Well, it's not the first time I complain about Twin Peaks' fragmented nature, and probably won't be the last. Be as it may, I still find it hard to discuss each episode individually, and this time, having watched two episodes this week, I felt that approach has its benefits. After all, reviewing Twin Peaks on a episode-by-episode basis feels a lot like watching half an hour of a movie with a bunch of people doing different things, then making a review, next you watch another half-hour and make another review. It doesn't work for me.
The most important story line in both episodes is obviously that of Windom Earle. I found Cooper's explanation about why Windom has this personal vendetta against Cooper to be a bit confusing. Apparently, Dale got involved with Caroline, a woman he and Windom were supposed to protect, then she got killed, and Windom blames Dale for her death, except that he killed her in the first place... So why does he blame him? OK, maybe it's because Cooper had an affair with Caroline, but let's face it, this is a much weaker motive, especially since the husband has already had his revenge by killing her.
The whole chess motif is compelling,but this kind of thing works better when this is the main focus of the episode, with a B story line (and at best a very short C plot going on). But as we change from this potentially exciting situation and move to the antics of Nadine or Ben, the story loses all of its momentum. Not to mention everything so cool happening with Major Briggs (I'm getting used to naming him that finally) who just shows up in a story in full military garb and... does nothing, just reminds us this interesting part of the story will be told one day. My patience has limits!
And then there's the James + the rich lady situation. It's so full of clichés that we can hardly criticize the subplot because of that. It has long become obvious things were going to end this way. She is a duplicitous liar, and as the classic
femme fatale villainess trope dictates, she does feel a pinch of love for him and at times even sounds sincere when she tells him that she does love him... a little... sort of... in her own distorted way... but in the end she can't help but follow her devious scorpion's nature. Yes, she is being coerced by her lover who wasn't her brother after all, but come on, is she really? That doesn't matter anyway. James should've been able to see that "effed up" situation a mile away and avoided it. There was nothing he could gain, especially considering he has a lovely girlfriend who loves him and wants him back, so what the heck does he think he's doing?
The Nadine story took an unexpected turn, albeit a convenient one. The way things were initially, Ed was with Nadine because he felt obliged to through guilt. Ed had feeling for Norma, but both were married. Now, all of a sudden, Hank is going back to jail and Nadine simply doesn't care about Ed and Norma to the point of finding them in bed and talking to them normally as if they were at the breakfast table. I feel the writers have forced the plot so Ed and Norma could be together as they figured that was what the viewers wanted. But what will Nadine do when she realizes she's no longer a teenager and her chances of ending with Mike are very slim, if they exist at all? Will she revert to her old self, or have the writers conveniently removed her as an obstacle?
The story around Josie is too complicated and requires a bit more energy than I'm willing to spend caring about it. We got the return of Andrew Packard and then one Thomas Eckhardt, another creepy figure, appears and promises to be yet another shady villain. And since he's played by David Warner, we can be sure he's up to no good. At least I have to admit the casting is very good, because both David Warner and Kenneth Welsh (Windom Earle) bring a lot of gravitas to the roles they play.
The entire Ben and his personal version of the Civil War is just too clownish for me. You see, Leland really seemed to be mentally disturbed and in a delusional state. Ben, on the other hand, seems more like he's putting up a performance. His madness came just out of the blue and as it came, it went. The only part I found funny was Dr. Jacoby giving a nonsense of a diagnosis saying that Ben reenacting the Civil War was a good way to solve his psychic problems and if he managed to go through the War shaping it to his own wishful thinking, then he would figure out a way to come out of his delusion, or something. Anyway, that doesn't make any sense and you don't have to be a doctor to understand that reinforcing a madman's fantasies only leads to more fantasies.
Oh, and I almost forgot the whole thing with the Lucy-Andy-Dick triangle. That part was already losing steam, and then throwing little Nicky in the mix just made things worse. All of a sudden And and Dick are investigative buddies, and that upsets Lucy. And Nicky is not so bad after all. Whatever...
And what about the Black Widow? At first, I thought they would follow the she's a husband killer angle. Then she was cursed. Then all men fell for her inexplicably, and the following episodes they were no longer hypnotized for some reason, and just found her hot (but not irresistible). And the solution was to have the Mayor fall for the same trap his brother had fallen for. It was a funny moment of levity, but I'm surprised all those law men were OK with that. If she was just an unlucky girl with heightened libido, but no ill intentions, then all the worries around her character and the death of her husband seem too much ado about nothing,. Anyway, I've always like the actress, Robyn Lively, and I find it amusing that nowadays feminists would go crazy with the portrayal of a female character like that.
As for my grades... The grade of
episode 14 is based on what Thomas Eckhardt said that they will make their enemy come out like a rat for cheese. So, it gets
5 realistic rats that don't actually like cheese, and you might want to check it here where the myth started.
And
episode 15 gets 6 winning chess moves by José Raúl Capablanca, who also happens to be one of my favorite chess players, if anything, because he had a very cool name.
