TV Rewind: Twin Peaks
Episode 4
By Eric Hughes
August 2, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Much of it, I think, was due to its reveals feeling anti-climatic or ho-hum. For instance, Leo Johnson is more or less the chief suspect in the murder of Laura Palmer – and has been since “Pilot.” And as I’ve said since that recap, any Leo involvement in Laura’s demise feels too obvious. So when his car – a red Corvette – matches the one Jacoby says he followed on the night Laura died, it’s like: “Oh - *yawn* – really?”
Remarkably, I’m two steps ahead of master David Lynch, or I’m not getting something. Or, maybe, Leo’s merely useful to the plot in diverting attention to him while other stuff is developed in the background. He’s a red herring.
But where I really want to start, I think, is with Laura’s cousin, Maddy. She’s in town visiting Sarah and Leland, and is essentially Laura Palmer with dark hair. In fact, a quick IMDb check will probably tell me that one actress plays both parts. Yet I’m afraid to do so because I don’t want to find out anything about Twin Peaks that I’ve yet to see. I also want to be mindful that IMDb didn’t exist as a resource for Twin Peaks devotees in 1990.
So we’ll go with, yes, the same actress.
If this is the case, then what is the point of Laura having relatives that creepily look a lot like her? For me, it goes back to Hawk’s analysis of souls, and how after we expire, our souls go undeterminably elsewhere. Has Laura’s soul moved to Maddy? Maybe. Then again, we run into problems with Leland’s reunion with her in “Episode 3.” If Maddy looks more like Laura than usual, then Leland would have said something. The thing is he didn’t; he was solely excited to see her.
What’s funny, though, is Cooper’s bizarre dream revealed a) that Laura has a female cousin and b) that she might look a lot like her, too. Only in the dream, Maddy was an exact match. Blonde hair and all. Hmm.
Moving on: We learned the answer to something I wondered aloud earlier about Sarah Palmer. That is: Did her visions come about after the death of her daughter, or did she have them earlier than that? Turns out she’s had the “gift” for some time, since Donna said she remembered Laura used to call her mom “spooky.”
According to Donna, Laura remembered her mom had “dreams” – Donna didn’t elaborate much more than that – and the same was true of Laura, too. And that, then, offers new questions: How did Laura’s supernatural abilities compare to her mother’s? Do they come from a family of women who have visions, or is the ability relegated only to them? And how about Leland? Does he have visions, too?
The whole thing came about, really, as Sarah was describing for investigators the man she “saw” in the room with her as Donna consoled her a few days ago. Leland told her to talk about a necklace, too, which Sarah “saw” in “Pilot” being rescued from the earth by mysterious hands.
Days earlier, Donna and James had buried the necklace. So, Sarah knowing details of Donna and James’ big secret could compromise their innocence.
What’s silly – even for Twin Peaks – is that investigators would give a damn what Sarah might have “seen.” Sure, she’s the mother of the deceased, but when have supernatural powers ever held up in court?
Taking the idea one step further, it’s bizarre to me that Agent Cooper is proceeding with an investigation largely based on what he learned from a dream. Well, I take that back. I’m not surprised Cooper would do this – he’s that eccentric – but I am surprised he’d still be supported by the FBI. Sure, the fact that there are parallels between his visions and Sarah’s is, well, significant. Yet I don’t know how likely it would be for a governmental agency to trust a dude who’s getting most of his facts from the comforts of his bed.
Am I over thinking it? Probably.
Even with that all out on the table, Cooper has been able to make real-world connections using what he and Sarah “visioned.” And that’s what “Episode 4” was mostly about – combating Twin Peaks’ murder mystery using clues from the mind.
One major scoop from Cooper’s dream is that a one-armed man – named Mike – and another guy – Bob – are important in some way. Even stranger: the sketch investigators made of Sarah’s home intruder is a match to Cooper’s Bob.
So, in “Episode 4,” Cooper is on the hunt for a one-armed man, and soon enough, Hawk tracks one down. Does he know a Bob? For certain. In addition to that, our one-armed man and Bob were good enough chums for the one-armed man to tattoo Bob’s name on his ex-arm – before it got severed in a car accident.
Interestingly, the Bob in question is a vet, which turns out to be oh so useful. Why? Earlier in the episode, we find out that several marks on Laura’s shoulders are bird bites. Does our Bob have bird clients? For certain.
While this is happening, Harry has his assistant search through town records for Twin Peaksians who keep birds as pets. To their surprise, Jacque’s got one – the same Jacques who was interrogated by the Bookhouse Boys an episode ago. They bust into his house and, inside, find a shirt inscribed with Leo Johnson’s name. Connection!
So, we’ve got Leo Johnson – who owns the vehicle that Jacoby might have followed the night of Laura’s death - connected with Jacque, whose bird might have chewed into Laura’s shoulder. As well, we’ve got a vet named Bob who has birds as clients. And he, as it were, happens to be friends with a one-armed man, who was apprehended for having, um, the same number of arms as a guy Cooper dreamed about a few days prior.
Oh, and according to Leo, who had a private meeting with Ben, Jacques fled to Canada after a friend posted bail. And now that friend is dead.
Got that? Because that, I think, is what we’ve got to work with.
There wasn’t much else in “Episode 4” unrelated to Cooper and Harry’s investigation, save for a tiny surprise that might have deadly consequences: Audrey wants to help, if only to get closer to her boy Cooper. Her idea? Beginning an investigation of her own by assembling the facts she already knows – Laura was seeing James, Laura did coke, Laura was Jacoby’s patient – with ones she’ll collect while working part-time behind the counter of her father’s perfume store – the same post worked by Laura and Ronette before a) Laura got herself killed and b) Ronette nearly died.
My guess is Audrey begins working at the store and then, as she might have realized, she becomes the murderer’s next target. A target on her back means attention from Cooper – something Audrey’s been fairly vocal about over the past few episodes.
As wild as that sounds, it’s fitting for a girl like Audrey to hatch a plot so inane. She wasn’t visibly shaken by Laura’s death, she doesn’t receive enough attention from her family and she seems to gain something – pride? adrenaline? – by acting out, be it something trivial like spilling coffee on a desk to, oh, ruining her father’s chances with the Norwegians for an afternoon laugh.