Twin Peaks: The Condemned Woman

 "You'll have to excuse me. the chef tried to stab Jerry."

I love the way the above quote isn't even followed up on, and is just an excuse for Ben to leave so that Audrey and mysterious newcomer Jack Wheeler can have their deliciously nuanced conversation, circling around each other. She doesn't like him. But...

Still, to state the bleeding obvious, this is Josie's episode. And what a horrible last few hours for her, after days of being bullied and humiliated by Catherine. Poor Josie. The dilemma of prison or "belonging" to Eckhart. The finality of the end- her shooting her tormentor, her death, Harry's heartbreak.

Other things happen. Windom Earle luring Shelley, Donna and Audrey to a few seats away from him. The tense game of chess by newspaper- and Pete as chess expert. Hank going to jail, Nadine dumping Ed, Ed proposing to Norma, and Norma dumping Hank in a uniquely Twin Peaks love quadrangle. Ben continuing to plot against Catherine as he schemes to revive the fortunes of his family.

But really, this episode is all about poor Josie, and the real, agonised despair of her final hours. Poor girl.

Twin Peaks: Slaves and Masters

 "The only things I know in Hungarian are paprika and goulash..."

This episode is especially well directed... by none other than Diane Keaton. Yes, that Diane Keaton...

This feels very much like an episode that's there to tie up all these rather odd little mid-season plot threads before the season enters the final stretch. Ben's madness arc climaxes and abruptly ends.... essentially, because Audrey is too clever to allow Jerry to exploit his madness. The sub-plot with James being framed by Evelyn and Malcolm seems, by the end of the episode, to have met a sudden end- mainly via Donna's intervention.

Then we have the disturbing scenes of Earle abusing Leo ("Domestic violence. Well, I am partial to that."), Catherine seemingly about to, rather evilly, just hand poor Josie over to the sinister Eckhart after making her serve them both as maid. Ouch. One can see where the episode's title comes from, while feeling rather more sorry for Josie than for Leo.

Then we have the rather delicious scene of Nadine casually finding Ed in bed with Norma, lots of random owls, and more intrigue in the battle of wits between Earle and Cooper. It's a good enough episode, although... is it me but, for an episode of Twin Peaks, the weirdness level seems a bit lower than usual!

Twin Peaks: Checkmate

 "Is this for the soul? My soul?"

Soooo much happens this episode. But, then again, this is Twin Peaks- when does it not?

So the Major starts to tell of what little he remembers, and ponders revealing things that are "classified", until air force types come and take him away. Clearly something to be picked up later in the season- the forest, owls, the White Lodge...UFOs?

Harry deputises Coop as a cop, a nice touch- the FBI investigation plot proceeds, but at least our hero can now have some proper agency. There's some comedy Clouseau stuff as Dick and Andy try to investigate Nicky's parentage. There's love triangle stuff between Nadine, the boy she fancies and Ed, and also between Norma, Hank and Ed, made extra complex by Nadine's sudden comical super strength. There's Ben's continued slide into madness, perhaps averted when Catherine, bizarrely and in spite of everything, decides she wants him after all. Still hate her for being nasty to Josie though.

Then there's the weirdness with James and his abused Mrs Robinson... but what's going on with her and her "brother"? Is James being used? Then there are the terrifying scenes with Leo apparently compos mentis and terrorising the abandoned Shelley. There's the set piece action sequence, complete with Jean Renault's death, Coop's nobility, and some stuff with Denise that... has not aged well.

And then we have that final scene with the fire and the corpse... wow. Not the best episode- the season does feel, entertaining at the moment, but is perhaps treading water right now- but the ending...!

Twin Peaks: The Black Widow

 "I'm sorry, am I being obscure?"

I've no idea where any of this is going, or indeed what's going on, and I'm totally fine with that. Twin Peaks is not there to be understood, merely to give us dreamlike impressions, like a Dali painting. It is, I suppose, oddly Freudian in the way that much modernist art and literature was...

