TV Review: Twin Peaks: The Return Parts One and Two (dir by David Lynch) (SPOILERS)

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

As I sit here working on my recap of the first two episodes of Showtime’s revival of Twin Peaks, it’s occurring to me that this is not going to be an easy job. Last month, when Leonard, Jeff, and I were reviewing the show’s first two seasons, we had the advantage of knowing where the story was leading. We knew what would be important and what was a red herring.

With this revival, we no longer have that luxury. I have no idea where this show is going. All I know, for sure, is that David Lynch has given us 18 hours of new material. It’s not necessarily going to be easy to review the revival. I can already tell that. From what I’ve heard and read, it appears that Lynch approached this less as a TV series and more as an 18-hour movie. I’ve already noticed that several reviewers are already overplaying the “Twin Peaks is weird” angle. David Lynch may be a surrealist but there is always a definite logic to all of his work. You just have to have the patience to find it and I imagine that’ll be the case with Twin Peaks: The Return as well.

I’ve already shared my initial thoughts on the first two episodes and Ryan The TrashFilm Guru has posted a review of his own. What follows below is a more in-depth recap of what we saw last night. Needless to say, if you haven’t seen the first two episodes of the revival yet, this entire post is one huge spoiler. So, read it at your own risk!

Okay — ready?

Let’s go!

We start where we left, with a clip from 27 years ago. In the Black Lodge, Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) tells Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) that she will see him in 25 years.

Cut to Twin Peaks, the town that we all know and love. The trees are still shrouded in fog. The high school hallways are empty. Laura Palmer’s homecoming queen picture still sits in the trophy case. The title appears. Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting theme music starts to play. We see the waterfall. We read the opening credits. Twin Peaks is back.

In the Black Lodge, a much older Giant (Carel Struycken) talks to an aged Cooper. The inhabitants of the Lodge still speak backwards and we are still provided with subtitles so that we can follow what they’re saying. Cooper still speaks in his normal voice, indicating that he may be trapped in the Lodge but he has yet to truly become a part of it. The Giant tells Cooper to listen to the sounds and looks over at an old-fashioned phonograph. “It is in our house now,” the Giant says. “Remember Four Three Zero. Richard and Linda. Two birds with one stone.”

“I understand,” Cooper says. (I’m glad someone does.)

Cut to a trailer sitting in the middle of nowhere. A pickup truck drives up. The truck has two cardboard boxes in the bed. Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) comes out of the trailer and gets the boxes. What’s inside the boxes? Shovels, of course! Jacoby certainly does seem to be happy to have them. Maybe he’s still looking for that necklace that Donna and James buried 25 years ago…

Cut to New York City. Sam Colby (Ben Rosenfield) has a new job. He sits on a couch in a room and he watches a black box that is sitting inside of a glass box. His job is to see if anything happens in the box and to make sure that there is always a camera filming the box. There’s a guard posted outside of the room. Sam’s friend, Tracey (Madeline Zima), is allowed to bring him coffee but she’s not allowed to enter the room or see the boxes. The sight of Sam sitting in that room, staring at that box, reminded me of the scenes with Michael Anderson as the man who controlled Hollywood in Mulholland Drive. As creepy as that box may have been, it was the stillness of this scene that made me nervous. Sam seemed remarkably uninterested in why exactly he had to watch the box and that lack of curiosity struck me as odd and just a little depressing.

Cut to … oh my God, we’re back at the Great Northern! And there’s Ben Horne (Richard Beymer)! He’s in his office and he’s leering at his new secretary, Barbara (Ashley Judd). It’s just like old times and, of course, it’s nice to see that Ben survived striking his head on the fireplace mantle 25 years ago. That said, Ben appears to have given up on being a do-gooder. He’s back to obsessing over money. Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) drops by for a visit and reveals that, since Washington legalized marijuana, he’s made a fortune. Way to go, Jerry!

Cut to the Sheriff’s Department and there’s Lucy (Kimmy Robertson)! An insurance salesman comes in and asks to see Sheriff Truman. Lucy asks him if he wants to see the Sheriff Truman who is sick or the Sheriff Truman who is out of the office. Neither one is available.

Cut to a country road. Someone is driving down the street while listening to evil music. The driver is none other than … Agent Cooper? Well, it kind of looks like Agent Cooper but it’s not Cooper. For one thing, this guy has long, greasy hair and doesn’t wear a dark suit. He also doesn’t smile. He has cold, dead eyes. For another thing, he parks next to a shack and beats up a redneck, which is not exactly Agent Cooper behavior. Then he goes inside, where he meets Buelah and Otis. He tells them that he has come to pick up Ray (George Griffith) and Darya (Nicole LaLiberte). I don’t remember Agent Cooper having such an affinity for white trash…

Oh wait! That’s not Agent Cooper! That must be Cooper’s Doppelganger!

Meanwhile, back in New York, Tracey shows up with more coffee. She and Sam are shocked to discover that the guard has left his post. This means that Tracey can now go into the room and see the mysterious box for herself! It also means that she and Sam can have some fun on the couch. While they do, Sam suddenly sees that the inside of the glass box has turned black. Suddenly, what appears to be a demonic creature appears in the box. It springs through the glass and, in a scene that leaves no doubt that this is Showtime Twin Peaks and not ABC Twin Peaks, it literally rips Sam and Tracey into pieces.

Along with giving me a good fright, this scene made me sad because I thought Sam and Tracey were a cute couple. The reviewer at TVLine complained about Sam and Tracey and the actors playing them and I really have to wonder what show he watched because, to me, both Ben Rosenfield and Madeline Zima were likable and sympathetic in their brief time on screen. Then again, the TVLine recapper also managed to confuse Bobby Briggs and James Hurley so we know he’s not a true Twin Peaks fan.

I should also mention that this scene, with hints of the demons flickering in the darkness before the sudden attack, reminded me of the infamous “there’s an evil man behind the dumpster” scene from Mulholland Drive.

Cut to Buckhorn, South Dakota. We’re confronted with a very Lynchian image. A fat woman walks a tiny dog down the hallway of an apartment building. She stops when she smells a terrible stench coming from the neighbor’s apartment. She calls the police, worried that her neighbor Ruth Davenport may be dead.

The police arrive and it takes them forever to find a key to open up the apartment. This is one of those sequences that Lynch loves, the sequence were a simple task is made progressively more and more difficult by awkward minutia. The neighbor doesn’t know if there’s a manager available but then remembers that the manager’s been committed to an asylum. However, the manager’s brother might have the key. But she doesn’t know where the brother is but the brother’s friend, Hank Filmore (Max Perlich), might know. Hank does know but he refuses to tell and then the neighbor suddenly mentions that she has an extra key to the apartment. When the police finally get inside the apartment, they discover the naked remains of Ruth Davenport in bed. Her eyes have been removed and her head has been disconnected from her body.

Continuing the Mulholland Drive comparison, the discovery of Ruth’s body was shot in much the same way as the discovery of Diane Selwyn’s body in Mulholland Drive. As well, Brent Briscoe played a detective in Mulholland Drive and he plays one in Twin Peaks as well, leading the investigation into Ruth’s murder.

Cut back to Twin Peaks. The Log Lady (Catherine Coulson) calls Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse), who is now Deputy Chief Hawk and who is in charge while Sheriff Truman is gone. The Log Lady tells Hawk that her log has a message. “Something is different and you have to find it,” she tells him. “It has to do with Federal Agent Dale Cooper and with your heritage. This is the message of the log.”

(Coulson died shortly after filming her scenes here and her frailty make her scenes here unexpectedly poignant. As she talks to Hawk, it’s obvious that both of them know that this could be their last conversation.)

Back in South Dakota, Detective Dave is informed that one man’s finger prints have been found all over Ruth’s apartment. The finger prints belonged to Bill Hastings (Matthew Lillard), a respected high school principal. As his shocked wife, Phyllis (Cornelia Guest), watches, Bill is arrested and charged with murder. “But the Morgans are coming to dinner!” Phyllis shouts as Dave leads Bill away.

Back at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department, Hawk, Lucy, and Andy (Harry Goaz) gather in the conference room. Hawk order them to look through all the files on the disappearance as Dale Cooper. Lucy says that Cooper disappeared 24 years ago and then mentions that her son is 24 years old. “He was born on the same day as Marlon Brando,” Lucy says.

Back in South Dakota, Dave is interrogating Bill. When Dave asks Bill if he’s ever heard of Ruth Davenport, Bill says that he only knew her in passing. He denies having ever been to Ruth’s apartment but, when he says it, he nervously glances around the room. Is Bill hiding something or is he just nervous as anyone who has been arrested — whether guilty or innocent — would be? It turns out that Bill can’t account for where he was during every minute of the previous night. Dave jots down some notes on a legal pad. That’s never good. Bill wants a lawyer. Dave says that lawyer is on the way but he also asks if there’s anything else Bill would like to add “before we get a lawyer involved.” At this point, I was yelling at the screen, “Stop talking! The police are not your friends!” Dave immediately proved my point by accusing Bill of murder and then taking him to a jail cell.

Dave and the cops then go back to the Hastings house, the time with a search warrant. While the police search his car, Bill sits in his jail cell and probably wonders why he hasn’t been allowed to see his lawyer yet.

Suddenly, Dave arrives with Phyllis. Phyllis steps into the cell and tells Bill that they’re not going to give him bail. Bill says that he was never in Ruth’s apartment but that he had a dream the night that she was killed. “Fuck you!” Phyllis sanps, “you fucking bastard!” She reveals that she knows that Bill was cheating on her with Ruth. Bill shouts back that he knows about Phyllis and someone named George. Phyllis taunts him. “You’re going down. Life in prison.”

After Phyllis leaves, Bill sits in his cell. Little does he know that, three cells down, a shadowy man is sitting on a bed. The shadow slowly fades away, becoming a wisp of smoke that eventually dissipates in the air.

Phyllis arrives home. Doppelganger Cooper is waiting for her. Phyllis smiles and asks what he’s doing there. Doppelganger Cooper replies that Phyllis did a good job duplicating human nature and then shoots her in the head.

Cut to Las Vegas, Nevada. A man in an office (Patrick Fischler, who also played the man who had a morbid — and justifiable fear — of the dumpster behind the diner in Mulholland Drive) talks to his associate Roger about a mysterious figure who “uses” him. “You better hope you never have someone like him in your life,” the man says.

Cut to a diner in South Dakota, where Doppelganger Cooper has an awkward dinner with Ray and Darya. Doppelganger Cooper tells Ray that he doesn’t “need anything.” However, he does want things. Ray kind of smirks. Doppelganger Cooper explains that what he wants is information.

Cut to Ghostwood Forest. Equipped with a flashlight, Hawk walks. He gets a call from the Log Lady. “The stars turn,” she tells hm, “and a time presents itself.” The Log Lady says she wishes she could go with Hawk but then tells him to stop by. She has coffee and pie for him. Hawks says he will, as he approaches Glastonbury Grove, which once served as the entrance into the Black Lodge.

Speaking of the Black Lodge, Cooper is still sitting in the waiting room. He has been joined by MIKE (Al Strobel), the one-armed man. “Is it the future or is it the past?” MIKE asks before saying that someone has come to see Cooper.

Enter Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), still wearing the black dress from the last time that we saw her but definitely no longer a teenager. (Of course, this is because 25 years has passed not only on the show but in real life as well. Still, in the world of Twin Peaks, it’s interesting that time passes in The Black Lodge and people continue to age, even after they die.) Cooper and Laura recite some of the same dialogue from the dream that Cooper had during the third episode of the first season of Twin Peaks.

When Laura says, “I am Laura Palmer,” Cooper replies that Laura is dead.

“I am dead,” Laura says, “yet I live.”

Laura opens her face like a door, revealing a bright white light.

“When can I go?” Cooper asks as Laura closes her face.

Laura kisses Cooper and then, just as she did in the original dream, she starts to whisper in his ear while the aged Cooper smiles.

Suddenly, the curtains shake and Laura screams. Something appears to yank her into the air and she vanishes. A wind blow through the lodge and suddenly, the curtain disappear. The same white horse that, 25 years earlier, appeared to Sarah Palmer now appears to Cooper.

Suddenly, Cooper is back in the waiting room and MIKE is again asking if it is the past or the future.

MIKE leads Cooper into another room, one that is inhabited by a tree that has what appears to be a perfectly smooth brain sitting atop of it. MIKE says that the tree is his arm. The tree starts to speak to Cooper. It asks if Cooper remembers his doppelgänger. Cooper does and we get a flashback to this still powerful scene:

The tree explains that before Cooper can go out, the Doppelganger must return to the Black Lodge.

Meanwhile, in South Dakota, the Doppelganger is busy killing people. First he kills a business associate and then he returns to his motel and confronts Darya with the knowledge that someone hired her and Ray to kill him. Darya says that she doesn’t know who hired them and puts all of the blame on Ray. The Doppelganger reveals that he’s supposed to go back to the Black Lodge but he’s not planning on returning. Then, in a disturbing and deeply unpleasant scene that I personally felt went on a bit too long, the Doppelganger beats and then murders Darya.

Having killed Darya, the Doppelganger places a phone call to Philip Jeffries, the FBI agent who was played by David Bowie in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. They have a cryptic conversation. Philip says that the Doppelganger should be in New York and then says that the Doppelganger met with Major Garland Briggs. “How did you know that!?” the Doppelganger demands. “I just called to say goodbye,” Philip says.

The Doppelganger downloads the plans for Yankton Federal Prison and then walks down to another motel room. There he is greeted by Chantel (Jennifer Jason Leigh!). He tells Chantel that he needs her to go “clean up” the other room. Chantel is more than happy to do it.

At the Black Lodge, Cooper continues to stare at the tree. The tree says that Cooper can go but when Cooper goes out to the hallway, he finds that he still cannot pass through the curtains and back into our world. Cooper continues to walk through the Lodge until he discovers Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) sitting in a leather chair.

“Find Laura,” Leland says.

Suddenly, MIKE and the Tree appear again. MIKE says something is wrong. The tree says to find the Doppelganger. Cooper continues to walk around the lodge. (Is this all he’s been doing for the past 25 years?) He finally manages to open the curtains and finds himself watching as his Doppelganger drives down a desert road. Suddenly, the tree appears and starts lashing out at him with its limbs.

“Non-existent!” the tree snaps.

Cooper falls through the floor of the Lodge. Suddenly, he’s in the glass box in New York. And he can see Tracey and Sam having the same conversation that they had before they were killed by the weird demon creature. (Is time looping back on itself, in much the same way that it did at the end of Lost Highway with Bill Pullman telling his future self that “Dick Laurent is dead?”)

Suddenly, Cooper is falling again.

In Twin Peaks, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) sits alone in the Palmer House, drinking, smoking, and watching one of those traumatic nature documentaries where predators eat their prey in closeup.

At the Roadhouse, the Chromatics are singing a beautifully dream-like song. Shelley (Madchen Amick) is sitting at a booth with a group of friends. She says she’s worried about her daughter, Becky. Suddenly, they see that James Hurley (James Marshall) has entered the bar and is now looking over at them.

“What’s wrong with that guy?” one of them says.

“There’s nothing wrong with that guy!” Shelley says, “He was in a motorcycle accident but he’s just quiet. He’s always been cool.”

And it’s such a sweet scene, even if it does feel a bit odd since Shelley and James didn’t even seem to know each other during the original series. I found myself wondering if Shelley is now married to Bobby Briggs. If James ends up stealing Shelley away (and that certainly seems a possibility, especially with Lara Flynn Boyle not coming back to reprise the role of Donna Hayward), this will be the second time Bobby has lost a lover to James.

(By the way, both James Marshall and Madchen Amick have aged wonderfully. If anything, James Marshall is far more handsome now than he was during the first two seasons of the show.)

There was also some excitement online when Walter Olkewicz appeared as the bartender at the roadhouse. Could it be, we all wondered, that Jacques Renault was once again alive!? Well, no. According to the credits, Olkewicz was playing Jean-Michel Renault. Apparently, he’s the fourth Renault brother.

And that’s how this perplexing episode ends. The Chromatics perform on the Roadhouse while two of our favorite characters acknowledge each other. At times, I loved this episode. At times, I was frustrated. However, I was always intrigued and this ending — this wonderfully sentimental little moment between Shelley and James — was the perfect way to cap it all off.

Do I understand everything that happened tonight? No, but it doesn’t matter. I can’t wait to see where Lynch is taking us next.

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.16 “The Condemned Woman” (dir by Lesli Linka Glatter)

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Leonard Wilson

twin-peaks-sign

My apologies for the delay on this everyone.

