TV MEMORIES # 16 - TWIN PEAKS SEASON 2

 As we saw in my previous article the first season of Twin Peaks was a MASSIVE success in both the USA and the UK. In just 8 episodes David Lynch and Mark Frost's bizzare drama had wormed it's way into the viewing public's consciousness in a way few TV shows had before or - arguably - since. 

By the end of 1990 Twin Peaks was not only receiving lots of coverage in the media there was also tons of merchandise  - T-Shirts, mugs, tie-in novels. Julee Cruise's theme song "Falling" became a massive hit single as did her album "Floating Into The Night" from which the track was taken. The official soundtrack album also sold very well. If that wasn't enough dance music artist Moby sampled music from Twin Peaks for his track "GO" which became a club anthem and hit single in the UK. It was safe to say that by this point the show had become a cultural phenomenon.

The pressure was on for Lynch and Frost to continue this success into the show's second season and for a while they succeeded...but as we shall see Twin Peaks season 2 was to prove to be something of a "difficult second album"...

In America audiences had to wait a few months before season 2 aired (it's first episode was broadcast on September 30th 1990), however seeing as we in Britain where already several months behind the US we got to see seasons 1 and 2 back- to-back. In the UK Agent Cooper got brutally shot in his room at the Great Northern Hotel on 11th December 1990 and after a short break in transmission for the Christmas period Twin Peaks made it's triumphant return to BBC2 on 8th January 1991. Season 2 had arrived.

From the outset it was obvious that things where just getting even more off the wall. Cooper lay shot in his hotel room, surviving a bullet in the stomach at point-blank range only because a wood tick that was caught on his shirt took most of the impact (told you it was weird). In this dazed state Cooper meets an elderly hotel bus boy (who is either the worst room service in the world or the best depending upon how you look at it) and yet another supernatural entity - a softly spoken giant played by Carel Struychken. The Giant seems to be a benevolent entity and issues Cooper with yet more riddles and clues before Sherrif Truman and company arrive to administer some much needed medical attention to our hero.

The Giant and the old man (Hank Worden) aren't the only new characters introduced in the second series - we get a veritable smorgasbord of new freaks, weirdos and eccentrics to cheer or sneer at. Including agrophobic keeper of Laura's diary Harold Smith (Lennie Van Dohlen), pretentious menswear manager Richard "Dick" Tremaine (Ian Buchanan), cross dressing DEA agent Dennis/Denise Bryson (played by a young looking pre-X-Files David Duchovney), master criminal Thomas Eckhardt (David Warner), mill owner Josie Packard's previously thought dead husband Andrew (Dan O Herlihey) and a gold digging seductress with almost mesmeric powers Lana Budding-Milford (Robyn Lively) amongst others.

The existing cast also went through many changes as the story developed - Agent Cooper gets temporarily kicked out of the FBI for violating regulations and becomes a deputy in the town's police department (he's reinstated as an FBI agent in time for the series finale). Ben Horne loses most of his business, has a mental breakdown (learning a valuable lesson along the way), and comes out the other side determined to no longer be a villian. Bobby Briggs also starts to cast aside some of his more dubious activities and begins to mature as a character. Bobby's father Major Garland Briggs becomes a much more important character in the second series as he becomes more open with Cooper about the history of strange phenomena that surrounds the town. James Hurley goes on a soul searching road trip which ends in disaster. Leo Johnson becomes brain-damaged from injuries sustained at the end of season one, revives, and becomes a near mindless slave to super villian Windhom Earle (more on him later). Josie Packard's dangerous games get the better of her and she dies as a result of them, leaving her lover Sherrif Harry Truman heartbroken.

All in all most of the characters become even better developed and richer in season 2. However the second series was soon to hit a sticking point. Under pressure from the TV networks Lynch and Frost where ordered to finally reveal the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer. Both Lynch and Frost where reluctant to do this - afterall the mystery was the entire point of the story in the first place. However the network persisted and from my understanding threatened to pull the plug if the storyline wasn't resolved. Lynch and Frost gave them thier "resolution" and promptly walked from the show in protest.

Many have said that it was a mistake to reveal Laura's killer and I can definitely see where they're coming from but I think that revelation led to three of the best episodes in the original series entire run. Laura's killer is revealed in episode 14. I can remember at the time the anticipation for this episode amongst myself and my fellow students at college - we where itching to tune in that night (19th February) to find out "whodunit". Considering the show had already aired some months previously in the US its surprisng that the killer's identity wasn't leaked to the British tabloid press, but in those pre-internet days these things just didn't happen. These day's Laura's killer's identity would be all over the Internet literally seconds after the episode had aired, there's no way it would be kept a secret for overseas audiences. Things where simpler and better back in the 90's.

