TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.5 “The Orchid’s Curse” (dir by Graeme Clifford)

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(This Good Friday review of the fifth episode of the 2nd season of Twin Peaks is dedicated to my mom, Gloria Elena Marchi, who would have been 59 years old today. So, it better be a good episode, right?)

This episode of Twin Peaks was directed by Graeme Clifford, an Australian filmmaker who has several films and tv shows to his credit. As an editor, Clifford worked on some of the best films of the 70s, several of which share the surrealistic vision of David Lynch. Among the films that Clifford worked on: Robert Altman’s Images, Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now and The Man Who Fell To Earth, and the ultimate cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The Orchid’s Curse (and, as I pointed out yesterday, I love the pulpiness of that title) is the only episode of Twin Peaks that he directed. It’s also the first of four episodes to be credited to writer Barry Pullman.

Let’s take a look at The Orchid’s Curse!

Following the haunting opening credits, we get Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). Dale is waking up in bed and, as always, talking into his tape recorder. He had a dream that he was eating a tasteless gum drop, just to wake up and discover that he was chewing on one of his ear plugs. As I listened to Dale speak, I breathed a sigh of relief. After the previous episode had him acting all out-of-character, it was nice to have the old Dale back.

Dale notices an envelope taped underneath his bed. It’s a note from Audrey, telling Dale that she’s gone up to One-Eyed Jack’s. Okay, Dale — now you know where Audrey is! GO RESCUE HER!

At the police station, Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) comes in and wow, is he mad! Oh wait — he just has to go to the bathroom. As he explains to Harry (Michael Ontkean), two retired school teachers live in the house next to the Palmer summer home. Neither of them have ever seen BOB before but apparently, they made him drink two pots of tea before telling him that.

Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) tells Harry that she’s going to down to Tacoma to see her sister, who has just had a baby. She offers to stick around long enough to show the temp how to do everything. Harry tells her that they’ve got it covered but Lucy obviously knows better. As an administrative professional, I related so much to Lucy in this scene.

At the Johnson house, a salesman named Mr. Pinkle (David Lander) is showing Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelly (Madchen Amick) a product that he calls “porto-patient.” Basically, it’s a harness and crane that allows you to drag around a comatose person Shelly and Bobby are obviously planning on having some fun with Leo. Sure, how could that backfire? Bobby does worry that porto-patient appears to be a death trap and that they don’t want to kill Leo because then they won’t get his disability checks. Pinkle explains that it’s either porto-patient or a wheelbarrow.

Meanwhile, Judge Sternwood (Royal Dano) is holding court at the Roadhouse, for some reason. In my last review, I forgot to mention that Judge Sternwood travels with a much younger “law clerk.” I’m going to guess that the character of Judge Sternwood was based on Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas.

William O. Douglas

Anyway, it’s time for Leland Plamer’s arraignment. Prosecutor Lodwick (Ritch Brinkley) argues that Leland (Ray Wise) should not be given bail because of the seriousness of the crime and “the oft-witnessed instability of Mr. Palmer after the death of his daughter.” Harry speaks on Leland’s behalf. Harry says that Leland is a well-respected member of the community.

(Meanwhile, Deputy Andy (Harry Goaz) gets even more adorable by doing courtroom sketches, all of which are pictures of the back of Leland’s head.)

Judge Sternwood released Leland on his own recognizance, a ruling that will prove to be so ill-thought that it actually could have been issued by William O. Douglas. (But I kid the late Judge Douglas!)

At the Harold Smith House, Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) shows up with another Meals on Wheels tray. Harold (Lenny von Dohlen) is waiting for her, a glass of wine in his hand.

“What’s behind those deep blue eyes today?” Harold asks. Oh, Harold!

Donna says that she’ll share her life with Harold, as a part of his “living novel,” but only if he lets her read Laura’s secret diary. Harold offers to read the diary to her but he emphasizes that the diary must not leave his living room.

Donna starts telling Harold about her life but quickly turns things on him, asking where he’s from and where he grew up. Harold’s from Boston and he says he grew up in books. As I watched this scene, I found myself marveling at Lenny von Dohlen’s wonderful performance. Harold is definitely creepy but von Dohlen still brought a definite sweetness to the character. I actually found myself starting to get a little bit mad at the way that Donna was manipulating him.

Seriously, Donna, don’t hurt Harold!

Donna, apparently, was not listening to me because she snatched Laura’s diary and, teasingly, used it to lead Harold outside. Harold immediately had a panic attack, which should teach Donna an important lesson about trying to act like Audrey.

Back at the Road House, Judge Sternwood rules on Leo’s competency. Leo’s lawyer is played by songwriter Van Dyke Parks and, as I watched this scene, I found myself wondering why every lawyer and judge in Twin Peaks — with the exception Leland Palmer — insisted on dressing like an extra in a 1950s western. I mean, it kind of works and I guess you could make the argument that Judge Sternwood holding court in the Roadhouse is meant to pay homage to Judge Roy Bean.

In other words, Roy Bean + William O. Douglas = Judge Sternwood.

Judge Sternwood summons Cooper and Harry to the bar so that he can deliberate on Leo’s competency while his “law clerk” serves up drinks. Sternwood drinks something called a Black Yukon Sucker Punch. Yuck.

Anyway, because he’s not a very good judge, Sternwood rules that Leo is not competent to stand trail and sends him home with Shelly.

At the Hurley house, Big Ed (Everett McGill) and James (James Marshall) attempt to adjust to a new life in which one-eyed, middle-aged Nadine (Wendy Robie) thinks that she’s a teenager. Nadine goes to get a drink and rips off the refrigerator door. Apparently, that’s something that’s going to be happening from now on.

At the Great Northern, Ben (Richard Beymer) enters his all-wood office and is informed that a Mr. Tojamura is here to see him. Mr. Tojamura is the Japanese man that Ben saw last night, the one who smart viewers will have already figured out is actually Catherine (Piper Laurie) in a not very convincing disguise. Anyway, Tojamura says that he represents an investment firm that wants to invest in the Ghostwood Project and Ben gets all excited and…

WHY ISN’T BEN WORRIED ABOUT AUDREY!?

See, this is one thing that bothers me about season 2 of Twin Peaks. During season 1, Ben was greedy and amoral. He wasn’t a great father but, at the same time, he did love his daughter. That was what made Ben an interesting character. But, in season 2, Ben is just a caricature of an evil businessmen. Reportedly, after not interfering during season 1, ABC interfered a lot in season 2 and it’s obvious when you see how a character like Ben has been robbed of all his nuance.

Ben gets rid of Mr. Tojamura and then suddenly, Hank (Chris Mulkey) pops out of a secret passage and informs Ben that Cooper is on his way. On schedule, Cooper enters the office and Jean Renault (Michael Parks) calls from Canada. Jean wants Cooper to drop off a briefcase full of money at a merry-go-round, at midnight. “Leave it by the horse’s head.”

After Cooper gets the briefcase and leaves, Hank once again pops out of the secret passage. Ben tells Hank to follow Cooper, to make sure the money is delivered, and to bring back Audrey. Hank is confused. Shouldn’t Cooper bring back Audrey? No, Ben explains, Cooper isn’t coming back. Also, because Ben is cartoonishly evil now, he tells Hank to try to bring back both Audrey and the money.

That night, at the Hayward House, Donna and Maddy (Sheryl Lee) are conspiring on a way to ruin Harold’s life. Donna will distract Harold and Maddy will sneak into Harold’s house and steal the diary. Maddy, who tends to jump at her own shadow, seems like the worst possible person to use in a situation like this but then again, maybe that’s exactly why Donna’s using her.

See, this what I think is going on in Donna’s head: Maddy gets caught, Harold kills her, and then Donna gets James to herself. Donna has crossed into the dark side!

At One-Eyed Jacks, Jean and Blackie (Victoria Catlin) are rehearsing how Jean will get the briefcase and then kill Cooper with a blade that he has hidden underneath his sleeve. Can Jean and Blackie just die now? They’re kind of boring as villains. And every minute they’re alive, that’s another minute wasted on this stupid Audrey-bring-held-hostage subplot.

