Twin Peaks S02 E13: Checkmate

On the last episode of “Twin Peaks,” Major Briggs returns and, we have a new Confederate General: Ben Horne. Can the Major tell Cooper what happened to him in the woods? Will the owls let him? Will the military?

Major Briggs

The Major has amnesia; everything is known to him and yet beyond his reach. Maybe his confusion was caused by the giant owl. This is looking more like an alien invasion and, what are those three triangular scars behind Brigg’s ears. When Doc Hayward suggests treatment to regain his memory, Briggs tells him that his mind is immune to regressive therapy. Every time it looks like the Major is about to tell them something important, his memory falters.

Cooper, Harry and the Doc won’t back off from this case and, they want to know what Briggs’s job involves; his secret military job. Briggs was involved with the UFO study called Project Blue Book and, although the project was ended in 1969, the Major continued his investigation into Twin Peaks looking for the place known as the White Lodge. Before the Major can tell them more, Colonel Reilly’s military guards come for him. Aliens have big eyes and so do owls. Is BOB an alien?

I had a friend, who during the early part of the Vietnam War, enlisted in the US Air Force. This kid was smart; genius smart, and within a year of joining, he was assigned to the Blue Book Project. When the war was over, “G” came back home to South Philly. He wasn’t the same. He wouldn’t talk about the work that he did on UFOs, but one night when it was just my dad and me in our family grocery store, “G” told us that the reports were true. He explained that most of the reports coming in about UFOs could be chalked up to natural occurrences… but there were many that could not. After his two tours of duty, “G” believed that there was intelligent life on other worlds. I would sometimes come home from a date and see him standing on the top step of his home… looking up at the sky.

While Cooper and Denise try to convince Ernie to help them trap Renault, we are forced to watch Dick and Andy sneak into an orphanage to look up Nicky’s files. If Nicky isn’t the Bad Seed then this scene was a big waste of time. What was important is Lucy helping Cooper with the personal ads and searching for messages from Windom Earle.

We see Ed and Norma reconnect again. I really feel sorry for these two people. Both of them are stuck with losers. Bobby and Shelly are finding out that romance goes down the toilet when you’re stuck with a comatose patient. James is trapped with a cougar and she’s using him to kill her husband. The kid is still in high school. Damn it!

Cougars

Mike is being stalked by another cougar, Nadine. If I were Mike’s mother, Nadine would be in jail… or dead. When I was a junior in high school, there was a young boy who lived down our street. He was a senior in high school and a real knock out. All the girls had a crush on this kid, but he was busy with school and an after school job. I’ll call him Pete. It’s not his real name. Pete was smart. His parents planned for him to attend college. He would have been the first in his family to do so. You can imagine his parents’ shock when he’d gotten an older neighbor pregnant.

This woman was new to the neighborhood, and almost ten years his senior. She was a cougar, just like Evelyn and Nadine. Why she wasn’t thrown in jail, I don’t know, but she and the boy moved in together. Over the next two years, this handsome boy became a shadow of himself. He was working two jobs to support the girlfriend and their two babies. I bumped into Pete a few years after I’d graduated from high school. He looked like an old man. If you’re wondering about my thoughts on Nadine and Evelyn hitting on young kids, I think it sucks!

Audrey is taking over more and more of her father’s responsibilities as he goes further and further into the rabbit hole of madness. He’s fighting a war. It’s a war between states and he has to make sure that General Lee faces no opposition. Audrey has put the call out for help with Dr. Jacoby and her Uncle Jerry. Audrey has gone from teenage sex kitten to the only person looking after the hotel and daddy. Where is Mrs. Horne during her husband’s psychotic downfall?

Harry surprises Cooper with a badge. Cooper is now a deputy and the joy in Cooper’s eyes reminds me of a child in a candy shop. It’s a step up for Cooper if you ask me, especially since he and Harry work so well together. I wasn’t expecting David Duchovny’s Denise to change clothes for the stakeout. He tells Cooper, “It seemed more appropriate.”

Conclusion

We need to bring Leland back. Something happened after Leland died. The show lost some of its mojo, but if Windom Earle is the bad ass that we’re led to believe he is, then I’ll be happy. What’s with Nadine’s super strength? Is no one in this town just a little bit curious about this? I have no idea why James is staying with Evelyn when he had Donna. And, why is Catherine visiting Ben? Didn’t they try to have each other killed and didn’t Catherine take everything from Ben? So, we’re left to wonder what the hell Catherine is up to now and, will General Horne fall for her newest scam?

The best part of this episode was Harry making Cooper a deputy and also the events at the Dead Dog Farm. When Ernie’s wire goes dead, Renault captures Ernie and Dennis, but Cooper, being the good guy, trades himself for their release. Renault talks about the benefits of living in Twin Peaks. It was strange listening to Renault talk about Twin Peaks before Cooper showed up. He blames Cooper’s arrival for Laura’s death. Renault liked it better before Cooper showed up and, thinks that Cooper brought the nightmare events with him. Maybe the nightmare will leave when Cooper is dead. Is it possible that the bad guys are not aware of BOB or the White and Black Lodges? That is what I took from this conversation.

I love Harry, always have. The town might be looney, and some of his staff might be missing a few days of the week, but Harry is a good cop who came up with a plan to save his friend and newest deputy. Harry gets Bryson to dress as a waitress and, under the guise of delivering food, gives a gun to Cooper. In the shuffle Renault is shot. Michael Ontkean plays his Harry as a good cop and he has won our loyalty. Besides Cooper and Audrey, Harry is one of my favorite characters.

While Shelly sleeps on the sofa, someone is moving about in the cabin. Leo, looking every bit as creepy as Twisty the Clown from “American Horror Story,” is awake. As Shelly lets out a scream, the lights go out at the Sheriff’s station. Someone planted a bomb in the woods. The explosion caused two fires; one at the power station. Windom Earle has made his next chess move and, it’s a killer.