Twin Peaks: Miss Twin Peaks

" I haven't been this excited since I punctured Caroline's aorta..."

Here we are, then: the penultimate episode. An awful lot happens, as we might expect. Some sub=plots approach their dénouement- Donna trying to work out he truth between Ben Horne and her mother; Lucy choosing Andy instead of Dick; that key inside the metal cube that was in turn within the metal box.

But really, it's about the secrets of the Black Lodge gradually unfolding, with Earle listening in as Dale Cooper solves a few puzzles via astrological mumbo jumbo. Leo pays a heavy price, involving teeth and tarantulas, for freeing a heavily drugged Major Briggs who ends up as an important source of clues... but perhaps we should remember that Leo is not a very nice man. And it's perfect that the final piece of the puzzle should come from an eureka moment had by, of all people, Andy.

Then there's the Miss Twin Peaks pageant, an opportunity for much weird comedy as Twin Peaks is much known for. But much else, too, not least of which is long overdue sex between Annie and Coop. Oh, and a sex scene in the dark between Lana and Dick, naturally, the Mayor suspecting nothing.

But the ending is both exciting and visually arresting, as chaos ensues and Windom Earle seizes Annie. It's a whirlwind of an episode, bonkers and fun.

Nearly there...

Twin Peaks: The Path to the Black Lodge

 "

Well, it seems love is in the air... along with weird hand tremors, Windom Earle being a first class baddie, and signs that we may be feeling our way towards some kind of explanation for all this Black Lodge stuff. it's the pre-penultimate episode, and there's an awful lot going on.

But ah, there's love in the run up to Miss Twin Peaks. Bobby straight-up declares his love for Shelley after weeks of being something of a ****. Jack has to fly back to Brazil for a long time, just as Audrey has fallen in love with him... the desperate drive to intercept him at the airport may be a cliché, but Audrey's insistence on losing her virginity to him first is actually rather sweet. As is everything to do with Coop and Annie, both of them delightfully eccentric intellectuals whose flirting casually references both St Augustine and Heisenberg. Less sweet, though, is the Mayor's exploitative girlfriend. 

We also get lots of delicious manipulative evil from Earle, not the least of which is having the Mayor literally kidnapped by a pantomime horse. And he is, of course, running rings around everyone, discovering the map to the Black Lodge. Which, we learn, is an evil place connected with "evil sorcerers called "Dugpas". Groovy.

Excellent stuff, and not long to go now...

Twin Peaks: Variations on Relations

 "When I talk to you, I get a tingling sensation in my toes and in my stomach."

The plot certainly looms large here. Most of younger women in the cast seem set to enter Miss Twin Peaks. The plans of Windom Earle unwind apace, with him getting perhaps the best lines from a particularly dialogue-rich episode. Yet Cooper admits he can no longer predict what his old foe will do.

And so the foreboding mounts, as Major Briggs agrees to look into the relevant details of his mysterious project, footage abounds of the likes of owls and a mysterious hooded figure in the woods. Earle's latest stunt is particularly macabre. Oh, and there's Catherine's little puzzle box. And yet...

This episode is really  all about establishing the character stuff before we head into the final straight. Cooper and Annie have a date on a boat, connect... and kiss! Gordon kisses Shelley... and Bobby sees! Dick presides over a rather amusing little wine tasting. Mike points out to Bobby that, yes, Nadine may older... but there are, er, benefits being with to a woman with sexual maturity and superhuman strength!!!

It's all enormous fun. And not long now until the end...

Twin Peaks: On the Wings of Love

 "Will you please ask the lady with the log to speak up?"

We may begin the episode with Jones (aided by some kind of lip-applied hallucinogenic?) trying to kill Harry... but sure enough, as predicted, he's superficially over Josie's death and back in action, as predicted. Plus Gordon Cole is back, Cooper is suddenly reinstated in the FBI, and suddenly things are moving extremely fast as the series enters the final stretch.

We have more obvious hints that Coop and Annie, a delightfully eccentric character, are to be romantically linked. Gordon Cole and Shelly... well, we'll see how that goes. A deaf character being able to hear the woman with whom he's besotted is possible only in a series with the relationship to realism that Twin Peaks has, to put it mildly.

