Twin Peaks S02 E14: Double Play

Curse you, Andy Burns! Because of your book, Wrapped in Plastic: Twin Peaks, I’m hooked on this series. I arrived twenty-five years too late for the party, but I’m watching with eyes wide open. On the last episode of “Twin Peaks,” Windom Earle left the ultimate checkmate for Cooper. Renault is dead and Leo is awake… sort of. Will we ever learn the history between Windom and Cooper?

Pawn

I’ll have to hand it to the mysterious Windom Earle. He has a weird sense of humor, but I’m not sure what the deer head signifies. Cooper watches as Doc, Harry and Hawk do the initial investigation, but when the pawn piece is found in the victim’s mouth, there can be no second guessing who is behind this death. What is the deal between Cooper and Windom Earle and, how did they go from partners to adversaries. Will this Windom Earle character breathe some life back into a series that seemed to die a slow death after Leland’s death? One can only hope.

War

Dad is a looney tune, but Audrey is showing that she’s evolving into one smart business woman. She’s the one to suck up to. She needs Bobby’s help to get her father back from his Civil War psychosis. That’s a shame because General Ben Horne is doing one hell of a job leading his Confederate Johnny Rebs into victory as they march towards Washington. This whole General Ben scene was really funny, especially, when Ben’s brother Jerry arrives, or should I say, General J.E.B. Stewart. With Dr. Jacoby observing, we had all the coconuts confined to one room. Jacoby is counting on Ben’s total recovery if the south wins this pretend war. Maybe Dr. Jacoby could also help a few modern day delusional citizens who won’t admit the south lost.

Major Briggs collapses at the Sheriff’s office. Was he drugged? He’s worried that his Air Force superiors are not being honest with him about the White Lodge. Briggs thinks that he was taken to the White Lodge when he disappeared, but he can’t remember. Is the White Lodge an anomaly in time and space? Are we dealing more with little green men than with demons? We’re left hanging for more tidbits, but alas, the answers will have to wait because Briggs will be hiding in the shadows.

While Bobby is sucking up to Audrey, Shelly is fending off zombie Leo. Yep, Leo is awake and he’s pissed off. He’s heard the conversations and declarations of love between Shelly and Bobby. People don’t realize that comatose patients are able to hear conversations. When I worked in the Intensive Care Unit of a South Philadelphia hospital many years ago, it was common for our patients to awake from a coma and tell us what they heard the nurses and doctors say while they were under. In one case, a wealthy woman had her lawyer change her Will as soon as she awoke because of what she heard her children saying while she was in a coma. Never stop talking to your loved ones, even if they are unable to reply. They can hear you and, it might be the sound of your voice that eventually brings them back to consciousness.

I have to admit, this scene with Leo and Shelly was one of the scariest scenes we’ve had since Leland attacked Maddy. Shelly is locked inside the house with no way out and no one to hear her screams. It was uncomfortable watching this. Bobby arrives as Leo takes an ax to Shelly, but it’s Shelly who saves the day and sends Leo running into the woods. We are left to wonder if Leo will fall prey to the giant owl that is hovering around the woods.

Cooper has been cleared of all charges with the department, but he’s still on suspension. Cooper’s happy being Harry’s deputy. Throughout the two seasons, the focus was on the friendship between these two law men. I’ll need to ask Andy Burns if these two actors, Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean, were friends off the set because they made it look real in front of the camera. Cooper finally tells Harry why Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) is out to get him, but not before mentioning that he and Windom used to play lots of chess games together. Cooper never won. It’s hard to fathom that our little boy scout, Cooper, had baggage. Here are the facts: Windom was Cooper’s mentor and partner; Cooper was assigned to protect Caroline Earle (Brenda E. Mathers), a witness to a murder and Windom’s wife; Cooper and Caroline became lovers; Cooper now believes that Windom not only killed Caroline, but also attacked him; Windom was captured and institutionalized.

Weenies

Okay, this is going to be my code name for all the useless scenes in each episode. Andy’s suspicions about little Nicky, falls on deaf ears. Lucy doesn’t want to hear anything bad about the boy. She gets Doc to talk to Andy and Dick about little Nicky. Doc Haywood gives this big sob story about the boy. After his mother’s death Nicky lived in an orphanage. His adoptive parents died in a car crash. Andy and Dick cry and I say bull! Apparently, no one in Twin Peaks has ever seen the film, The Bad Seed.  Children are capable of murder. Why they do it is a mystery, but it could be in the genes.

Useless storyline part two. Ed confides in Doc about Nadine and him in bed and her wanting to date teenage boys. What’s Doc’s advice? He tells Ed to give Nadine a curfew. Why isn’t Doc Haywood admitting Nadine for some type of evaluation? Ed should dump Nadine and stick with Norma, especially since Hank is back in the slammer.

Useless storyline part three. James meets Evelyn’s husband Jeffrey. Jeffrey is on the set all of three minutes before jumping into the car that James fixed and dying in a car crash. How convenient for the writers, but not for us viewers. We never see him abusing Evelyn. We know nothing about the man. We don’t see the crash. All we know is that the police arrive and so does Donna after she talks to Evelyn at a bar. What the hell?

Useless storyline part four. Dr. Jacoby vouches for the dead Dougie’s wife. According to Dr. Jacoby, Lana isn’t a bad girl. She’s just an expert at turning men on. The Mayor, shotgun in hand, is permitted by Harry and Cooper to speak privately with Lana. This is such a stupid storyline that I hope I don’t have to watch anything about Lana and the mayor ever again.

Conclusion

The Weenie parts are outnumbering the good parts of the show. I hope this changes. What I found interesting was Pete’s surprise when he sees that his dead brother-in-law is still alive and that Catherine was part of the ruse. Andrew saved Catherine from the mill fire and helped her defeat Ben. Andrew doesn’t know that Eckhart is at the Great Northern.

Cooper is not the knight in shining armor that we were led to believe and, I love him even more for this. Cooper fell madly in love. Unfortunately, it was to a woman who was already married. Windom had most likely already lost his mind when he’d committed the crime that Caroline witnessed, but knowing that Cooper and Caroline were lovers, pushed Windom Earle over the ledge. Now he’s playing a bloody chess game with our Cooper and I don’t like it.

I think we’re back on track. “Twin Peaks” has found its Mojo again. The horror is back and with a vengeance. Leo stumbles back to his home, under the watchful eyes of the giant owl, to find a stranger waiting. The stranger wants to play a game of chess. Hell yeah!