Twin Peaks, Episode 1.3: Rest in Pain

Twin Peaks: Rest in Pain

With Episode 3, “Twin Peaks” finally puts Laura Palmer in the ground. Albert Rosenfield excavates some disturbing evidence from her body before the funeral itself explodes into a storm of strangled, traumatized emotions from several of the town's residents. Dale Cooper's dream the night before continues to point towards an answer, though the FBI Agent and Twin Peak's police department are still attempting to decipher exactly what that means. Sheriff Truman introduces Coop to the Bookhouse Boys, a secret vigilante group in the town determined to root out the drug smuggling operation going on under everyone's noses.

“Rest in Pain” is not as distinctive an episode of “Twin Peaks,” especially when concerned with the fiercely original “Zen, or the Skills to Catch a Killer.” Tina Rathborne is not as strong a visual stylist as Lynch or even Duwayne Dunham. However, the episode does have several fantastic sequences that elevate the entire thing. The funeral of Laura Palmer would be among any other show's most memorable moments, though “Peaks” has far too many of those for it to rate highly. Still, Badalamenti's strings playing over the preacher's touching speech is stirring. It immediately runs right into Bobby – finally making himself useful – tearing down the pomposity of the entire event. We conclude with Leland Palmer collapsing on the casket, which rises up and down, in a moment both hilariously surreal and heartbreakingly raw in its emotions.

Scenes like that speak to the spiritual side of “Twin Peaks.” How there is something beautiful, so morbidly bizarre as-to-be funny, and hideously false about the rituals of burial. That same place, where grieving meets the mysteries of life, is present in other moments: Bobby posing in front of a cross before the funeral, his father attempting to reach him emotionally. Leland's joy at seeing Maddie, Laura's look-a-like cousin. (A theme we'll dive into more some other day.) Or, once again, Leland's uncontrollable weeping when standing among dancers. It all seems to be asking the question: How do we move on when there's so much crushing sadness in the world? How does life go on when the pain of loosing a loved one is so real, so red hot?

It's a lot to take in but luckily “Rest in Pain” has some levity too. It's time to discuss Albert Rosenfield. He is, by any traditional measure, an asshole. He immediately goes about belittling and mocking everyone in Twin Peaks, which Sheriff Truman is none too pleased about. His behavior around Laura's corpse strikes almost everyone as distasteful. But it's exactly that determination to do his job, uncover the truth, see that justice is done, that reveals the deeper principals that motivate Albert. And, of course, Miguel Ferrier's delivery of the character's acidically sarcastic dialogue is undeniably hilarious.

The dialogue is strong throughout “Rest in Pain.” Dale Cooper's enthusiastic love and recognition of maple syrup and ham, ducks on the lake, or the heaven reserved for pies is hilarious and highly quotable. Deputy Hawk's discussion about the afterlife, or Truman's monologue describing the strangeness of the woods around Twin peaks, aren't funny moments. But they sure are similarly interesting. A lot of care and thought was put into every line said in this show. You can tell.

I have some mixed feelings about the subplot involving the drug smuggling in the town. I know it was always Lynch and Frost's plan that the Palmer mystery would recede, while life in the town took focus, but it still feels slightly weird for the story to take that turn. We go from this being a murder mystery to being a story about cops chasing bad guys. Even though we know it'll all tie together eventually. (Not so much with that stuff about the mill, which continues to drag things down.) Still, it's a pretty good episode in a lot of ways. [8/10]