Oh, yeah! This was the ninety-four minute Season Two premiere!
This might be the aftermathiest of aftermath episodes. It's juggling lots of plot balls, and is basically serving as a re-introduction to the world of Twin Peaks. Remember, when this show first aired there was no streaming video, no VHS or laserdisc home media releases of the earlier episodes, and so this episode takes its sweet time setting up the chess board again. Driven by cleverly written dialogue and nuanced acting, Episode Eight is full of rewards for the patient and attentive viewer-as is the whole of Season Two, in my opinion-but this is not a rapidly paced thriller. Settle in, put on a pot of coffee, and pay attention. It is a well-executed, if somewhat thankless episode serving as a bridge between the seasons.
Season One ended with Agent Dale Cooper of the FBI getting gunned down in his hotel room by an unknown assailant. Did Coop die? Will he live on to solve the murder of Laura Palmer?
Well . . . Coop lives. And a lot happens in this episode.
A vista of donuts fades into an aerial view of trees blowing in the wind.
Major Briggs, in his immaculate and metaphysical way, tells his wayward son Bobby how much he loves him and hopes he has a bright future by way of a parable involving a heavenly mansion seamlessly renovated into containing new rooms.
Cooper and several other characters deal with grievous wounds and injuries, and try to will themselves back into health. Will they ever be whole again? Have they all been permanently diminished in some hard-to-define sense?
Not to mention a soul chilling glimpse of Killer Bob howling over the corpse of Laura Palmer.
But the best scene is arguably at the beginning: Agent Cooper lies on the floor of his hotel room, two shots blocked by his bulletproof vest, with a third having entered Coop's abdomen where the vest was improperly fitted do to the FBI agent patting his body down to get a wood tick off himself.
As Cooper lies on the floor bleeding out, barely conscious, and in severe pain, an elderly waiter comes up to his door with a warm glass of milk. This elderly waiter-later nicknamed by Albert Rosenfeld Senor Droolcup-moves at a comically slow pace, and seems unable to perceive Coop's urgent need for medical evac and treatment. Coop speaks into his voice-activated micro-cassette recorder addressing his perennially unseen muse and aide-de-camp Diane and confesses his hope for the freedom of Tibet from communist Chinese hegemony, his desire to make love to a beautiful woman that he truly loves, and how he wishes to treat the people who are dear to him in his life with greater kindness if he survives this current predicament. And then the mystical prophecy giant shows up out of thin air . . .
Cooper faces his own mortality and decides that love for his fellow human beings is what's best in life. And he doesn't seem to be bullshitting. At the point of dying, he affirms what's best in himself and vows to become an even better person if given the chance.
Surely, Coop, the purest of hearts, will achieve everything he puts his mind to in this episode and all others of Twin Peaks.
Next: 4/15/18: Twin Peaks Episode 9 (1990)