At the police station, Andy is struggling to figure out how to answer the phone and transfer calls. That’s right! Nobody appreciates a good administrative professional until she’s gone! Anyway, Andy calls the lab and discovers that he’s no longer sterile. As Doc Hayward puts it, “They’re not just three men on a fishing trip. They’re a whole damn town.” So, Andy could be the father of Lucy’s baby! Woo hoo! Excited, Andy calls Lucy in Tacoma and is shocked to learn that Lucy is not visiting her sister. Instead, she’s at Adams Abortion Clinic. “OH MY GOD!” Andy say.

In Harry’s office, Harry and Cooper are planning a raid on One-Eyed Jack’s. Hopefully, it won’t take them as long to attack as it took Rick to stand up to Negan on The Walking Dead. (Rick Grimes and Sheriff Truman have a lot in common but that’ll have to wait for a future post.)

Deputy Hawk comes in and says that he found out that the One-Armed Man has been staying at a motel but nobody’s seen him in a while. Hawk found a hypodermic needle and a weird drug in the motel room. “Weird, deep smell,” Hawk says. Harry sends Hawk home, apparently forgetting that Hawk is a member of the Book House Boys and, therefore, there’s no reason to leave him out of the planning of the raid.

At the Double R Diner, Maddy rushes in and asks for a cup of coffee to go. She doesn’t even notice that James is sitting at the counter. James looked a little offended and I was worried he was going to get all weepy but instead, he just said, “Hi.” Maddy says that she can’t talk now and, under Donna’s bad influence, she lies and says that she’s going back home.

At the Harold Smith House, Donna is talking to Harold. Donna tells Harold about the time that she and Laura went down to the Roadhouse to meet boys. The story starts with Laura talking Donna into wearing a short skirt and ends, as these often do, with skinny dipping. Harold, who would have loved Twitter, says that the story was beautiful. Meanwhile, Maddy lurks around outside.

At One-Eyed Jack’s, Cooper and Harry are also sneaking around outside. They’re both dressed in black, like Daniel Craig in the poster for SPECTRE, so we know that it’s commando time! As an owl — “The Owls are not what they seem,” — watches, Harry takes out one of the guards. They sneak through the backdoor and find themselves in the brothel section of One-Eyed Jacks, which is full of young women in lingerie and middle-aged men who all give off a “Ted-Kennedy-About-To-Drive-Mary-Jo-Kopechne-Home” sort of vibe.

Outside the Harold Smith House, Maddy drinks the coffee that she got at the Double R. Meanwhile, inside the house, Harold is telling Donna about orchids. Harold and Donna finally kiss and, overwhelmed, Harold has to leave the room. This is Maddy’s cue to break into the house and help Donna ruin the man’s life.

As Maddy lurks towards the house, Cooper is busy lurking around One-Eyed Jacks. “Hi,” Cooper says, grabbing Jean’s main lackey, “would you take me to Audrey Horne please?” Cooper is led to a bedroom, where an unconcious Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) is tied up. After punching out Jean’s main henchwoman, Cooper untied Audrey.

Meanwhile, Harry is watching Jean and Blackie talking in another room when, suddenly, Jean stabs Blackie to death. Well, that one down. Jean spots Harry and runs off. At the same time, Cooper runs up, carrying Audrey over her shoulder. Cooper and Harry start to run for the exit when they run into a bald man holding a gun.

“Goddammit,” I yelled, “I thought this stupid kidnapping plot was finally over!”

Suddenly, the bald man falls dead. There’s a knife on his back. It turns out that Deputy Hawk not only followed Harry and Cooper to One-Eyed Jack’s but he’s totally cool with killing people. Hawk’s a badass, y’all.

Outside One-Eyed Jack’s, Hank watches as Cooper, Harry, Audrey, and Hawk run off. He calls Ben but is then grabbed from behind by Jean.

At the Harold Smith House, Maddy is looking for the diary but, because Maddy is generally incompetent and no longer wearing her big red glasses, she is struggling to find it. Donna, who is in the greenhouse and waiting for Harold to return, tries to direct her. You can tell Donna’s thinking, “Why couldn’t it have been me and Laura looking for Maddy’s secret diary instead? That would have been so much easier!”

Suddenly, Harold’s back! He’s brought Donna big flower! Harold’s so sweet.

Despite Donna’s efforts to distract him, Harold sees Maddy stealing Laura’s diary. Cornering Maddy and Laura and holding a scary-looking gardening tool, Harold shouts, “Are you looking for secrets!? Do you know what the ultimate secret is!?”

At this point, I was hoping Harold would quote Jean Renior’s The Rules of the Game and say that the ultimate secret is that everyone has their own good reasons. Instead, Harold says that it’s “the secret of knowing who killed you,” and proceeds to use the tool to cut open his face!

NO, HAROLD!

Maddy screams, as well she should. Way to destroy someone’s life, Maddy. I realize that it was Donna’s plan but Maddy’s the one who took too long to find the diary.

Plus, I just don’t like Maddy.

Cooper to the rescue! Yesssssssss!

Anyway, that’s it for The Orchid’s Secret. This was a definite improvement over the previous episode, even with the kidnapping subplot. The performances of Lara Flynn Boyle and Lenny von Dohlen elevated this entire episode while Pullman and Clifford did a pretty decent job recreating the unique style of Lynch and Frost.

All in all, a worthy episode.

Previous Entries in The TSL’s Look At Twin Peaks:

Music Video of the Day: Bird Of Flames by Chrysta Bell & David Lynch (2012, dir. Chel White)

Posted on April 14, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

This is the first 21st century music video I have come across where the director has already taken care of explaining it for me.

From IMDb:

“Driven by the music of David Lynch and Chrysta Bell, Bird of Flames is a meditation on the enigmatic nature of love. In a small nightclub, a magician coaxes a beautiful chanteuse to perform like a living doll. In the audience, a young man falls in love with her archetypal image of feminine beauty.”
-Chel White

Here’s what I see.

We begin by being introduced to the nightclub.

Inside, we see a master of ceremonies, or magician, dancing around an egg-shaped wedding veil.

Eventually Chrysta Bell emerges and goes up to the microphone to do her best Kate Bush.

In the audience we can see a guy looking at her.

Meanwhile, in the background we can see another woman who is watching, and having none of this. It’s probably because she stands in contrast to the ideal beauty on stage that this guy seems to be fascinated by, while she blends into the bar.

Then clouds move in, and the credits roll.

This looks awfully familiar to me. Let’s see here.

We begin by being introduced to the nightclub.

Inside, we see a master of ceremonies who comes out onstage to introduce us to “The Blue Lady”.

Eventually Isabella Rossellini emerges and goes up to the microphone to do her best film noir nightclub singer routine.

In the audience, we can see Kyle MacLachlan looking at her.

Meanwhile, next to MacLachlan, we can see Laura Dern watching and she is clearly uncomfortable. She stands in contrast to the ideal beauty on stage that MacLachlan seems to be fascinated with, and we only see Dern in the occasional shot.

Then the darkness envelops Rossellini…

and MacLachlan is now locked into an obsession with her.

Okay, so the music video is kind of an homage to that particular scene from Blue Velvet (1986). I have no complaints. I love that film, and I think that scene is used well here.

You can see all the people who worked on this in the credits on the video. They are too numerous to list here.

There’s one thing I want to mention since I am doing David Lynch videos because of the upcoming new Twin Peaks. According to IMDb, Chrysta Bell will be playing Special Agent Tamara Preston in the first episode.

Enjoy!

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.4 “Laura’s Secret Diary” (dir by Todd Holland)

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Heaven is a large and interesting place, sir.”

— Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in Twin Peaks 2.4 “Laura’s Secret Diary”

I have to admit that I initially got really excited when I saw who had directed Laura’s Secret Diary.

That’s largely because I misread the name and I briefly thought that the episode was directed by the veteran horror director, Tom Holland. I happen to be friends on Facebook with Tom Holland and I immediately started to try to figure out the least intrusive way to ask him about his experience directing for Twin Peaks… But no, on second glance, it turned out that the director of this episode was Todd Holland. Todd Holland is another veteran director, though he’s best known for directing sitcoms.