“The Condemned Woman” refers to Josie Packard (Joan Chen), who has just about the worst day of her life in her episode.

It all begins with the items left by Windom Earle on Sheriff Truman’s (Michael Ontkean) desk. After listening to the tape recording, Truman notes that he’s not going to let Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) out of his sight. Cooper lets Truman know that if Windom really wanted him dead, it would have happened already. Looking over the chess board, they give a call to Lucy, to have Pete Martell (Jack Nance) come by the sheriff’s office as soon as they can. When he’s done with the phone, he finds Cooper gazing longingly at the face mask on the table.

“She was the love of my life, Harry.” Cooper says, speaking of Caroline Earle (Brenda Mathers).

We find Pete on the phone with Lucy, letting her know that he’ll be right over to the precinct as soon as he can. He then serves breakfast to Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) and Andrew Packard (Dan O’Herlihy), who is surprised any the arrangement of his breakfast into a face. As the two have a good chuckle, Catherine interrupts by asking Pete to get the salt and paper. Pete does so, wishes them well, and then heads out. Over breakfast, Catherine asks about Ghostwood. Andrew informs her that everything’s set and she should be leaving for Paris the next day.

The door opens and Josie walks in, so shocked to find Andrew alive that she passes out on the floor. Not a good start for Josie in this episode.

In Truman’s office, Hawk (Michael Horse) brings in Hank (Chris Mulkey) who is arrested for the attempted murder of Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re). Hank says he’s not there, but Truman mentions he has a witness saying he’s there. Hank offers to be a witness regarding the murder for Andrew Packard, and points the finger at Josie. This causes Hawk to react and kick the crutches out from under Hank, making him collapse on the table before taking him out of the room. Truman has a moment of brief anger after Hank is escorted out.

In an adjacent office, Al Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) lays it all out. The bullets from a recently deceased individual match the ones pulled from Cooper’s torso, all leading to Josie Packard. Cooper asks Rosenfeld to hold off, as he’s going to speak with Josie and ask her to turn herself in.

Back at the Great Northern, Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) receives an envelope before taking over the Concierge desk as part of her training. A young man (Billy Zane, Titanic), approaches the desk and asks to have his luggage brought in. He recognizes her and mentions he has a photo of her in a dress and pigtails, with fond memories. He remembers her playing as Heidi. She recalls the memory as well, though she was 10 at the time. Why is he holding on to that picture? Before she can say anything about it, he’s already left the table and is moving on. Going back to the envelope, she finds the right side of a torn paper with parts of messages. It contains words such as:

High heaven…

One another;

Be forgiven

Brother;

The earth

Kiss the sea:

Work worth

Me?

It also contains a message to meet at the Roadhouse at 9:30. Strange stuff, indeed.

We’re at Ed (Everett McGill) and Nadine’s (Wendy Robie). He’s fixed the damage to the shelves when Nadine arrives to inform him that she and Mike are in love. They had a wonderful time at their wrestling trip. At first, Ed is a little upset, but she reminds him that he and Norma (Peggy Lipton) are together, so why not? Nadine informs Ed it’s time to break up.

In the next scene, Cooper and Josie are talking about what they found. He tells her she has to come by the Precinct later today or he’s going to come hunting for her. When he leaves, Catherine (who’s been listening in the entire time) comes in and asks what’s wrong, pointing out all of the ways that Josie’s in trouble. Between Eckhardt coming after her and the police, she’s in a corner. It’s Piper Laurie playing the wicked role to a “T”, and she’s great in this scene. In the book-case, Catherine takes a pair of keys, leaving behind the Walter PPK, which Josie cradles. She may need that later on.

We’re at the Great Northern, and Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) is in wonderful spirits after his recovery tied to the Civil War re-enactment Dr. Jacoby helped with. Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook), Audrey and Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) are on hand. As they talk the young man Audrey met earlier enters the office and is introduced as John Justice Wheeler.

The Horne’s (with a Brigg) gather for a meeting.

At the sit down, Ben explains that Horne Industries is in a bad way. The lands once owned by them are now owned by the Martells. His plan includes a Pine Weasel, indigenous to Twin Peaks, but almost extinct. They plan to fight the Ghostwood Development with this, and if that works out, perhaps he’ll run for the Senate. If that storyline works out, it would be interesting if it’s referenced in the Revival next month. I’ll admit that I like this version of Ben Horne. He’s less of a weasel (for want of a better word) than what he was up until now.

At the RR Cafe, a man pays his tab and leaves. On the table where he sat is an envelope for Shelly (Madchen Amick). Norma is on the phone with her sister, and explains to Shelly that her sister Annie will be visiting her from a local convent. They both discover the envelope and Shelly opens it, revealing another part of the letter that was given to Audrey earlier. Shelly’s has the following:

Waves clasp…

Flower wo…

Ordained it’s….

Sunlight…

The moon beams…

A long lost love, found at last.

Along with this is the same notification to meet at the Roadhouse at 9:30. As they think about it, Ed comes into the cafe with a deeply focused look. He walks right up to Norma and tells her that he’s loved her for years and this is their time now. Ed gives Norma a sweet embrace, a sweeter kiss, and Shelly leaves them be with a smile. Nice one, Ed.

We’re outside somewhere, and Leo (Eric Da Re) is whittling a piece of wood into Arrows, though he doesn’t speak. The man we saw at the diner (Kenneth Welsh) talks to Leo while examining some arrowheads. They have something planned for Twin Peaks, though what that is, we’re not sure.

In prison, Norma visits Hank, who’s still bruised from getting beat up by Nadine.. Hank asks her to vouch for her to help get out, but she’s not having any of it. She’s leaving him, and that’s that. He tells her to give him an alibi and he’ll give her a divorce. She still won’t cave in, and to this, Hank calls her a whore.

Norma’s response made me laugh, given that Billy Zane is also in this episode. She uses a line that James Cameron would also use later on in his film Titanic (said to Billy Zane’s Character):

“I’d rather be his whore than your wife.”

That makes me wonder if Cameron was a fan of Twin Peaks. Anyway, Norma leaves a screaming Hank behind, heading off to her new life with Ed.

We’re at the conference room in the precinct, with Pete, Truman and Cooper mulling over a Chess board. Pete, after much deliberation, makes a move and states that it will take Windom Earle some time to counter that one in a way that would remove a chess piece and lead to another killing.

In walks Rosenfield, with some more news on the forensics report. He steps out into the hallway with Cooper, explaining that they matched the gunpowder on Josie’s gloves with the bullets from before, and they have a witness who saw her leave the location of the recently deceased. Though Cooper states he handles it, an upset Truman steps into the hall, staring at both men.

He knows. Truman leaves, heading for Josie’s.

We find Josie working on her makeup when Andrew walks into the room and offers her a drink. As they sit down and talk, it’s revealed that Andrew truly loved Josie very much, but the same couldn’t be said of Josie. When she asks for him to help her, Andrew tells her what Catherine said earlier, that she should speak with Eckhardt. On the way out, she calls to him. He tells her “We won’t speak again.”

This would have been a perfect time for Dan O’Herlihy to almost close the door, stop in reflection and then say to Josie “Oh, and Happy Halloween.” before leaving.

James (James Marshall) and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) are reunited after the escape from Evelyn’s. They’re at a picnic, and Donna wishes James well, though he has to leave Twin Peaks. They have a brief kiss and it’s a nice goodbye for James if he’s actually leaving.

Truman arrives at the Martell’s, looking for Josie. Pete and Catherine tell him that she’s off to the Great Northern, after everything that’s gone on with Eckhardt. Truman rushes off to find her.

The next scene is a great one between two veteran actors. Thomas Eckhardt (David Warner, Tron, The Omen, Time Bandits, Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze) and Andrew Packard, have a small talk in the elevator after revealing that Andrew is alive and well. The conversation is about Josie, making her sound like some sort of concubine. Andrew goes on to say that Josie loses her heart often, as she’s caught up with Sheriff Truman. Eckhardt mentions he’s taken care of that. But how, we’re left to wonder. Andrew warns Eckhardt that Josie is going to come back to him, and that’s a dangerous thing. He doesn’t get off of the elevator with Eckhardt, as he’s still considered dead to many.

Before Eckhardt leaves, Andrew calls out to him from the elevator, causing both men to pause.

“Happy Halloween.” I say, smiling, hoping O’Herlihy will say the same.

“Bye!!!” he simply says. Dammit.

Though it has nothing to do with the episode, I’d have loved to have heard Dan O’Herlihy say this.

In the main lounge of the Great Northern, Audrey, Ben and John Justice Wheeler are seated at a table. Ben asks John to be his teacher, as he’ll be the open book “upon whose virgin pages you shall scribe.” This causes Audrey to choke a little, given what she’s seen of her father. The new Ben is environmentally aware, lighting up a cigar and then putting it out at the realization. Before they can go into great detail, Ben is called away. This gives John (wishing to be called Jack) and Audrey some time to themselves. She’s a little defensive when it comes to Horne Industries and his help. Audrey asks him what he did, when he wasn’t saving the world. He states he was traveling all around, but that it’s good to be home, looking at her with a lifted brow.

“I’m only 18.” She responds with a swallow in her throat. Both Jack and I have the same reaction to this. “What does that have to do with the price of eggs?” He wasn’t coming on to her (at least, I didn’t take what was being said as such). Audrey recalls the envelope meeting and tells Jack she has to go, but that she’d be seeing him again.

I hope so, too. They seem like they’d make an interesting couple, if she can’t be with Cooper.

Someone’s leaving the women of Twin Peaks a love note, but who? And Why?

Donna finds Shelly at the bar. They make their greetings and Shelly asks Donna why she’s there. She mentions she received an envelope with part of a letter, which she lays down on the bar top. Shelly notices her letter and produces hers, laying it side by side. Audrey then appears and produces her own now. They’re able to read the complete letter:

“See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister-flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?”

It’s from Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Love’s Philosophy”, but none of the girls get the reason behind why it was sent. At the end of the bar, the man who was talking with Leo earlier watches them….watches them close.

Cooper gets a phone call in his room while learning how to Fly Fish. It’s cute how well he’s adjusting to Twin Peaks life. It’s Catherine, from the way the call sounds. Cooper says he’s going to come back there to retrieve Josie, but he’s told that Josie’s there at the Great Northern, in Thomas Eckhardt’s suite.

Cooper hangs up and grabs his gun. It’s go time.

As he walks through the hallway, he hears screaming, followed by a gunshot. Cooper bursts into the room, his gun drawn. Two figures can be seen laying in bed. One rises, revealing himself as Thomas Eckhardt, a gunshot wound in his torso. Eckhardt chuckles softly, takes a few steps and then drops to the floor, dead.

Josie is kneeled on the bed, her pistol trained on Cooper. When asked why she shot Cooper, Josie admits it was because he came to Twin Peaks and it would come to this day. Harry Truman enters the room. She then turns the pistol on him. She asks Harry to forgive him, and that she never meant to hurt him. Josie has something similar to a seizure and collapses on the bed, where Truman rushes to her aid.

It’s too late. Josie Packard, murderer of Thomas Eckhardt, shooter of Agent Cooper, and Truman’s love, loses her life. A bad day indeed.

Now here is where things get weird than they normally do on Twin Peaks. A bright light envelops the bed, and Cooper stares as BOB appears, asking “Coop!! What happened to Josie!?” in a roar. His figure is replaced by the Man From Another Place (Michael Anderson), who dances on the bed.

The light fades. Cooper’s left to wonder what he’s seen. The camera tilts to a nearby dresser, where we can see Josie or (Josie’s Soul) screaming, her face pushing through the woodwork of a dresser knob. Could the Great Northern be the Black Lodge Hawk was talking about? Why is Cooper seeing BOB after they got rid of him through Leland Palmer?

Josie Packard, meeting her fate.

Goodness, this show is so strange. It’s a better one than it deserves to be, and happily closes some of the loops, tightening up the story. No more James, No more Josie. Hopefully, the last six episodes made for a sharper tale.

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

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.15 “Slaves and Masters” (dir by Diane Keaton)

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Get a life, punk!”

— Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) in Twin Peaks 2.15 “Slaves and Masters”

Well, it had to happen some time.

We have reached the “Slave and Masters” episode of Twin Peaks. Judging from what I’ve read online, most fans seem feel that this episoode was the worst in the show’s history. Myself, I don’t know whether it is or isn’t. I’m writing this introduction before watching the episode. I guess I’ll know soon enough.

Interestingly enough, this episode was directed by actress Diane Keaton. When I first saw Keaton’s name listed as director, I assumes that she must have been a fan of the show and that she lobbied for the chance to direct an episode. However, according to Relections: An Oral History of Twin Peaks by Brad Dukes, the opposite was true. While the cast all liked and respected Keaton as a director, there was also a feeling that she didn’t seem to actually know much about the show. Considering that the show had suffered a severe ratings decline during the 2nd season, it seems probable that Keaton was hired to direct in an attempt to generate some new interest in the once hot show.

If that was the plan, it didn’t work. Apparently, the ratings for this episode were so low that Twin Peaks was put on hiatus a week after it aired. It was only due to a letter-writing campaign that ABC decided to air the last six episodes of the season. In short, it can be argued that this episode was truly the beginning of the end for Twin Peaks‘s original network run.

So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at the 23rd episode of Twin Peaks, “Slaves and Masters.”

As always, we begin with the haunting opening credits and Angelo Badalamenti’s lushly romantic (yet ominously threatening) score. The mood has been set. We have returned to the world of Twin Peaks.

After the credits, we immediately cut to a close-up of a chess board. In slow motion, the camera glides over all of the pieces. The Queen, The pawns, the King, the Bishop, the little horsey guy. (I don’t know much about chess, sorry.)

Suddenly, we’re no longer looking at chess pieces. Instead, the camera is panning up the legs of Evelyn Marsh (Annette McCarthy), who is dressed in black and even wearing a black veil and — OH MY GOD, HAS THIS STORYLINE NOT BEEN RESOLVED YET!? Seriously, when people talk about Season 2 not being as inspired as Season 1, they’re talking about this half-assed film noir rip-off that James (James Marshall) rode into after he hopped on his motorcycle and left Twin Peaks. From the minute that Evelyn first showed up, I knew exactly what was going to happen with her, James, and her husband. Much like the whole Audrey kidnapping subplot, the Evelyn Marsh subplot should not have lasted any longer than an episode and a half. Instead, it’s still going on!

Anyway, the cops are talking to Evelyn and Malcolm (Nicholas Love) about how someone might have killed her husband. Malcolm is quick to blame James but Evelyn seems a little bit more conflicted about it. There is a funny moment when Malcolm says that James was hired to fix the Jaguar and the cop can’t figure out how to spell Jaguar. That made me laugh but, otherwise, this whole scene felt predictable and unnecessary.

Meanwhile, at Wallie’s Bar, a dozen cops are sitting at the bar, smoking cigars and listening to opera music. (Weird image is weird but it’s just weirdness for the sake of weirdness.) James and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) are in a corner of the bar. Donna says that they need to get help but James is all like, “I don’t need nobody!” He says that Malcolm framed him and that he just needs to talk to Evelyn.

Donna goes to call Ed but ends up having to talk to Nadine instead. Though we only hear Donna’s side of the conversation, it sounds like Nadine is talking about her new boyfriend. If her new boyfriend is Mike (Gary Hershberger) than that means that Nadine is now dating Donna’s ex and yet, Donna seems to be remarkably okay with that.

Back at the Sheriff’s station, Harry (Michael Ontkean) and Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) are interrogating Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelly (Madchen Amick). Bobby wants to know why Harry and Cooper aren’t making more of an effort to track down Leo. Cooper asks Bobby about the night that the mill burned down. Bobby lies and says that Hank Jennings shot Leo.

Harry says that he’ll have some deputies watch the house. Bobby claims that he’s all the protection that Shelly needs. (For some reason, Bobby is acting like a methhead in this scene.) When Bobby and Shelly leave, they pass Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer), who takes one look at Bobby and shouts, “Get a life, punk!”

(We love you, Albert!)

After giving Harry an out-of-character bear hug (but that’s okay because I like it when dudes hug it out), Albert explains that he’s been sent to Twin Peaks by Gordon Cole. He has brought with him a picture of Windom Earle, in which Windom looks like an extra in a 1930s gangster movie. He also brings the news that Windom has been mailing different pieces of clothing to police agencies across the country.

