter half of the second season is that the characters are much more inconsistent. Cooper’s level of competence changes from scene to scene.)
Cooper orders Andy to copy the drawing on the cave wall. (To me, the drawing looks a lot like the mountains around Twin Peaks.)
We fade to Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) taking about how there was once a place of goodness called The White Lodge. As Windom speaks, he smokes a pipe and, not for the first time, I find myself wondering if maybe Windom’s actually a hobbit. Windom explains that the White Lodge was a ghastly place and then, literally, says “Heh heh.” I know Windom’s supposed to be some sort of supergenius villain but he’s no Killer BOB.
Leo (Eric Da Re) listens as Windom explains that there was also a Black Lodge and the Black Lodge was a place of pure evil. Windom intends to find it. As the camera pans across the cabin, we see that Leo and Windom have a visitor. We’ll call him Heavy Metal Stoner Dude (HMSD for short) and he’s played by Sam Raimi’s brother, Ted. HMSD says the story’s cool but he was promised beer and a party.
“In time, young man,” Windom says, “Everything in time.”
Then, Windom starts to play that damn flute of his again.
At the Martell house, Pete (Jack Nance) is staring at a chess board and talking (to himself) about how much he loved Josie. He even recites a poem or two. Catherine (Piper Laurie) comes in the room and tells him to stop feeling sorry for himself. Catherine wants to open the box that Eckhardt left behind but, as Pete quickly notices, there’s no keyhole. It’s a puzzle box! Pete tells a long anecdote about going on a date with two twins in Guam and then says that it could take years to open up the box.
At the Double R Diner, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) tells Shelly (Madchen Amick) that he’s figured out the secret of success. “Beautiful people get whatever they want,” Bobby says. (It’s true. We do.) “When was the last time you saw a hot blonde go to the electric chair?” Bobby asks. (Again, Bobby is correct but he’s Bobby so we won’t give him too much credit.) Bobby has decided that Shelly needs to enter the Miss Twin Peaks Contest. When Shelly tells Bobby that he’s being ridiculous, Bobby grabs her wrist and says, “Bobby’s in charge!”
Meanwhile, the Mayor (John Boylan) and Lana (Robyn Lively) sit in a booth, letting us know that, despite being with the town’s lethal sex goddess, the Mayor hasn’t had a heart attack yet. Lana says that she wants to be Miss Twin Peaks. I just remembered that Robyn Lively starred in Teen Witch. Top that!
Cooper comes in and, of course, immediately goes to the counter and tells Annie (Heather Graham) that he needs doughnuts and coffee. Cooper also asks Annie to accompany him on a nature study. Cooper says he gets a tingling sensation when he talks to Annie. “Interesting,” Annie says.
Considering that I happen to like both Heather Graham and Kyle MacLachlan, I never thought I would say this but Cooper and Annie have got to be the most annoying couple ever. First off, MacLachlan — whose performance is usually perfect — goes overboard with Cooper’s awkward shyness. It’s as if the show is so desperate to convince us that he and Audrey actually don’t belong together that Cooper is now being written like an idiot in an effort to make us go, “So that’s what true love looks like! People in love don’t have chemistry or intelligent conversations like Cooper and Audrey did! Instead, they get a blank look in their eyes, grin an empty grin, and talk about nature studies!”
As for Annie, it’s obvious that she was a hastily created character. Much as Cooper’s competence changes from scene to scene, the same can be said of Annie’s innocence. Yesterday, Jeff compared Annie to an Amish girl on rumspringa and I think that’s the perfect way to put it. She didn’t spend the last few years on Mars, after all. She was just in a convent.
Anyway, back to the show:
As Cooper pays for the doughnuts, Shelly recites the poem that was left for her by Windom Earle. Cooper recognizes the poem and says that he needs to see it immediately. Shelly hands over the poem and Cooper leaves but not before promising to pick Annie up at 4:00 sharp.
At the station, Harry reads over the poem and Cooper explains that Audrey, Donna, and Shelly have all been contacted and presumably targeted by Windom Earle. Cooper also explains that he once sent the same poem to Caroline. If Windom’s goal is to hurt Cooper, I can understand targeting Audrey but why Donna and Shelly? Neither one of them has really had anything to do with Cooper.
In the Conference Room, Maj. Briggs (Don S. Davis) watches as Andy draws the cave symbol on the chalk board. The Major correct Andy’s drawing as Cooper steps into the room. Cooper says that he needs the Major’s help but that he can’t tell him how or why.
“Go on,” Major Briggs nods.
(It’s interesting how Briggs has gone from being Bobby’s abusive, ultra-strict father to being some sort of seer. I like the change, though. Don S. Davis, who died just recently, was far too good an actor to be wasted as just another abusive father figure. His simple but firm delivery of “Go on,” is a masterclass in great acting.)
Cooper explains that the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department is investigating three separate cases: the disappearance of Leo Johnson, the appearance of Windom Earle, and the drawings found in Owl Cave. (Why would the sheriff’s department investigate cave drawings? Isn’t that a job for Werner Herzog?) Cooper says that logic would say the three are unrelated but he disagrees. Cooper calls them three notes in one big song.