Earle has links to that shady air force UFO group that Major Briggs is part of. He discusses Shelley with Audrey in another disguise. He's always one step ahead. Meanwhile, Ben is his old plotting self, plotting new things. Audrey and Wheeler really need to get a room. Ben and Donna's mum are old flames. And, of course, there's the revelations at the Owl Cave, with Earle, again, several steps ahead...

Things are speeding up and getting more exciting as we approach the end...

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: Double Play

 "I will return. Until that time, I will be in the shadows until you need me."

Relatively speaking, I suppose, Twin Peaks is undergoing a bit of a lull. Yet we still have so much cool stuff going on. Cooper's explanation of the backstory behind the "genius" Windom Earle, and how he ties in with Coop's lost love. The slasher movie type jump scares as the recovered Leo menaces Shelley. Leo, in the woods, ending up in a cabin with Earle. And the owls.. oh, the owls!

We also have some comic relief sub-plots, with the Black Widow and Little Nicky, to lighten the tone. But so much is happening... Pete learns that Andrew is alive, Josie doesn't know, and Josie is bait for Eckhart, who has just arrived in Twin Peaks... and he's David Warner!

Then there's the revelation that James was always going to be set up for the abusive husband's murder. The magnificent weirdness of literally everything Major Briggs says. Ben Horne continuing to be completely hatstand... although it's notable that, in 1991, it was not yet beyond the pale to support the South in the American Civil War because, you know, yes it was literally about slavery and only slavery.

The season is treading water a bit- 22 episodes always was too many- but I'm still having fun.

Twin Peaks: Dispute Between Brothers

 "You know, there's only one problem with you- you're perfect!"

I was genuinely wondering how Twin Peaks would be able to continue after wrapping up the murder of Laura Palmer. After seeing this, it seems I needn't have worried. So may plot threads, of course, continue. And, as I'll come to, we now have the new mystery box of the "White Lodge"

We begin with some splendid visuals, with an eerie and indeed liminal shot of the forest, then shifting to mantelpiece photos of both Laura and Leland Palmer... then to Agent Cooper comforting Sarah Palmer, reminding us- interestingly, in the light of what is to happen- that he is a deeply decent man.

Then there's Audrey's parting visit to Cooper. She clearly worships him, and his deep moral principles in refusing to be with her do nothing but reinforce that. Again, Cooper is a decent man.

So the FBI investigation comes as a shock... and I'm sure all the viewers were punching the air when Harry told the investigator exactly where he could shove his investigation. Cooper and Twin Peaks, by now, have established a true bond.

All this nicely developed plot and character stuff, and then the ending... night fishing, the "White Lodge" and the Major suddenly disappearing in a mass of owns, urination and white light. Wow.

Other things happen, too, including much broad comedy as Nadine, thirty-five years old, enrols in high school. But this is a surprisingly deep and character-driven episode that somehow manages to point Twin Peaks into what looks like a promising new direction.

Twin Peaks: Lonely Souls

 "Would somebody please tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Ah, you can always tell when David Lynch directs an episode himself. The dreamlike quality here was through the roof, from the shooting from above in the hotel lobby early on to that extraordinary final scene in the bar. A surprising amount happens here, much of it gloriously weird.

I won't recount every aspect of the complex unfolding plot, from the shock for Shelley of suddenly being broke and having to look after Leo, her vegetable of an abusive husband "New shoes!") to the unfolding effects of Harold Smith's suicide or even the admittedly weird nature of Nadine's age regression, with the added squashing of a knickerbocker glory. And no, those last few words are not ones I ever imagined myself typing.

No: after the revelations of the One Armed Man last episode things have moved up a gear. Audrey has got her creep off a father to confess to her his doings at One Eyed Jack's and with Laura, and we end up with him being arrested. But we also have not only the Log Lady but also, on stage, the Giant, warning Agent Cooper that, in the Giant's words, "it's happening again"... and, just before she was planning, to leave Twin Peaks, Maddie is attacked by Leland, possessed as per the One Armed Man's explanation, seeming to kill her, having just suddenly killed his wife for good measure...

