Twin Peaks, Episode 2.20: The Path to the Black Lodge

Twin Peaks: The Path to the Black Lodge

“The Path to the Black Lodge” details exactly that. Windom Earle abducts Major Briggs, after he rather foolishly goes for a walk in the woods. Soon, he realizes the Owl Cave petrogylpths are, in fact, a map leading to the exact location of the Black Lodge. Meanwhile, the town prepares for the Miss Twin Peaks contest, the contestants feeling a mixture of excitement, ambivalence, and scheming of their own. Earle is fixated on this as well, for reasons not yet observed. Yet even Dale Cooper is slightly distracted from his case, focusing more on his new love for Annie Blackburn.

“The Path to the Black Lodge” is one of those installments you run into in serialized storytelling. As the story veers towards its conclusion, or at least its climax, the writers have to take an hour just to move all the chess pieces into place. And so we learn the details of Windom Earle's obsession, as he gathers the pawns that give him the information he needs to achieve his goal. Previous plot points, about the Owl Cave petrogylths, are clarified and understood. It's pretty elegant the way the “Peaks” writers, especially after screwing around for large portions of the season, manage to get all their ducks in a row for the upcoming big finale.

In order to make this collection of organizing plot points seem properly “Peaks”-esque, the episode peppers its run time with various surreal omens. Several characters' hands begin to quiver unexpectedly and for no discernible reason. That's a fittingly Lynch-like touch, a seemingly inexplicable element that establishes a certain mood. (This time, the mood being a sense of something bad about to happen.) While in the dinner with Annie, Cooper knocks a plate onto the floor, causing some gravy to drip in a spooky fashion. This is exactly what Lynchian horror is all about: Turning the utterly mundane into something unsettling. I commend the folks behind “The Path to the Black Lodge” decently emulating that talent.

This is far from the only attempt of “Path to the Black Lodge” to return the show to its weirder roots. There's a lot of free-floating oddness throughout this ibe. Windom Earle catches Major Briggs off-guard by wearing a two-man horse costume. One of the last scenes in the episode involves multiple characters sitting around and babbling or screaming incoherently. The Giant reappears to deliver a silent warning to Coop. The last minute of the episode, easily its best moment, has a light reflecting in a circle of rocks in the woods... And BOB's gesticulating hand appearing within, as if he's peeping out from behind a curtain.

Even with all the plot heavy-lifting and lore-building going on in this episode, “Twin Peaks” still has its various various romantic subplots to consider. Presumably because Billy Zane's guest stint was up, Jack has to leave town suddenly. This leads to a tearful departure with Audrey, where she gives him (and us) some unexpected information: She's a virgin. Though a more minor manifestation, it's still an example of “Peaks'” fascination with how nothing is exactly how it looks at first. Audrey has always acted like a teenage seductress and, all along, she's been an inexperienced girl. Honestly, it might be the only really interesting thing about the Audrey/Jack romance. (Save for Mr. William Zane's dynamite smile anyway.)

The second half of “Peaks: Season Two” still feels cheesy in a way the first one and a half didn't. Earle is still a very campy kind of villain, totally different from the very human-type of evil the show has previously encountered. Its comic relief is still goofy in a far less charming way than those original episodes. Yet at least “Twin Peaks” is actively trying to recapture that particular feeling again. After so much time was spent with unambitious story lines and bullshit, the show races towards its finale and tries to conjure those wood-dwelling spirits again. [7/10]