Speaking of credits, this episode is credited to four different writers. Along with Twin Peaks mainstays Mark Frost, Harley Peyton, and Robert Engels, credit is also given to Jerry Stahl. Like Holland, Stahl worked on several sitcoms but he’s probably best known for his memoir, Permanent Midnight, in which he wrote about his experiences as a drug addict in Hollywood. Permanent Midnight was later turned into a movie, starring Ben Stiller as Stahl. (Of course, before all that, Stahl wrote the script for an odd sci-fi film called Cafe Flesh, a movie that many consider to be one of the best pornographic films of all time.) As quoted in Reflections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost says that Stahl wrote the initial script for Laura’s Secret Diary but the script was a “an absolute car wreck… He turned in a completely incomprehensible, unusable, incomplete script a few days late and as I recall there were blood stains on it.” Stahl’s script was rewritten by Frost, Peyton, and Engels.

How did they do? Well, let’s take a look at Laura’s Secret Diary!

As always, we start with the opening credits, attempting to lull us into the town’s false sense of security. What’s interesting is that, with each subsequent viewing of the opening credits, those shots of Twin Peaks and the woods and the waterfall become more and more ominous. Since the series started, we’ve learned a lot about goes on in those woods. We know what’s lurking underneath the surface.

The show begins with a disturbing image, one that feels extremely Lynchian even if it was directed by Todd Holland. We start with an extreme closeup of … well, we don’t know what we’re looking at it. It appears to be a white surface that is covered with dark holes but, only as the camera pulls away, do we realize that we’re looking at the wall of the police station’s interrogation room. On the soundtrack, we hear screams and a distorted voice repeating the words, “Daddy!” over and over again.

(As unsettling as this may be, it’s even more disturbing if you know what’s going to happen in the next few episodes. Twin Peaks is one of the few shows that is even more unsettling in retrospect.)

We then see that Leland (Ray Wise) is staring at the wall while Harry (Michael Ontkean) and Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) attempt to talk to him about the death of Jacques Renault. Leland confesses to the murder, crying as he does so. As always, Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) is standing in the background, watching. Doc Hayward is always watching in the background, almost enough to make me wonder if he’s real or if he’s just a dream character, a symbol of old-fashioned decency who has been fantasized into existence by the beleaguered citizens of Twin Peaks.

After Leland’s confession, Hayward and Cooper talk. When Hayward expresses some sympathy for Leland, Cooper snaps, “Do you approve of murder, doctor?” (This is our first clue that Cooper’s going to spend most of this episode not acting like his usual friendly self.) Cooper then storms off, probably leaving Hayward to wonder just what exactly he did wrong. However, Hayward doesn’t have long to wonder because suddenly, he’s got Andy (Harry Goaz) to deal with.

Andy is concerned that he “flunked” his “sperm test” and wants another shot. Doc Hayward gives him a specimen jar and tells him to put it in a brown paper bag once he’s done with it. “I’ll be in the car,” Hayward says. Andy goes off with the jar and a copy of Flesh World (and I think it might be the same copy of Flesh World that contained Laura and Ronette’s personal ads). Of course, he happens to run into Lucy (Kimmy Robertson), who is none too happy to see her ex-boyfriend heading to the men’s room with a pornographic magazine. “Hmmphf!” Lucy says.

While this drama unfolds, Harry informs Cooper that the judge will be arriving that afternoon. His name is Clinton Sternwood. He travels the circuit in a Winnebago. The district attorney is also coming. His name is Darryl Lodwick. Also, it turns out that no one named Robertson ever rented the house next to the Palmers’ summer cabin. The house is currently rented to a family named Kalispell. I’m assuming that it must be Funny Name Day in Twin Peaks.

Andy wanders by and, being Andy, he accidentally drops his specimen jar and it rolls underneath a chair in the waiting room. As Andy tries to retrieve it, Cooper sees that Andy is wearing the same brand of boots that they found at Leo Johnson’s house. Cooper asks about the boots and Andy thinks he’s asking about sperm and hilarity ensues. Anyway, it turns out that Andy bought the boots from the One-Armed Man, who is apparently still missing.

At the Great Northern, a frantic employee runs up to Ben Horne (Richard Beymer).

“Mr. Horne!” she says.

“Walk and talk,” Ben says and…

Wait a minute! WALK AND TALK!? AARON SORKIN, YOU’VE JUST BEEN RIPPING OFF TWIN PEAKS!

But anyway, the employee informs Ben that she’s heard a rumor that M.T. Wentz is coming to Twin Peaks. Well, of course, he is. It’s Funny Name Day, after all. But apparently, M.T. Wentz is some sort of famous travel writer. No one knows what Wentz looks like but a favorable Wentz review could put the Great Northern on the map.

Ben steps into his office and finds Jean Renault (Michael Parks) waiting for him. Oh my God! M.T. Wentz is Jean Renault!? No, actually, it turns out that Jean is just there to show Ben a video tape of Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) being held hostage. Renault wants money and he wants Dale Cooper to serve as the delivery man.

At the Double R Diner, Hank (Chris Mulkey) tells Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) that she looks pretty today and Donna says, “Thanks,” and considers that Hank is just as troubled as James Hurley but he doesn’t cry as much. However, Hank ruins his chances by making fun of the people on Donna’s Meals on Wheels route. “You wouldn’t understand,” Donna tells him.

Norma (Peggy Lipton) tells Hank that she’s just heard that M.T. Wentz is in town. Hank has no idea who that is. Apparently, they don’t read restaurant reviews in prison. Norma explains that a good review from M.T. Wentz could being a lot of business to the Double R, especially if it appears in a “Seattle paper.” Apparently, Norma is hoping to corner the vegan hipster market.

Though Hank doesn’t know who M.T. Wentz is, he still grabs a hundred dollar bill from the register and then leaves to buy flowers and other stuff that could make the Double R look worthy of a good review. He also tells Norma to call Big Ed. Big Ed can help clean the place up! Norma nods. It’s not as if Big Ed ever has anything else to do.

Meanwhile, Donna is having lunch with Harold Smith (Lenny Von Dohlen) and it must be said that Harold is probably on the cuter end of the recluse scale. Donna has to be happy that she didn’t get stuck with some sort of Howard Hughes-type with uncut finger nails and empty Kleenex boxes on his feet. Harold offers to read something from Laura’s secret diary. Donna says sure.

Harold reads a passage where Laura talks about how much she loves Donna. Laura worried that Donna wouldn’t be her friend if she knew “what my insides are really like.” Donna starts to cry and Harold apologizes. Donna says its okay but she wonders if maybe they should give the diary to the sheriff.

“No,” Harold says, “I’ve read this from cover to cover. There are no solutions.”

(Harold wasn’t the only person who read Laura’s diary from cover to cover. The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer was written by Jennifer Lynch and published shortly before the start of the second season. I’ve ordered a copy from Amazon and I’ll read it as soon as it arrives. Maybe if y’all are really nice to me, I’ll even write a review of it.)

Harold explains that people tells him their stories and he places them in a larger context. “Friends and lovers,” Harold says, even though there don’t seem to be any around. “Maybe you’ll be come one,” Harold says, as the creepy meter goes off the charts.

Meanwhile, at the Great Northern, Ben tells Cooper that Audrey has been kidnapped. Cooper is upset that Ben has circumvented “normal channels” and has contacted him directly. Uhmmm … is it just me or is Cooper kind of being a dick in this episode? This definitely does not seem to be the same Dale Cooper who has been present in every other episode of the show. It’s almost as if the script for this show was written by an outside writer who 1) hadn’t ever really watched Twin Peaks and 2) was struggling with personal issues of his own.

Meanwhile, at the Martell House, Josie (Joan Chen) has returned from Seattle. Oh my God, could Josie be M.T. Wentz!? IT WOULD EXPLAIN SO MUCH! But anyway, Josie tells Pete (Jack Nance) that she’s sorry about the mill burning down and that she’s happy that Catherine was around to take care of things. Pete mentions that Catherine died in the fire. Josie and Catherine share a hug, even as Pete explains that they still haven’t found Catherine’s body but they’re still going to have a service.

“I don’t know what, exactly, we’ll be burying,” Pete says…

Wait! If they haven’t found Catherine’s body, then she’s probably still alive! Maybe Catherine is actually M.T. Wentz…

At One-Eyed Jacks, Emory (Don Amendolia) leads Audrey into an office where a displeased Jean is waiting. Emory says that “Ms. Horne was a very bad girl, refusing to take her medicine.” When Jean realizes that Emory has been hitting Audrey, Jean shoots him. Good for Jean!

