Episode 7

[laughingpinecone]

In the first draft script, Audrey tells Blackie the name she wants to use is Laura.

She was born subtle, that one
Wow, a script! What does it say about the Josie-Hank scene?

[Snailhead]

I re-watched this one yesterday and was very impressed. It's masterfully directed by Frost, and while it's quick pace, there's still many atmospheric and eerie moments - the closeup of Jacoby's face fading into the overhead view of the spinning casino game, Blackie's sensual grasping of Audrey's hand, Leland in the hospital, Shelly washing her hair in the sink and then being surprised by Leo ...

The only thing I don't really like about this episode is the music that plays when the fire starts at the mill - it's so cheesy!

[Aerozhul]

Just rewatched this one tonight, along with episodes 5 and 6. These episodes, put together (especially 6 & 7) are so tightly written and at such a breakneck pace (not to mention pretty much straight-forward episodic television), that it's crazy to think that just a few episodes previous was the dream sequence, and one episode later, is the second season premiere in all its abstract glory and weirdness. Conversely, roughly one year later we were dealing with the (relatively) sloppy John Justice Wheeler, Annie, Wisdom Earle, pine weasel, Civi War arcs. Doesn't even seem like the same show! Not saying that all this diversity is bad or good, it's just....different. I suspect that the Twin Peaks represented in Season 1 episodes 3-7 is the one that America fell in love with - and the sharp left turn represented in Episode 8 (which was hinted at in Episode 2) is why the mainstream popularity (and media) fell off so quickly. The Twin Peaks represented in these episodes was really compelling and pretty fast-paced, and very atmospheric. It was great in its own way, but it wasn't the real Twin Peaks. The real Twin Peaks showed up in fits and blips in the first season and then truly surfaced in Season 2.

I kind of wish they would have been better able to reconcile these two differing identities as the show moved forward. Some of it I think was the fact that Season 1 appeared to be fully mapped out, which is why it seemed to move forward so well. In Season 2 it seemed more like it was being made up each week as it went along. Again, that's not a bad thing because I also love Season 2. It's just such a different animal.

Back to the episode....does anyone else wonder exactly how Shelly, Pete and Catherine escaped the mill fire? It's never really explained. Clearly Catherine and Shelly are still trapped inside when Pete rushes in, but I'm curious how Catherine managed to slip away. No one ever really talks specifics afterwards....I guess it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.

[Snailhead]

I agree with the overall sentiment of the above post, however I am perplexed when you say that episodes 3-7 weren't "the real Twin Peaks". Twin Peaks is many things, and those episodes are foundational to its appeal.

[Aerozhul]

I agree with the overall sentiment of the above post, however I am perplexed when you say that episodes 3-7 weren't "the real Twin Peaks". Twin Peaks is many things, and those episodes are foundational to its appeal.

I simply meant that the supernatural aspects that were present in so much of Season 2 and FWWM were largely absent from those episodes, which was somewhat misleading as the supernatural elements and mythology are such a large part of the overall show. At the end of Season 1 the thought that Laura had been killed by a malevolent supernatural force inhabiting the body of a Twin Peaks resident wasn't even a possibility. Episodes 3-7 were some of my favorite of the series, but I think the reason the show was so popular was for the rather straight-forward format of those episodes, and that people were put off by the supernatural piece that came to the forefront in the Season 2 premiere.

[Mr. Reindeer]

Can any original viewers shed light on what the general reaction to the big cliffhanger was? I know it was first and foremost a spoof of 'Dallas,' but it's still a pretty big plot point from a narrative standpoint. Based on anything I've read/seen, it doesn't seem anyone (including the writers) particularly cared who shot Coop. It struck me this time around that ending on such a cliffhanger might have been the last straw for the (presumably large) chunk of viewers who were more interested in a traditional mystery/resolution than atmosphere/quirkiness.

Both this go-round and during my last viewing a few years ago, I found that this episode has the first two scenes in the entire series that just flat-out don't work for me: Hank/Josie and Hank/Norma. Both scenes are just so leaden (the first isn't helped by the antler shot, which is cute until Mark lingers on it for an excrutiatingly long time). I get the feeling that Frost & Mulkey were going for a soap opera spoof and succeeded a little too well: the Josie scene in particular feels like something from Days of Our Lives.