Windom has mailed:

1. A white veil

2. A garter

3. A pair of white slippers

4. A peal necklace

5. A wedding dress

Oh my God, I said as Albert listed the items, Windom Earle is marrying Pippa Middleton!

Cooper says that the clothing belonged to Windom’s dead wife (and Cooper’s ex-lover), Caroline. Albert says that Windom is definitely making his move and then says that Cooper looks good in the muted earth tones of a flannel shirt. That was nice of Albert.

Meanwhile, in his cabin, Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) plays a flute while Leo (Eric Da Re) lies on the floor. (I have to be honest that these cabin scenes between Windom and Leo made me think about Peter Boyle burning down Gene Hackman’s hut in Young Frankenstein.) Once Leo wakes up, Windom — who was previously described as having a mind like a diamond, cold and precise — starts acting like a Satanic little wood sprite. He jumps around the cabin. He says a lot of evil quips. He beats Leo with a flute and then reveals that he’s placed a collar around Leo’s neck. Windom can electrocute Leo whenever he feels like it. Windom forces Leo to eat gruel while Windom pretends to be a kitty cat. “Purrrr,” he says.

(Windom’s a genius so why is he acting like a sadistic towel manager?)

We cut to Ed (Everett McGill) laying in bed with Norma (Peggy Lipton) and talking about how it’s been twenty years since they first fell in love. They agree that it’s sucked not being together. Suddenly, they hear Nadine (Wendy Robie) arriving home. Norma starts to leave but Ed says, “No, no. We may as well talk to her now.” Sure, Ed — have this conversation with Nadine while you and Norma are laying in bed in your underwear. That’ll really avoid any hurt feelings.

Suddenly, Nadine rips the bedroom door off of its hinges. She comes into the room, carrying a wrestling trophy, and then jumps into bed with Ed and Norma. Nadine apologizes for beating up Hank and then says that she knows about the two of them. Nadine says it’s okay because she’s in love with Mike now.

Cut to the Martell house, where Harry and Cooper are talking to Josie (Joan Chen) about what happened to her in Seattle. Josie says she doesn’t know who killed Jonathan. Harry begs Josie to tell him the truth. Out of nowhere, a surprisingly cheerful Cooper announces, “I think I’ll get another cup of Joe!”

(Somewhere, Joe Biden looks up and says, “Oh my God, they’re talking about me in an old episode of Twin Peaks!” No, Joe, they’re not. Sorry. Maybe later.)

While Cooper’s getting more coffee, Pete (Jack Nance) stumbles in. He has picked up the dry cleaning and can barely see above all of the clothes that he’s holding. He and Cooper do that thing where, instead of being smart and putting the clothes somewhere first, they stand around and attempt to have a conversation, despite the fact that Pete is about fall over backwards. When the phone rings, Pete gives the clothes to Cooper and now its Cooper’s turn to struggle to remain standing. Eventually, Cooper puts the clothes on a chair (was that so hard!?) and then picks one thread off of a jacket.

Speaking of Josie, the phone call was for her. It turns out that the call is from Thomas Eckhardt (David Warner) and he is wondering if he and Josie could get together. Thomas reveals that he is responsible for Jonathan’s death.

After hanging up the phone, Thomas and his assistant, Jones (Brenda Strong), stare at a black trunk.

Meanwhile, Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) is apparently still convinced that he’s a Civil War general because he’s talking to Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) about Stonewall Jackson. Much like all that stuff with Evelyn Marsh, this is a plotline that should have been resolved after an episode and a half. Instead, it’s been dragged out way past the point of being amusing. The Ben-Goes-Crazy storyline is the epitome of how Season 2 abandoned surrealism in favor of just being weird for the sake of being weird.

It turns out that Ben and Jacoby have an audience. Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) and Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) are listening. Johnny Horne (Robert Bauer) is rocking back and forth while wearing a Native American headdress. And there’s a few members of the Hotel Staff, who have been transformed into some sort of marching band.

While Ben rants in his really crummy Southern accent, Jerry and Audrey leave the office. Audrey is worried about her father but Jerry seems to be fairly indifferent. (Needless to say, this goes against everything that we’ve previously seen about Jerry and his relationship with Ben.) Audrey points out that, conveniently enough, she is set to inherit the entire Horne business empire if anything happens to Ben and that Jerry better do what she says or she’ll cut him off.

Audrey returns to Ben’s office, where Dr. Jacoby looks perplexed. Audrey walks up to him and says she wants her father to turn back to normal. Jacoby says that he’s got it all taken care of. Bobby shows up, dressed like a Confederate soldier. Ben sings Dixie. Can this storyline just end, please!?

Meanwhile, at Walli’s, Evelyn is still dressed in black. Though the bar appears to be closed (there are chairs on the tables and everything), Evelyn is drinking. Suddenly, Donna walks up to her. Why is Donna still there? How much school can you miss in Twin Peaks? Why are Evelyn and Donna both hanging out in a bar that appears to be closed?

Suddenly, the bartender wanders by, lingering just long enough for Evelyn to order Donna a drink, “one that has a little umbrella in it.” Okay, is this bar closed or open? If it’s open, why are the tables covered in chairs? This stuff is confusing, especially for a non-drinker like me.

Anyway, Donna gets mad when Evelyn says that she won’t help James. Evelyn explains that life is crap. (Her words.) Suddenly, Malcolm (Nicholas Love) shows up and tells Evelyn to go home. He then threatens Donna and Donna reacts by yelling and then crying.

Back at the station, Albert reveals that the thread that Cooper found was from the carpet outside of Cooper’s hotel room. Apparently, this proves that it was Josie who shot Cooper at the end of Season 1. Bad Josie!

After swearing Albert to secrecy, Cooper heads to Harry’s office, where Harry is playing darts. Harry tells Cooper that the dead vagrant has been identified as being Eric Powell, a former member of the Merchant Marines.

“Powell was Caroline’s maiden name!” Cooper says.

Cooper says that this is all a big chess game to Windom. Harry says that, if Cooper needs a chess expert, they have one of the best right in town. And his name is Pete Martell!

At the diner, Pete shows of his mad chess skills by playing and winning four games at once. Cooper is impressed and invites Pete to help him play Windom’s chess game. Pete better be good because, every time that Cooper loses a piece, Windom is going to kill an innocent person.

Shelly walks into the diner and asks Norma if she needs any help. Norma hires her back. Then Harry shows up and says that he needs to talk to Norma. They slip into the kitchen where Harry explains that Hank is going away for a long time. Norma’s okay with that but I’m not. Hank may be a sociopath but he’s hella charming.

That night, Thomas shows up at the Martell house, where he is greeted by Catherine (Piper Laurie). Thomas appears to be slightly surprised by the sight of Josie in her maid’s uniform. Thomas and Catherine drink wine, eat dinner, and discuss art and killing. It quickly becomes apparent that Thomas has shown up to take Josie and that Catherine is more than willing to allow him to do that, for a price.

Meanwhile, at the Marsh house, Evelyn is stunned when James shows up in the living room and demands to know why Evelyn killed her husband and attempted to frame him. James says that it was hella lame to manipulate him with everything that he’s been going through. Evelyn confesses to everything. She says that she set James up. She says she did it for the money and also just because she felt like doing it.

Suddenly, Malcolm barges into the room and knocks James out. Malcolm says that they can now kill James and claim that it was self-defense. And you know what? He has a point. Bye, James.

Meanwhile, Ben and the gang recreate another Civil War battle. This whole Civil War subplot is so freaking stupid that I don’t even feel like talking about it anymore. While pretending to be General U.S. Grant, Dr. Jacoby announces that he’s surrendering. Having won the Civil War, Ben proceeds to faint. When he wakes up, Ben says that he had the strangest dream about being a general during the Civil War. He even does the whole “And you were there …. and you … and you!” thing. Anyway, Ben appears to be back to normal.

At the cabin, Windom is putting on a disguise. He continues to torment Leo with the electroshock collar.

At the Marsh mansion, James is still unconscious on the floor while Malcolm and Evelyn look down on him. Donna watches from outside the window. When Malcolm repeats that they can kill James and make it look like self-defense, Donna runs into the living room and screams, “NO!”

As Evelyn watches Donna cry over a motionless James, she stands up. Uh-oh, she’s got a gun. Evelyn shoots Malcolm and then says that she’ll frame Malcolm for her husband’s death though I don’t think it’ll be that difficult a frame-up because Malcolm is actually guilty.

At the Great Northern, Cooper walks down a hallway and stops in front of an elevator. He looks at a picture of Caroline that he has in his wallet. As he does this, a poorly disguised Windom Earle steps off the elevator. Windom goes to the front desk an drops off a note for Audrey. (Oh, goddamnit, is this going to be the start of yet another Audrey-gets-kidnapped storyline?) He also notices several postcards that all feature owls. “Owls,” he says.

Cooper arrives back at his room. He finds a white mask on his bed. Windom Earle has been there and he’s left a taunting message. The episode ends with Windom’s line: “It’s your move.”

Agck!

As for this episode, it definitely felt a bit off. The main problem is that it focused on two largely uninteresting subplots — Evelyn Marsh and the Civil War — and portrayed Windom Earle as so cartoonishly evil that it’s hard to believe that he could also be the villainous mastermind that Cooper’s spent the last few episodes describing. It was a weak episode but at least it finished off the whole Evelyn Marsh thing.

Always look on the bright side of life.

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

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.14 “Double Play” (directed by Uli Edel)

Posted on April 23, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Welcome back to Twin Peaks!

Last episode, Major Briggs (Don S. Davis) returned from the land of missing and brought with him a tale of the White Lodge. Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) obsessed over the Civil War. James Hurley (James Marshall) found himself trapped in a second-rate film noir. Jean Reanult (Michael Parks) was finally killed but, when Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Harry (Michael Ontkean) returned to the sheriff’s station, they discovered that someone had left them a present: a dead man sitting in front of a chess board.

Things start with the station still in darkness. Doctor Hayward (Warren Frost), Harry, and Cooper are looking over the dead man’s body. The first thing that they discover is that a chess pawn has been stuffed in his mouth. When Cooper correctly guesses that the dead man will have a stab wound in his chest, severing the aorta, Harry deduces that this is not the first time that Cooper has seen something like this.

Cooper says that he knows that his former partner, Windom Earle, is responsible. He guesses that the victim was a vagrant who was offered a lift by Earle. (In reality, the victim was played by Craig MacLachlan, brother of Kyle.) Earle stabbed the man and then set off the explosion in the woods. When everyone was distracted, Earle carried the body into the station. “Windom Earle has been in this room,” Cooper says, “I can still feel his presence.”

At the Great Northern, Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) makes a deal with Bobby (Dana Ashrbook). She wants Bobby to help her bring her father back from “limbo land.” “From now on, Bobby,” Audrey says, “I’m the one you suck up to.”

“What about Shelly?” Bobby asks.

“What about Shelly?” Audrey replies.

Speaking of Shelly, she is in trouble because Leo (Eric Da Re) has suddenly woken up and now she’s trapped in a dark house, with no power and a very angry husband. Fortunately, Bobby arrives home right when Leo is about to attack Shelly with an axe. When Leo attacks Bobby instead, Shelly stabs Leo in the leg with a kitchen knife. Like an unmasked Jason Voorhees, the wounded Leo staggers off into the woods while Bobby and Shelly embrace.

The next morning, back at the station, Cooper watches as the body is wheeled away. Harry gives Cooper a cup of coffee and tells Cooper that, until he is reinstated in the FBI, he is still a deputy. “If you want this case,” Harry says, “it’s yours.”

Out in the front lobby, Andy (Harry Goaz) tells Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) that he has to talk to her about Nicky. Andy explains that he and Dick have been doing some detective work and they think that Nicky may have murdered his parents.

“He’s nine years old,” Lucy says.

“We know,” Andy nods, “we think he was six at the time of the crime.”

Lucy is not amused.

At the Marsh place, James is working on another one of classic cars when Jeffrey Marsh (John Apicella) walks up and introduces himself. He says that he’s envious of James’s carefree lifestyle. He says that he’d love to talk to James about the cars later in the day but James says that he should probably be moving on. Evelyn (Annette McCarthy) walks up and says that she is sure that she can find all sorts of things for James to do around the house. James walks back inside the garage and Jeffrey drives away in the car that James just finished working on. As Evelyn looks off in the distance, there is the sound of screeching tires and a car crash.

At the diner, Ed (Everett McGill) is having a cup of coffee of Doctor Hayward. Ed is worried because Nadine wants to start dating boys and, since she’s She-Hulk now, Ed worries that Nadine could kill them with her sex drive. Doctor Hayward suggests that Ed tell her to be home by 9:00 on school nights. I could be wrong but I don’t think Doctor Hayward is taking Nadine’s condition very seriously.

Doctor Hayward is actually more concerned about Donna, who took the van that morning to go see James. Ed explains that Donna is taking James some money, presumably all twelve of the dollars that were in James’s bank account.

After the doctor leaves, Norma (Peggy Lipton) sits down across from Ed. She says that Hank is in the hospital. He says that a tree fell on him but Ed tells her that Nadine actually beat him up. Norma is happy because, once Hank gets out of the hospital, he will be going back to prison for violating his parole.

At the sheriff’s station, Cooper and Harry are staring at the chess board that Windom Earle placed in front of the dead man. Cooper explains that he and Earle played a game of chess every day for three years. Earle thought that all the answers to life’s mysteries could be found in the game of chess.

Cooper explains that Windom Earle was his first partner. Everything that he learned about the law and the bureau he learned from Windom Earle. Cooper tells the story (the same one that he told Audrey earlier) of how, four years ago, he fell in love with a woman named Caroline who was a material witness to a federal crime and how, when she was attacked, Cooper was not prepared and could not save her life. Cooper adds the detail that she was stabbed, in the same way as the vagrant. Cooper also reveals that Caroline was Windom Earle’s wife.

Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) arrives at a bar called Wallies, looking for James. James is not there but Evelyn is. “You look like someone who needs help,” Evelyn says. When Donna says she’s looking for James, Evelyn says that James did some work for her and then left for Mexico. Donna leaves, presumably taking James’s twelve dollars with her.

At the Great Northern, Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn), Audrey, and Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) watch as Ben continues to play with his little army men. Ben thinks that Jerry is General J.E.B. Stuart. Ben assures everyone that they are marching forward and only God can stop them. “The almighty is a Southerner,” Ben declares. Dr. Jacoby explains that if Ben can reverse the defeat of the Confederacy then he will also reverse his own recent mental defeats. Jacoby and Ben start to sing Dixie.

At the sheriff’s station, Major Briggs stumbles in, says that he needs to see Harry, and then collapses.

When he comes to, Major Briggs explains to Harry and Cooper that, when his superiors questioned him about his disappearance, they exhibited a degree of “intolerance and suspicion” that apparently left Briggs feeling traumatized. Briggs goes on to explain that, during his disappearance, he believes that he was taken to the White Lodge. Briggs goes on to say that there will be much trouble ahead. “I will return,” Briggs says, “but until that time, I will be in the shadows if you need me.”

As Briggs leaves, Andy enters the office and tells Cooper and Harry that he needs to show them something. He leads them to the conference room, where Dr. Jacoby announces that he has spent the last few hours talking to Lana Milford (Robyn Lively) and he has found no evidence of her being crazy or cursed. There is no way that Lana is responsible for Dougie’s death, Jacoby says. Jacoby goes on to say that Lana has a heightened sexual drive and skills that few men could ever hope to experience. Jacoby announces that he and Lana are going to go bowling but, as soon as they step out of the office, they run into Mayor Milford (John Boylan), who was a rifle and who demands that nobody move.

The Mayor wants blood but Cooper has a solution. He takes the rifle and then locks Milford and Lana in the conference room together. After a few minutes, Lana and the Mayor are in love and talking about adopting a child.

At the Martell house, Pete (Jack Nance) tells Catherine (Piper Laurie) that they forgot to pick up the hot dogs. Catherine is more interested in telling Pete the true story of how she survived the fire and marshaled the resources to defeat Ben. She reveals that her brother (and Josie’s husband), Andrew Packard (Dan O’Herlihy), is not actually dead and he’s sitting in the study. Andrew explains that he and Catherine faked his death in a boating accident because a contract had been taken out on Andrew’s life by Andrew’s former business partner, Thomas Eckhardt. Catherine also reveals that Josie works for Thomas Eckhardt and that Eckhardt will be returning to Twin Peaks to rescue her from having to work as Catherine’s maid.

At the exact same time, Thomas Eckhardt (DAVID WARNER!) and his assistant, Jones (Brenda Strong), are checking into the Great Northern.