But that is, of course, just my impression. It's subjective. Barthes, Death of the Author and all that. In the case of David Lynch, sadly, literally so.

So we have Major Briggs' boss earnestly asking Cooper whether there were any owls around at the time of the disappearance. There's Dougie's sudden death on the night of his wedding, his bride's apparent history of similar incidents, and her uncanny powers over men, to Lucy's horror. One doesn't expect to hear extensive quoting from Romeo and Juliet in Twin Peaks...

Then there's Dick's growing suspicion that Little Nicky may literally be the Devil. There's Major Brigg's sudden reappearance, to the sight and sound of violent thunder. There's Nadine's almost superhuman abilities. It's all so splendidly weird.

Then there's the fun of Cooper and Denise investigating how and why he was framed, which all seems to be linked to the ever-nefarious Jacques Renault...

I'm loving this, if anything, even more since Laura's murder was solved.

Twin Peaks: Masked Ball

 "Let a smile be your umbrella!

It's fascinating to see the season continue to branch out after the Laura Palmer mystery is solved- was the second season supposed to last only as long as the first season did, with the rest of the season added on? Because, I have to say, it sort of feels like that... but absolutely not in a bad way.

The Major's disappearance isn't dwelt on, but I like Hawk's bit about the White Lodge and the Black Lodge. Then there's the subplot with poor Josie, as we learn about her past, only for her to be cruelly entrapped into being Catherine's maid... and then, the cliffhanger, her husband is not only alive but in league with Catherine and using his own wife as bait!

Then there's James, whose motorbike riding is always accompanied by rock 'n' roll, meeting a femme fatale in a bar. There's more school antics with Nadine, a very surreal wedding, and more passive aggressive rivalry between Dick and Andy, which Andy seems to be winning by niceness. I'm loving the mixture of the weird and the comedic with, for now, more emphasis on a lightness of tone. Although Ben Horne, for one, isn't having a good time in this episode.

Indeed, even the investigation into Agent Cooper, a seeming frame attempt, goes into the direction of a trans investigator played by none other than David Duchovny with some very 1990 attitudes to LGBT plus issues, albeit with no nasty culture war bigotry. Yeah... it feels so recent, but it was a different time!

Twin Peaks: Arbitrary Law

 "One chants out between two worlds... fire walk with me!"

Wow. This episode is a hugely satisfying resolution to the question of Laura's murder, but... we have twelve episodes to go.  How can this not be the end?

We knew it was Leland, possessed by Bob. But the way an admittedly clueless Agent Cooper finally solves the mystery by the use of visually awesome "magic", utilising all that imagery of not only his own dream, but those of Laura, is hugely satisfying. Bob's been possessing Leland, and using him to kill, for a long time. Yet Leland- even if Bob seemingly flies away as an owl(!) dies in peace at the end...

Well, as far as that may be said for one who has headbutted oneself to death on a cell door!

Laura accepted she had to die, in order to not herself be possessed. Wow. And the Major... he knows things. Also impressive is how Harry slowly, sort of, comes to terms with these supernatural things. Andthe shocking revelation that the old woman from a couple of episodes ago, with her eerie grandson, to whom Donna has been delivering meals for years, has been dead for years... brr!

Other things happen, too, of course- Catherine forces Ben to sign away his rights in return for nothing, and the saga of who is the father of Lucy's baby continues. But this episode is a massively satisfying conclusion to the central mystery.

So... what next.

Twin Peaks: Demons

 "I find the adherence to fantasy troubling and unreasaonable."

Just when you think Twin Peaks can't get any more delightfully bonkers, it does. I mean, a guest role by David Lynch himself playing Agent Cooper's boss (how very meta) complete with comedy hearing aids...? Yes please.

