Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Twin Peaks Tuesdays: Episode 10
By Edward Copeland
Things aren't getting better in Twin Peaks. No sooner has Ronette Pulaski started to regain consciousness than the killer tries to poison her IV and silence her forever, though the attempt was luckily thwarted. The work though certainly belongs to the same killer of Teresa Banks and Laura Palmer because his calling card: a letter snipped from an edition of Flesh World magazine is discovered under her fingernail and the FBI never released that aspect of the investigation to anyone, so it couldn't be the work of a copycat. This time, it's the letter B, joining the previous clues of R and T. While Cooper, Albert and Harry investigate the latest assault, Donna finally meets with hermit Harold Smith (Lenny von Dohlen) about his friendship with Laura.
Harold is young and has a psychological condition that prevents him from leaving his house, though he is a horticulturist extraordinaire and tells Donna that he contacted her because he wanted to leave flowers on Laura's grave but needed someone to do it for him. Donna agrees, though she still is curious about Harold, trying to snoop when he's in his greenhouse. Following the attempt on Ronette, Cooper gathers Albert and Harry together at the sheriff's station and comes clean about his visit from the Giant. "Any relation to the dwarf?" Albert asks. Albert announces that he's going to return to headquarters to analyze fibers he took from outside Cooper's hotel room and shares the news that Cooper's
assailant used a Walther PPK, better known as James Bond's gun. Harry asks if there is anything they can do while he's gone and Albert spits, "Try to learn to walk without dragging your knuckles" prompting Truman to grab Albert, ready to smack him again. However, Albert disarms Harry by telling him, "While I will admit to a certain cynicism, the fact is that I am a naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence. I pride myself in taking a punch and I'll gladly take another because I choose to live my life in the company of Gandhi and King. My concerns are global. I reject absolutely revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love. I love you Sheriff Truman." Albert then dons his sunglasses and leaves the room and a shocked sheriff. "Albert's path is a strange and difficult one," Cooper tells him.
Speaking of difficult paths, in the hall of the sheriff's station, Cooper and Truman encounter Leland, eager to tell them that he recognizes the man in the drawing. Leland says he was a neighbor to his parents' house on Pearl Lakes when he was a child and used to flick matches at him asking him if he wanted to play with fire. Cooper asks if he remembers a name and after struggling for a moment, Leland comes up with Robertson, which could mean the killer is trying to spell his name given the letters found so far. Given the revelation by Andy that he's sterile, Lucy calls in Dick Tremayne (Ian Buchanan) of Horne's Department Store for a meeting. Stylish, though not nearly as stylish as he thinks he is, Tremayne and Lucy apparently shared several amorous encounters in the department store itself and since Andy appears to be a no-go as the father, it would seem to indicate that Dick is the father of Lucy's unborn child, a revelation that hardly pleases Tremayne.
Another visitor has returned to the sheriff's station, the one-armed shoe salesman Philip Gerard (Al Strobel) whom Cooper saw in his original dream and identified himself as MIKE and the mystery man as BOB. However, he's only there to try to sell Truman some shoes for the department, at least until he sees the composite drawing of BOB and starts acting strangely. He assures Truman that he's OK and that he just has to go to the bathroom and take some medicine. Unbeknownst to Harry, the one-armed man practically goes into convulsions in the bathroom, unable to deliver an essential injection to himself. Soon, he swings open the stall's door and looks around and announces, "I'm on to you now BOB."
Across the border, Blackie and Emory have started getting Audrey strung out on heroin and videotape her with plans to blackmail Ben so that Blackie can buy One Eyed Jack's from him. Emory doesn't think they can do it alone and she assures him that she has help, which soon appears in the form of Jean Renault (Michael Parks), older brother of the late Bernard and Jacques Renault who is determined to avenge his brothers' deaths, which he blames on Agent Cooper. During a trip to the Great Northern, Cooper encounters Ben Horne and inquires whether he's heard anything from Audrey, mentioning the interrupted phone call. Horne seems unconcerned, saying Audrey does vanish from time to time and implying that Cooper's interest goes beyond that of a concerned law enforcement official and warns him not to get involved with his daughter.
Once back at the sheriff's station, Cooper spots the shoe samples and Harry remembers that the one-armed man had been there but got sick and never came back. Agent Cooper immediately remembers that the one-armed man knew BOB in his dream and rushes to the bathroom where he finds the abandoned hypodermic and says, "Without chemicals, he points." He thinks the third thing the Giant told him has come true and that they must find the one-armed man.
At the hospital, Nadine remains in her coma, though she is restrained because she keeps breaking out of other restraints and the hospital fears she'll hurt herself. Doc Hayward encourages Big Ed that sometimes singing helps, so Ed holds Nadine's hand and sings, "On Top of Old Smokey." He doesn't get very far into the song though, as Nadine begins crushing his hand before once again breaking the restraints and sitting up in bed clapping and cheering. Ed is shocked, but a bigger shock awaits when Nadine speaks and indicates that she believes she is 18, she and Ed are still in high school and she's getting ready for cheerleading tryouts. Also at the hospital, Cooper prepares to put Dr. Jacoby under hypnosis to see if he can remember who killed Jacques Renault. Once again, Jacoby mentions the smell of burnt engine oil, only this time it's not in the hospital room but when he was attacked in the park. In his hypnotic state, Jacoby declares that he recognizes the man smothering Jacques.
Back at the Palmer house, Maddie and James wonder what's up with Donna and James, being a moron, ends up kissing Maddie just as Donna walks in and spots them. Donna, understandably flees and her dumbbell boyfriend chases her, but she's too fast for him and he wails and gnashes his teeth in the middle of the dark street. Inside, Maddie has a bit of a breakdown to her uncle Leland, crying that she just came to town for her cousin Laura's funeral because she loved her and now everyone expects her to be Laura and she's not. Leland does his best to calm his niece, but the moment is interrupted by the arrival of Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman announcing that they have a warrant for Leland's arrest in the murder of Jacques Renault. Not knowing where to turn, Donna returns to Harold Smith's house and as he goes off to fix her something warm to drink, she spots something on a table. When she opens the cover, she's shocked to read the words, "This is the diary of Laura Palmer."
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Labels: TV Recap, Twin Peaks
