TWIN PEAKS
SEASON 2
EPISODE 5 – “The Orchid’s Curse”
Back in the 90s, Dale Cooper was the kind of guy who really needed a smart phone, and acted like he was using one, except for the fact that there weren’t any smart phones “back in the day”. I guess a micro-cassette recorder would have to do. And for some reason I also couldn’t help noticing the Indian figurine on Dale’s nightstand.
Lucy is going away to her sister’s and it’s just that so I guess that’s a non-story.
Bobby and Shelly do care so much about Leo. I’m touched indeed. Leo is a vegetable basically. At least the hot legal county clerk is also a bartender. How convenient.
Donna tries to bribe Harold (Emotionally? With sex? Not clear in the beginning) in exchange for being allowed to read Laura’s secret diary. Harold agrees (I thought he was going to say no because, you know, he’s become the guardian of Laura’s privacy so to speak), but his terms are not the best: he’ll read it to her (How can she be sure he’s being faithful to the original content?) and the diary can’t leave his home. She makes off with it anyway in an attempt to lure him outside, but he collapses.
Donna starts having “sessions” with Harold describing to him moments she had with Laura. And, sheer coincidence, everything she says sounds sexy. Donna and Maddy plan to steal the diary, and that would play out in the episode’s climax (which now I realize is another sex-related word, so I guess that’s the Donna effect), but it does not turn out well. More of that later. Anyway… Harold shows Donna his orchid, but Donna doesn’t show him her… flower. Of course everything referring to the orchid is a metaphor for s.. romance.
Nadine has super strength, and she still thinks she’s a teenager. She thinks James is one of her classmates. But that goes nowhere, so, moving on…
The elusive Mr. Tojamura has dealings with Ben Horne. Mr. Tojamura is quite an attractive fellow. You’ll understand that later.
Jacques Renault has a deadly weapon under his sleeve, a mounted blade that pops out menacingly. That reminds me of a gadget James West had.
Deputy Andy says,
“Oh my God!” I don’t even remember why, but it sounded just like that.
Oh, yes, I think I remember now. Andy is a whole town. Way to go, Andy. You’re a whole town gone fishing!
So, Cooper and Truman make plans to rescue Audrey and jump into action. First order of the day: take care of the guy guarding the casino/brothel door. What a scare! For a moment I thought Truman had stabbed him.
Remember that cute Black (or Mixed Race) from Robocop 2? Probably not, but anyway she’s in this episode. Cooper coerces her to take him to the room where they are keeping Audrey. And he’s so cool and has cat-like reflexes that he gets a hold of her arm, preventing her from from stabbing him without even looking at her. Super cool.
In the melee that ensues, Jacques uses his knife thing and kills Blackie because… reasons. I’m not sure why he did it, and I don’t really care he did it.
A goon holds Cooper and Truman at gunpoint, but then “The Cavalry” arrives in the nick of time. Or can I say the “Indians” showed up instead? Well, it was Deputy Hawk to be clear.
Jacques immobilizes Hank from behind. I didn’t get why the camera focuses on an official badge and identification. Is Hank really Daryl Lodwick from the District Attorney’s Office? I didn’t get that. Norma knows who she married. Or has he been lying to her for years because he’s been undercover ever since?
So, earlier I said Donna and Maddy were planning to steal the diary. In the end, Harold catches Maddy stealing the aforementioned diary. He attempts to attack them with a small gardening fork (a “hand cultivator” and yes, I had to look that up, imagine me not knowing what to call an ordinary hand cultivator), but pauses and makes a cryptic statement instead. He says that Laura knew THE SECRET, which is… the secret of knowing who killed you or something. Then scratches himself with the “face scratcher” I mean, “hand cultivator.” So… I guess he won’t be a danger to the girls after all.
I guess we’ll be stuck in the middle of the grade scale for a while. So, The Orchid’s Curse gets
5 pots of chamomile tea which will make your mind become porous (at least mine is, at this point), something that can only be reversed with yoga and discipline.