Lots happens, of course, but it'sall so delightfully weird mixed with real feeling. Harold Smith generally is devastated at Donna's betrayal and what that says about human nature. The scenes between a recovering Audrey, who knows everything, and her slimy father are enormous fun. Yet again we have mutual respect between Cooper and Harry, despite their being pretty much total opposites. And we have the mutual blackmail between Josie and Ben, very nicely done, and Harry's desperate confession of love before Josie seemingly moves to Hong Kong. It's weird, but the characters feel real, even if the events quite pointedly don't.

Then there's the taunting of Leo, who deserves all he gets, and Ben's business dealings- he's essentially a properly moustache-twirling villain at this point. But things only get to maximum weirdness at the end, when the One Armed Man reveals that vhe has an inhabiting spirit called "Mike"... and "Bob" is another such spirit who can onky be seen by "the gifted and the damned".

Brr. That's creepy as hell. And gripping. Twin Peaks is now making what seems to be a more overt shift towards the fantastic. I love it.

Twin Peaks: The Man Behind the Glass

 "I love you, Sheriff Truman."

Less weirdness this week, possibly not unconnected to the fact that David Lynch doesn't direct.  Instead we have a series of events, clues and plot developments. However, it's amusing to see Agent Cooper matter-og-factly tell both the bluthely accepting Harry Truman and the ever-cynical Albert about the giant. And the confrontation between the Sheriff and Albert may itself count as weird.

Elsewhere, a song raises Nadine from her coma, but she thinks she's eighteen.because this is the Twin Peaks definition of "not weird". There's a bizarre triangle developing between Donna, James and Maddy. We meet Harold Smith, much younger than expected although asweird aswe might expect... and his house is full of orchids, symbolising beauty and fertility so, yeah, "not weird"...

In other developments, Leland is arrested for Jacques' murder. Audrey is being filmed in a plot to blackmail Ben... and kill Cooper. Lucy has a very pretentious and odd boyfriend, Ben, who seems to be the father of the child growing in her belly. And Harold seems to have known Laura well, we (and Donna) think at first... until we see that he has her diary in his possession...!

Even without the direct Lynchian stuff, this is gripping, and just weird enough. I don't know where it's going... but that's not the point at all. I'm loving this.

Twin Peaks: Coma

 "I do not introduce the log..."

A lot of plot stuff happens here, pertaining to what happened witrh Lauraand all the many plot threads. Leo is in a coma and may be brain damaged. Audrey, it seems, is in lots of trouble. But, well the surrealness quotient has just increased here, hasn't it. And i'm so here for it. I strongly suspect that it's about symbolism rather than things that will literally be explained, but it's all so wonderfully... Lynchian.

So Donna does her meals on wheels thing and finds a decidedly weird old lady with a tuxedo clad grandson who can do magic, and the magnificent weirdness is all in the direction, the acting, and most of all the slow, lingering pace, all deliberately made to feel a bit "off". And so we, and Donna, learn of the mysterious Mr Smith. 

Then there's the reactions of various people tothe figure in the wanted poster. The paradoxical reasoning of Ben and Jerry as they ponder whether to burn the real ledger for the mill or the forged one. And, indeed, the somewhat kinky circumstances in which Audrey finds out the full extent of what her old man has been up to.

But the stuff with Major briggs tops everything. The Log Lady delivers a message from the log, which of course he immediately understands. So he tells Agent Cooper a snippet of what he knows from his top secret job... a message from another galaxy, that "the owls are not what they seem"....

This is utterly, utterly mad. And magnificent.

Twin Peaks: May the Giant Be with You

 "There are things in life that exist, yet our eyes cannot see them.

I finished blogging the first season in... April 2024. Wow. No wonder I'm finding it tricky to reacquaint myself with the sheer multitude of characters and the even greater multitude of plot threads... but this, of course, is the now sadly departed David Lynch (he directs personally here). Best not to try to keep track to closely, but rather to just let it wash over you. And this first episode is a long one. In a very long season...

