Twin Peaks, Season 2 Episode 12 (or episode 19)

By Jill Duffy

For this series of blog posts, I take notes while watching the episode, and then fill in the blanks with a little more synthesis later. But for this entry, I’ve decided to leave my notes as they are and just share them raw. Enjoy! –Jill Duffy

This is the episode in which Ben Horne really starts to go crazy.

Bobby is trying to blackmail Horne, but between Horne’s crazed state and Bobby’s stupidity, he can’t pull it off. Instead, Bobby ends up working for Horne. What a dupe.

Cooper is dressed like Harry and is considering buying a house in Twin Peaks. As he’s talking to the real estate agent, he comes across a listing for a mysterious house.

Is that Molly Shannon as Little Nicky’s case worker? Dick Tremane meets her and says, “Charmed, I’m sure.” I wonder where that expression came from and what it really means.

The mayor’s brother dies of what seems to be death by sex, with his young new wife.

Nadine joins the wrestling team. Mike is being toyed with by her.

There are lots of little oral stories: Little Nicky’s parents died of mysterious circumstances; before Nadine joins the wrestling team, the coach tells a story about black players trying to get equality; another guy at the house where James is now working tells a story (backstory) about Mrs. Marcy and how she operates; the real estate agent tells Cooper a little about the house,

Dead Dog Farm; Mr. Niles, who is wrapped up in the drug sell and trying to get out of the charges against him, weaves story after story to try to win over the cops’/FBI’s sympathies.

James is living with Mrs. Marcy.

Dick is trying to change a tire.

Colonel Riley is investigating Briggs’ disappearance.

The show gets very X-files like with Briggs stuff, but it’s still a huge fucking soap opera with James and Mrs. Marcy.

Audrey is a much more appealing character at this point than Donna.

Pete and Catherine have Josie working for them now. The relationships between them make for more interesting plotlines. We like Catherine because she’s great on screen, dynamic, self-obsessed, but she’s also a villain. On the other hand, Josie is kind of getting what she deserves, and so we don’t think of Catherine as being as much of a cold-hearted witch as it at first seems. We don’t know the real relationship between Pete and Josie either, except that we know he loves her—we just don’t know to what degree, though it’s been always platonic in the show.

David Duchovny as Denise is a joy to watch.

Some characters, like Norma and Ed, keep showing up, but they have nothing to do. They’re being included in a very soap opera way; we follow up with them simply because they’re a part of the show and we can’t just ignore them for a few episodes.

One thing that’s interesting is how much the show now has strong female characters.

Oh my god, I forgot that Bobby is Bobby Briggs, son of Major Briggs. In the final scene, he goes home and sees his mother, who is up late at night, just sitting and waiting and worrying about her husband. Bobby comes home and tells a story about a dream he had about his father. Then out of nowhere, he is in the living room in an old-fashioned pilot’s uniform, with a long leather coat, white scarf, and goggles.

What the hell? Why is there the photo of Laura again behind the end credits? Grr.