And the whole ending, the mood and the texture of it, is absolutely peak David Lynch.

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 Orchid's Curse

 "I'm a whole damn town!"

Pretty much a bog standard episode here, with plot threads progressing and mysteries unfolding amidst a cornucopia of suspense, humour and pathos, but this is Twin Peaks and that's no bad thing. 

There's so much going on, The Judge does some pre-hearing stuff, granting Leland bail and deciding not to try Leo on account of his being a vegetable. There's some slapstic about installing the hoist for Leo as Shelley and Bobby make out, as no doubt they'll take pleasure in doing in front of Leo. Lucy is away for a bit. Andy's sperm count is suddenly back up... but is an abortion on the cards? 

But there are two particular areas of focus here. There's Donna and Maddy with their attempts to steal Laura's secret diary from Harold, despite the fact that Donna like him, weird though he is. There's this delightfully symbolic and highly sexual scene between the two of them with the orchids... "Too much moisture is an invitation to disease"? Well, that sentence is doing a lot of work, to put it mildly. But that ending... ouch.

Then there's Harry and Agent Cooper on theor weird but seemingly successful mission to rescue Audrey. During which we see some owls... are they what they seem? Why is the Judge emphasising the local forest to Agent Cooper? Who is Diane? We asak the questions but, well, the answers are not really the point, are they?

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: The Last Evening

 "One can never answer questiions at the wrong moment..."

And so the first season is over, rather satifyingly. Of course, not all threads are tied up, but we have a certain amount of closure. And that's quite the cliffhanger at the end, foreshadowed by the Log Lady's introduction at the very beginning.

It's a superb episode full of shocks. James and Donna finding the necklace initially seems important, but Dy Jacoby getting attacked and killed by a masked man. Then again, Leo is eventually killed by Hank before he can kill Bobby; Jacques Renault is smothered to death by Leland, presumably as revenge for Laura, and then there's that final shooting of Cooper himself.

I've no idea what's going on. After all Catherine and Pete have plotted, it's Leo who sets fire to the mill. Why? Ironically, Catherine and Pete may die as a result. Did Leo have the missing ledger too? And poor Shelley.

So much else, though. Agent Cooper is superb in One Eyed Jacks, showing us what a subtle performance Kyle MacLachlan is actually giving. Cooper is at once folksy, steely and badass, a unique combination.

Then there's Hank's trying to win back Norma, and his "arrangement" with Josie. There's Nadine's attempted suicide. There's Laura's "mystery man", who she fancies despite him possibly trying to kill her, a rather intense kind of kinky.

This is all, of course, just plot. But it's more than that. It's mood. It's carefully cultivated weirdness. Yet it's character too. Twin Peaks is truly unique.

Wow. I'll switch now to the second season of Robin of Sherwood, but after that I'll be back to Twin Peaks.

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: Cooper's Dreams

 "My log does not judge."

Wow. Where to start with this one? There's so much going on.

So let's see... the Norwegian investors sent packing by Audrey have been replaced, much to the chagrin of Agent Cooper, by a load of boisterous Icelanders. And Cooper and his police posse explore two log cabins, the second of which offers lots of tantalising clues (I'm not following the facts around Laura Palmert's death very well at this point, of course, but that makes me no different from all the other viewers), but the first of which is the highlight of the epidsode.

It's the Log Lasy, for a sustained period of time, and the Sheriff and his deputies clearly respect her, gloriously and magnificently weird though she is. She gets all the episode's best lines, all within this one scene.This scene alone makes the episode a triumph, and is wonderfully David Lynch.

Yet there are so many other plot points. Audrey blackmailing her way on to the perfume counter. Hank coming home to Norma from prison, being nice... but still secretly involved in crime. The Log Lady revealing a third man besides Jacques Renault ad Leo. Bob's weird confession to Dr Jacoby that "Laura wanted death", and her bleak phiolosophy that people only end up doing evil despite trying to do good. Hell, that's dark.

But what en ending, with Shelley, scared, shooting Leo. And a certain lady in Cooper's bed. This is sizzling stuff indeed. I can't wait to devour the rest.

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.