At the sheriff’s station, Lucy is sick of both Andy and Dick (Ian Buchanan) so she brings Doctor Hayward in to talk to both of them. Doctor Hayward explains that he called the orphanage and that Nicky is no murderer. Nicky’s mother was a chamber maid at the Great Northern and his father was a man who fled back to Canada following the back alley assault that led to Nicky’s conception. Hayward explains that Nicky’s mom died in childbirth. Nicky was adopted by a loving couple who died in an icy car crash. Six year-old Nicky heroically attempted to pull his adoptive parents to safety but failed. Andy and Dick both start to cry.

Harry gets an alert from Seattle, telling him that the man who Josie left with, the one who Josie claims that she merely escaped from, has been found murdered. Since Cooper is now a deputy, Harry orders Cooper to find out if Josie killed him. For once, Harry gets to order Cooper around.

At the Marsh house, James is packing his stuff when Evelyn comes in and swears the she is in love with him. Evelyn says that there’s been an accident and Jeffrey’s dead. James immediately figures out that Evelyn killed her husband and set him up to take the fall. Evelyn says that it was Malcolm’s idea and that Malcom isn’t really her brother. As the police arrive outside, Evelyn tells James to run and go find “that young girl who loves you.”

As James tries to sneak out of the house without being spotted by the cops, he runs into Donna, who is hiding behind a tree. They run off while Evelyn talks to the police.

In the woods, a dazed and confused Leo comes across a cabin. Inside the cabin, a man (Kenneth Welsh) plays a flute and invites Leo to enter. The man sits down in front of a chess board and introduces himself as Windom Earle.

End credits.

This episode shares the same flaws as a lot of season 2. There are a lot of good scenes, like Leo menacing Shelly and Bobby or the introduction of Windom Earle, but there are also scenes that are just too cartoonish, like anything involving the Mayor and Lana. This episode was the first and only episode to be directed by German director Uli Edel and he does a pretty good job, putting his own unique spin on the show’s signature style.

Tomorrow: “Slaves and Masters,” in which Cooper gets unexpected help in his chess game against Windom Earle.

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

TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.8 “Drive With A Dead Girl” (dir by Caleb Deschanel)

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“In our world, he’s a shoe salesman and lives among the shadows.”

— Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in Twin Peaks 2.8 “Drive With a Dead Girl”

As always, this episode of Twin Peaks starts with the opening credits and, after 15 episodes, Angelo Badalamenti’s theme music has never sounded more haunting and the images of life in Twin Peaks — that mix of machinery and nature — has never seemed more ominous. Things that seemed quaintly beautiful when they were first seen — like the waterfall or that bird sitting in trees — now seem threatening.

The opening credits give us time to reflect on what we’ve seen so far. We’ve seen the venal Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) repeatedly ignore his own family in the pursuit of money. We’ve seen Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) abuse his wife, Shelly (Madchen Amick). As of the previous episode, we now know Leland Palmer (Ray Wise), previously one of the show’s most sympathetic characters, not only murdered and raped his own daughter but then killed his niece as well.

You have to wonder if Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) still considers Twin Peaks to be “heaven,” just because it’s a town where “a yellow light means slow down instead of speed up.”

We open with an exterior shot of the Palmer house. We can hear Maddy (Sheryl Lee), once again, screaming for help.

The next morning, the Palmer house is quiet. Inside the living room, the camera moves over several pictures of Laura. One is of her as a child. Another is that famous homecoming photo. We hear the sound of Leland laughing and immediately notice that there seem to be a lot of golf balls on the floor. The camera pulls back to show us Leland, wearing a suit and looking disturbing cheerful, practicing his golf swing.

James (James Marshall) and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) knock on the front door. They say that they came by to say goodbye to Maddy but Leland tells them that Maddy has already left. He tells them that she thought they were going to come by the previous night and that she was a little bit disappointed that she didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to them. Smiling like a father from a 1950s sitcom (and, at this point, it’s definitely not a coincidence that Twin Peaks, as a town, often seems to be a relic of a decade that is often thought of as being both “the good old days” and a symbol of repression), Leland says that they could write to her in Montana if they want.

(Today, Leland would never get away with this. James and Donna would be texting Maddy like crazy.)

After James and Donna leave, Leland glances in a mirror and sees BOB (Frank Silva) staring back at him. From upstairs, Mrs. Palmer (Grace Zabriskie), who apparently remembers nothing about the previous night, asks Leland to remember to sign them up for “Glenn Miller Night at the club.”

“Don’t worry, dear,” Leland says, with a big and creepy grin, “I won’t forget.”

Before leaving for the club, Leland grabs his golf bag out of the closet. Briefly, we catch a glimpse of Maddy, stuffed inside the bag.

(AGCK! Seriously, Leland/BOB has got to be one of the scariest things ever.)

In his holding cell, Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) wins my sympathy by 1) being an innocent man accused of a terrible crime and 2) obsessively trying to wipe down the bars of his cell. Seriously, that’s one reason why I could never handle being arrested. Put me in one of the filthy cells and I can guarantee you that I’d do whatever I had to do to get out of there.

A cheerful Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) shows up to see Ben and I was happy that he did. Jerry may be one of the most cartoonish characters on Twin Peaks (and that’s saying something!) but, after spending all that time with Leland/BOB, Jerry’s silliness is a relief. Jerry has just returned from Japan and he even has a small Japanese flag pinned to his suit.

Jerry explains that, since Leland has been charged with murdering Jacques Renault, he will be handling Ben’s case personally. (Of course, neither realizes that Leland is also responsible for the murder that Ben has been charged with.) Unfortunately, Jerry doesn’t appear to be a very good attorney.

However, Jerry is impressed by the fact that Ben has bunk beds, which leads to an odd flashback of Ben and Jerry, as children, watching a woman named Louise Dombroski dancing in their bedroom while holding a flashlight. (Even as children, Ben wore suit and Jerry wore a bowtie.)

“Lord,” Jerry says, from the top bunk in Ben’s jail cell, “what’s become of us?”

Meanwhile, Lucy’s (Kimmy Robertson) back! She shows up with her sister, Gwen (Kathleen Wilhoite), who is telling a long story involving a rusty nail and a purple toe. (I tuned her out because rusty nails freak me out.) Lucy asks Hawk (Michael Horse) if he’s seen Andy (Harry Goaz). Gwen, meanwhile, worries that Hawk “must hate all of us white people after all that we’ve done to you.”

(Did I mention that Gwen had a crying baby with her and how much I was hoping that Gwen would only be around for a scene or two? She’s kind of annoying.)

At the Great Northern, Harry (Michael Ontkean) and Cooper have just finished talking to the One-Armed Man. As they walk past the lobby, they see Leland dancing with a golf club.

(Over the course of watching Twin Peaks, one thing that I’ve really grown to enjoy doing is spotting all of the strange guests who appear to stay at the Great Northern. This episode, the guests appear to be a cross-section of gruff fishermen and Catholic schoolgirls.)

When Harry approaches Leland, Leland apologizes for creating a commotion with his dancing. “Just call me Fred,” Leland says, which might be a reference to Fred Astaire but could just as easily be a reference to the fact that, at this point, Leland has been possessed for so long that it’s debatable whether Leland Palmer even exists at this point. He’s either BOB or he’s Fred but he’s definitely not Leland.

Harry tells Leland that they’ve arrested Ben. Leland says that they’re must be some sort of mistake but then promises Harry and Cooper that he will allow the law to handle it. Leland stumbles out of the lobby. As soon as he’s away from prying eyes, Leland starts to cry but then starts laughing. He is nearly caught by Cooper, who steps up behind him and asks Leland to let him know if he can remember anything unusual about Ben’s behavior on the night of Laura’s death.

(Ray Wise, by the way, gives an absolutely amazing performance in this episode. I don’t care if this episode aired nearly 30 years ago, give that man an Emmy.)

Harry and Cooper return to the sheriff’s station, where they watch as Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) draws blood from Ben’s finger. (Twin Peaks was obviously made before DNA testing became commonplace.)

Jerry is there, protesting Ben’s treatment. It’s obvious that everyone is enjoying making Ben’s life difficult, which actually makes me feel even more sorry for Ben. Cooper reveals that Jerry graduated last in his class, passed the bar on his third attempt, and that his license has been revoked in several states. Hey, Cooper — that’s fine and all but Jerry is absolutely right when he says that Ben is being deprived of his constitutional rights.

Cooper tosses Laura’s diary down in front of Ben, demanding to know if Ben knows what it is. Cooper reads from the diary and tries to goad Ben into confessing. It’s interesting to watch this scene because it’s hard not to feel that the normally upright Cooper has a hidden agenda here. Cooper has become a father figure to Audrey and here’s his chance to get rid of Audrey’s actual father. Twin Peaks is full of bad fathers, both literally and figuratively.

At the Johnson house, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) listens to that microcassette that he found during the previous episode. It’s a recording of Ben hiring Leo to burn down the Packard Mill. Bobby is excite because this is his chance to blackmail Ben. Meanwhile, Leo (Eric Da Re) spits up all over Shelly and her pretty blue nightgown. BAD LEO!

At the Double R, Norma (Peggy Lipton) is shocked when her mother, Vivian, suddenly shows up! Not only does Vivian appear to be rich but she’s played by Jane Greer, who starred in the classic film noir, Out of the Past. By her presence alone, Greer serves to remind us of the huge debt that Twin Peaks has always owed to the conventions of film noir.

It turns out that Norma’s mom is very critical of both Norma’s cooking and Hank (Chis Mulkey). It is also revealed that Norma’s mom has married a man named Ernie (James Booth), who appears to still be stuck in the 70s.

Norma says that she’s feeling nervous because there’s a food critic coming and that, with Shelly having quit to take care of Leo, she’s short of help. “That’s why you made the place look nice,” her mom says. (Passive aggressive for the win!)

At the Great Northern, the One-Armed Man (Al Strobel) wakes up when his armless shoulder starts to twitch. “He’s close….” he says. Unfortunately, the only other person in the room is a nurse and she doesn’t really seem to be paying attention. The One-Armed Man asks her for a glass of water. When she leaves the room, she passes a deputy.

Now, we’ve never seen this deputy before so I assume that he’s mostly there so he can be killed later on. He walks into the One-Armed Man’s room and the One-Armed attacks him from behind. Bye bye, Deputy Redshirt. “I’m so sorry,” the One-Armed Man says before climbing out a window.

(Actually Deputy Redshirt is just knocked to the floor and doesn’t die but you can still be sure that this would never have happened to Hawk.)

Hank finally shows up at the Double R Diner, apologizing for being late. It turns out that Hank has been missing for a few days. Norma gets mad at Hank but seriously, Hank is the most charming ex-con in Twin Peaks. Hank gets Norma to forgive him but then realizes that Vivian is working in the kitchen. Uh-oh!

Pete (Jack Nance) comes by the sheriff’s office and catches Harry birdwatching. As Pete talked to Harry, I noticed that Harry has a large picture of the other Harry S Truman — the mafia-connected President, old Give ‘Em Hell Harry — hanging in his office. Pete tells Harry that Josie has left Twin Peaks. Pete and Harry both talk about how they both loved Josie. Harry laments that he stood there and watched as Josie left with her assistant. Pete realizes that the “assistant” was probably Catherine in disguise. The fact that Harry has yet to realize any of this gives us some insight into why the FBI has basically taken over the role of law enforcement in Twin Peaks.

Andy finally returns to the sheriff’s station and is shocked to see Lucy, holding Gwen’s baby. Andy sees the baby and, assuming that Lucy somehow gave birth to a 4-month old baby over the weekend, he promptly faints.

Pete sneaks into the holding cells and plays a tape for Ben. Ben listens to Catherine (Piper Laurie) explaining that she’s alive and that she remembers that Ben was with her on the night that Laura Palmer died. Catherine is willing to provide an alibi but only if Ben signs over both the mill and Ghostwood Estates over to her. Pete starts to giggle like a maniac. (Pete! I thought you were a nice guy!) As an angry Ben tears apart his jail cell, another deputy that we’ve never seen before stares in at him.

Meanwhile, Leland is happily driving down a street. He’s singing. Sorry, I’m not going to look up which song that he’s singing. He’d driving rather recklessly, which will certainly bring him to the attention of Cooper and Harry, who are currently driving along the same street. Cooper is even whistling the same song that Leland is singing, a reminder that Cooper is not quite as upright as everyone thinks. He has secrets of his own.

(I was tempted to point out that the scenes of Leland driving are shot in much the same way as the driving scenes in Lost Highway but, seeing as how David Lynch did not direct this episode, I’m going to assume it’s just a coincidence. That said, Caleb Deschanel does a good job of recreating Lynch’s unique visual style throughout this episode.)

Just as I predicted, Leland nearly collides with Harry and Cooper. They pull him over, right next to the golf course. As the three of them talk, we hear the sound of golf balls being hit in the distance, and we are reminded that there is a golf bag in Leland’s trunk and that Maddy is currently in that bag.

Leland lies and says that, on the night Laura was murdered, Ben got a phone call and had an angry conversation with someone about a “dairy.”

“A diary?” Cooper corrects him.

“That could be!” Leland says.

Lucy calls for Harry. While Harry goes back to the police cruiser, Leland asks Cooper if he’d like to see his new golf club. Leland leads Cooper to the trunk of his car. While he’s getting the club, Harry shouts that the One-Armed Man has been found. Cooper looks away from Leland just as Leland sneaks up behind him with the golf club raised…

AGCK!

And yet, I have to admit that I laughed when I saw Leland about to bash the unsuspecting Cooper with that club. It all comes down to Ray Wise’s brilliant performance as Leland/BOB. Wise does such a good job of playing the role that we totally believe that he could successfully fool everyone in town. We know that he was fully capable of killing Cooper at that moment but no one else would ever suspect such a thing to be true. Even though everyone knows that he killed Jacques, everyone still thinks of him as being Leland Palmer, the somewhat goofy 1950s sitcom dad.

At the police station, Andy has recovered. Gwen is talking to him about a time that she fainted in the produce section. “People want terrible things to happen to you,” Gwen tells him, “I know.” Meanwhile, Hawk leads the One-Armed Man through the police station.

In the interrogation room, Harry, Cooper, and Jerry watch as the One-Armed Man walks in a circle around Ben. The One-Armed Man announces that “He’s been close but BOB is not here now!” Jerry demands that Harry either charge Ben or let him go. That may have been a mistake because Harry promptly steps forward and charges Ben with murdering Laura.

Cooper pulls Harry outside and says that they’re “saddling the horse before we’re ready to ride.” Now, suddenly, Cooper thinks that Ben is innocent. Harry tells Cooper that they can’t base the entire investigation on dreams and giants. They need hard evidence and, what little evidence they have, all points to Ben Horne.

At the Great Northern, Vivian is eating dinner with Norma, Hank, and Ernie and critiquing all of the food. OH MY GOD, could Vivian be M.T. Wentz!? While Norma and Vivian excuse themselves to go to the ladies room, we discover that Hank and Ernie were in prison together. Ernie used to be a gambler but he says that he’s “out of it” now.

That night, in his hotel room, Cooper talks into his tape recorder. He says that Ben Horne is in custody and that the investigation is nearly done. The trail, Cooper says, is narrowing but the last few steps are always the most difficult and dangerous.

Someone knocks on the door. No surprise, it’s Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn). She wants to come in and talk to the man who will be her new father figure if Ben is sent to prison. Audrey asks if Cooper arrested her father. Yep. Did he do it? That’s for a court to decide. (Awww, Dale. Your faith in the system is so touching, if misplaced. Never change.) Audrey says that all she ever wanted was for her father to love her and not be ashamed of her.

I watched that little scene with tears in my eyes, becoming so overcome with emotion that it was a bit of a relief when Cooper’s phone rang. After answering it, a suddenly alarmed Cooper orders Audrey to go back to her room and lock the door.

At the waterfall, the police are in full force. Maddy’s body, wrapped in plastic, has been found.

Between Ray Wise’s brilliant performance and that haunting final shot of Maddy, this episode left me exhausted. As uneven as the second season was, this episode (and the one that preceded it) are as strong as anything seen during the first season.

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TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.2 “Coma” (directed by David Lynch)

Posted on April 11, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

Among fans of the series, the second season of Twin Peaks is a sore point. Almost everyone agrees that it was a let down and that it never matched the brilliance of the first season. The only question is why.

Was it because the first season started as a mid-season replacement and only had to come up with eight episodes worth of story? If the first season had been a full, 22-episode season would it have eventually become as uneven as the second season?

