Twin Peaks, Episode 2.19: Variations on Relations

Twin Peaks: Variations on Relations

“Twin Peaks” begins its movement towards the season finale. Both the Twin Peaks PD and Earle examine the petroglyths inside Owl Cave, Earle revealing that locating the Black Lodge and utilizing its power is his ultimate goal. Dale and Annie go on their first date, unaware that Windom Earle is watching them. Earle moves closer within his ploy, getting all three of the town's most prominent females to participate in the Miss Twin Peaks contest. He also kills a random guy, dressing him up like a pawn and leaving the body to be found by Cooper. Which is all part of his villainous plan.

Since I read the comparison, I can't stop thinking about Windom Earle in the context of a retro kid's show villain. This episode makes that comparison especially evident. He goes undercover in elaborate disguises, he spouts long speeches about his evil plans, he seeks magical powers, and he has a ridiculous gimmick. A bad guy killing someone with a crossbow and then leaving his body inside a giant chess piece would've been unimaginable in the first season. Still, I'm having fun with this stuff, as campy (and potentially out-of-place with the show as it once was) as it is.

The emotional core of the series has recovered nicely. I still find Cooper and Annie's romance to be awfully sweet. As the two float on a boat together, we see Cooper opening his heart back up to love. Granted, the series has yet to really sell how heart-broken the death of Carolene left him. All we have to rate the seriousness of this relationship is his words. A flashback or two would've allowed us to get to know this character, and what she meant to Coop, better. All that being true, Kyle MacLachlan and Heather Graham have enjoyable chemistry. Their relationship, so chaste and sweet, can't help but charm me.

The show's comic relief has also become less manic, recovering from the pine weasel related nadir of just a few episodes ago. A wine tasting sequence, in which neither Lucy nor Andy really understand the particularities of the hobby, is goofy but got me to chuckle, I'll admit. (Though the show's insistence on keeping Dick Tremanye around, I do not entirely understand.) Gordon Cole and Shelly Johnson's flirtation ultimately proves to be just that. However, it's still hard to undersell the amusement factor of David Lynch shouting cute lines at Madchen Amick.

Even this close to the end of the season, “Twin Peaks” can't resist throwing in some more melodramatic subplots. By far the weakest addition is the sudden suspicion that Donna is, in fact, the child of Benjamin Horne. That her mother and the motel magnet had an affair at some point in the past. Where the hell this is going, or why it's important at all, I can't tell you. I guess Donna was always destined to be wrapped up some of the show's weakest subplots. I'm also not especially invested in the literal mystery box that Thomas Eckhardt has left Catherine. I guess it's just an inherent side effect of writing a prime time soap that, even when the writers are focusing, they have to throw in potential grist for future episodes.

Still, it's better. Honestly, it's a lot better compared to the slog the show was not that long ago. Improvement of that degree, even if it's far from the heights of the earlier episodes, counts for something. [7/10]