So again there's the log lady and the wonderful look of the show, with the limited palette of colours focusing on browns and oranges, and the unique texture. And yes, there's the weirdness. We begin with an unsettlingly long scene with the recently shot Agent Cooper. Yes, obviously the giant gives us lots of dreamlike weirdness alongside cryptic clues, most strokingly "The owls are not what they seem". And he's back for more weirdness and clues at the end.

But even more weird, for me, are the deliberately lingering moments with the incredibly old room service man. Everything about this sequence is designed to be a little unsettling, a little off. 

And yet... the weirdness co-exists with himour (Albert's humour), lots of melodrama, and lots of real feeling. Yes, Leland's behaviour is weird, albeit changing, but we feel the reality of unbearable grief. The Major's dream, recounted to Bobby, may be weird and surreal, but it's the only way this emotionally constipated man can express his love for his son.

And yes, Audrey, investigating at One Eyed Jack's, has to use a very theatrical type mask (imagery again) to hide from her own father and avoid a very creeply act of almost incest. But she's in way over her head. It's moving, at the end, to see her admit this, but face her face with courage.

Elsewhere... well, I'm not going to even try and say anything about the progression of the plot. But even this is absurd, with a bit of slapstick involving Andy and a plank of wood. And I love Agent Cooper's little poirot moment in which she reveals that there was, yes, a third man on the night Laura died...

I'm loving this. Twin Peaks, I've missed you.

Twin Peaks: Realisation Time

 "Once a day, give yourself a present!"

Oh, whetre to start? There's just so much going on in this penultimate episode. I can't keep up with you, neither can you or anybody else, but it's all so compelling and immersive. The direction, the cinematograpjy, the weirdness... the characters.

We begin with Agent Dale Cooper finding Audrey in his bed... and acting the perfect gentleman, refusing to take advantage, making it clear that he does like her but has principles, getting her something nice to eat and drink, and makes time to listen to her. Unsurprisingly, she fancies him even more.

Cooper is a nuanced character- strait-laced, moral, weird, eccentric, trustworthy, competent, several contradictory things, but he fees coherent, a testament to the writing and acting. He's the still point around which all revolves, disliked by no one. 

But so much else happens! Leo survives his shooting, and has Shelley terrified. Bobby is determined to kill him (and James!), yet Leo manages to shoot the mynah bird... but not before a recording of its voice suggests Leo hurt Laura. Leo, Laura, Ronette and Jacques Renault were all in that room from last episode? This calls for an incognito visit to One Eyed Jack's... yet Cooper is in his element even playing blackjack.

So much else. Audrey scheming to get into One Eyed Jack's. The plot to burn down the mill. The Icelanders. The plot to get the tape from Dr Jacoby. I have no idea what's going on. But damn, this is good.

Twin Peaks: Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer

"Fire, walk with me..."

This, if you'll recall, is the third episode, and the one I inadvertentle skipped, having watched and blogged Episode Five. Now, thankfully, linear chronology is restored. And gosh... it would have been damned useful to have watched this episode in its proper place.

It is, perhaps, my favourite thus far, dreamlike from the very first scene in which Ben's brother Jerry (ha!) returns from Paris to interrupt an awkward, silent dinner where the wine is served from a decanter and a Native American bloke in full headdress just happens to be sitting at table, saying and doing nothing. We then proceed to learn of One Eyed Jack's.

We learn much more, too. How increasingly suspicious Leo is becoming. Jocelyn's discovery of the two sets of accounts.We meet Albert, FBI forensic genius and the rudestv man in America. And Agent Cooper's bizarre thing with the bottle, arising from dreams and Tibet, which both functions as a rather nice bit of exposition and actually gets Sheriff Truman to think more highly of him.

But then we get to the drewam itself and... oh my.This is peak David Lynch. It is a thing of beauty. I'm sure it all means something, if not necessarily in a linear way, which, i Suppose, makres it rather appropriate that I've inadvertently made a non-linear mishap. I shall endeavour not to do it again.

Twin Peaks: The One-Armed Man

 "In real life, there is no algebra..."