At the police station, Andy tries to approach Lucy but Lucy’s like, “Go talk to your magazines!” and she starts waving a big pair of scissors at him. At that point, Cooper walks into the station and tells Andy to go get some air. Cooper’s not in a good mood. He doesn’t have time for all of this. (In the past, Cooper would have made time but, in this episode, Dale Cooper is suddenly a raging jerk.) After Andy leaves, Cooper orders Lucy to explain what’s bothering her.

Lucy complains that Andy doesn’t work out, doesn’t wash his car, and doesn’t own a sports coat. That’s why she dumped Andy and started going out with Dick Tremayne. Tremayne owns a lot of coats, Lucy explains. Cooper asks Lucy if she knows what she wants. “I don’t know!” Lucy wails before running off.

Having ruined Lucy’s life, Cooper tells Harry that, even though he can’t give any specific details, he needs one of the Book House Boys. “The best one,” Cooper says. (In other words, not James.) “I’ll set it up,” Harry says, “9:30 at the Roadhouse.”

(Why do I have a feeling that Cooper’s going to show up at the Roadhouse and find Doc Hayward waiting for him? Actually, the Book House Boys are starting to remind me of the Brets from Flight of the Conchords.)

That night, at the nearly deserted Double R Diner, Norma and Hank watch as a fat man with a beard (Ritch Brinkley) walks in. “That must be him!” Norma says. The fat man orders a cheeseburger and then heads to the bathroom. Hank, proving the he really doesn’t understand how parole works, steals the man’s wallet while he’s gone. Hank quickly discovers that the bearded man is not M.T. Wentz. Instead, he’s Darryl Lodwick, the district attorney. Hank might want to return that wallet.

At another booth, Donna and Maddy (Sheryl Lee) talk. Maddy tries to apologize while Donna smokes a cigarette and glares at her. She wants to steal the diary from Harold’s house. She’ll do it with or without Maddy’s help.

As it rains outside, Harry goes to the Martell house and sees Josie. Josie tries to distract him by modeling a sexy black dress that she bought in Seattle. Being a paragon of truth and justice, Harry refuses to be distracted. He demands to know if Josie set the fire at the mill. “How could you!?” Josie responds. Josie and Harry end up making love on a couch while a mysterious Asian man watches from outside.

(M.T. Wentz, maybe?)

At the police station, as lightning flashes outside and thunder rumbles, Lucy drinks a cup of coffee. Judge Sternwood (played by Royal Dano, a veteran Western character actor) shows up at the station, followed by Harry and Cooper.

Sternwood asks how Cooper is finding Twin Peaks.

“Heaven, sir,” Cooper replies.

“Well, this week, heaven includes arson, multiple homicides, and an attempt on the life of a federal agent,” Sternwood replies.

“Heaven is a large and interesting place, sir,” Cooper says, a line which immediately made me think of Eraserhead and that radiator woman singing that, “In Heaven, everything is fine.”

Judge Sternwood and Cooper walk off and Lucy finally thinks that she can relax and drink her coffee. Suddenly, here comes Dick Tremayne (Ian Buchanan). Now, I have to say that, of all the new characters who showed up during the second season, Dick Tremayne is probably my favorite. He’s just such a salesman. Of course, he’s a jerk, too. But Ian Buchanan gives such a lively performance.

Dick says that he hasn’t slept. He hasn’t eaten. He’s been a fool. Dick has realized that he must do the right thing and that means … giving Lucy $650 for an abortion. Lucy kicks him out of the station and then locks herself in Harry’s office, loudly sobbing.

Andy escorts Leland to his meeting with the judge, only briefly stopping when he hears the distraught Lucy cry out, “OH DICK! WAS IT JUST YOUR ASCOT?!”

Judge Sternwood talks to Leland, saying that he knows Leland to be a decent man and a good attorney. Sternwood says that procedures must be observed but promises to raise a glass with Leland in Valhalla. Since Lodwick is still at the diner, the Judge decides to hold off on determining bail until the morning. Leland says that’s fine and that everyone’s being very nice to him in jail.

After Leland is escorted out, the Judge tells Harry and Cooper that they all have very difficult jobs. Maybe not as difficult as M.T. Wentz’s job but difficult nonetheless.

At the Great Northern, Ben is talking to the Lumber Queen semi-finalists while the mysterious Asian man stares at him. Ben and the Asian Man bow towards each other. The Asian man is checking into the hotel. He says that he only pays in cash and that he’s from Seattle. Oh my God, could it be M.T. Wentz!? That’s certainly what the desk clerk thinks…

Except, of course, we know that it’s not M.T. Wentz. It’s pretty obvious that the Asian man is actually Catherine Martell in disguise. It doesn’t matter how much makeup she wear or how much she lowers her voice, Piper Laurie is Piper Laurie.

At the Martell House, Josie’s cousin, Jonathan (Mark Takano), has arrives. Josie introduces him to Pete. Pete goes off to get coffee and suddenly, Jonathan sneers and says he doesn’t know how Josie survived living in Twin Peaks. Jonathan says they have to get back to Hong Kong. “Are there any complications?” Jonathan asks.

(Oh, there’s always a few. It’s Twin Peaks!)

Meanwhile, at the Roadhouse, Dale waits for the arrival of the best Book House Boy. Now, I have to admit that I was expecting either Hank or maybe M.T. Wentz to come walking through the door. Instead, it’s Harry!

“Are we in any particular hurry?” Harry asks.

“Harry, let me buy you a beer,” Dale says.

Sure, Cooper, why not? I mean, hey, IT’S NOT LIKE AUDREY’S BEEN KIDNAPPED WHILE TRYING TO HELP YOU OUT OR ANYTHING!

Seriously, what’s going on with Dale in this episode?

Hey, Cooper — remember Audrey!?

At the Double R, Hank (who apparently lives in the diner) is woken up by someone knocking on the front door. When Hank goes to answer the door, he is attacked by Jonathan. Jonathan knocks him to the floor and then says, “Blood brother. Next time, I take your head off.”

And this rather frustrating and uneven episode of Twin Peaks comes to an end.

It’s hard to know what to make of Laura’s Secret Diary. There were parts that I really liked, like the opening shot in the interrogation room and some of the humor between Andy, Lucy, and Dick. But, at the same time, you’ve got Dale acting totally out-of-character, the strangely unresolved M.T. Wentz thing, and it’s hard not to feel that Audrey Being Kidnapped is a storyline that should have been resolved in two episodes, as opposed to being dragged out for as long as it was. Audrey is too important a character to spend the first half of season 2 in a daze.

Tomorrow’s episode — The Orchid’s Kiss!

(That sounds like the title of one of the paperbacks that my sister would select for Artwork of the Day, doesn’t it?)

Previous Entries in The TSL’s Look At Twin Peaks:

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.3 “The Man Behind The Glass” (directed by Lesli Linka Glatter)

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

The third episode of season two opens at the hospital, where Ronette Pulaski (Pheobe Augustine) is having another freak out while Harry (Michael Ontkean), Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), and Albert (Miguel Ferrer) look on. Someone tried to poison her IV. Cooper discovers that someone has also put a “B” under Ronette’s fingernail. Harry says that Ronette was under guard all night and there is no way that anyone could have gotten to her. Albert says, “Maybe she heard a Sousa march and got up to twirl a baton.”

Cooper reveals to Albert and Harry that he was visited twice by a giant and tells them the three clues that he was given.

“You were visited by a giant?” Harry says.

“Any relation to the dwarf?” Albert asks.

Elsewhere, Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) goes to reclusive Harold Smith’s house and we finally meet Harold (played by Lenny Von Dohlen, who was the direct-to-video version of Anthony Perkins in the 1990s). Harold’s house is full of flowers. He explains that he used to be horticulturist but now he is a shut in. He says that he and Laura were close and that she told him everything about Donna. Donna asks why Laura never said anything about him. Harold says that Laura liked to think of him as being, “the mystery in her life.” After promising to come back and visit later, Donna leaves.

Back at the police station, Cooper is at the chalkboard again and explaining to Harry and Albert how four living people — Sarah Palmer, Ronette, Maddy, and himself — have seen the “long-haired man.” Harry is still hung up on the giant. “Did he have a booming voice?”

Albert suggests that Harry should learn how to walk without dragging his knuckles on the floor which leads to Harry grabbing Albert’s shirt and Albert declaring that he rejects violence.

“I love you, Sheriff Truman,” Albert says before leaving.