Was it because, as some ABC executives have suggested, David Lynch and Mark Frost were making up their complex story as they went along and, when the second season did not immediately reveal who killed Laura Palmer, they ended up alienating the audience through their self-indulgence?

Was it because, as supporters of Lynch and Frost often argue, ABC demanded more control over the series during the second season? One reason that it was such a shock to hear that Lynch would be bringing Twin Peaks back was because he swore, after the show’s first cancellation and the failure of the Mulholland Drive pilot, that he would never deal with television executives ever again.

It may be that all of the above is true but one thing is for sure. If the first season of Twin Peaks showed how far the medium of television could be pushed, the second season showed just how hard television can push back.

The second episode of the second season, Coma, was directed by Lynch himself. It opens with Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Albert (Miguel Ferrer) eating breakfast at the Great Northern. For some reason, members of a Barbershop quarter, all wearing red striped jackets, are standing behind them. Cooper talks about the Happy Generations of Tibet. Albert is not happy about anything, not even Ronette Pulaski waking up. Albert also warns Cooper that his former partner, Windom Earle, has escaped from a mental asylum.

(Windom will be, after BOB, this season’s Big Bad.)

Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) is doing Laura’s Meals on Wheels route. When she brought a meal to Mrs. Tremond, a coughing woman who is confined to her bed, it took me a few minutes to realize why Mrs. Tremond looked so familiar. Mrs. Tremond was played by Frances Bay, who appeared on a classic episode of Seinfeld as a woman who is mugged for her marble rye. (Bay also appeared in Blue Velvet.)

Mrs. Tremond has a grandson (Austin Jack Lynch, the real-life son of David Lynch and Mary Fisk). He wears a tuxdeo, sits in a corner, and says, “Sometimes things can happen just like this,” before snapping his fingers. When Mrs. Tremond sees creamed corn on her meals on wheel plate, says that she asked for no creamed corn and suddenly, the creamed corn appears in her grandson’s hands.

“My grandson is studying magic,” Mrs. Tremond says.

“That’s nice,” Donna says, while the grandson stares at her without the slightest hint of a smile.

Mrs. Tremond tells Donna that she did not know Laura but she recommends that Donna ask “Mr. Smith” next door. “He was Laura’s friend.”

“J’ai une ame soilitaire,” Mrs. Tremond’s grandson adds.

(Deliberately surreal scenes like this might be why ABC executives felt that they needed to step in and assert some control over the show. Fans of David Lynch love this stuff and the scene may not seem that unusual now that we are living in a world where almost every show owes some sort of debt to Twin Peaks but, in 1990, viewers, many of whom were unfamiliar with Lynch’s films, were probably saying, “This is too weird for me,” and changing the channel.)

Donna goes next door and, when Mr. Smith fails to respond to her knocking, she slips a note under his door.

At the hospital, Cooper and Harry (Michael Ontkean) drop in on Ronette (Phoebe Augustine). After some lengthy business about Cooper and Harry trying to figure out how set up a stool so that they can sit next to Ronette’s bed, Cooper shows Ronette sketches of both BOB and Leo. Though Ronette cannot speak, she still shakes her head no when Cooper asks her if Leo is the man who hurt her. However, the sketch of BOB causes Ronette to freak out. “Trrr…trrr…” Ronette says, which Cooper interprets as meaning, “Train.”

At the Great Northern, Ben (Richard Beymer) and Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) sit on the floor and stare at two ledgers. The real ledger shows the Packard Mill slowly sinking into bankruptcy. The fake ledger shows the mill turning a profit. Ben and Jerry are trying to decide which ledger to burn. Since they can’t make up their mind, they decide to roast marshmallows instead.

(Meanwhile, in 1990, a housewife in Michigan says, “This is too weird,” and changes the channel over to Beverly Hills 90210 on Fox.)

At the Double R Diner, Andy (Harry Goaz) has been taping up pictures of BOB and now his hands are covered in tape. The Log Lady (Catherine Coulson) enters and sits down next to Major Briggs (Don S. Davis). Her log has something to tell Maj. Briggs.

“Can you hear it?” The Log Lady asks.

“No, ma’m, I cannot,” Maj. Briggs says.

“I will translate…deliver the message…do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’m, I do.”

At the police station, Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) kills a buzzing fly. Andy, who still has a piece of tape attached to his forehead, comes in and tells Lucy that, when he last donated to the sperm bank, he was told that he was sterile. So, if Lucy’s pregnant, it is not with his child. Lucy pulls the tape off his forehead and refuses to speak to him.

Hank (Chris Mulkey) comes by and signs in with Harry. Cooper watches as Harry and Hank have another tense conversation and, after Hank leaves, he asks Harry how long the two of them were friends. Harry says that Hank used to be a Bookhouse Boy. “Back then, he was one of the best of us,” Harry says.

Before Harry can continue, Ben Horne calls. He tells Harry that Audrey has been missing for two days. Then Jerry comes into Ben’s office and reveals that Catherine never signed the life insurance policy. “Win a few, lose a few,” Ben says.

Suddenly, the newly energized and white-haired Leland (Ray Wise) comes walking into the office. He says that Ben should call Thor Einer in Iceland, just to discover that Ben is already calling Thor Einer. Einer reveals that Leland already called him to tell him about the fire at the mill. Ben assures Einer that the fire is nothing to worry about, all the while glaring at Leland.

Leland sees a sketch of BOB in the corner of Ben’s office. Leland picks it up and says, “I know him.” Leland says that BOB used to live next door to his grandfather’s vacation home. Leland runs out of the office.

“Jerry,” Ben says, “please kill Leland.”

“Is this real, Ben,” Jerry says, “or just some strange and twisted dream?”

(Meanwhile, in 1990, a farmer in Iowa shakes his head, switches over to CBS, and watches Doctor, Doctor, a sitcom starring Matt Frewer.)

At the hospital, Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) updates Shelley (Madchen Amick) on Leo’s (Eric Da Re) condition. The bullet lodged in Leo’s spine. He lost a lot of blood and suffered brain damage. Shelly asks if Leo’s going to be a vegetable. Shelly cries but does not seem to be that upset.

At the police station, someone calls for Sheriff Truman but refuses to reveal their name. Lucy hangs up on them.

At One-Eyed Jack’s, Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) brings a bucket of ice to a room where her boss at Horne’s Department Store, Emory Battis (Don Amendolia), is tied up, blindfolded, and listening to a vacuum cleaner. Emory gets upset with the vacuum cleaner is turned off but is even more upset when Audrey wraps a cord around his throat, rips off his blindfold, and demands to know everything that he knows.

“I work for the owner of One-Eyed Jacks!” Emory says.

“WHO IS!?” Audrey demands, tightening the cord.

“Your father! He owns everything!” Emory goes on to say that Ben know Laura worked at One-Eyed Jack’s and then says, “Laura always got her way! Just like you!”

At night, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelly sit in his car and listen to the generic rock station. They talk about ways to torture comatose Leo. Bobby has a plan. Shelly can bring Leo home and then collect his disability checks.

At the Great Northern, Dale records a message to Diane, telling her that Windom Earle has vanished. Unfortunately, as someone who has sat through all of season 2, I already know how long the show is going to draw out the Window Earle storyline. Before I can spend too much time dwelling on that, Maj. Briggs shows up at Dale’s hotel room. Is he delivering the log’s message?

Yes, he is! Maj. Briggs says that he can not reveal the nature of his work or the identity of the message sender but Briggs does reveal that, as a part of his work for the federal government, Maj. Briggs keeps an eye on transmission’s received by deep-space monitors, “aimed at galaxies beyond our own.” Most of the time, the transmissions are just gibberish but, on Thursday night/Friday morning, the following transmission came in:

“The owls are not what they seem.”

This was followed, hours later, by another transmission: “Cooper. Cooper. Cooper.”

(Meanwhile, in 1990, a man in Florida says, “I can’t follow this,” and changes the channel to CBS so he can watch the last few minutes of the first attempt to bring The Flash to network television.)

We now reach one of the most derided scenes in the history of Twin Peaks. At the Hayward House, James (James Marshall) plays guitar while Maddy (Sheryl Lee) and Donna sing a song into a microphone. Supposedly, the inspiration for this scene came after David Lynch walked by James Marshall’s dressing room and heard Marshall playing a blues riff.

Musical interludes are actually one of Lynch’s trademarks. Remember Dean Stockwell and Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet? Or Bill Pullman at the jazz club in Lost Highway? Or the Llorando scene in Mulholland Drive? Even the pilot for Twin Peaks had Julie Cruise singing at the Road House. The problem with the scene in Coma is that the song is boring and that the performance seems to drag on forever. Whatever genius that Lynch thought he heard coming from Marshall’s dressing room is not present in the Hayward House.

(In 1990, a Montana rancher gives up once the song reaches the second verse. He switches over to NBC, just in time to catch the final punchline in that night’s episode of a new sitcom called Wings.)

Finally, Donna gets jealous of the way that James is looking at Maddy and runs over to a corner of the house. When James walks up to her, she kisses him.

Way to Go, James!

“Donna,” James asks, “what’s going on?”

Dude, don’t ask questions! Just go with it!

“I’m trembling, James,” Donna says, “You made me.”

Wait, what?

The phone rings. Donna ignores it but Doc Hayward answers and yells downstairs, “Donna, there’s a telephone call for you from a Harold Smith.”

Donna takes the call and asks Harold if they can meet.

Meanwhile, Maddy sits in front of the microphone with a “What did I do?” look on her face. Suddenly, she sees BOB (Frank Silva) walking through the living room. She screams as he climbs over the couch. James and eventually Donna run over to her. Bob has vanished.

At the Great Northern, Cooper has a dream. He sees the Giant. He hears Maj. Briggs saying, “The owls are not what they seem.” BOB appears. His face morphs into the face of an owl and then back again.

Cooper is woken up by the sound of his telephone ringing. It’s Audrey. She’s crying. “Why aren’t you here?” she says. Cooper tells her that she needs to come home.

Suddenly, the call is cut off. Audrey has been discovered by Blackie (Victoria Catlin) and Emory. “Trouble, Ms. Horne?” Blackie says. “You don’t know what trouble is.”

End credits.

But do not worry. Cooper, Audrey, Lucy, and all your favorites will return in the next episode, The Man Behind the Glass, which I’ll be reviewing tomorrow.

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TV Review: Twin Peaks 2.1 “May The Giant Be With You” (dir by David Lynch)

Posted on April 10, 2017 by Leonard Wilson

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For four months, people wondered about the fate of Special Agent Dale Cooper, while speculating on who really killed Laura Palmer. The impact of that first season was strong. Twin Peaks would go on to win a number of Golden Globes. Kyle MacLachlan won for Best Actor in a Drama, Piper Laurie for Best Supporting Actress, and the show won Best Drama Series for 1991.

This piece will be shorter than my last one, even though the episode was about an hour and a half long. As writing about TV is somewhat new to me, I ask for your patience as I fine tune things, and thank anyone for reading. This is a fun project.

Directed by David Lynch himself, “May the Giant Be With You”, opens with Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) on the floor, having been shot 3 times in the chest and stomach and reflecting on the experience. He’s visited by both a member of the morning room service staff with a few communication issues and a very tall gentleman (Carol Struycken) who tells him three things:

1.) There’s a man in a smiling bag.

2.) The Owls are not what they seem.

3.) Without chemicals, he points.

The tall figure let’s Cooper know this is all he’s allowed to say and can’t elaborate. He also takes Cooper’s ring and promises to return it once Cooper sees the truth in what he’s told. As an afterthought, the figure adds that there is an additional clue at Leo Johnson’s house (“Leo locked inside hungry horse.”). The figure then disappears, leaving Cooper to think about what he’s been told.

gianttwinpeaks

Meanwhile, at One Eyed Jack’s, Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) is trying to introduce him to the “New Girl”, unaware that the girl is actually his daughter, Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn). Audrey is able to fight off his advances while hiding her identity in a scene that shows her just how creepy her dad is. We also learn that Blackie is a drug addict, getting her fix from Jerry (David Patrick Kelley).

giant

Cooper, still on the floor, is still recording his thoughts on his tape deck, going over his regrets and hopes. Before he can expire, Truman, Andy and Hawk arrive, and Agent Cooper is rushed to the Hospital. When he regains consciousness, Dr. Hayward shows him the extracted bullet, which hit a tick he was trying to get to before the incident began. Cooper can’t recall anything clear about the figure that shot him. Lucy explains that in the time he was out, Leo was shot, Jacques was strangled, the Mill burned, Shelley and Pete got smoke inhalation, Catherine and Josie are missing and Nadine is in the hospital, having taken too many sleeping pills. It’s kind of comical when Cooper asks how long he was out and receives the response that it all occurred the night before.

Shelley is recuperating from smoke inhalation, but is inconsolable due to the loss of Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook). Cooper witness a body bag being wheeled through the hospital, and is told that it’s the body of Jacques Renault, which causes Cooper to ask if the bag is smiling. Is that the first clue the Giant provided come to pass?

At the Palmer residence, Maddy (Sheryl Lee) and Sarah (Grace Zabriskie) are talking about Maddy’s dream of Laura when Leland (Ray Wise) steps into view, his hair completely white. Sarah and Maddy look on in disbelief. Having dispatched Jacques the night before, Leland is a new man. He still sings and dances, but appears to be much more pleasant and merry now. Before the scene ends, Maddy sees the blood imprint of what I believe is Laura’s body, stirring her to screams. Watching that moment reminded me of Sheryl Lee’s performance in John Carpenter’s Vampires (“He killed a Priest!!”) – pretty much the same scream.

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Leland makes a return appearance at the Great Western, presenting himself with the same song he gave his family. Ben and Jerry, who were trying to figure out how Leo wasn’t killed, greet Leland with a song and dance and welcome him with open arms.

Truman and Cooper are at Leo’s house, examining the bullet hole in the glass. Cooper is able to perfectly piece together the attack on Bobby, though Truman believes it’s Shelly that was the victim here. Cooper notes that they need to confirm when Shelly arrived at the Mill to confirm if she was the one. A car approaches, bringing Andy (Harry Goaz) and Albert Rosenfeld (Miguel Ferrer) to the scene. Andy runs out to warn Truman and Cooper that Rosenfeld’s there, but steps on a loose board at Leo’s porch. The board flies up and smacks Andy right in the face, causing him to stumble around like a cartoon character. Up to the that point, I enjoyed the scene, but Andy’s reaction to getting hit – while funny – is just a little too drawn out for me. It’s helped by one of Rosenfeld’s classic quips, but not by much. Under the boards, Cooper and Truman discover a shoe with “Circle Brand” on the bottom and some drugs. Leo truly was into some underhanded things.

The next scene takes us to the Double R Diner. Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) is given a pair of sunglasses while Maddy destroys hers, as she’s tired of them. She’s looking for some change. Norma (Peggy Lipton) gives Donna a note that came into the diner that reads “Look into the Meals on Wheels”. They ponder the meaning of this while a lady cradling a log looks on.

Cooper is being checked by Rosenfeld, who was sent by Gordon Cole (David Lynch). Rosenfeld explains the obvious – he was shot at close range. Rosenfeld also adds that Jacques’ death could just be some kind of small town vengeance, which makes Cooper a little defensive. Andy comes into the room and adds some more information about the Giant’s clue. Leo was under arrest in Hungry Horse, Montana on the same date of Teresa Banks’ murder. Leo has his alibi.

Mike, the one-armed shoe salesman, makes an appearance at the precinct, to sell some shoes. Truman and James listen to Laura’s tape. Truman suggests it was break in. James states the door was already open. On the cocaine in his bike, James believes Bobby did that, possibly with Leo’s help. James explains that Laura went on about playing with fire, of playing with BOB, which Truman can’t figure out. Cooper comes in and demands the other half of Laura’s necklace. James gives it to him, and returns to his cell. Cooper understands that Jacoby is actually plays a bigger role in the entire affair, than previously expected.

Donna, sunglasses and all, pays James a visit. They have a mini between-the-bars make out moment, and she tells him she’s eager for him to get out of jail.

Cooper gives Lucy and Andy a task to go through issues of Flesh World to see if they can find a picture of Teresa Banks in it. Cooper and Truman visit Jacoby at the hospital. Cooper plays hardball and wants to know how Jacoby got a hold of half of Laura’s necklace. Jacoby claimed to be trailing a red corvette, but lost him near the Old Mill Road. A motorcycle and police cruiser passed him by and went into the woods. He trailed them (James and Donna) to the place where they buried something under the rock. The necklace was what Jacoby dug up and kept. Jacoby theorizes that Laura was looking to die, not by a suicide, but as a murder. In regards to Jacques murder, Jacoby was too sedated to have done it himself, but notes there was a strange smell in the air. It wasn’t Jacques voiding his bowels (as strangulation victims do), but of scorched engine oil.