On the other hand, the episode has some terrific stuff. The Pete/Catherine scene is pure soap opera on the page, but the subversive acting choices make it simultaneously hysterically funny and oddly genuine and honest. It's one of my favorite things Nance ever did. Piper also has some of her best dramatic and comedic moments in this one (the scene with Shelly is one of the funniest moments on the whole series for me). And of course the "bite the bullet" scene, which I love -- particularly Kyle's beautiful reaction shots. The rage and sadness just pour out of him; some of his most incredible work.

[Audrey Horne]

I for one was so excited that it was a cliffhanger because it meant the series was coming back, and honestly I didn't really care who killed Laura (it's Donna, the father or the sheriff... One of the least likely, in the opening credits, and a "good" guy.). I was just excited about the cliffhangers... How it worked as both a send up of soaps and we were still equally invested. I was also so fully on board with Coooer and Audrey being the two greatest characters on tv at the moment.

But for the general public frustration... Which I get. It was a whodunit... And seven weeks is a long time to sustain interest, many felt ripped off. But I loved the episode, and it gave me more time... an entire summer... of going over all the clues. That was the fun. (One of the reasons episode 16 is the episode I was most let down by is the solution let so lazy.)

Which is funny when I read constantly about ABC ruining the series forcing Lynch and Frost to reveal the killer... People were tuning out long before that out of frustration. I loved the episode. I loved Piper telling dim Shelly to shut up, "I'm thinking." Or the brilliance of her lack of compassion, "I can't understand a thing you're saying- you have a THING in your mouth!" Cheering when Andy took down Jacques. Audrey clocking that Cooper was also at OEJs... Squealing with glee when he picks up her note later. And so excited that he got shot, because obviously he wasn't going to be dead and we were going to get more of the show! It led to the most exciting summer of speculating.

[Jonah]

A few thoughts having rewatched Episode 7:

I like the lingering shot on the Hawaii mural that opens this episode.

The scene with Cooper and Jacques is powerful.

I love the moment when Shelly is washing her hair and reaching for the towel.

And I love the scene between Catherine and Pete.

And the brief scene between Shelly and Catherine in the mill.

The two cliffhangers are great.

Not much really to add about this episode - I'd previously written more about it on the first page of this thread the last couple of times I rewatched it. It's a soapy, thrilling fun episode, a fitting end to Season 1. Last time I noted that it felt a bit "Santa Barbara"-esque. In retrospect, that seems a bit harsh. But it is very soapy, though that fits with the soap-parody elements of this first season.

[Cipher]

I just completed this episode on a rewatch, which began the other day with Fire Walk With Me, the first time I've inverted the series and films' release order, and I have to agree with David Locke's comments on page one that this episode feels extraordinarily prosaic even compared to the similarly procedural episode 6. I feel a long way now from the surreal, emotional struggle that was Fire Walk With Me, and in all this stood out as the nadir of my interest in season 1, where I found episodes 4-7 to be a bit of a collective slump (with 6 being the relative standout). One Eyed Jack's has been, draped in its unsettling red curtains and filled with stilted, doll-like actors, an uncanny den of epicurean pleasure in earlier episodes, but here it's reduced to a comfortable stage for police drama -- it is simply a casino, simply a brothel. All hints of other-worldliness have disappeared. The episode is also free of the more off-beat, unpredictable dialogue that makes the series' start such a joy, though I did get a laugh out of Andy and Lucy's short-lived reconciliation. I suppose as a way of summing up my feelings, in previous episodes the elements of soap-opera pastiche seem to exist to be subverted by other bits of unpredictable humor and horror; here they're a little too earnestly embraced, or maybe lacking couterpoint. For all that happens in this episode, this is the first time the world of Twin Peaks feels dull.

I'm actually surprised by how greatly I'm looking forward to season 2, which I'm reminded is where all of the series' mythology truly creeps in, and the greater moments of dream-like terror lie. I'm curious to see how I'll feel about its weaker moments compared to episode 7.