“Albert’s path is a strange and difficult one,” Cooper says. No doubt, Coop.

James (James Marshall) comes to the station. Cooper tells him that he is not being charged because the cocaine was planted and that he needs to stop hanging out around the police station.

Harry is still trying to understand what Cooper meant when he said he saw a giant when Leland (Ray Wise) finally shows up at the police station and tells them that “the long-haired man” used to live next door to his family’s summer home. His name was “Robertson” but everyone called him Bob. “One more thing,” Leland says, “he used to flick matches at me.”

At the Double R Diner, Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) is having lunch with Richard Tremayne (Ian Buchanan), who may be the father of her baby. Richard is a salesman at Horne’s Department Store and he’s so slick that smooth jazz plays whenever he enters a room. Richard and Lucy had one date, in which he promised to take her to the Seattle Space Needle but instead, took her to Pancake Plantation instead. Lucy tells Richard that she’s pregnant.

At a nearby booth, James and Maddy (Sheryl Lee) sit and talk. James is confused because he says that Donna is trying to “act tough all the time.” James says that sometimes, he thinks he should just get on his bike and go. (Maybe he has been watching old episodes of Then Came Bronson, starring tonight’s special guest star, Michael Parks.) Donna comes in the diner and sees that James and Maddy are together. Donna announces that she met Harold Smith and that he is bright and charming, “unlike anyone I know.” Then, she leaves.

At One-Eyed Jack’s, Emory and Blackie (Victoria Catlin) have tied up Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn). Blackie is going to hold Audrey hostage and demand a ransom from Ben Horne.

Back at the police station, the One-Armed Man, Mr. Gerard (Al Strobel), is showing Harry his latest selection in shoes. Gerard blanks out for a minute and says that he sometimes gets disoreintated. Harry goes to get Gerard a glass of water and runs into Shelly Johnson (Madchen Amick). Cooper wants to talk to her about Leo and the fire at the mill but Shelly says she can’t testify against her husband. Laying on the charm, Cooper tells her that is okay and then sends her out of the office. He says the Shelly wants to get Leo’s life insurance and that she didn’t “think up this scheme by herself.”

But what about Laura Palmer!? Isn’t that what Cooper is supposed to be investigating?

Cooper goes to the Great Northern and asks Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) if he knows where Audrey is. Ben says that Audrey is missing but he does not seem to be to worried about it.

At One-Eyed Jack’s, tonight’s special guest star, Michael Parks, shows up. He is playing Jean Reanault, the brother of Jacques Renault. Blackie explains, to Emory, that Jean will act as their go-between with Ben. In return for 30% of the ransom, Jean will pretend to be the one who has kidnapped Audrey. Jean also demands that Agent Cooper, who he blames for the death of Jacques, be brought to him. Jean gives Audrey a shot of something. I had forgotten that Jean and Blackie kept Audrey drugged at One-Eyed Jack’s. I hope it’s not heroin because I don’t know if I can handle Twin Peaks turning into The French Connection Part II.

Michael Parks, like Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer, was one of many 1960s teen idols to be cast in Twin Peaks. Long before Tarantino has even made his first film, Lynch was resurrecting the careers of forgotten actors. If it’s thanks to Tarantino and, not Lynch, that Michael Parks is currently having a career renaissance, that’s because Michael Parks, quite frankly, lousy on Twin Peaks. Parks is much more convincing as Earl McGraw than he ever was as the French Canadian Jean Renault.

At the police station, Cooper wants to take a break and drink a cup of coffee but Harry is having a crisis because Josie is coming back to Twin Peaks tomorrow and he is worried about having to interrogate her about the fire at the mill. Harry also mentions that the One-Armed Man came by the station to sell shoes.

“The One-Armed man was here!?” Cooper says.

“Yeah,” Harry shrugs.

“Remember, in my dream,” Cooper explains, “the One-Armed Man knew BOB.”

Good point Cooper. Why wouldn’t Harry have told Cooper that the One-Armed Man was at the station? Are they even trying to catch Laura’s killer anymore? Even Deputy Hawk gives Harry a “You fucked up” look.

Going to the men’s room and searching for the One-Armed Man, Cooper comes across a hypodermic needle. “Without chemicals, he points,” Cooper says, “The Giant’s third clue. Harry, we’ve got to find the One-Armed Man.”

(Too bad that they had the One-Armed Man and then Harry let him wander off. Albert may have a point.)

At the hospital, the comatose Nadine (Wendy Robie) has been tied down. Dr. Hayward (Warren Frost) tells Ed (Everett McGill) that Nadine now has Hulk-like super strength. “She’s pumping out more adrenaline than a wildcat well,” Hayward explains.

Following the doctor’s advice, Ed sings “On top of Old Smokey” to her. (I was waiting for James to come in with his guitar and provide accompaniment but I guess he was busy with Maddy.) Ed singing causes Nadine to wake up and rip off her restraints. “Good God!” Ed says. Nadine does a cheer, because she now thinks that she and Ed are in high school and she is looking forward to cheerleader tryouts.

In his hospital room, Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) is getting a foot massage from his Hawaiian wife, Eoloni, when Cooper and Harry drop by so that they can hypnotize him. Jacoby is so good at hypnosis that he hypnotizes himself. He flashes back to the murder of Jacques Renault and says that he knows the killer.

While this is happening, Donna puts some flowers (provided by Harold) on Laura’s grave. Donna talks to the dead Laura. Lara Flynn Boyle knocks her emotional monologue out of the park.

Of course, while Donna is pouring out her heart, James is kissing Maddy. Donna walks in on them and then runs out on them. James runs after her, screaming, “WHY!?”

Maddy goes to Leland for comfort but then Harry and Cooper show up and announce that Leland is under arrest. For killing Laura? No, for killing Jacques Renault.

Donna goes to Harold Smith and tells him about James and Maddy. Harold gives her a gift, the secret diary of Laura Palmer.

There is a classic episode of The Simpsons, in which the producers of Itchy and Scratchy become concerned that their show has become stale and uninteresting. To bring in new fans, they create the character of Poochie the Dog and, of course, they hire Homer to play him. Poochie has no real personality or reason for being on the show. He is just a mix of things that television executives think will appeal to their audience.

In Poochie’s first episode, Itchy and Scratchy are driving to the fireworks factory when they see Poochie standing on the side of the road. They pull over. “It’s our new friend, Poochie!” Poochie introduces himself and suddenly, the entire cartoon becomes about Poochie. Itchy and Scratchy are pushed to the side while Poochie sings, dances, raps, and plays basketball.

Watching the cartoon, Milhouse cries out, “When are they going to get to the fireworks factory!?”

That is probably how many viewers of Twin Peaks felt as they watched the second season. They had gotten wrapped up in the show. They had come up with their own theories about who killed Laura. All they wanted to know was who killed Laura Palmer and yet the show refused to tell them. Instead, it kept getting distracted by other things.

That is certainly the case with “The Man Behind The Glass.” While this episodes does do a lot to push the story and the mystery forward, it also gets sidetracked by a lot of subplots — like Jean Renault, Nadine thinking she was a teenager, and Lucy’s pregnancy — that are far less compelling than the mystery that has always been at the heart of Twin Peaks.

Who killed Laura Palmer?

For tomorrow, Lisa is back and reviewing episode 2.4, “The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer.”

Previous Entries in The TSL’s Look At Twin Peaks:

Music Video of the Day: I’m Waiting Here by David Lynch & Lykke Li (2013, dir. Daniel Desure)

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

Ever go driving out in the middle of nowhere–especially at night? I have. Ever felt the need to drive down the middle of the road? I hope not. I guess this video is putting its focus on highway hypnosis seeing as there isn’t anything interesting to look at, and the car keeps drifting in and out of its lane. I think it fits the song well.

I love this quote from Tom Breihan on Stereogum about this video:

“It’s a very pretty piece of work, and the night-time parts recall Lynch’s Lost Highway. Still, call me crazy, but maybe David Lynch should be the guy responsible for all of David Lynch’s videos.”

If any of them are going to be like Came Back Haunted by Nine Inch Nails with its seizure inducing flashing, then maybe it’s for the best. I don’t care if seizures were often mistaken for demonic possession, which would fit the title of the song.