Bobby visits Shelly at the hospital, who is happily surprised to see him alive. He promises to take care of her when she gets out. She tells him that Leo knows about the two of them and Bobby assures her she’ll be alright.

Rosenfeld, Cooper, and Truman find Ed, who is waiting on Nadine. She survived her suicide attempt, but is in a coma. He explains of how he proposed to Nadine and how she lost her eye, which he shot out by way of some buckshot ricochet. At the end of the conversation, Cooper discovers the smiling bag hanging on the wall of another room. Another clue brought to light. We also learn that the food in the hospital is really bad.

Norma, at the hospital, finds Ed at Nadine’s bedside. With a pained expression, she leaves them be.

At the Double R, Bobby runs into his father (Don Davis) and joins him at his table. They talk about school, and of a vision the father has of a place where he was born and raised. He dreamed of his son at this place, happy and carefree. They have a hug that’s warm and loving, and when he awoke, the father felt optimistic about Bobby’s future. He wishes Bobby nothing the best in life and heads home. Bobby actually sheds a tear. When Norma returns to the diner, Bobby watches her talk to Hank and realizes that he (Hank) was the one who shot Leo.

Back at the Precinct, Cooper breaks down what happened with Laura. Laura went to the cabin, had a tryst with Leo, Ronette and Jacques, and also note that the blood on Laura didn’t match any of the other individuals, so there’s another unknown that’s tied to the murder. For a clearer picture of what exactly happened that night, it’s recommended that one watches the Twin Peaks movie, Fire Walk With Me. If you want to keep with the mystery, avoid that and stay with the episodes until the reveal. Then jump to the film.

At Josie’s, Pete and Truman talk about Josie and Catherine, and adjusting to them gone. Pete has a sad moment here. A call comes in from an unnamed individual looking for Josie, which Truman picks up. We’re not given much information on that.

Over at the Great Northern, Ben and Jerry are debriefed on what happened with Hank and Leo. Hank lets them know that Leo was chopping wood inside his house – unaware that Bobby was ever there – and the shot was in his neck. Ben is hoping that the arson of the Mill will be pinned on Leo, who out of it, and Catherine, who’s presumed dead. The brothers will take care of the ledger.

Audrey is brought to Blackie at One Eyed Jack’s. She displeased that she didn’t give the owner the rendezvous he expected, and Audrey goes on to state that “he wasn’t her type”. Blackie warns Audrey that anyone and everyone will be Audrey’s type when she’s there. She has to get out of that place as soon as she can.

Donna makes a phone call to Norma inquiring about the Meals on Wheels. She offers to take over the route that Laura had when she worked there, to try to find out about what happened to her (though she doesn’t reveal this to Norma.

The next scene presents a happy surprise for Lynch fans. Gersten, a little red-haired girl, welcomes the Palmer and Hayward families to a mini party where she plays the piano. Fans of Dune will recognize the girl as Alicia Witt, who played Paul Atreides’ (Kyle MacLachlan) daughter. Fans of The Walking Dead will recognize her as the villain who captured Carol for a while before Carol broke loose and killed everyone on site. Gersten plays the piano (As Witt does so professionally) and they have some small conversation. Leland’s change in hair becomes the topic of conversation and in explaining how well he felt the morning it happened, he breaks into song. I’ll admit I liked this. Ray Wise is pretty good at singing, overall. Leland goes a little overboard and passes out, but with the doctor right there, they’re able to assist him right away. When he comes to a minute later, he says he feels happy. Just a rush of blood from the head, I suppose.

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Nighttime. Cooper is in his room, about to sleep. At the same time, Audrey is awake, lying on her bed and talking to him in the hopes that he can hear her. She hopes that he received her note and that she may be a little over her head in having gotten caught up in the craziness of One Eyed Jack’s. She only wanted to assist him. We then cut back to Cooper, who is visited once again by the Giant Man. The giant passes on some riddles for Cooper to solve.

The giant mentions Cooper shouldn’t search for all of the answers at once, and that they’ll occur like a path, one after the other. “One person saw the third man. Three have seen him, yes, but not his body. One only, known to you. Ready now to talk.” The giant also points out that he forgot something and imbues Cooper with a strange yellow light before disappearing. I’m not sure I understand it either at this point, but given how well the tiniest of clues have worked out in Twin Peaks, I’m certain it’s important.

The final scene is trailing shot into the hospital. Ronette wakes up to visions of BOB. BOB rushing at her. BOB at the cabin and BOB killing Laura under flickering lights. His laugh is maniacal as he does this. So, the question becomes “Where is BOB?”

The end credits return us to Alicia Witt and her piano skills, which was sweet to see.

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TV Review: Twin Peaks 1.7 “Realization Time” (dir by Caleb Deschanel)

Posted on April 8, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“What I want and what I need are two different things, Audrey”

— Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in Twin Peaks 1.7 “Realization Time)

In anticipation of the Showtime revival in May, Leonard, Jeff, and I have been reviewing every single episode of the original Twin Peaks! Today, I will be taking a look at the 7th episode of season 1, “Realization Time.”

Now, I have to admit that I was not originally assigned to review this episode. Much as I did with Zen, or the Skill To Catch A Killer, I literally got down on my knees and begged for the chance to review this episode. Once again, as I explained why I felt that I was predestined to write this review, I shed many tears and threatened to utilize the power of excessive whining unless I allowed to do so. Eventually, it paid off.

Why did I want to review this episode? Well, first off, it’s a strong Audrey episode and, as I discovered while writing my previous Twin Peaks review, Audrey Horne is who I would be if I was a character on Twin Peaks. She is the character to whom I most relate.

(Audrey was such a popular character during the initial run of Twin Peaks that, apparently, Mulholland Drive was originally conceived as being a spin-off in which Audrey would have gone to Hollywood and solved crimes. In other words, no Audrey, no Mulholland Drive, no polls declaring Mulholland Drive to be the best film, so far, of the 21st century.)

Secondly, this was the final episode to feature Waldo the Myna Bird and I just happen to love the way that whenever Harry Goaz, in the role of Deputy Andy, said the name “Waldo,” he would drag out each syllable so that the bird’s name became “Walllll DOE.”

Anyway, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at Realization Time!

We start with those beautiful opening credits, that mix of machinery and nature that reminds us that Twin Peaks is a David Lynch production, even if this particular episode was directed by noted cinematographer Caleb Deschanel.

(Deschanel’s wife, Mary Jo, also played Ben Horne’s unhappy wife. Interestingly enough, in the 1983 best picture nominee The Right Suff , for which Caleb Deschanel received an Oscar nomination, Mary Jo played the wife of John Glenn.)

This episode opens where the last one left off. Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) is naked in Dale Cooper’s (Kyle MacLachlan) bed and Dale is explaining that he is an agent of the FBI and, as such, he has taken an oath to uphold certain principles. He tells Audrey that she needs a friend and he says he is going to get them two malts and that she is going to tell him all of her troubles.

This is one of those scenes — and there’s a lot of them to be found in the first season of Twin Peaks — that really shouldn’t work and yet it does. Everything about it, from Cooper’s corny sincerity to the promise of two malts, serves to remind us that Twin Peaks often has more in common with an idealized 1950s than with any recognizable modern era. I think that only Kyle MacLachlan could have made Cooper’s lines come across as being sincere as opposed to condescending. Being rejected by an older man who has just found you naked in his bed is not as pleasant experience as this episode makes it appear to be. And yet, Fenn and MacLachlan both do a great job at selling this scene.

And yet, there’s one key line in this scene that I think is often overlooked. When Audrey says that she can’t tell Cooper all of her secrets, she then asks him, “Do you have any secrets?” Cooper says, “No.” However, we know that’s a lie. We know because we saw the way that Cooper smiled when Laura kissed him in his dream. We know that Cooper is not the asexual puritan that he pretends to be. When Cooper says that there’s a difference between what he wants and what he needs, we perhaps understand his meaning more than he does.

We learn one of Cooper’s secrets the next morning when he shows up at the police station and discovers Harry (Michael Ontkean) and Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) looking in on Waldo the Myna Bird. Doc Hayward explains that myna bird’s have an amazing ability to mimic the human voice but they only do it when they’re feeling playful and Waldo is definitely not in the mood. He asks Cooper if he wants to give Waldo some food. Cooper replies, “I don’t like birds,” and steps back in such a dramatic fashion that you’re left wondering what terrible bird-related misfortune befell Cooper during his youth.

(Personally, I suspect this was meant to be yet another one of the first season’s many Hitchcock references. There’s a few more in this episode, which we’ll be getting too shortly.)

Don’t feel to bad for Waldo, though. While Dale, Hayward, and Harry are watching the bird, Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) enters with the forensic report on Jacques Renault’s cabin. There was only one exposed negative on the roll of film and it’s a picture of Waldo biting Laura Palmer’s shoulder. BAD WALDO!

Realizing that, regardless of how much he may hate birds, Waldo is the only witness they have, Dale leaves a voice-activated tape recorder at the base of Waldo’s cage. When Waldo speaks, they’ll have it on tape. Dale also suggests heading up to Canada and investigating One-Eyed Jacks. When Harry points out that he has no legal authority in Canada, Dale says, “That’s why I was thinking it would be a good job for the Bookhouse Boys.” Yay! Vigilante justice!

Last episode, Shelly (Madchen Amick) shot Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) and we all cheered. Well, it turns out that Leo survived. He’s hanging out in the woods, watching his house through a pair of binoculars. That’s how he sees Bobby showing up at his house and Shelly greeting him with a kiss. It’s interesting to note that, when Shelly was talking about Leo in The One-Armed Man, she lamented that she only married him because of his red corvette. However, Bobby — who seems to be destined to grow up to be another Leo — drives a black corvette. Shelly needs to stop picking her men based on their car.

While Leo sits outside with a sniper rifle, a sobbing Shelly confessed to Bobby that she shot Leo. Shelly may be upset but Bobby thinks that all this sounds like a good thing. “Leo Johnson is history!” he declares. No, Bobby, Leo is sitting outside with a sniper rifle. Fortunately, for Bobby, Leo has a police scanner with him and he hears Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) announcing that Waldo has been talking. Leo gets into his pickup truck and drives off.

At the Hayward House, Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle), James (James Marshall), and Maddy (Sheryl Lee) listen to the tape that Maddy found in Laura’s room. It turns out to be one of several tapes that Laura recorded for Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn.) On the tape, Laura wonders why it’s so easy for her to get men to like her and, for a few minutes, I was worried that we’d have to deal with another “James-Gets-Weepy” scene. Fortunately, Maddy distracts him by pointing out that there’s one empty case in Laura’s collection of tapes. The missing tape was recorded the night that Laura was killed. James deduces that Jacoby must have it and that Jacoby might also be Laura’s killer. He comes up with a plan to get Jacoby out of his office so that he and Donna can search for the tape. What if Jacoby gets a call from Laura? Everyone looks over at Maddy.

At Horne’s Department Store, Audrey attempts to convince a customer to buy a perfume that will make her smell like a forest. Since most forests smell like death, the customer really isn’t interested. She wants a perfume that makes a statement. Audrey suggests hanging the perfume around her neck. “It’s a perfume. It’s a fashion accessory. Two statements for the price of one?” “I don’t appreciate your attitude,” the customer says. If only I had a dime for every time that I’ve heard that…

Anyway, Audrey isn’t really all that concerned about making sales. She’s got an investigation to conduct! This means hiding in the manager’s office and listening while he recruits one of Audrey’s co-workers to go work at One-Eyed Jack’s as a “hospitality girl.” The manager says that the co-worker’s positive and money-hungrey attitude will take her far in life. (It’s all about attitude at Horne’s Department Store.) Later, Audrey deftly manipulates that co-worker into giving her the number to One-Eyed Jacks. Audrey’s the best.

Meanwhile, at the Double R, Hank (Chris Mulkey) is working at his new job and boring Shelly with inspiring stories about his time in jail. Little does Shelly know that, before she shot Leo, Hank beat him up. They have something in common and personally, I think they’d make a cute couple. I mean, Hank may be sleazy but he’s so damn likable.

Of course, Harry doesn’t like Hank but that’s probably just because of all the drug dealing and other assorted crimes that Hank has committed. When Cooper and Harry stop by the diner, Harry tells Hank that if he misses one meeting with his parole officer, he’ll be sent back to jail. Harry tells Cooper that people never change but Cooper is too busy appreciating a cup of black coffee to worry about Hank Jennings. Cooper tells Harry that the secret of happy living is to give yourself a random present, like a good cup of coffee.

(It’s played for laughs but again, the important word to remember is secret. Twin Peaks is all about to secrets.)

At the Hurley House, Nadine (Wendy Robie) watches the latest episode of Invitation to Love. When Big Ed (Everett McGill) enters the room, Nadine announces that she’s eating bon bons because a patent attorney rejected her silent drape runners. Ed assures her, in one of my favorite lines ever, “Nadine, there’s plenty of patent attorneys. We’re just going to have to keep looking until we find one that understands drape runners.” McGill delivers that line with just the right amount of gravitas too. If I ever lose an eye and become obsessed with drapes, I hope my man will be as understanding as Big Ed Hurley.

At the Packard Mill, Pete Martell (Jack Nance) laments to Harry that a fish he recently caught was bigger before he sent it to the taxidermist. “Once they take all the innards out,” he explains, the fish loses something, a reminder that everything that makes existence interesting (in both Twin Peaks and life itself), lies directly under the surface.

Harry’s come to see Josie (Joan Chen). He knows that she was at the Timber Falls Motel on Tuesday but he doesn’t know why. (She was spying on Ben and Catherine.) At first, Josie lies and says she was at the mill on Tuesday but eventually, she reveals her secret. She also tells Harry that she heard Catherine talking about burning down the mill. Harry swears that he won’t let that happen.

Later, that night, Cooper, looking incredibly dashing in a tuxedo, is preparing to go to One-Eyed Jacks with Harry, Hawk, and Ed. Cooper has $10,000 of the FBI’s money for them to use in the casino. “Whenever I gamble with the bureau’s money, I like a 10 to 15% return,” he says. Cooper’s a gambler? Who would have guessed, especially since Cooper claimed to have no secrets?

Walter Neff

Twin Peaks, like most of David Lynch’s films, borrowed a lot from classic film noir and nowhere is that more obvious than in the next scene. An insurance agent (Mark Lowenthal) had dropped in on Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie). The agent’s name is Mr. Neff, as in Walter Neff from Double Indemnity. He’s visiting because a life insurance policy has been taken out on Catherine by … Josie Packard! And, as Mr. Neff goes on to explain, it appears that Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) originally said that he would make sure that Catherine signed the papers! Apparently, thinking it was strange that Catherine would be “too busy” to appear in person to sign the policy, Mr. Neff held off on giving Josie and Ben the last page that needed to be signed. Catherine, realizing that she’s been set up, coolly says that she’ll have to look over the policy with her lawyer before signing anything. It’s a fascinating scene because both Catherine and Neff realize what’s happening but neither comes right out and says it. Apparently, this was Neff’s only appearance and that’s shame because Mark Lowenthal gives a fun, scene-stealing performance in the role.

Meanwhile, at the police station, Waldo the Myna Bird is feeling well enough to say, “Laura … Laura…” Suddenly, there’s a gunshot. Hawk, Dale, and Ed — who were busy trying on disguises in the next room — run into the conference room. Someone — and we know that had to be Leo because he was the one with the sniper rifle — has killed Waldo!

And I have to admit that I felt really bad about Waldo. The shot of Waldo’s blood dripping down on the uneaten conference room donuts is far more horrifying than you would think, based on the description. In just one and a half episodes, I had grown rather attached to Waldo. The fact that we know he was talking because he was finally feeling playful again makes his death all the more tragic. Andy, with tears in his eyes, reaffirms why he’s one of my favorite minor characters when he says, “Poor Wall-DOE!”

Rest in Peace, Waldo

Dale listens to the tape. As Angelo Badalamenti’s somber music plays in the background, we hear Waldo say, “Laura! Laura! Don’t go there! Hurting me! Hurting me! Stop it! Stop it! Leo, no!” As the camera cuts between Dale and Harry listening to Waldo mimicking Laura’s death, I stopped to once again marvel at the genius of Twin Peaks. This scene should have been ludicrous. Instead, I’m getting teary-eyed just writing about it.

