Twin Peaks, Episode 2.22: Beyond Life and Death

Twin Peaks, Episode 2.22: Beyond Life and Death

Following the resolution of the Laura Palmer murder, “Twin Peaks'” ratings start to flag. (Ironically, the network execs insisted on revealing Laura's killer sooner, for fear ratings would start to fall if they didn't.) The ratings continued to sink throughout the second season, thanks to the downturn in quality, frequent time slot shifts, and preemption due to coverage of the Gulf War. “Peaks” was actually put on hiatus at one point. Only a letter writing campaign from fans got the show back on the air, so it could at least finish out the season. After stepping away for a while, David Lynch returned to the show he created with the season two finale. Paired with “Miss Twin Peaks,” “Beyond Life and Death” was aired as a movie-of-the-week event.

With Annie abducted by Windom Earle, Cooper rushes to locate the entrance to the Black Lodge. Eventually, a cryptic hint from the Log Lady and Dr. Jacoby points him in the right direction. Soon, he steps into the Red Room once again. Cooper soon meets with many of the strange apparitions he's seen in his dreams and visions. This includes Laura Palmer, as well as doppelgangers of himself and others. Finally, he is confronted by Windom Earle, who attempts to take his soul... Before Killer BOB intervenes. Cooper successfully gets out of the Lodge with Annie but awakens the next morning possessed by BOB.

The shooting script for “Beyond Life and Death” originally featured a wildly different version of the Black Lodge, featuring a distorted version of the Great Northern and BOB torturing Windom Earle in a dentist's chair. Lynch threw all that out, returning “Twin Peaks” to the nightmarish dream-logic that defined its earlier episode. Yes, Lynch brings the freakiness back in a big way. There's lots of backwards speech, red curtains, strobing lights, screaming faces, and dancing Michael J. Anderson. As always, Lynch recalls both nightmares and dreams in these moments. Coop's entrance into the Lodge, amid spotlights and wailing winds, is accompanied by a genuinely eerie song about sycamore trees. The close-ups of screaming doppelgangers in thundering shadows has to be among the most aggressively creepy stuff ever shown on network TV.

Though Lynch can always be accused of just throwing in weird shit for its own sake, “Beyond Life and Death” litters its visit to another dimension with meaningful symbols. In fact, many of the themes of “Twin Peaks” are summed up in these scenes. The Man from Another Place says he and the Giant are one and the same, hinting at the show's insistence that nothing is ever as it seems. The use of doppelgangers, nearly identical copies of people with vastly different intentions, speaks to the ever-present theme of duality. Laura, Maddie, and Leland all reappear but act differently, subtly suggesting how people can be two different things at the same time. Inside the Black Lodge, Coop's memories overlap with the present. Annie trades places with the long descend Carolene and Laura, showing how grief still informs the present. It's amazing how “Beyond Life and Death” sums up so many ideas largely with visuals and suggestion.

David Lynch clearly delights in going on these surreal tangents. They occupy nearly the entire last third of the episode... Which means no resolution is provided at all for the various other events depicted throughout the episode. Yes, “Beyond Life and Death” double-down on the first season's finale by throwing in multiple cliffhangers. Eckhardt's puzzle box leads to a bomb in the Twin Peaks bank, with Pete, Andrew Packard and Audrey (who chained herself to the door as a form of protest) directly in the path of the blast. The plot concerning Ben Horne being Donna's actual dad leads to Dr. Haywood bouncing Ben's head off the stone fireplace, his final fate left uncertain. Leo Johnson is still in Earle's cabin, a cage of venomous spiders precariously hanging above his head. Nadine's memories return, throwing Ed and Shelly's plans into disarray. Piling these melodramatic events, one atop the other, reminds you that “Twin Peaks” is as much satire of soap operas as a straight example.

In fact, you really get the feeling that Lynch was not all that interested in “Peaks'” lingering story lines. Once again, I can't help but feel like he's fucking with the audience a couple of times. Not long after entering the Black Lodge, when the episode is arguably at its tensest (and after setting up all those cliffhangers), Lynch devotes a solid minute to Senor Droolcup repeating the word “coffee,” presenting Coop with a fittingly surreal cup of joe. The sequence where Audrey handcuffs herself to the bank door is so drawn-out and slow, featuring an elderly and incoherent bank teller, that it comes off like a deliberate interruption of television expectations. The concluding shot of that sequence, of a pair of glasses blasted into a tree, is similarly absurd.

Filling the season finale with some many cliffhangers was a deliberate move by the show creators, in hopes of creating enough interest to justify a third season. Just the opposite ended up being true. Ratings remained low and “Twin Peaks” got canceled anyway. The die hard fans were left with no resolution, the lives of the show's characters left totally up in the air. And that was the deeply unsatisfying note “Twin Peaks” ended on... Or so it seemed for years. Taken on its own, “Beyond Life and Death” is a propulsive blast of eerie weirdness. It's certainly a hell of a note to conclude on, at least for now. [8/10]