“What can I do to help?” Briggs asks, wonderfully nonplussed.
Cooper says that he needs to know exactly what Windom Earle was doing with Project Blue Book. Briggs explains that, after his disappearance, his security clearance was revoked. He also says that there are certain moral values that must be taken into consideration.
“Yes, sir,” Cooper says, “I understand.”
Briggs asks if this information will help to save lives. Cooper says that it will. Briggs than asks if the drawing is a copy of what was found in Owl Cave. Briggs explains that he once saw the same thing in a dream. Briefly, a monk-like figure wanders across the screen, followed by an owl flying through outer space.
Back in reality, Maj. Briggs says, “I will do what you ask.”
Hawk enters with Leo’s arrest report. Cooper looks over Leo’s confession and then announces that the poem was transcribed by Leo Johnson.
Menawhile, at the Great Northern, the Stop Ghostwood Estates campaign continues with a charity wine tasting. Ben (Richard Beymer) explains to Dick (Ian Buchanan) that Audrey will not be around to help because she has, quite conveniently, been sent to Seattle. (This also means that Audrey won’t be around to get in the way of the Cooper/Annie romance.) Dick is wearing an oversized bandage on his nose. Ben says that they will also be paying Dick’s medical bills and they’ll be providing him worker’s comp.
“Capital!” Dick says, “I’ll alert my attorney.”
As Dick walks away, Ben mutters that the urge to be bad is hard to resist. Personally, I prefer evil Ben to this Ben but I do like the fact that, even when Ben tries to be good, he still comes across as being sinister.
At the cabin, Windom Earle is still acting like a cartoonish super villain. (This is to be expected since Windom is a cartoonish super villain but it’s still hard not to be disappointed that he’s not the calculating genius that Cooper originally described.) Windom has got HMSD wrapped up in some sort of big paper mache thing. HMSD thinks that it’s a float for the Lilac Parade so he’s shocked when Windom shoots him with an arrow. Or, he would be shocked if not for the fact that he’s dead.
(Sadly, HMSD’s last words are: “What’s with the arrow, man? This isn’t funny.”)
Meanwhile, at the Roadhouse, the Judging and Rules Committee of the Miss Twin Peaks Pageant is meeting. The committee is made up of Doc Hayward (Warren Frost), the Mayor, and Pete. (I assume that Laura Palmer was last year’s Miss Twin Peaks since she was everything else in town.) Ben has asked to address the committee. Ben suggests that this pageant should have a pro-environmental theme. Ben says that this year’s question-and-answer session should deal with how to save the forests.
“We’ll take it under advisement,” Doc Hayward says.
The various candidates for Miss Twin Peaks are asked to approach the committee. There’s Lana and Donna and Shelly and Nadine (Wendy Robie). Nadine shows up with Mike (Gary Hershberger). When Bobby (who is there with Shelley) asks Mike what he sees in Nadine, Mike whispers something about the combination of sexual maturity and super human strength in Bobby’s ear that is apparently so impressive that all Bobby can do is shout, “WHOA!”
(Remember when Mike and Bobby were drug dealers who killed people? A lot has changed since the first season.)
Meanwhile, at the Martell house, Harry is trying to get answers from Catherine. He’s trying to understand who Josie was. Catherine gets the puzzle box and says that it might have something to do with Josie. As Harry looks at the box, Pete comes in the room and says that every beautiful woman in Twin Peaks is competing for Miss Twin Peaks. Except, of course, for all the ones have died over the past month…
Anyway, Pete takes the box from Harry and accidentally drops it on the floor. Catherine snaps, in the worst line in the history of Twin Peaks, “Butterfingers!” However, the box opens as soon as it is dropped. And what’s inside? Another box, this one with a weird lunar pattern design on it.
(Maybe the blue key from Mulholland Drive is inside that one. Who knows?)
Meanwhile, Cooper and Annie are sitting in a rowboat in the middle of the lake. Annie says that she always struggled to make friends when she was younger. Annie says that she’s had one serious boyfriend but doesn’t want to talk about him. Annie explains that she left the convent and returned to Twin Peaks so she could face her fears “where everything went so wrong.”
Obviously, Annie is a lot of fun at parties.
Watching this scene, I again marveled at the total lack of chemistry between Heather Graham and Kyle MacLachlan. If the Annie/Cooper relationship was meant to make us forget about the fact that Cooper and Audrey were meant to be together, scenes like this one didn’t help. Even when Cooper and Annie kiss, it’s like watching two mannequin collide. That’s not meant as an insult to either Kyle MacLachlan and Heather Graham. I’ve raved about both of them on this very site. It’s just that the Annie and Cooper scenes are incredibly awkward and unconvincing.
Anyway, after Cooper and Annie kiss, we see that they are being watched by Windom Earle, who is not even bothering to wear a disguise at this point.
At the Great Northern wine tasting, snobby people are drinking wine and Dick is serving as their host. That this scene works is due almost entirely to Ian Buchanan. It’s a lot of fun to watch and listen to him as Dick pretentiously describes each wine. The fact that I don’t drink wine and consider wine tastings to be the height of bourgeois snobbery only served to make me enjoy this scene even more.