Leaving behind the unfortunate Waldo, we go to One-Eyed Jacks. Cooper and a bewigged Big Ed show up. (Cooper’s wearing a pair of glasses that look unbelievably adorable on him.) Blackie (Victoria Catlin) approaches them, which gives us a chance to witness flirtatious Cooper. On the one hand, flirtatious Cooper is specifically written to be kind of dorky. That’s just who Dale Cooper is. But, on the other hand, nothing he says is as dorky as the way Jerry and Ben Horne behaved when they visited One-Eyed Jacks in Zen, or the Skill To Catch A Killer. Cooper, at least, has the excuse of being undercover.

Blackie takes one look at Big Ed and announces, “You look like a cop.” Cooper smiles and says, “I’m the cop,” which leads to Blackie says that Dale looks like Cary Grant. Ironically, MacLachlan would play Cary Grant in the 2004 film, Touch of Pink.

Kyle MacLachlan as Cary Grant in Touch of Pink

Meanwhile, Maddy sneaks out of the Palmer House, barely noticed by Leland (Ray Wise), who is sitting in the shadows. It’s time for Operation Freak Out Jacoby and here’s where we get this episode’s other big Hitchock reference. In order to fool Jacoby, Maddy has not only taken off her oversized glasses but she’s also put on Laura’s clothes and is now wearing a blonde wig. Now is as good a time as any to point out that Madeleine Ferguson’s name comes from Hitchcock’s Vertigo, a film that starred Kim Novak as Madeleine and Jimmy Stewart as Scottie Ferguson. In Vertigo, of course, Novak played two roles, just as Sheryl Lee does here. In Vertigo, Novak was used to trick Jimmy Stewart into believing the woman he loved was still alive. Essentially, that’s the same thing that James and Donna are planning to use Maddy to do to Jacoby.

Back at the Great Northern, Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) and Ben (Richard Beymer) are partying with the Icelandic businesspeople. (Iceland appears to be full of a lot of fun people.) Jerry is enraptured with the Icelandic people but Ben is more concerned about getting the contracts signed. It turns out that the Icelanders only want to sign the contracts if they can do it at One-Eyed Jacks. Ben agrees and then sends Jerry out of the office so that he can call Josie. Apparently, the plan is to kill Catherine in the fire that Ben hired Leo to set.

It turns out that Ben and Jerry are not the only Hornes heading to One-Eyed Jacks, Audrey has already arrived and is meeting with Blackie. As soon as Audrey enters Blackie’s office, we immediately notice all of the red curtains. That’s never a good sign. Audrey hands Blackie her resume. “Hester Prynne,” Blackie says, as she looks the resume over, “Pretty name.”

Audrey has made the mistake of claiming to have worked extensively in Canada. When Blackie started to quiz Audrey about where specifically she had worked, I yelled, “Degrassi! Say Degrassi!” (Later I realized that was foolish on my part, as Twin Peaks predates Degrassi by over a decade,) Instead, Audrey makes the mistake of mentioning an obviously fake “dude ranch,” (which I guess is where they grow dudes because I’ve never quite understood that term) and answers a question that Blackie asks about someone named Big Amos.

Big mistake. It turns out that Big Amos is a dog and Blackie read The Scarlet Letter in Canadian high school.

(That said, borrowing the name of a Nathaniel Hawthorne heroine is such an Audrey thing to do that it automatically becomes the greatest thing ever.)

Blackie asks Audrey for one good reason not to kick her out. Fortunately, there’s a cheery nearby so that Audrey can take it, eat it, and then use her tongue to tie the stem in a knot. (Before anyone asks, despite having a very flexible tongue, I cannot do that. However, neither can Sherilyn Fenn. Apparent, she already had a pre-tied stem in her mouth when they shot the scene.) Audrey has the job, which — considering how much her father and uncle love visiting One-Eyed Jacks — has the potential to be all sorts of creepy.

Inside the casino, Dale is playing blackjack, His original Jamaican dealer goes on break and is replaced by … JACQUES RENAULT (Walter Olkewicz).

At Jacoby’s office, the good doctor (Russ Tamblyn) is watching Invitation to Love because, apparently, that’s the only show that plays on Twin Peaks television. When the phone rings, the Hawaii-obsessed Jacoby answers with a somewhat perfunctory, “Aloha.” (In my experiences, a true Hawaiian can make even the most somber “Aloha” sound like an invitation to the greatest party ever.) On the other end, Maddy pretends to be Laura. She tells Jacoby to go to his door. “There’s something waiting for you.”

And indeed there is! A VHS tape has been left outside Jacoby’s office. The tape features Maddy (as Laura) holding that day’s newspaper. From the payphone, Maddy tells Jacoby to “Meet me at Sparkwood and 21 in ten minutes.”

(Everything in the town of Twin Peaks revolves around wood, both figuratively and literally.)

What James, Maddy, and Donna don’t realize is that they’re being followed by Bobby, who is just as shocked as Jacoby to see “Laura” apparently alive. (Now is as good a time as any to, once again, point out that Laura was named after the title character from Otto Preminger’s Laura, a film noir about a woman who is incorrectly believed to be dead.)

When Jacoby runs off to find “Laura,” James and Donna sneak into his office. Meanwhile, Bobby plants cocaine in James’s motorcycle. As for Maddy, she hangs out around the gazebo, little realizing that someone is watching her from behind the trees…

What a great episode! Tomorrow, Leonard looks at the finale of season 1!

By the way, if you want even more Lynch, be sure to check out Gary’s review of three of Lynch’s short films and Val’s look at a music video that was made for one of Lynch’s songs.

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

TV Review: Twin Peaks 1.6 “Cooper’s Dreams” (dir by Lesli Linka Glatter)

Posted on April 7, 2017 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“She said that people tried to be good. But they were really sick and rotten on the inside, her most of all. And every time she tried to make the world a better place, something terrible came up inside her and pulled her back down into hell, and took her deeper and deeper into the blackest nightmare. Each time it got harder to go back up to the light.”

— Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) in Twin Peaks 1.6 “Cooper’s Dreams”

Hi, everyone! Well, though it wasn’t specifically planned, we’ve got a bit of David Lynch festival going on here at the site. Not only are Leonard, Jeff, and I reviewing every single episode of Twin Peaks (in anticipation of next month’s Showtime revival) but right now, Jeff is focusing on movies with a Twin Peaks connection for his Movie A Day feature and V al is currently highlighting the various music videos that Lynch has directed over his career. And, while we’re on the topic, Erin put together an artist profile for David Lynch a few years back. Be sure to check them all out if you haven’t already!

As for the sixth episode of Twin Peaks, I have to admit that I was really excited when I saw that it was called “Cooper’s Dreams.” OH MY GOD, I thought, MORE DREAMS! YAY! So, you can imagine my surprise when I watched the episode and Cooper did not have a dream. Apparently, David Lynch and Mark Frost made the specific decision not to title any of their episodes. Instead, they just called them “Episode 5,” “Episode 6,” and so on. It was ABC that assigned and came up with the title for each episode. Some the titles they came up with were pretty good. (I will always love the sound of Zen, Or the Skill To Catch a Killer.) Other titles, like “Cooper’s Dreams,” were just kind of there.

(That said, the title isn’t totally random. It does ultimately work for this episode.)

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at Cooper’s Dreams!

We open with the opening credits. Yes, I know that’s redundant but I will always mention the opening credits because I love them so much. After watching the opening credits, you literally feel like you could step outside and find yourself in the town of Twin Peaks. They are quite simply amazing.

The show begins with a shot of a blood-red full moon, the same moon that hung over the end of the previous episode. On the soundtrack, we hear singing. Lots and lots of singing. It turns out that there’s a bunch of drunk businessmen from Iceland at the Great Northern and they’re currently celebrating some sort of beer holiday. They’ve managed to wake up Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). For the first time since the series began, we get to see Dale actually peeved about something and it’s a wonderfully funny moment, even though it is also used to highlight one of the key themes in the series. Grabbing his tape recorder, Cooper announces that this proves that “once a traveler leaves home, he has lost 100% of his ability to control his environment.” The inability to control a previously undiscovered and unknown environment is, in many ways, the engine that keeps this show moving.

Why are the Icelandic businessmen at the hotel? Again, it has to do with the Horne Brothers and their attempts to try to attract developers to the town. Since their deal with the Norwegians fell through, Ben (Richard Beymer) and Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) have moved on to Iceland. When I reviewed the pilot, I speculated that the Norwegians were meant to be a reference to Henrik Ibsen, who was the David Lynch of his day. However, after doing hours of research, I honestly can’t come up with any subtext to the use of Iceland in this episode. My best guess, quite frankly, is that no one ever expects a bunch of Icelandic businessmen to show up at a hotel in upstate Washington.

The next morning, a grouchy Agent Cooper drinks coffee and complains to his waitress about his lack of sleep. Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) sits down at his table and tells him that she’s gotten a job at her father’s store and wonders if she could help Cooper investigate Laura’s death.

“When I was your age, Wednesday was traditionally a school day,” Cooper says, reminding us all that he’s essentially a man out of time.

Audrey picks up on this, telling him that she finds it hard to believe that Cooper was ever her age. She then mentions that she’s 18. In other words, perfectly legal.

In his office, Ben talks to Jerry. Jerry is super excited, as usual. Ben is worried about business, as usual. Jerry announces that the Icelanders are “insane for the Ghostwood Estate projects!” (The name Ghostwood is interesting, considering that the woods around Twin Peaks appear to be literally haunted.) Ben and Jerry’s celebration is interrupted by the arrival of Leland Palmer (Ray Wise). As usual, Leland is distraught. He says that, as Ben’s attorney, he needs to be a part of the Iceland deal. Obviously, neither Ben nor Jerry want him freaking out the Icelandic businessmen with talk of his dead daughter and they both try to convince him to go on a trip somewhere. While Leland sobs, another Icelandic drinking song begins in the background. Of all the characters on Twin Peaks, Leland’s grief is always the most raw. While we’re not surprised by the venality of the Horne brothers, even sympathetic characters rarely seem to know how to respond to Leland.

(Of course, there’s a deeper and more disturbing reason behind Leland’s breakdown but that will have to wait for a later review.)

As I watched this scene unfold, I once again found myself thinking about how impressive the production design of Twin Peaks was. I really love Ben’s all-wood office. Even Ben’s nameplate is carved out of wood.

Meanwhile, at Jacques Renault’s apartment, the investigation continues. Harry (Michael Ontkean) tells Dale that Renault can’t be found and neither can his brother, Bernie. Doc Hayward (Warren Frost) confirms that the blood found on Leo’s shirt was not Laura Palmer’s. Instead, it was Jacques Renault’s. Dale isn’t surprised by any of this. Instead, he’s more interested in the copy of Flesh World that Jacques had hidden up in his ceiling. Flesh World was the magazine that featured both a “personal ad” from Ronette Pulaski and a picture of Leo Johnson’s truck. This copy of Flesh World contains a letter that was mailed to Ronette from Georgia. The letter comes with a picture of a bearded man wearing a blue night gown. “That’s no Georgia peach,” Harry says.

Oh, Harry. Never change.

Back the Johnson House, Shelly (Madchen Amick) and Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) are playing with her pistol and role playing various scenarios that involve forcing Leo to cook before shooting him. At the risk of being unpopular, I have to admit that I really like Shelly and Bobby as a couple. Yes, they’re both unlikable and sleazy and they’re both trying way too hard to frame Leo for Laura’s murder. But, even with all that in mind, they just seem like they belong together. Maybe it’s just because they’re both so pretty. Who knows?

Shelly and Bobby’s fun gets interrupted twice. First, Andy (Harry Goaz) drops by and, while Bobby hides, Shelly says that she overheard Leo having an argument with Jacques. Immediately after Andy leaves, Leo calls. Leo wants to know if anyone’s looking for him. Shelly assures him that no one is and begs him to hurry on home, all the while staring down at the gun in her hand.

Meanwhile, Norma (Peggy Lipton) and Ed (Everett McGill) are having relationship drama of their own. Norma stops by the auto yard to tell Ed that Hank’s (Chris Mulkey) gotten parole and is coming home. Ed mentions that Nadine (Wendy Robie) is meeting with a patent lawyer. “The silent drape runners?” Norma asks. I don’t know what Norma’s being so snarky about. Silent drape runners sound like a great invention to me! Anyway, Ed and Norma decide to give up on their relationship. The scene veers a bit too close to getting a bit too mawkish but Angelo Badalamenti’s theme music saves it.

At Horne’s Department Store, the manager makes the mistake of trying to assign Audey to a position other than the perfume counter. Audrey replies that if she doesn’t get to work where she wants to work, she’s going to rip her dress, scream, and tell everyone that he made a pass at her. Perfume counter it is!

Meanwhile, Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) meets James Hurley (James Marshall) at a lakeside gazebo and, as I watched them talk, I found myself wondering if maybe Cooper didn’t have a point earlier. Audrey’s at the department store, blackmailing her way to a sales job. Bobby is playing with Shelley. James and Donna are at the gazebo. Does anyone in this town go to school!? I guess Mike (Gary Hershberger) is probably there, pushing freshmen into lockers and leering at cheerleaders. But otherwise, Twin Peaks High School is probably close to being deserted by this point.

Anyway, James tells Donna that his father was a musician and his mother was a writer and that neither one of them was a good parent. He wants his relationship with Donna to be an honest relationship. In my research of this show, I’ve seen a lot of criticism of James Marshall’s performance in the role of James Hurley. Personally, I think Marshall did the best that he could do with a character who tended to be a bit of a drag. All things considered, James Hurley could be a little bit whiny. I mean, yes, his parents sucked. But his uncle is willing to do anything for him. His beautiful girlfriend may have been murdered but now he has a new beautiful girlfriend. Nobody thinks that he murdered Laura. And he apparently never has to actually go to school. Cheer up, James!

(I read an interesting interview with James Marshall where he said that James Hurley started out as the cool James Dean of Rebel Without A Cause, just to become the weepy James Dean of East of Eden. That’s the perfect way to put it so give Marshall some credit for that.)

Back at Jacques’s apartment, we’re reminded why the police are too busy to enforce the truancy laws. They’ve got a murder to solve! Searching the apartment, Dale finds pictures of a cabin that has red curtains (just like the curtains from his dream). He realizes that the curtains are also visible in one of the personal ads in Flesh World, an ad that, like Ronette’s, was apparently placed by Jacques Renault. Though her face isn’t visible, Dale deduces that the picture with the red curtains features Laura Palmer. Hawk (Michael Horse) mentions that the Renault brothers have a cabin on the border. Dale suggests that everyone pack a lunch and prepare for a walk around the woods.

(I have to admit that, during this scene, I kept getting distracted by the painting of a sad clown hanging on the wall. I found myself wondering it was the same sad clown who used to show up whenever I would play The Sims. I hated that clown and, whenever he would show up, I would always lead him into a room with a fireplace, delete the door, place a dozen rubber trees in front of the fireplace, and then light a fire. You do what you have to do when it comes to sad clowns.)

Go to Hell, Sad Clown!

At the Double R Diner, James and Donna have a meeting with Maddy (Sheryl Lee) and her oversized red glasses. Maddy is one of those characters who I always struggle with. She is way too cheerful for own good but I think that may have been intentional. Whenever she smiles and innocently says that everyone says that she and Laura were exactly alike, it’s a reminder that Laura Palmer was not at all who people thought she was. Laura was, to quote the Man From Another Place, full of secrets. Cheerful, happy Maddy is who everyone assumed Laura was but Maddy is also never as interesting a character as Laura was. Maddy’s fatal flaw will ultimately prove to be that she has no secrets and therefore, no understanding of just how dangerous the world can be. Anyway, Donna and James tells Maddy that they want to solve Laura’s murder. Maddy agrees to help.

Far more interesting is the interaction between Hank and Norma. Having just gotten out of jail, Hank is hanging out at the diner when Norma and Shelly come in. Both Norma and Shelly have gotten makeovers and now look like they should be posing for Diane Arbus. Hank tells Norma that he won’t try to kiss her. He wants to earn his place back in her heart. Even though I know Hank’s a bad guy, Chris Mulkey gives such a charming performance that I can’t help but like him.

Meanwhile, it’s family counseling with the Briggs family! Bobby, his military father (Don S. Davis), and his cross-wearing mother (Charlotte Stewart) are meeting with Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn). Jacoby is wearing a tie with a turtle neck sweater. Let that sink in.

