Trapped in the Black Lodge

TV: Twin Peaks season 2

The second and final season of cult television show Twin Peaks gets a bad rap for "sucking" after they reveal who killed Laura Palmer in an episode at the midpoint of the season. While I don't feel that the show became an abyss of suckiness after that revelation, it certainly became uneven, with pointless and annoying subplots spinning out in every direction. And while the last few episodes were, in my opinion, a return to form, the finale left a myriad of cliffhangers and unresolved plot points, giving the show an intriguing and frustrating air of an unresolved murder.

Twin Peaks struck me as being bizarrely paced. The first season is a mere 8 episodes long. The second season has 22 episodes, but Laura Palmer's killer is revealed in episode 14. So it's almost as if the series is 1.5 seasons, rather than 2.  Instead of following and resolving the main plot arc, i.e. "Who killed Laura Palmer" in one, continuous season, which would have made sense--they spread it out over two seasons and then added a bunch of extraneous stuff for the rest of the series. I really don't think this was David Lynch's intention. I read somewhere that he and co-creator David Frost wanted to go the length of the entire series without revealing Laura's killer and just letting the mystery hang there, open to interpretation--but were pressured into solving Laura's murder by network executives. In addition, I think it's pretty obvious that Lynch had plans for a third season that simply didn't get carried out since the show was canceled because of declining ratings. In a way, this adds to the show's mystique: the finale is so abrupt, strange, and dramatic that it's hard not to wonder where Lynch would have taken the show if he had had an extra season to work with.

Rather than review season two in a narrative manner, I'm going to fall back on the classic bulleted list:

And be warned, here be spoilers.

Things that worked well:

* Supernatural/bizarre elements handled well: As in the first season, Lynch is able to introduce strange characters and occurrences in a nearly seamless, believable manner. In the first episode of season 2, Cooper is visited by a giant who takes his ring and gives him three cryptic clues. In another episode, the spirit "Mike" speaks through the character Phillip Gerrard. In other episodes, the malevolent otherworldly spirit Bob makes terrifying and dramatic reappearances. I firmly believe that only David Lynch could pull this kind of stuff off. In different, and even equally talented hands, these supernatural elements could have come off as silly and over-the-top. Somehow, David Lynch makes it work. The season finale, in which Cooper is trapped in the Black Lodge, is incredibly weird and frightening in a way that can only be described a "Lynchian". He manages to tap into some part of the human psyche where fear dwells and express that primal fear through images and sounds. I don't know how the guy does it, but he makes it work.

* The revelation of Laura's killer and the death of Maddy Ferguson: Even though Lynch and Frost were apparently pressured into revealing who killed Laura Palmer, it's clear that they both knew who the killer was from the get-go. <SPOILERS> Even in early episodes of season 1, the strange behaviors and reaction of Leland Palmer seem to be pointing quite baldly to the fact that he killed his daughter (that he was inhabited by the spirit Bob was not quite so clear until season 2). And talk about a character without a motive! While some characters (James, Bobby, Dr. Jacoby, Benjamin Horne, and even Donna) had feelings of jealously (sexual or otherwise) toward Laura and other characters (Leo Johnson, Jacques Renault) are obviously sadistic sociopaths, Leland Palmer was not violent and clearly loved his daughter. His reaction to her death--the white hair, the freak outs, the crying hysterically, the dancing whenever a swing/big band song comes on--points to something not being quite right. As it turns out, evil Bob took possession of Leland at a young age and forced him to rape and kill his own daughter. In addition, Leland/Bob kills Maddy, Laura's cousin who looks very similar to her, perhaps as a way to relive Laura's death...or even just a way to torture Leland further. The whole "possession by an evil spirit" premise works well within the world of Twin Peaks--a place where the natural and supernatural worlds seem to be intimately entwined.

* Super Nadine and Ed and Norma's romance: I hated, hated, hated Nadine--Ed Hurley's wet towel of a wife--in season 1. But after her suicide attempt in the season 1 finale, Nadine awakes as a completely different being altogether: she has regressed to her late teen years and thinks she and Ed are still in high school. She also has super strength, for whatever reason. At first, I thought this was the dumbest plot line ever. But as Nadine falls for teenage Mike (not to be confused with spirit Mike) and his "cute buns", giving Ed the possibility of finally getting together with his true love, Norma Jennings, I changed my tune. I found the story line to be funny and charming.