Bums. Just belatedly realised that, because of how the episodes are displayed on the DVD, I inadvertently missed the third episode, so the last one I blogged was ion fact the fourth. Aaaargh. That's incredibly annoying. I'll blog the third one next, then onwards.

Anyway...

I think, given how damned complicated things are getting- although, I'll note, it's not that hard to follow, which is a triumph of storytelling- I'm not going to be too thorough about discussing plot developments in these blog posts. So many characters, so many connections between them, so many secrets... and the point is not so much the endless mystery as the mood, in any case. And plenty of it.

Leland's chat with Leo is a surprise, though. And it's interesting how multiple characters are now having seemingly precognitive dreams. There's feeling here, too: Shelly's domestic abuse by Leo isn't treated lightly. We meet Hank, unexpectedly successful in his parole hearing, which is going to cause problems.. 

But mostly this is where the weirdness creeps in a little more. The goings-on are becoming more and more absurd. I'm minded of how the investigation takes a turn towards parrots and mynah birds. The absurdity, of course, is by no means a bad thing. This is the world of David Lynch. So much weirdness, so many symbols. Does any of it mean anything? Does it matter? I'm engrossed.

Twin Peaks: Traces to Nowhere

 "You know, I think I'd better start studying medicine."

"Any why is that?"

"Because I'm beginning to feel a bit like Dr. Watson."

The second episode is no less compelling than the pilot as we dig deeper not only into the mystery, which will no doubt all be wrapped up neatly in due course(!), but the characters and the evocative, textured, oh-so-brown setting that is Twin Peaks.

Kyle MacLachlan is dsuperb as Agent Dale Cooper, clearly a highly intelligent and able agent yet with a certain naivete that comes alomgside that. Who is Diane? I don't expect ever to know.

At times- yeah, the Log Lady- we lean into weirdness. Laura Palmer's mother seeing that figure and screaming, for example. Yet other scenes are very real and distressing. Shelley's abusive relationshiop with that *** Leo is hard to watch. And the mystery deepens in multiple ways while still being easy to follow who is who and what's going on, on the surface at any rate. This is not an easy thing to do.

There are new plot threads and characters- a mysterious $ , in Laura's safe deposit box, Donna falling in love with James, Bobby's highly articulatre and violent father, Truman's affair with the widowed Mrs Packland. But the mystery surrounding the murder of Laura Palmer is already showing signs of being quite the rabbit hole.

Alreadty, this is about much, much more than the murder mystery, as far as it's about that at all. I'm absolutely loving this.

Twin Peaks: Pilot

 "Laura is the one..."

Oh my. That was... unlike any television pilot I've ever seen. Although it was very, well, David Lynch. This is utterly captivating stuff. I mean, I have no idea what's going on, and it'll take a couple of episodes to get a firm handle on all the characters, not least because all the main teenage characters seem to be cheating on their partners with someone else.

But the music, and the visuals, are not just a narrative but also a mood. This isrural Washington State, circa 1990, a place of sawmills, donuts and wood, everywhere you look. Wood, wood, wood, dead end jobs, wood, wood and darkness. Yes, I think I begin to understand a little more where Grunge came from.

Plot-wise... well, Laura Palmer is dead. Ronette escaped, although hardly unharmed. There was an earlier murder, elsewhere in the state. Under the fingernails of both dead girls is a letter of the alphabet!!! At the scene of the crime is necklace with half of a heart, and the words "fire walk with me". There's a primary red herring, Bobby, anda secondary red herring, James. There are hints of much, much more.

Oh, and there's the log lady. In the very first shot, just to weird us out from the very start.

I have no idea what's going on as we follow eccentric Agent Dale Cooper (name influenced by a certain skyjacker?) and Sheriff Harry S. Truman(!) on a weird yet entertaining investigation with twists and turns. But what's going on? What is this about? I have no idea, but this is so very David Lynch, and particularly redolent of the small town American weirdness of Blue Velvet. I think I'm going to like this.