Edward Copeland's Tangents: Twin Peaks Tuesdays: Episode 13

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Twin Peaks Tuesdays: Episode 13

By Edward Copeland
It feels as if we are getting near some answers with this episode, which appears to clarify exactly what BOB is and give an indication of what that means and who it could implicate in Laura's death. An endgame appears to be at hand, but more on that as we summarize the episode itself. The episodes picks up where we left off, with Donna and Maddie shrieking in terror as Harold Smith mutilates himself. Suddenly, the door swings open and in runs James to whisk the girls out, leaving Harold alone with his madness once again. Once outside, the moment encourages James and Donna to reconcile.

At the roadhouse, Cooper brings back Audrey, still unconscious from her near-fatal heroin overdose. Later, Harry finds the picture of Jean Renault in a book of mugshots. He tells Coop he thought he'd recognized the man who killed Blackie and tells Dale he saw video of him on the TV in Blackie's office. Cooper realizes that he'd been the target all along and Renault had just used Audrey as bait. The agent blames himself, saying it isn't the first time his actions have jeopardized someone he cared for, though Harry tries to reassure him that sometimes he thinks too much. Cooper then returns the ransom money to Ben Horne and tells him what almost happened to Audrey and a grateful Ben, though surprised Cooper is still alive, gives the FBI agent an unexpected hug. Another homecoming is at hand as Bobby and Shelly wheel the vegetable known as Leo Johnson back to his house, though they get a bit of an unpleasant surprise from the insurance agent (Ian Abercrombie) who informs them that after taxes and expenses the $5,000 a month they were expecting turns out to be a measly $700 and Shelly, planning to quit the Double R, doesn't know how to make ends meet.

Donna visits with Sheriff Truman and comes clean about Laura's secret diary at Harold's house, though Truman warns her not to be meddling again since the last time she did, Dr. Jacoby ended up being attacked and having a heart attack. The interview is interrupted by a VERY LOUD visitor to the sheriff's station: none other than Gordon Cole, Cooper's FBI supervisor (played by none other than David Lynch himself). Cole's hearing is shot and he wears special hearing aids, cranked up to the max, but which still seem to do no good since he's constantly misunderstanding what people say. He informs Truman that Albert's tests have identified the fibers found outside Cooper's hotel room as having come from a vicuna coat. Also, Albert says the words Fire Walk With Me written in blood at the train car were written on pieces of paper from a diary. Cole also asks about the progress on finding the One-Armed Man when Hawk appears with Philip Gerard himself as Gordon shouts, "There's the one-armer now!"

Back at the roadhouse, Ben comes to take Audrey home and she hints that she knows a lot of things about him and asks if Cooper can take her home and Ben suggests they all ride together. The young-again Nadine returns from a shopping spree, shocked that no one raised any questions when she used a credit card. She asks again about when her parents will return and then suggests to Ed that they go park and neck before realizing that they can do it in the comfort of their own home before jumping on top of Ed on the couch with much enthusiasm. Jonathan has his way with Josie and tosses her a one-way ticket back to Hong Kong, saying Mr. Eckhardt awaits her return, though Josie says she won't leave until she gets her money from Ben Horne. Jonathan recognizes that she's grown attached to Harry, but tells her to let it go or he'll kill the sheriff.

Josie isn't the only planning a one-way trip out of Twin Peaks. Maddie meets with James by a lake and tells him it's time for her to return to her life in Missoula, Montana, admitting that as close as she and her cousin Laura were as kids, she got kind of a thrill being her in a way. Josie faces off with Ben in his office and Horne is reluctant to cough up money. Josie gets tough and Ben reminds her that he has a dossier on her and the boat explosion that killed her late husband Andrew Packard, so she best watch her step. Josie counters with a key to a safety deposit box that she claims contains enough dirt on Ben so they'll rot in jail together. The two extortionists share a laugh at their stalemate before Ben agrees to give her Tojamura's check for $5 million, which he says Jerry has been overseas checking on and found to be legit. Josie takes the check and exits.

Despite their financial concerns, Bobby and Shelly throw Leo a party, complete with party hats, balloons, cake and even a kazoo. The two young people are obviously inebriated as they recount to Leo some of his misdeeds, such as soap in a sock. As they make out in front of Leo on the kitchen table, he makes a guttural noise that scares the crap out of Shelly and they stop, since Bobby says he, "don't want to exploit him or nothing" before bringing out the cake which Leo promptly collapses into. Cooper returns to the sheriff's station and senses Cole's presence right away as his boss bellows that today Cooper reminds him of "a small Mexican chi-wow-wow." He then takes Cooper into an office to talk, not that everyone in the station can't hear the conversation. Cole raises the specter of the incident in Pittsburgh again in regards to Dale's shooting, but Cooper reassures him that he's A-OK. Cole also informs him that Albert says the chemical the One-Armed Man was using is a weird combination of things including the schizophrenia drug Haloperidol. Cole also has a bit of more disturbing news: a postcard with a chess move on it that bears the unmistakable sign of Cooper's former and now escaped, insane partner Window Earle. Cole says they'll need to watch Coop's back.

Leland seems to be in good spirits as he meets with Ben in his office on business matters, though he's distracted by a stuffed animal and pulls a tuft of fur off it and places it in his suit pocket. Truman arrives at the Packard place just in time to see Josie preparing to leave. She introduces Jonathan as her assistant "Mr. Lee" and Truman asks for a minute alone, but Josie insists she has to go.

In the Great Northern lounge, Tojamura has grown impatient with Ben, saying he has his check but he hasn't seen any papers on Ghostwood. Ben reassures the Japanese man that it's a done deal, but then is distracted by the floor entertainment: Leland has taken the microphone and proceeded to perform "Getting to Know You." Ben tries to drag him off, but only gets himself pulled into the sing-a-long. At the finish, Leland insists that Great Northern audiences are "the best in the world." Tojamura sidles up to the bar just in time for Pete to spin around and blurt "The King & I," finally recognizing the source of Leland's song as being from the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. He tries to engage Tojamura in conversation, but he's not interested in musicals, not even "Fiddler on the Roof," which Pete admits makes him blubber like a baby. Then comes what perhaps might be the most important scene so far in the Laura Palmer mystery. At the sheriff's station, they withhold the drug from Gerard who finally turns into MIKE and insists he's not in pain. He identifies himself (and BOB) as inhabiting spirits who require human hosts. BOB was once MIKE's familiar. When asked more specifically about who BOB is, he replies:

He is BOB,
eager for fun.
Wears a smile,
everybody run.
MIKE asks Cooper and the gang if they truly understand how the parasite works and says that BOB lives on fear and the pleasures, but can only be seen by the gifted and the damned. MIKE saw the face of God and was "purified," prompting him to cut off his own arm. He says he only has one mission: to stop BOB. When pressed as to where BOB might be, MIKE describes a large wooden house with many rooms, inhabited by different souls each night which Cooper immediately identifies as the Great Northern. Of the people we know are currently there, there are Ben, Leland, Pete and Tojamura. Could one of them be inhabited by BOB and therefore be Laura's killer? Stay tuned.