I can remember watching the episode and being absolutely blown away by it. LAURA'S DAD LELAND DID IT !!!!! Okay - so he WAS possessed by the demon BOB so technically he was "innocent" but still...

It wasn't just the revelation itself - it was the WAY that it was done. We see Leland look into a mirror - staring back at him is not his own face but the snarling visage of BOB.

Leland then proceeds to murder Laura's lookalike cousin Maddie (also played by Sheryl Lee) and the whole scene is just SO viscous and disturbing. Leland/BOB smashes Maddies face into a mirror, he punches her, he literally beats the poor girl to death in front of our shocked eyes...IN SLOW MOTION !!! The audio is also slowed down so Maddie's death screams become this hideous dirge - it goes on for WAY longer than is comfortable and normal. There where some shocked faces at college the next morning I can tell you...

For the next two episodes Ray Wise as possessed Leland gives the performance of his life. He veers from simpering and devious to outright BATSHIT INSANE as Leland/BOB arrogantly tries to dispose of Maddie's corpse and run rings around Cooper and Truman. However, this arrogance proves to be his undoing. Cooper (with the Giant's help) manages to double bluff BOB. Leland/BOB is caged and howling like a madman proceeds to commit suicide/murder his own host by smashing his own head against the door of his cell. Cooper comforts Leland as he lays dying - the evil being having now fled from his unfortunate host. Both Wise and MacLachlan give wonderful heartfelt and powerhouse performances in this scene - it's got to rank up there in top ten career best moments for both of them. 

Leland's death also saw Lynch and Frost temporarily depart from the series they had created and it's at this point that the perceived "slump" that was to ultimately result in the show's cancellation set in. But I'm here to argue that the "slump" wasn't actually as bad as many fans make it out to be, after all even Twin Peak's "worst" episodes are still a hundred times better than 90 percent of the shit that was served up on television both back then and especially now.

Twin Peaks episode 17 is where the show's "new direction" kicks in and it honestly does feel like what would be called a "soft reboot" nowadays. The episode takes place a few days after Leland's death. Leland's funeral is used as a device to introduce a couple of new characters and a bunch of new storylines are also introduced in this episode - the problem is none of them are as compelling as the original Laura Palmer/BOB storyline. The show tries - it REALLY tries but it's just not the same somehow. It's with these new storylines where the perception of the show falling into a rut kicks in.

The four plots that seem to piss most fans off are 1) James's road trip where he meets a lonely femme fatale who tries to frame him for her husband's murder, 2) Ben Horne's mental breakdown where he believes he's a general in the American Civil War, 3) Nadine Hurley coming out of a coma and mentally regressing to being a high-school teenager again only this time with super strength and 4) A comedy subplot with Andy, Lucy and Dick meeting an orphan called "Little Nicky" who Dick believes to be the Devil.

Of the four plots I'd say 1) James's road trip is actually ok, it's a bit contrived and its let down by the two main actors having absolutely zero chemistry together but its inoffensive enough. 2) Ben's breakdown - whilst silly in execution - does turn out to be a key moment in the character's overall development. 3) Superpowered Nadine in high-school is actually quite fun and the storyline has a genuinely tragic ending. 4) Little Nicky is just an amusing side diversion and only takes up a few scenes in a couple of episodes.

And that's my main point - the key plots that get all the flack...ONLY LAST FOR A FEW EPISODES AND ONLY TAKE UP A COUPLE OF SCENES PER EPISODE. It's not a "rut" the series falls into, more of a fleeting blip. By Episode 22 all the contentious storylines are pretty much done and dusted. Thats only a handful of individual scenes over a run of six episodes. Nothing really. (Oh and from episode 22 onwards Lynch and Frost have both returned - determined to make the now doomed show go out on a high - and by and large they succeed).

Besides which theres also some really good and important stuff kicking off in the background during this period. We get Major Briggs being abducted by entities that are originally thought to be aliens but turn out to be yet more supernatural beings. We get the backstory to the White Lodge and the Black Lodge - the spiritual other dimensions where BOB, MIKE, The Giant and all the other supernatural beings both good and evil originate from. On top of this - building up slowly in the background - we get a new villian - Windhom Earle. 

Earle is a rogue FBI agent - he taught Cooper everything he knows but went insane after trying to investigate the mysterious Black Lodge. He murdured his own wife (who Cooper was having an affair with) and now he's escaped from the looney bin and is gunning for Cooper - playing a literal deadly game of chess with him - leaving a pile of corpses in his wake as "pawns" in his twisted game. We don't meet Earle in the flesh until the very final scene of Episode 22 (when the "slump period" ends) but he's well worth the wait.