I put down that Daniel Desure directed this video even though it doesn’t list a director on the video. On the video it lists the crew as the following:

Concept by Lykke Li and Daniel Desure
Edited by Jesse Fleming and Sadie Strangio
DP – Nicholas Trikonis
Designer – Michelle Park

Based on that, I guess Fleming and Strangio are more the directors than Desure, since it appears as if someone just drove down the highway with a dashboard cam from one place to another, and they edited that footage down to the desired runtime. Personally, I would take it farther and list Lykke Li, Daniel Desure, Jesse Fleming, Sadie Strangio, Nicholas Trikonis, and Michelle Park all as directors of the video. I put down Desure because that’s how it is listed on IMVDb.

You can find some information on the people who worked on this video, but they all seem to be relatively new, so there isn’t a large body of work to bring up.

Enjoy!

A Movie A Day #94: Eye of the Storm (1991, directed by Yuri Zeltser)

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

A motel sits off of a highway in the Nevada desert. One night, two criminals (Ally Walker and German boxer Wilhelm von Homburg) brutally murder the husband and wife who own the motel. Their youngest son, Steven, flees the criminals by jumping through a window and is left for dead.

Ten years later, the motel is still sitting off the highway, operated by the blind Steven (Bradley Gregg) and his older brother, Ray (Craig Sheffer). Ray is very protective of his brother and, when a car pulls up to the motel, he does not even want to turn on the vacancy sign.

The motel’s newest guests are a very unlikely couple. Marvin Gladstone (Dennis Hopper) is an alcoholic gambler who regularly berates at his much younger trophy wife, Sandra (Lara Flynn Boyle). Marvin and Sandra were heading to Las Vegas to renew their vows but the drunk Marvin accidentally drove their car off the road. Now, Marvin and Sandra are stranded at the motel while a dust storm approaches and one of the brothers turns out to be psychotic.

Eye of the Storm is another low-budget and predictable thriller from the 1990s but, taken on its own terms, it’s not bad. Along with some striking shots of the desert, Eye of the Storm features a quartet of strong performances. For fans of David Lynch, the main interest here will be seeing Blue Velvet‘s Dennis Hopper and Twin Peaks‘s Lara Flynn Boyle as a couple in trouble. Hopper especially seems to be enjoying himself and when his character leaves the movie, Eye of the Storm becomes much less interesting. Lara Flynn Boyle is sexy throughout, enough to make you reconsider everything you thought you knew about Donna Hayward.

See this one on a double bill with Red Rock West.

Music Video of the Day: Came Back Haunted by Nine Inch Nails (2013, dir. David Lynch)

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

And if the viewer is epileptic, then they might come back having had a seizure and their driver’s license temporarily revoked because they didn’t see the warning onscreen that lasts four seconds.

What was David Lynch and everyone else involved thinking?

To add to this stupidity, there is another video for this that doesn’t do that, and is more interesting. That one is essentially a remake of the video for Bastards Of Young by The Replacements. The difference is that it’s a reel-to-reel instead of a speaker.

Jeez…if only there were some way to indicate to anyone coming across the video before they started playing it that it might cause seizures. It’s a real shame that YouTube doesn’t let you change thumbnails or anything like that.

Oh, but the idiocy doesn’t stop there. Remember that YouTube has an autoplay option. That means somebody could be listening to music, it moves over to the next video, they happen to be looking away, turn around, and have completely missed the warning. If it is a playlist on the iOS app, then you don’t even see the description. In fact, the description on YouTube videos don’t show up on the YouTube iOS app if you don’t click on the video, and then click for the description.

Here’s what it looks like if you do a search on the iOS YouTube app:

Here’s what it looks like after you have clicked on the video:

As I’m sure you already know, even the web interface while showing part of the description by default, is very easy to miss or is offscreen entirely at times unless you scroll down to look at it.

The flashing begins at six seconds–immediately after the warning–in case you were wondering.

Here’s a congrats from Uwe Boll wearing a wristwatch in his adaptation of Bloodrayne to everyone who made this video the way it is.

If you’re unhappy about what I said here, then here’s another part from Bloodrayne to tell you how much I care–courtesy of Michael Madsen.

I’m not even linking to the video. You can watch the Bastards of Young version below. And look at that? They were kind of enough to tell you in the title that it is only audio. That’s very important, but putting a warning in the title of a video is too much work. Not that it would’ve mattered anyways because plenty of people don’t even read the titles of YouTube videos before clicking on them. Just wow.

A Movie A Day #93: Whore (1991, directed by Ken Russell)

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Liz (Theresa Russell) is a prostitute trying to survive on the mean streets of Los Angeles. With the help of a homeless performance named Rasta (Antonio Fargas), Liz tries to escape from her abusive pimp, Blake (Benjamin Mouton).

To its credit, Whore was made as a response to the glamorous and irresponsible way that prostitution was portrayed in Pretty Woman but Whore had too much going against it to succeed. It was based on a theatrical monologue, which was almost always a bad sign. The majority of the movie was Liz talking straight to the camera, which was another red flag. Most ominously, it was a Theresa Russell movie that was not directed by Nicolas Roeg and those never seemed to turn out well. The director of Whore was Ken Russell but it featured none of the excess that Russell was known for. Stuck with a low-budget and a reportedly unenthusiastic studio, Russell’s direction was uncharacteristically restrained. (That’s a polite way of saying boring.)

The one good thing about Whore, and the reason why I’m writing about it during this site’s look back at Twin Peaks, was the presence of Jack Nance, playing one of the few men who actually tries to help Liz. Nance, of course, not only played fishing-obsessed Pete Martell in Twin Peaks but also starred in Eraserhead and appeared in all of Lynch’s films (with the exception of The Elephant Man) up until Nance’s mysterious death in 1996. Literally credited as playing “Helpful passerby.” Nance only had a few minutes of screen time but made a definite impression as one of the few kind people to be found in Liz’s dark world.

As a reflection of how much times have changed, Whore‘s title was so controversial that, in 1991, it was released in some areas under an alternative title: If You Can’t Say It, Just See It.

Music Video of the Day: Crazy Clown Time by David Lynch (2012, dir. David Lynch)

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Valerie Troutman

That’s as weird as I remember when I watched it for the first time, then never watched it again till I went to write this post.

It’s the bad horror movie cliche of idiots partying if it were trapped in the David Lynch universe. It’s also a music video that is already a literal music video. It’s also Lynch reworking Rockit by Herbie Hancock. You’ve got Lynch shown in brief shots on a TV as he orchestrates nightmare fuel with his music. It’s the same music video–just Lynchified. I have no problem with that. As for the meaning, as usual, have at it for yourself.

This is one of those music videos where I have to mention the YouTube comment section. Apparently, a gamer who goes by the name Crendor must have brought this video up, so a lot of people watched it about a year ago. As usual, they felt the need to announce what brought them there. There seems to be some argument over how these people could have not known who David Lynch is. David Lynch has essentially been out of the spotlight since Mulholland Dr. in 2001. How is it surprising that people around the ages of 16-25 wouldn’t know who he is? The only thing I can point to as a reason how Lynch could have shown up on some kid’s radars is the Twin Peaks inspired game, Deadly Premonition, that came out in 2010. I have included the “FK in the coffee” scene below.

I only know who David Lynch is because I happened to catch Blue Velvet (1986) on late night cable when I was in middle school, and I fell in love with his work. Twin Peaks was also on the air for its original run when I was in elementary school. I only knew of it then because I believe there is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer is watching Twin Peaks, and it’s somebody dancing with a horse at night. If you weren’t around in the 80s or 90s, then it’s perfectly reasonable to not be familiar with David Lynch.

Finally, I have included the behind-the-scenes video for it below.

Three of the actors are Emily Elicia Low, Chris Pounders, and Pandie Suicide.

Christopher Gray did the casting for the video. He and casting associate Christopher Gonzalez have worked on many movies and the upcoming new Twin Peaks.

Shakana Beatty was the casting assistant on the video.

Enjoy!

TV Review: Twin Peaks 1.8 “The Last Evening” (dir by Mark Frost)

Posted on April 9, 2017 by Leonard Wilson

twin-peaks-sign

And now, the Season Finale of Twin Peaks.

