On last week’s episode of “Twin Peaks,” we met Cooper’s hard of hearing, boss, Gordon Cole. David Lynch played this character just as I expected him to do, and this is why I love the show so much. This week our gang heads out to the Great Northern and Maddy makes plans to go home.
Road Trip
Gerard’s tip about the Great Northern has the FBI and the Sheriff’s Department on the hunt for the killer, but before we head to the lodge, let’s drink a cup of coffee and say farewell to Gordon. While Gerard sits dazed inside the lobby of the Great Northern, the United States Navy is playing with their balls. Seriously! Why is the navy in the lobby of the Great Northern Lodge and why are they bouncing tennis balls? We don’t have a freaking clue because Gerard picks that moment to have a seizure.
Harold Smith gets a visit from Hawk, but it’s too late for an interrogation. Harold has become a hanging plant. I guess he really was distraught over Donna’s attempt to steal the diary. Cooper finds a note on Harold’s body. Harold was truly a lonely soul, but thankfully, he left behind the diary.
Bobby and Shelly work over their finances as Leo ‘the vegetable’ sits at the table. Bobby is missing lots of school and Shelly is upset that they only have forty-two dollars for the month. Money is one of the biggest reasons that most couples break up and Bobby and Shelly are showing the strain.
Lynch, who directed this episode and Mark Frost, who wrote this episode like to throw in a laugh or two whenever there is an opportunity to do so and, they don’t miss a beat in this scene. Leo, although in a catatonic state, is now able to spit and babble on about new shoes. Bobby is hoping that he can get Leo to spill the beans on the location of the desperately needed money. Shelly quits her job since Leo is now her full time job and Bobby finds something hidden inside Leo’s boots?
Daddy Issues
Audrey, who in my opinion is the most interesting of all the female characters on “Twin Peaks,” has that long, overdue father and daughter talk. This is such an important scene between her and Ben for several reasons starting with her knowing that she now holds power over her father. Audrey knows everything and I do mean everything, and Ben is sweating bullets.
I can only imagine how female viewers, watching this episode, would connect with the Audrey character. It is usually during our teenage years that we begin to notice the chinks in our parents’ armor, but I think for fathers, this observation is even more critical. A father is the measuring stick a woman uses when picking out a mate. Audrey has seen her father at his most vile and sleaziest. She almost seems to be taunting Ben when she tells him that she was Prudence, the girl wearing that mask at the casino. When Ben admits that Laura not only worked at the casino, but that he slept with her, Audrey is heartbroken. She is not spared the truth of what her father is. Ben is a man that likes to sleep with underage girls. He is an arrogant pig who claims that he loved Laura.
Poor Audrey has enough sense to tell Cooper about her father. She knew what this information would do. She knew that Cooper and Harry would arrest Ben. I don’t think she cared. The young won’t let us forget our mistakes, and maybe, that is how they keep us honest.
Cooper and Harry arrest Ben just as he’s closing the deal with Mr. Tajamura. Ben arrogant as always, tells them to go away. They don’t. There is good news for Pete. Mr. Tajamura reveals his secret identity to Pete. Welcome home, Catherine.
Teenybopper Nadine
Everyone has to play the game. Nadine is forever eighteen and wants a milkshake. Norma, Shelly and Ed have to play along to keep Nadine happy. Poor Ed is stuck with a nutcase who has superhuman strength. Where did this strength come from? My guess is the toxic food at the hospital.
Conclusion
When the Log Lady shows up, I figured we would be in for more laughs, but she’s not bearing good news. She tells Cooper that the owls are at the Roadhouse.
The tone of this episode went from quirky and funny to downright alarming. The stage is set. Lynch has us concentrating on the spinning fan, the record that skips endlessly and Sarah Palmer crawling down the stairs of the Palmer home. We’re then made to jump back and forth from the Roadhouse to the Palmer house and all the time, the terror grows inside us. What is the significance of the white horse or the color of the dress the singer, Julee Cruise, is wearing while she belts out a song?
We see Leland primping in front of the mirror, knowing that his wife is passed out on the floor next to him. He is smiling and, the man in the mirror smiles back. Maddy is upstairs calling out for her aunt and uncle never knowing that it is BOB who waits for her. Frank Silva, for not being in that many scenes, makes the best of his BOB character during the few times that he is in front of the camera. Silva’s BOB is our worst nightmare, and BOB’s smile is that of a shark’s.
We jump back to the Roadhouse where Donna and James are talking about Harold’s death and Maddy’s leaving. Cooper is sitting with the Log Lady, but something is wrong. You can feel the heaviness in the air and feel the tension building up in Cooper. While he observes the people in the bar: sailors; patrons; singer, everything vanishes and the giant takes the stage. We are not laughing this time. The sadness on the giant’s face warns us that this is not a happy message. “It is happening again.”
We viewers were fooled by the comedy. Lynch and Frost continually had us looking at the clownish antics while the boogeyman did his dirty deeds. Our laughter over the ball-bouncing sailors and the teenybopper Nadine vanished as quickly as Maddy’s life-force. We watched in horror as Leland/BOB attacked another innocent girl. We watched Maddy fight for her life and lose, as we know her cousin Laura did. We saw the bogeyman for what he really is; a monster disguised as a family member.
Do you remember that crazy old waiter from “May the Giant Be With You” from season two? He was at the Roadhouse, too. This time, he made perfect sense. This time, he said what needed to be said when a young person dies at the hands of a monster. “I’m so sorry.”
We are too. RIP, Maddy.
Filed under: cult, Marie Gilbert, television, Twin Peaks Tagged: Agent Dale Cooper, BOB, david lynch, Frank Silva, Julee Cruise, Leland Palmer, log lady, Mark Frost, twin peaks