Earle is played by Kenneth Walsh and he's absolutely great in the role, easily up there with Ray Wise as Leland. He's completely deranged but also cold and calculating. He's also wonderfully O.T.T. - he's like a Batman villian. You could easily imagine him causing grief for the Caped Crusader in Gotham City, instead he creates all kinds of hell for Dale Cooper in the town of Twin Peaks.

In his deadly game of chess he murders several vagrants and drifters and uses thier corpses as macabre chess pieces to taunt Cooper with.

He also enslaves Leo Johnson making the now semi-retarded manchild into his unwilling servant. He does this by affixing an electronic collar to Leo's neck which zaps him with an electric shock if he steps out of line. To be fair Leo does deserve this after his own evil activities in the first season.

Earle is also a "master of disguise" (although to be honest it's with varying results)...

Yeah...you can tell it's the same bloke in different outfits. Earle is possibly overestimating his own abilities a bit there. At one point he even imitates the Log Lady...

Yet more bizzarely he kidnaps Major Briggs whilst dressed as a pantomime horse (Leo is in the backend naturally...I can imagine Earle gleefully farting in his face whilst in this getup - just to add insult to injury - he's that kind of man). Also - doesn't Major Briggs seem to be getting abducted quite a lot this season ?

All in all Earle is a brilliant fun villian and steals pretty much every scene he's in, there are also some moments where he's genuinely creepy as well - so it's not all just camp tomfoolery with him - he can turn on a sixpence into truly dark displays of psychosis.

The final few episodes of Twin Peaks original run also introduce new love interests for both Agent Cooper and Audry Horne - Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham) and John Justice Wheeler (Billy Zane).

These two characters get much maligned by many fans of the series - not for who they are but more for who they're NOT. Many fans had been itching to see Coop and Audrey get together and felt somewhat cheated when that didn't happen. I quite like these doomed romances though - they add a bittersweet air to the final few episodes as you just know it's all going to end badly...and it does.

In the penultimate episode Earle kidnaps Annie and takes her into the Black Lodge having earlier found it's gateway...

In the series' final episode (Episode 29) - Cooper pursues Earle into the Lodge determined to rescue Annie. This episode is directed by Lynch himself and it's safe to say that its utter balls-to-wall INSANITY.

Inside the Lodge Cooper finds himself haunted by dark reflections of both himself and other characters we've met throughout the series. At one point we see the creepy white eyed screaming ghost of Laura Palmer.

She's VERY unnerving and nobody can do a blood curdling scream quite like Sheryl Lee.

We also meet Cooper's own evil Doppelganger (or "Shadow self" as Hawk describes them). Evil Cooper seems to strike up quite a friendship with BOB when the two meet, both of them laughing maniacally BACKWARDS.

This evil Cooper pursues good Cooper throughout his descent into the heart of the Black Lodge. Along the way we see the final fate of Windom Earle - BOB drinks his soul. For all his season long build up Earle turns out to be just small potatoes compared to BOB.

Finally Cooper manages to bust Annie out the Lodge. Annie is left in a catatonic state and Cooper doesn't seem much better. He returns to his room at the Great Northern Hotel and in the final cruel moments of the series we see Cooper gaze into a mirror - smash his head against it and as with Leland before him... BOB'S face stares back. Cooper with blood pouring down his face laughs like an absolute nutter, all the time reapeting the phrase "How's Annie ? How's Annie ? How's Annie ?" Our hero has been utterly consumed by the forces of darkness. Its probably one of THE best cliffhanger endings of all time.

Watching that final episode in my bedroom back in 1991 I naturally assumed that this cliffhanger would be resolved later on in the year when season 3 inevitability aired. The problem was season 3 NEVER ARRIVED (at least not for a long time). Over in the US the show had been cancelled due to falling ratings. This was IT - Twin  Peaks was over and THE BAD GUYS HAD WON !!!! It remains a bleak and powerful ending to a truly groundbreaking series.

Instead of a third series we got a spin-off film. Twin Peaks - Fire Walk With Me was released in 1992, however this movie was a prequel to the TV series and dealt with the harrowing final week of Laura Palmer's life. So even then there was no resolution to THAT cliffhanger.

Eventually a third series did arrive...in 2014 - TWENTY FIVE (nearer 26) YEARS AFTER THE END OF THE ORIGINAL SERIES !!!! We finally had a resolution (of sorts) but as to be expected the revived series was VERY different to the original. If anyone was expecting a clear cut solution then they where barking up the wrong tree. But more on that another time...