Season Finales are the best part of TV shows for me. When done well, a great finale will answer some of the questions presented through the season while also setting up new ones for future episodes. Planting the right seeds can result in water cooler talk (or crazy Twitstreams) that will last the entire hiatus. The idea is to reward the audience for their participation, but leave them wanting. Shows like Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead have had closing episodes leading to long-term discussion. Twin Peaks was no different, for its time. Some bridges are mended, some are broken, and a cliffhanger or two helped to round out the episode.

Episode 7, “The Last Evening” opens a view of a sunset with pine trees. We find this is just the backdrop for some wall paper in Dr. Jacoby’s (Russ Tamblyn) office. James (James Marshall) and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) visit Dr. Jacoby’s office, which was recently vacated due to the lure they set up with Maddy impersonating Laura. Inside, they discover a small box filled with cocktail umbrellas. Each one is labelled with a memory – “I first lay eyes on Mimzy.”. Everyone collects something, but drink umbrellas is somewhere on the stranger side of things. As they look around, Donna accidentally turns on Jacoby’s music, which James fixes by turning down the volume. In the frantic mess of trying to stop the music, Donna discovers a coconut and recalls Laura recorded statement on this. They open the coconut to reveal two more clues, an audio tape and the other half of Laura’s heart necklace. So, this sheds some light on the story. It looks like Dr. Jacoby was maybe closer to Laura than most knew. It fits with his not showing up at the Funeral and what he told Cooper about the way she made him feel in comparison to the other patients of Twin Peaks.

Could Laura have been an obsession for Jacoby that simply went too far?

James and Donna leave on his motorcycle with the necklace. The scene closes in on Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook), who comes out of the shadows, firing an imaginary bullet at his nemesis. The drugs he left in the gas tank are sure to frame James, a final zinger after their fight at the Funeral.

The next scene has Dr. Jacoby arriving at the park with the Gazebo he saw in Laura’s video, rather than going to Sparkwood and 21, as directed. Peeking from the bushes (as seems to be the local habit in Twin Peaks, maybe even the meaning behind the town’s name), Jacoby discovers Maddy walking around and waiting for someone. Jacoby is momentarily lost in his memories at the sight of Laura, failing to notice a dark figure approaching him from behind. The figure beats Dr. Jacoby repeatedly before recognizing that the man is having what appears to be a heart attack. Jacoby witnesses Maddy being picked up by Donna and James, and calls out to them weakly before they depart. His cries go unheard.

The camera closes on Dr. Jacoby’s wide eyes as he is left behind in the park. Darkness embraces him, and perhaps this closes the loop on Jacoby. Were he truly Laura’s killer, would someone really need to kill him as well? What if someone witnessed what he said, taking his words and his reaction on seeing Laura as an admission of guilt? Then again, it could simply be someone going to any means to tie up their loose ends.

We then find ourselves at the roulette table of One-Eyed Jack’s. Ed (Everett McGill) isn’t having the best of times here, but Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) appears to be doing quite well at the blackjack table. In pure James Bond fashion, his eyes are focused on his dealer, the infamous Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz). Cooper is so focused on the task at hand that he kindly refuses a whispered proposition from one of Jack’s Ladies. He slides a purple poker chip towards Jacques, one with a hole that matches the broken piece of plastic found in Laura’s stomach in her autopsy. On telling Jacques that he’s a friend of Leo’s, Jacques immediately denies having heard of him. Cooper offers to buy Jacques a drink, since they have much to discuss.

We cut to Blackie O’Reilly’s (Victoria Catlin)office. Audrey Horne enters the room, dressed in a beautiful white and red lingerie that really brings out a pop in her eyebrows. That may sound weird, but hear me out. Eyebrows tend to frame one’s eyes. Oddly shaped and/or off-colored, they can change the look of a person’s face. If you think that’s odd, compare Rooney Mara’s Elizabeth with Noomi Rapace’s in The Dragon Tattoo films and tell me I’m wrong. Audrey Horne (and by extension, Sherilyn Fenn) has some impressive eyebrows, along with a little beauty mark on the left side.

AudreyOEJ

Okay, getting back on track.

Approaching Blackie’s desk, Audrey glances down at the video feed and notices Cooper sitting at the blackjack table. He must have read her letter, the probably thinks, though the audience knows that the envelope is still unopened in Cooper’s room at the lodge. This catches her off guard, but she quickly recovers. Blackie informs Audrey that she’s to meet the owner of One Eyed Jack’s for a special rendezvous. Audrey asks who the owner is, but Blackie won’t tell. Blackie has Audrey pick a card. The Queen of Diamonds is chosen, and Blackie rests her hand on Audrey’s, giving her a knowing smile.

We cut to One Eyed Jack’s and a truly smooth scene. Cooper and Jacques are having drinks. Cooper asks Jacques if he knows him. When Jacques claims that he doesn’t, Cooper has him take the broken poker chip from his pocket and explains its importance – that he and his brother were doing drug running with Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) and even going so far to mimic Waldo the Bird’s “Laura” chirp. Jacques tries to bolt, but Cooper grabs him and asks how he believes Leo was ever able to finance the drug running they did. Jacques puts things together and figures that Cooper is the one truly in charge. He also doesn’t know who was covering the dealing on the U.S. Side of the border, though mentions it was a “high school kid”. Cooper gives him $10,000 and offers him a mission stateside. Jacques agrees to meet Cooper at the water processing plant at Black Lake, which he doesn’t realize is what everyone needs for his extradition.

twin-peaks-blackjack

Before Jacques leaves, Cooper asks him one final question on how the chip ended up the way it did. Here comes the reveal. Jacques explains that Waldo liked Laura, and happened to say her name often. At the cabin, everyone (Ronette, Leo, Jacques and Laura) partied pretty hard with drugs, and Leo was the one who let the bird out of the cage. In the middle of their tryst, Laura complained about the bird. According to Jacques, Leo responded by putting the chip in her mouth and asking her “bite the big one, baby”. The moment is something of a gross out, with a close up of Jacques mouth as he says that phase. Cooper thanks him and sends Jacques on his way, letting Hawk (Michael Horse) and Sheriff Truman know that the trap is set.

Meanwhile, Audrey is making preparations to meet with the owner of One Eyed Jack’s. Who is this mystery man? What’s his connection to Laura? Can Audrey get any information out of this that can lead to Laura’s murderer (and improve her standing with Agent Cooper)? Can she get out of this situation? Where is Cooper? The scene is brief, but it serves to set up where Audrey stands by the end of the season.

Shelly (Madchen Amick) washes her hair in the kitchen sink, setting her pistol on the table next to her. When she gets some shampoo in her eye, she tries to reach for the towel. We can see that the towel is being pulled just out of reach. Someone else is in the room. She makes the realization just a second too late as Leo grabs her before she can really get her gun. “You made me do this, Shelly, you made me!” he yells at her before the scene cuts away.

Nighttime. The Water-processing plant. Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) and Andy(Harry Goaz) are waiting for Jacques Renault to make his appearance. When he does, the police arrive in force and corner him. Truman makes it official, arresting him for the attempted murder of Ronette Pulaski and the murder of Laura Palmer. A brief scuffle occurs and Renault breaks free, grabbing an officer’s gun to use on Truman. Before he can fire a shot, however, Jacques himself is shot in the shoulder and slumps down to the ground near a car. Lo and behold, Truman’s savior is none other than good old Andy, who’s redeemed himself since his gun went off some time ago. It was a indeed a great moment for our favorite deputy and he shines here.

Andy Saves The Day

We’re at Donna’s place. With her father (William Frost) on the phone in the other room, she moves to the kitchen where James and Maddie are standing, along with a type player. They play the tape they found from the coconut. It’s Laura’s voice, who explains that she’s “a weird mood”. She goes on to say that James is a sweet guy and all, but she’s looking for something a little more edgy. Laura speaks of a mystery man that’s tried to kill her a few times during sex, but that she’s into it. She doesn’t give the man’s name, but gives a clue with his red corvette. So now, the truth is out. Laura was with Leo, on purpose, and in a relationship with a few sadomasochistic tendencies. Consoled by Donna, James says he’s happy to know the truth, else he would have followed along in the belief that Laura was still very much innocent in nature. Donna’s father comes in from the other room, to tell her he has to rush to the hospital for an incident and leaves.

That’s one of the running themes in this episode of Twin Peaks. Some of the characters here have changed natures. Some you thought were kind, you come to find weren’t. Some you thought as wicked do have some good intentions, deep down.