Despite Jacoby’s sartorial missteps, this is one of the best scenes in the entire episode. Jacoby sends Maj. and Mrs. Briggs out of the office and has a one-on-one discussing with Bobby. As they talk, it becomes apparent that Jacoby’s main interest is in finding out about Bobby’s relationship with Laura. Because Jacoby was secretly treating Laura, he knows exactly what to ask Bobby to get a reaction. Jacoby is not only investigating Laura’s death but he’s also taunting a romantic rival and, ultimately, actually helping Bobby have a breakthrough. For the first time, Bobby cries and shows some sign that he actually has human feelings. Both Tamblyn and Ashbrook give amazing performances in this scene.

In the woods, Cooper, Harry, Hawk, and Doc Hayward (who I guess is some sort of cop now) search for the cabin. They find a cabin but it’s not the cabin that they’re looking for. Instead, it belongs to … THE LOG LADY (Catherine E. Coulson). YAY! The Log Lady will explain everything.

“Come on in,” The Log Lady says, “My log does not judge.”

Inside the cabin, the Log Lady adds, “Shut your eyes and you’ll burst into flame.”

“Thanks, Margaret,” Harry replies.

The Log Lady, who wears the same oversized red glasses as Maddy, says that 1) they’re two days late and 2) that her log saw something significant. The Log Lady assures her log that she’ll do the talking and then says that, the night Laura Palmer was murdered, the log was aware of many things. The owls were flying. There were two men. There was much laughing. Two girls. A flashlight passing the bridge. “The owls were near,” the Log Lady says, “the dark was pressing in on her.” Eventually, the owls were silent.

After leaving the Log Lady, Dale says that the two girls were Ronette and Laura. And the two men? Jacques and Leo? Or could it be that the two men are symbols of something far more disturbing?

The group finally comes across the cabin with red curtains. Inside,a record player plays the haunting sound of Julie Cruise singing about the night and Dale remembers the Man from Another Place saying that, where he and Laura are from, there’s always music in the air. There’s no sign of Jacques but there is a camera. And a myna bird named Waldo.

According to the Netflix subtitles, the next scene begins with people “Singing Home On The Range In Icelandic.” We’re back at the Great Northern Hotel. Like a femme fatale in a film noir, Josie (Joan Chen) sits in the shadows of an office and smokes a cigarette.

Jerry Horne announces that they are all Icelanders.

Meanwhile, in the Great Timber Room (everything’s about wood), a reception is being held for the Icelandic businessmen. The Horne Brothers have invited the best and brightest of Twin Peaks. Catherine (Piper Laurie) and Pete (Jack Nance) show up. Jack tells Catherine to go easy on the alcohol so Catherine immediately orders a drink.

Ben talks to the businessmen. He says, “What do you get when you cross a Norwegian with a Swede? A socialist who wants to be king!” I’ll be sure to remember that joke in case I ever find myself trapped in an elevator with a Bernie Sanders supporter.

Catherine and Ben meet in Ben’s office, little realizing that they’re being watched by Audrey. Apparently, the Great Northern is full of secret passages and Audrey, being a badass, knows about every single one of them. But even beyond the fun of a secret passage, this gets back to something that I’ve been saying since my very first review of Twin Peaks. This show is about the unknown that lies underneath the facade of normalcy. Just as it’s inevitable that Laura Palmer would be full of secrets, it’s inevitable that the all-wood Great Northern would be full of secret passages.

(The scene of Audrey crouches in front of a peephole also is a nice visual shout out to Psycho.)

Audrey discovers that Catherine is upset because Ben had a poker chip from One-Eyed Jacks in his suit. Audrey’s smile as she watches Catherine slap Ben is one of the main reasons why I relate so much to Audrey. Like me, she loves to observe the melodrama while, at the same time, remaining slightly detached from what’s actually happening. By observing through a peephole, she mimics what every viewer is doing while they watch Twin Peaks unfold on a screen, regardless of whether that screen belongs to a TV, a laptop, or a phone. Audrey is the audience. She loves Cooper because, in the tradition of Gary Cooper, he’s the perfect cinematic hero and the audience always loves the hero. She wants to know who killed Laura less out of a sense of justice more out of a need for the story she’s watching to have a proper conclusion. Audiences always demand a perfect and proper conclusion.

Uh-oh, Leland’s shown up at the party! And he’s dancing! And sobbing! Catherine runs out onto the dance floor and starts to dance with him, a big smile plastered across her face. When Leland starts to pound his fists against his head, Catherine mimics him but she does it with a smile. The Icelandic visitors start to dance as well. Soon everyone is beating their head and laughing, except for Leland who is still sobbing. It’s a whole new party and again, as always, Leland is pushed to the side. Significantly, it is Audrey — who was so detached just a few minutes ago — who watches Leland and starts to cry. Again, she is the audience, suddenly touched by Leland’s plight. She alone understands the scene that she’s watching. This scene is Twin Peaks at its absolute best, a combination of raw emotion and painfully dark comedy.

At the Palmer House, Maddy calls Donna that she found an audio tape in Laura’s bedroom. They agree to meet tomorrow and listen to it. Sure, why not? What else are they going to do? Go to school?

Back at the Great Northern, Ben is having a secret meeting with … JOSIE PACKARD! OH MY GOD, COULD IT BE JOSIE IS NOT AN INNOCENT AS WE ALL THOUGHT? Well, yeah. It’s Twin Peaks after all.

At the Johnson House, Leo finally returns. First Hank shows up and beat him up, yelling at him for mismanaging their drug business. When Leo tries to take it out on Shelly, she shoots him. Good for Shelly.

Dale finally arrives back at his room. He’s annoyed to hear that the Icelandic singing is still continuing. He’s even more annoyed when he realizes that someone is waiting for him in his dark room. He draws his gun. “Turn on the light!” he announces.

The light comes on and … there’s a naked Audrey in his bed! “Please, don’t make me leave,” she says.

With that, the episode ends. This is one of those episodes that starts out a little bit slow but, by the end, it actually becomes a classic. Between the Jacoby therapy session, the meeting with the Log Lady, and Leland’s dance, this was ultimately Twin Peaks at its best.

Up next: “Realization Time”

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TV Review: Twin Peaks 1.5 “The One-Armed Man” (directed by Tim Hunter)

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Jedadiah Leland

It’s all about team work.

Aren’t Lisa and Leonard doing a great job with their Twin Peaks reviews? Yesterday, I was reading Leonard’s review of Rest In Pain and I immediately thought to myself, “I’m going to have to up my game if I want to keep up.” That’s what team work does. It challenges you to work harder and hopefully, it makes you better at whatever it is that you do.

For instance, Twin Peaks is usually thought of as being the “David Lynch show” but actually, there were several different creative voices involved and all of them left their mark on the series. The show was co-created by veteran TV writer, Mark Frost (whose father, Warren Frost, played Doc Hayward). Many of the show’s scripts are credited to Harley Peyton, who also wrote the film version of Less Than Zero. Even Jerry Stahl, of Permanent Midnight fame, is credited with writing an episode. While Twin Peaks had an easily identifiable style, only six of its 30 episodes were actually directed by David Lynch. The other episodes were directed by directors like Uli Edel, Todd Holland, and Caleb Deschanel. Even Diane Keaton directed an episode during season 2. All of them brought their own talents and perspectives to this show and upped their game.

Episode 5, “The One-Armed Man,” was written by Robert Engels and directed by Tim Hunter. Hunter, who directed two more episodes during the show’s second season, is best known for two sensitive films that he made about teenagers, Tex and River’s Edge. Of the two, the surreal River’s Edge (which features Dennis Hopper playing a one-legged drug dealer who lives with a sex doll) feels the closest to Twin Peaks.

Episode Five opens with Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) giving a description of Killer BOB (Frank Silva) to Harry (Michael Ontkean) and Andy (Harry Goaz) while Doc Hayward and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) listen. When Leland (Ray Wise) wanders into the room and taunts Sarah about having had two visions, Sarah talks about seeing someone digging up Laura’s necklace, making Donna uncomfortable since she’s the one who buried it in the first place.

(Whenever I see Grace Zabriskie and Warren Frost play a scene together, I am reminded of their later work on Seinfeld, where they played the bitter parents of Susan Ross and Mr. Ross was revealed to have been a former lover of John Cheever.)

Back at the police station, there’s a happening. Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) is caught up in the latest episode of Invitation to Love, where the storyline seems to parallel the efforts of Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) and Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) to run Josie (Joan Chen) out of business. FBI Director Gordon Cole (voiced by David Lynch, himself) calls in to let them know that Albert has discovered that Laura Palmer was bound by household twine and that the marks on her shoulder came from a bird. When Harry and Andy show Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) the sketch of BOB, Cooper identifies him as one of the men from his dream.

Dale also finally interviews everyone’s favorite psychiatrist, Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn). Jacoby tries to beat Cooper at his own game, speaking in riddles and comparing the people of Tibet with the native Hawaiians. Jacoby says that, when it comes to Laura, he can not violate doctor-patient confidentiality but he does share that “Laura was a woman” surrounded by boys and that, on the night Laura was murdered, he was following one of the men that Laura had told him about. When Jacoby says that the man drove a red corvette, both Harry and Dale realize that he is talking about Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re).

Lucy interrupts to let Dale and Harry know that Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) has just called. He has tracked down MIKE, the one-armed man!

At the Timber Falls Motel, Ben and Catherine are having another tryst and discussing their plans for setting the mill on fire and forcing Josie into bankruptcy. What they do not know is that Josie is sitting outside in her car, taking pictures.

The Timber Falls Motel is also the current home of the one-armed man and, as Harry, Andy, and Dale pull up, they are met by Hawk who tells them that the man is in room 101 and that his full name is Philip Michael Gerard. (The One-Armed Man shares his name with Richard Kimble’s relentless pursuer on The Fugitive, a show that itself centered around the search for a one-armed man. This episode aired years before the film version and Tommy Lee Jones reintroduced the world to the character.)

Andy has a Barney Fife moment when, standing outside of Room 101, he accidentally drops his gun and it goes off. (“Gunplay,” Catherine says in her cabin, “Sounds serious.”) When not even the sound of gunfire can get Gerard to open the door, Harry and Dale kick it in and discover their one-armed man stepping out of the shower.

Looking at a the drawing of BOB, Gerard says that he has never seen him before but that he does “look like someone.” When Cooper asks if he has a friend named Bob, the one-armed man replies, “Bob Lydecker is just about my best friend in the world.” He says that he’s been at the hospital because Bob, who is apparently the “best veterinarian in the county,” is in a coma. Gerard is a traveling salesman, selling shoes. He says that he lost his arm in a car accident. He admits that he did have a tattoo on the arm that he lost. In tears, he says that the tattoo said, “Mom.”

Al Strobel was a real-life amputee whose cameo in the pilot, riding in an elevator with Cooper and Harry, was originally meant to be his only appearance, a one-time homage to The Fugitive. Lynch was so impressed with Strobel that he filmed some additional scenes with him that were used in the version of the pilot that was released theatrically in Europe. (Those scenes were later incorporated into Cooper’s dream.) In this episode, Strobel gives a memorable performance that justifies Lynch’s decision to expand his role.

At the high school, Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) is smoking in the girl’s room and begging Donna to help her investigate Laura’s murder. Audrey says that if she can solve the murder then maybe Dale will take her away with him. When Audrey mentions One-Eyed Jacks, Donna proves herself to be just as crushworthy as Audrey by replying, “Isn’t that a western with Marlon Brando?” Considering that One-Eyed Jacks was a box office flop that was released years before she was born, Donna’s knowledge of Marlon Brando’s filmography is truly impressive.

At the prison, Norma (Peggy Lipton) promises the parole board that, if Hank (Chris Mulkey) is released, she will give him a job at the diner and they will live together as “husband and wife.” That will be interesting considering that Norma is now having an affair with Hank’s former best friend, Ed Hurley (Everett McGill.)

Meanwhile, Dale, Harry, Andy, and Hawk have pulled up in front of Dr. Bob Lydecker’s vet clinic. Hawk immediately high-fives a biker. Harry pets a little girl’s rabbit. Cooper notices that a convenience store is right next to the clinic and sends Andy, who is still shaken up from nearly shooting himself, to discover whether the store sells the type of twine that was used on Laura.

Inside the clinic, Dr. Lydecker’s receptionist says that the sketch of Killer BOB looks nothing like the good doctor. As a woman leads a llama through the waiting room, Dale asks whether Lydecker had any bird patients. As Cooper explains to Harry, “The bird that attacked Laura Palmer is a client of this office!”

Meanwhile, back at the Johnson House, Shelly Johnson (Madchen Amick) is fooling around with Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook). Shelly says that Bobby’s outburst at the funeral really turned her on. Bobby says that he’s going to “fix” James Hurley. “Fix me first,” Shelley replies. Bobby asks when Leo’s coming back and Shelly says that Leo will be gone for hours. Whenever Shelly says that Leo won’t be back for a while, that is usually Leo’s cue to kick open the door and start yelling.

However, that does not happen this time. For once, Leo does not show up. According to Shelly, he is with “creepy Jacques, that Canuck who works at the Roadhouse.” Realizing that Jacques must be the one supplying Leo with cocaine, Bobby does his innocent act. He says that he knows that Leo has been selling drugs at the high school, maybe even to Laura. Now, if only he can find evidence linking Leo to Laura, maybe they can get Leo out of their lives forever. Shelly helps out by showing Bobby the bloody shirt that she found in Leo’s truck. She also shows Bobby the gun that she just bought and she asks Bobby to show her how it works. Hopefully, Bobby’s better with a gun than Andy.

Fan Service, Twin Peaks Style

Speaking of which, Andy is still feeling upset over nearly shooting himself so, back at the police station, Andy, Cooper, Harry, and Hawk gather at the shooting range for some gunfire and male bonding. They all agree that women cannot be understood and they all marvel over Dale’s marksmanship. Not only does Dale do dream interpretation but he can shoot a man in the nostrils.

At the diner, Norma thanks a man named Toad for his tip. When Shelly comes in, they bond over their shared experience of being married to loser drug dealers. Shelly says that she’s ready to get rid of Leo but, after seeing him at the parole hearing, Norma is now less sure about her plan to divorce Hank and marry Big Ed. She is even more unsure after she gets a phone call telling her that Hank got his parole. He is coming home.

Meanwhile, Ed’s nephew, James (James Marshall), is using the diner’s payphone (remember those?) to call Donna. However, James is distracted when Maddy (Sheryl Lee), Laura’s look-alike cousin, walks into the diner. After James approaches her, Maddy explains that she and Laura used to be close but had recently drifted apart. Maddy says that she lives in Missoula, Montana. Missoula just happens to be the birthplace of David Lynch.

Meanwhile, at the Great Northern, Audrey deftly manipulates her father into giving her a job working at the perfume counter at Horne’s Department Store. Audrey says that it is because she wants to learn the family business but actually, it’s because both Laura and Ronette Pulaski also worked at the perfume counter. Ben agrees and then leaves so that he can hire Leo Johnson to burn down the Packard Mill. Who suggested Leo to Ben? Hank Jennings!

At the police station, Cooper, Harry, and Andy pour over the files on all of the birds treated by Dr. Lydecker. Albert faxes over a reconstruction of a poker chip from One-Eyed Jacks that was found in Laura’s stomach, along with the information that the bird bites on Laura’s shoulder came from a mynah bird. At the exact moment, Andy redeems himself by announcing that Jacques Renault owns a mynah bird named Waldo.

When the police show up at Jacques’s apartment, Jacques is not there. However, Bobby Briggs is. Bobby runs as soon as the police arrive and manages to escape out a back window. (Assuming that Bobby is Briggs, Hawk gives chase but loses him in the woods.) Cooper finds what Bobby was planting the apartment, Leo’s bloody shirt.

In the woods, Donna and James go to the location where Donna buried the necklace and discover that Sarah Palmer’s vision was correct. Someone followed them and dug up the necklace. Donna and James agree they have to solve the murder and share a kiss while an owl watches above.

At the mill, Pete (Jack Nance) asks Josie if she would consider entering a fishing competition with him. Josie and Pete? That would be an interesting match. But Josie soon has more to worry about, after she receives a drawing of a domino in the mail. No sooner has she looked at the drawing then she gets a phone call from a man asking her if she got his message.

Who is on the other line?

The suddenly very important Hank Jennings!

“The One-Armed Man” is a good episode, one that moves the story forward, introduces some new mysteries, and justifies that faith that David Lynch put into collaborators like Tim Hunter and Al Strobel. As I said at the start of this review, it’s all about team work.

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