(And, of course, I love Dick but you already knew that.)
Andy and Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) are at the wine tasting, Andy attempts to show off his knowledge by pointing out that, along with red wine, there are also white wines and sparkling wines. Andy also makes the mistake of tasting his wine before he was supposed to, leading to Dick yelling, “Spit out!”
(I’m resisting the temptation to make a certain joke at this point. You will thank me later.)
At the diner, Gordon Cole (David Lynch) is out on a date with Shelly. It’s sweet little scene, actually. Cole can actually speak in his normal voice and, while he may not be the world’s greatest actor, David Lynch has an oddly likable screen presence. Interestingly, David Lynch and Madchen Amick have more chemistry than Heather Graham and Kyle MacLachlan. If the Showtime revival opens with Shelly and Gordon married and living in Portland, I wouldn’t be upset. (If the show opens with the Mayor of Portland talking about his strange younger brother, Dale Cooper, I’ll be even happier.)
Cooper comes in with Annie so, of course, Cole starts shouting again. “THIS WORLD OF TWIN PEAKS SEEMS TO BE FULL OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN!” he announces. Cole also adds that “PEOPLE WHO NEED PEOPLE ARE THE LUCKIEST PEOPLE IN THE WORLD!” Cole says that he doesn’t know when he’ll be returning to Twin Peaks, a line that’s extra poignant because, by this point, I imagine David Lynch probably knew his show wouldn’t be returning for a third season.
Just as Cole leans in to kiss Shelly, Bobby walks into the diner, demanding to know what’s going on.
“YOU ARE WITNESSING A FRONT 3/4 VIEW OF 2 ADULTS SHARING A TENDER MOMENT!” Cole replies.
Seriously, they’re so cute together!
Back at the wine tasting, Dick asks everyone what flavor of wine they just tasted.
“Tastes kind of woody,” Lucy says.
“No,” Dick says with a condescending smile. “Lana?”
“Banana?” Lana suggests.
Yes, Dick says, there is a hit of banana. At this point, Dick’s nose bandage has become soaked in wine.
From the back of the room, Andy shouts out that he tasted chocolate.
“Why don’t we just skip the wine and have a banana split!?” Lucy shouts.
Way to go, Lucy! TOP THAT!
Later, Lucy does top that by spitting her wine in Dick’s face, explaining that she’s pregnant and not supposed to drink.
In the Great Northern lobby, Cooper and Wheeler (Billy Zane) stare into the fireplace. Cooper is thinking about Annie. Wheeler is thinking about Audrey and it just feels so wrong. Wheeler says love is Hell. Cooper replies that “(t)he Hindus say love is a ladder to Heaven.” Shut up, Cooper. I never thought I’d say that but I’ve lost a lot of respect for him now that, after making such a big deal about not allowing himself to get emotionally involved with anyone, he has managed to fall madly in love with a blank slate who has only been in town for three days.
(I mean, seriously, Audrey nearly died trying to help Cooper. Annie just pours coffee and acts as if living in a convent was the equivalent of getting stuck on Mars with Matt Damon.)
Meanwhile, it’s an awkward dinner at the Hayward house, where Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) wonders about her mother’s relationship with Ben Horne. What about happened to Donna’s sister? She hasn’t been seen since the first season. Maybe she ran away when it became obvious that everyone who knows Donna eventually ends up either dead (Laura, Harold, Maddy, Leland) or, like James, in San Francisco.
Donna asks her mother (Mary Jo Deschanel) how she knows Ben Horne. Doc Hayward immediately says, “I told Donna about that benefit that you’re working on….”
(OH MY GOD, DONNA IS BEN’S DAUGHTER! Which means that she is Audrey’s half-sister. After reading all the stories about Lara Flynn Boyle and Sherilyn Fenn not getting along behind the scenes, this amuses me.)
Anyway, Donna gives her mother a hard time about seeing Ben while both of her parents try to change the subject. If only Donna was as concerned about her suddenly missing sister.
That night, the police discover a huge crate has been left in the gazebo. When Cooper and Harry open it, they discover a giant paper mache chess piece. And inside the chess piece is the dead body of Stoner Heavy Metal Dude. A note from Windom Earle is also found, announcing that the next victim will be someone who Dale knows.
Cooper says that Windom appears to be changing the way he plays the game, which is a polite way of saying that he’s a bit of an inconsistent character.
This episode wasn’t bad, though I still find myself cringing whenever Cooper and Annie start flirting. But the scene with Cole and Shelly were fun and I’m really growing to appreciate Richard Beymer’s performance as the new, conflicted Ben Horne. Two of my favorite Twin Peaks supporting actors, Ian Buchanan and Don S. Davis, got some good scenes as well. While this episode can in no way match anything from the 1st season, it’s not bad for a 2nd season episode.
Well, there’s only three more episodes left and then the movie! Jeff has tomorrow’s episode. Then Leonard will be covering Sunday and then I’ll be back for the finale. As for the movie — we’re still playing rock scissors paper to figure out who gets to play it. We’re doing best out of a 1,000. It could take a while.
While we figure it out, check out what led us to this point!
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