The next scene has Leo bringing in canisters of gasoline to the Mill, making the necessary preparations to burn it down. Getting rid of two birds with one stone, he has Shelly tied and gagged in the Mill as well. He informs her that she has a much time as it takes for the explosive he set to explode to think about what she did to him. He also mentions that Bobby Briggs is a dead man and that she broke his heart. Is this the end of sweet Shelly, who just wanted to get out of an unstable relationship?

We’re now at Ed and Nadine’s place. A blanket is set on the floor, as Nadine (Wendy Robie) kneels on it while wearing a beautiful pink dress. A lullaby version of Angelo Badalmenti’s theme plays sweetly here as she pours herself both a glass of water and a bowl full of pills. She says “Goodbye”, her depression getting the best of her. Will Ed, who’s back at One Eyed Jack’s, be able to reach her in time?

At Josie’s (Joan Chen), Hank (Chris Mulkey) receives his money and mentions that it doesn’t quite seem like enough. He presents a story to her on the value of the 18 months he spent in jail, and suggests that he was the one who killed Josie’s husband (probably for her). He also mentions having taken the rap for a vehicular manslaughter charge. This scene is set up well with Mulkey hitting a mark that has him standing under a deer’s head. The angle presents him with horns by his head as he talks to Josie, making him appear much like the Devil in 1922’s Haxan or Tim Curry’s Darkness in Ridley Scott’s Legend, laying bare all of her sins. Hank also informs her that “once you’re in business with someone, you’re in business with them for life, like a marriage”. To solidify the union, he cuts both their thumbs open and mingles their blood, leaving Josie in a state of shock and me thinking of all the germs they just shared. It’s a scene that gets the job done and makes both characters more interesting, in my eyes. It takes Hank and suddenly makes him more useful than I felt he was for most of the season, and also gives Josie a larger problem than just the threatened destruction of the Mill. Additionally, she’s not the innocent princess she played herself out to be. Can Josie escape this situation? What would she have to do to make that happen? How long will she have to keep paying Hank to keep him quiet.

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The next scene finds us in Catherine Martell’s (Piper Laurie) office, and this one is really cute. Pete (Jack Nance) walks in, finding Catherine rummaging through her files and angry at something she can’t find. She turns on him, asking him where the account ledger is. Pete claims he didn’t take it, and Catherine accuses him of maybe working with Josie to undermine her. As they talk, Pete has to close the window blinds to keep the nosy co-workers from doing that Twin Peaks past-time. They reminisce over the past, the love they had. Pete bears her no ill will over how she’s been as of late. She reveals she’s in trouble, and needs his help. They make amends and he agrees to help. It’s a tender moment.

It’s a dark and stormy night. At the precinct, Hawk and Ed are telling everyone about how Andy saved the day. The story falls within earshot of Lucy (Kimmy Robertson), who walks over to the kitchenette. This is it. It’s Andy’s moment, she’s impressed. He steps into the kitchenette, closes the doors for a bit of privacy and throws all his longing into a single heartfelt kiss that (thankfully) Lucy responds to. At this point, I’m truly happy for Andy.

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“Aw! There you go, Andy!!”, I say with a little applause.

“Oh Andy…” Lucy says. I lean forward to listen, smiling.

“Punky”, he says, listening.

“Punky?” I ask, thinking of Punky Brewster, an old show from the ‘80s.

“I’m pregnant.” Lucy says.

“What!!!???” I say, blinking before laughing. “What is with this show!?”

Andy, of course, is shocked into silence, as is everyone else. Lucy steps out of the kitchenette and informs everyone there’s “Fresh coffee” available before returning to her desk. It’s Ed head shake as he walks off camera that sells the scene. What the heck happened here?

Lucy receives a call from Bobby, playing as if he’s Leo. He tells her that Agent Cooper should look into James and that he’s an “Easy Rider”, alluding to the classic Dennis Hopper film featuring bikers smuggling drugs in their gas tanks.

At the hospital, Jacques Renault is being interrogated by Truman and Cooper. On questioning, Jacques confesses to taking Ronette and Laura to the cabin as well as taking the naughty photos of them (at Laura’s request). He got into a fight with Leo over a bottle that was broken over his head. Jacques woke up outside of the cabin, with Leo, Laura and Ronette gone. He knows nothing of the train car, but used Leo’s shirt to stop the bleeding in his head. Truman and Cooper speculate that Leo took the girls to the train car, and that they need to get Jacques to testify against Leo. They have their man.

Truman and Cooper also check in on Dr. Jacoby, the reason for Donna’s dad rushing into the Hospital. According to Dr. Hayward, Jacoby reporting getting a call from Laura Palmer and saw her by Easter Park before the incident. This changes things in the investigation for Cooper and Truman. As far as they know, the body they buried is Laura. Rosenfeld (Miguel Ferrer) confirmed it, and others did. What did Jacoby see out there?

As we reach the final 10 minutes of the episode, the pace quickens.

While searching for the Ledger, Catherine Martell receives a call from Hank, telling her the Ledger can be found at the mill. She makes herself ready to go, taking a revolver with her.

Hank confesses his feelings to Norma (Peggy Lipton), in that he wants to earn her trust again. He simply asks for a bit more time. However, even with a kiss, Norma knows that trusting Hank might bring her more trouble than she’d want.

Ed finally returns home to find Nadine unconscious on the floor. He quickly calls for an ambulance. Cradling her in his arms, he asks her not to leave him. Despite what he feels for Norma, there’s still a lot of love for Nadine there.

Back at the precinct, Lucy gives Truman the note about the call from “Leo”. On the way out to pick up James, Truman runs into Leland, who’s heard that they have a suspect in custody. Truman won’t give any details, but Leland gets the idea that the hospital might have the answers.

James is brought in. James gives Cooper the tape of Laura, but Cooper has questions for him, mostly about the drugs in his gas tank. Is James going to jail? Can he exonerate himself?

At the Great Western, Ben Horne receives a call from Hank, saying that they have to close the loop on Leo. Ben gives the go ahead. When Bobby goes by Shelly’s to check in on her, he’s confronted by Leo, who attacks him with an axe. Before he can land a killing blow, a shot rings out from outside, hitting him in the neck. He falls to a slump on the soft, and when Bobby peeks out the window, he finds Hank walking away. Bobby leaves Leo to his fate. What’s funny here is that the tv mirrors the reactions of the audience. I thought that was well done.

Shelly is tied up still at the Mill. Catherine, who’s amazingly calm in this scene, manages to rescue Shelly as the Mill begins to burn down. The scene transitions with someone hitting a fire alarm, but instead of being at the Mill, we’re at the hospital. A dark figure tapes Jacques Renault’s free hand to his bed and then proceeds to suffocate him with a pillow. As the pillow is pulled back, Leland Palmer is revealed as Jacques’ killer, justice served for what was done to his daughter. Back at the Mill, Pete rushes in with a fire extinguisher to rescue Catherine, if he can. Will he survive the fire? Did Catherine or Shelly?

Ben Horne can be seen signing some documents, sitting at a familiar desk with red drapes. We come to find he’s in Blackie’s office at One Eyed Jack’s. Blackie congratulates him on the deal with the Icelanders, referring to him as Boss. Boss?! He asks to have a look at the “New Girl”. As the finishing touches are being made on Audrey, she instantly recognizes the voice of Ben Horne, her own father as he begins to enter the room. Though neither have seen the other in this scene, Audrey now knows that he is the owner of One Eyed Jack’s. She’s also in some serious trouble.

The finale ends with Cooper returning to his room at the Great Northern. He’s pleased at the silence of having the Icelanders gone. With the exception of hot milk and a warm bed, he’s looking forward to it. “24 Hour Room service must be one of the premiere achievements of modern civilization.” He says. Stepping into the room, he finds an envelope labeled “My special agent”, presumably from Audrey. When the phone rings, he picks it up, but is distracted by a knock at the door. We can hear either Hawk or Andy on the phone, informing him that Leo Johnson was shot, but this doesn’t reach Cooper’s ears. On opening the door, a dark figure faces him, armed with a silenced pistol.

The pistol fires three times, and a thud is heard as we fade to black. Is Cooper Dead? Who shot him? And if he is dead, who’s going to save Audrey?! These and other questions will hopefully have answers in tomorrow’s recap of the Season 2 Premiere, which I’m also writing.

I’ll promise to keep it short next time.

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