* Major Briggs: This guy is awesome. "What do you fear the most?" "The possibility that love is not enough." Right on, dude.

* Leo Johnson's coma and return to sentience: One of the most frightening and upsetting scenes in season 2 was when Leo comes "back to life" after being in a vegetative state and chases Shelly down with an ax.

* Audrey Horne's conversion to being a good girl: Here's another character than annoyed me in season 1. Audrey Horne came off as a bitchy, spoiled brat in the first season who decided to help Cooper find Laura's killer only because she had an inappropriate crush on him. By season 2, it seems that she really does want to help--and it lands her in a classic damsel in distress scenario at One-Eyed Jack's, leading Cooper to raid the joint and save her. Afterwards, she grows so much. From immature brat to nearly grown woman in a business suit helping her dad's Stop Ghostwood campaign. It's a shame she ends up asploded in the finale.

* Dale Cooper's continuing awesomeness and subsequent fall from grace: I love truly good heroes who aren't also preachy goody two shoes. They are fewer and further between than you might think. Dale Cooper is a man of such character, though hardly perfect (he slept with Windom Earle's wife! Bad choice, Dale). You can tell that this guy really is on the side of good--and not in an annoying "I'm better than you" way. This is what makes his demise all the more painful and ironic. In the amazing finale, he follows Windom Earle into the Black Lodge to save Annie. Earle asks for Cooper's soul in exchange for Annie's life and Cooper immediately and unthinkingly agrees. But then Bob appears and tells Cooper that Earle does not have the authority to ask for his soul. Bob tells Cooper to leave, and he does with Annie. We think for a moment that Cooper has actually escaped, only to realize that Bob in fact has taken possession of Cooper, while the "good" in Cooper (his soul) remains trapped at the Black Lodge. Thus, Cooper is vanquished through an act of self-sacrifice and love. Quite a way to end the series.

Things that didn't work so well:

* Ben Horne goes crazy: Once Ben Horne went nuts and began reenacting the Civil War, I started fast-forwarding. I did like the post-insane "good" Ben Horne that followed though.

* James and the femme fatale/James' death: Ok, seriously, what? This is hands-down the most pointless plot line in a season filled with pointless plot lines. James leaves town for a while and meets a sexy woman who is involved in a plot to murder her husband and make James the patsy. He outwits her before the cops can get him, only to drive away on his motorcycle again, right out of the show and to certain, untimely death. Fun.

* The whole Josie Packard/Catherine Martell/Andrew Packard/Thomas Eckhardt thing: Again, why? Who cares? Is ANY of this stuff believable, even in David Lynch's world? Why would Josie agree to be Catherine's servant? Why would she return to Twin Peaks? Why not run away and go into hiding. And WHAT in the HELL was up with her death/transforming into a drawer knob?!

* Annie Blackburn: Only a woman this boring could be pure enough to be a love interest for Coop. Worth losing your soul to the Black Lodge for? No way.

Things I am neutral about: 


* Windom Earle: On the one hand, he brought a much-needed plot arc to the second half of the second season. If "Who Killed Laura Palmer" was the driving mystery of the first 1.5 seasons of Twin Peaks "Who is Windom Earle and How Will Coop Stop Him" was the driving mystery of the last part of the series. On the other hand, Windom Earle was not quite as compelling as I thought he would be. Cooper speaks of him as if he were a mad man and evil genius of legendary proportions--but he turns out just to be a crazy kook, living in the woods. No subtlety and no class.

* Who is the father of Lucy's baby: Dick Tremayne is hilarious as an arrogant British dandy and Andy is so sweet and gentle. But, again, I didn't really feel this plot line.

* Harold Smith: Another interesting character with too thin a plot line. What a creeper, though.

And that's about it. Overall, Twin Peaks deserves its reputation as one of the most unique and well-done shows ever to hit the airwaves. But it definitely jumps the rails and/or shark in the second season, only to build up to a nail-biting and haunting conclusion.

Episodes 8-15: 4 out of 5 stars

Episodes 16-19: 3 out 5 stars

Episodes 20-25: 2.5 out of 5 stars (truly the low point of the show)

Episodes 26-29: 4 out of 5 stars