Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Twin Peaks Tuesdays: Episode 28
BLOGGER'S NOTE: Even though the last two episodes of Twin Peaks aired in a two-hour block, I've decided to treat them as the individual episodes they were intended to be and do each separately. Also, since a special post falls on next Tuesday, I'm saving the final season 2 recap for Oct. 2.
By Edward Copeland
As we begin the penultimate episode of Twin Peaks, Major Briggs remains a prisoner of Windom Earle, chained up with Leo inside Earle's cabin. However, Leo, still loopy from his coma, has a strong enough moral streak left somewhere within his system that he's able to free Briggs, begging him to go save Shelly from Windom Earle. A still groggy Briggs nods in acknowledgment and exits the cabin. Soon, Earle returns, a bit peeved that Leo has let Briggs go. Leo prepares for Windom to implement the shock collar once again, but a clearly demented Earle says he has a new game for Leo and holds up a bag whose contents are unknown.
At the Double R, Norma is preparing not only to be a judge for the Miss Twin Peaks Pageant but is marking the 20th anniversary of the year she won the title. Between the judges and the contestants, conflicts of interest abound everywhere, though Annie and Shelly seem good-natured about it as they jokingly quiz Norma as to which one of them she'll vote for. At the Great Northern, Ben continues on his spiritual quest, gathering all the books of the great religions such as the Bible, the Koran, etc., hoping to find the answers he seeks. He doesn't seem to notice much about the obviously forlorn mood in which Audrey is in in front of the fire. "I hope it doesn't hurt this much in a week," Audrey tells her father with double meaning, which
Ben chooses to take only as sadness over John Justice Wheeler's departure. He assures his daughter that time heals all wounds and that Wheeler is a man of his word and will return before once again trying to get Audrey to enter the pageant. She tells her father she doesn't want to be the "town bathing beauty" before Ben finally sells her on the idea by saying it will give them a platform to speak out against the Ghostwood development. At the sheriff's station, Cooper and Truman are still preoccupied with the cave drawing, as is Andy who seems to stare endlessly at it. Cooper finally reveals to Truman what he saw when Josie died: Namely BOB. He theorizes that fear is what killed Josie, that she was trembling with it almost like an animal and he thinks that fear is what attracted BOB. He believes the Black Lodge is where BOB comes from.
Windom Earle, listening as always, is thrilled, shouting that he could kiss Dale's "pointy little head." He realizes that fear, his favorite emotional state, is the key to gaining access to the Black Lodge. He then begins to pack up his belongings and bids farewell to Leo, saying he has developed a fondness for him, though he's still peeved that he freed Major Briggs. However, he'll have plenty of time to think about that as we see that Earle has constructed an elaborate Rube Goldberg-type torture device that begins with a string held in Leo's teeth and stretches upward over a pully system to a cage that holds several deadly looking spiders. Meanwhile, the rehearsals are getting under way for the pageant, with Mr. Pinkle serving as choreographer and warning the women never to question his vision. During a break in the planning, Mayor Milford takes the opportunity to get Lana to corner Dick in a supply room in hopes of securing his vote.
In his room at the Great Northern, Cooper is taking the opportunity of some downtime to tell Diane about Annie and how smitten he has become with her. Soon, a knock is heard on the door. Opening it carefully (he has been shot doing this after all), he finds Annie herself, seeking some help for her speech. They talk a little about possible themes and ideas, but their hormones soon get the better of both of them and Cooper and Annie consummate their burgeoning relationship. At Ed and Nadine's house, Dr. Jacoby is running slides for Ed, Nadine, Norma and Mike about Nadine's many wrestling triumphs. Once again, he tries to broach the subject of divorce. Nadine expresses concern that she's causing Ed hurt, but it's clear that something is shifting in her mind because when Ed says he and Norma want to get married, Nadine immediately responds that she and Mike plan to get married as well, nearly breaking Mike's hand during the announcement.
On a road in the woods, Hawk is patrolling when he stumbles upon a still-disoriented Major Briggs and takes him back to the station. Cooper and Truman try to communicate with the major, even calling him by his first name, Garland, though Briggs mistakes that as a reference to Judy Garland. Cooper catches the familiar smell of Haloperidol, the drug that the One-Armed Man used to keep his inhabiting spirit away. Andy, still staring at the chalkboard, asks if the 4-H club could have anything to do with the drawing, but Cooper and Truman just appear puzzled. The Packard siblings are still struggling with what appears to be the final box in
Thomas Eckhardt's posthumous puzzle box gift. There doesn't seem to be a way in to the small, silver rectangle so Andrew finally gets frustrated enough that he shoots a hole in the blasted thing. Inside, they discover a key. Pete is surprised to learn that Andrew and Catherine don't really trust one another, so they place the key under a glass pie dish in plain sight. As the contestants begin to arrive for the night's pageant, Donna takes the opportunity to corner Ben and demand answers about the photos and letters she discovered and the lack of a father's name on her birth certificate. Ben says it would be best if they all got together to discuss this, but Donna assumes that she knows the answer and storms off. Still trying to get information out of Briggs and to decipher the petroglyph, Cooper finally gets a brainstorm about what Andy meant about the 4-H club. He hurriedly grabs a book and realizes the symbol Andy was referring to is actually the symbol indicating the conjuction of Jupiter and Saturn, a conjunction which has been occurring since January of that year and will close in June. Briggs finally mumbles, "Protect the queen" and "Fear and love open the doors." Cooper figures it out: Two lodges, two doors. Fear opens the Black Lodge, love opens the White Lodge. He also realizes that protect the queen means Windom Earle probably is planning to abduct whoever wins the pageant. Clumsy Andy manages to knock over the bonsai plant and Earle's listening device is discovered. The lawmen realize Windom is way ahead of them.
At the pageant, Pinkle is unsuccessfully hitting on the Log Lady, much to the amusement of Bobby Briggs. He turns his head and suddenly sees the Log Lady on the other side of the room. He looks back and the Log Lady no longer is near Pinkle. He approaches her and asks how she got there so fast, only it is Windom Earle in disguise and he clobbers Bobby with the log. Annie's speech about saving the planet appears to wow the judges and as the audience awaits the announcement of the winner, Lucy pulls Andy and Dick aside to tell them that no matter who the biological father is, she is picking Andy. Dick could care less and congratulates them before beating a hasty exit. "Don't sound so disappointed," Lucy whines. Doc Hayward announces the judges' decision and the winner is Annie, which understandably upsets Cooper. Mayor Milford is peeved as well, rightly pointing out that "she's been in town about 15 minutes." Suddenly, the lights go out and smoke bombs go off and the place erupts into chaos. Doc tries to protect Annie. A sandbag plummets from the ceiling and strikes Nadine on the head. Cooper spots Earle in his disguise and makes a move, but Windom sets off another blast that blows Dale back and he manages to escape with Annie. The lights come back on and as everyone coughs and wheezes, Andy finally gets through to Cooper to tell him what he's figured out: The cave painting is a map.
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Labels: TV Recap, Twin Peaks