[David Locke]

I just completed this episode on a rewatch, which began the other day with Fire Walk With Me, the first time I've inverted the series and films' release order, and I have to agree with David Locke's comments on page one that this episode feels extraordinarily prosaic even compared to the similarly procedural episode 6. I feel a long way now from the surreal, emotional struggle that was Fire Walk With Me, and in all this stood out as the nadir of my interest in season 1, where I found episodes 4-7 to be a bit of a collective slump (with 6 being the relative standout). One Eyed Jack's has been, draped in its unsettling red curtains and filled with stilted, doll-like actors, an uncanny den of epicurean pleasure in earlier episodes, but here it's reduced to a comfortable stage for police drama -- it is simply a casino, simply a brothel. All hints of other-worldliness have disappeared. The episode is also free of the more off-beat, unpredictable dialogue that makes the series' start such a joy, though I did get a laugh out of Andy and Lucy's short-lived reconciliation. I suppose as a way of summing up my feelings, in previous episodes the elements of soap-opera pastiche seem to exist to be subverted by other bits of unpredictable humor and horror; here they're a little too earnestly embraced, or maybe lacking couterpoint. For all that happens in this episode, this is the first time the world of Twin Peaks feels dull.

I'm actually surprised by how greatly I'm looking forward to season 2, which I'm reminded is where all of the series' mythology truly creeps in, and the greater moments of dream-like terror lie. I'm curious to see how I'll feel about its weaker moments compared to episode 7.

Well said - though I actually enjoyed this one a bit more on the latest viewing. I still pretty much feel the same way about its disappointing lack of that Twin Peaks feel in favor of a more conventional crime drama/soap... but I can appreciate what it's doing more, because it is a very tightly constructed piece of work. And I guess that even when the usual locations aren't quite milked for their usual mystique, they still feel like Twin Peaks, even if it's Diet Peaks.

I do agree about OEJ's - I'm not that fond of Cooper's undercover role as I think he's much more interesting when he's his usual offbeat self instead of an FBI agent doing the typical investigative work you see on TV. But I do think OEJ's has some magic still in this episode - that weird scene with a heavily-made up Lesli Linka Glatter playing some kind of fairy-tale hunchback helping Audrey with her wardrobe (which itself recalls Alice in Wonderland). And then LLG slinks off into a little conveniently-placed fairy-tale door. The cliffhanger with Ben and Audrey is nicely done as well, though of course Lynch will get the lion's share of that material in Ep 8.

I know a lot of people like the dissolve from Jacoby's eye to the roulette wheel, but to me it feels very over-determined/"isn't-this-neat?" Kind of on-the-nose, I guess. It's a kind of arbitrary application of stylishness that more resembles Keaton's episode than Lynch.

It's hard to think of a single, big stand-out/classic scene from this episode, honestly. I think the only one that really comes to mind is Leland murdering Jacques, which is very powerfully done on all counts.

But anyway, the single worst and most incongruous part of the episode for me is still that really cheesy, really odd Badalamenti piece during the mill fire scene; it just sounds like some super-generic, disposable 80s thriller score. Hard-driving "ominous" synth paired with a horrid-sounding drum machine. Hard to believe it's by Angelo, and hard to believe it was thought to be of a piece with the rest of the Peaks music. (Now that I think of it, there isn't all that much use of Angelo's score in this episode, is there?)

Even though this episode is relatively weak, though, I think 4-6 are pretty fantastic and I generally agree with LostInTheMovies that they're a great look at how the show might've played out if it stayed as that kind of more streamlined, tightly-written soap-mystery with touches of surrealism. My favorite of those may be Episode 4, which took time for me to come around to completely but which I think just has absolutely fantastic direction by Tim Hunter - moody, intriguing, stylized but not too much so as with his Episode 16. And it has a lot of great scenes (Audrey/Donna, Cooper/Llama) and atmospheric one-off locations (Jacques' place being especially memorable). Ep 5 is also superb, with the cabin/Log Lady stuff standing out of course, and then Ep 6 really does manage to incorporate a lot of the plot-driven, Frostian stuff into an hour that's still beautifully-shot and full of that Twin Peaks feel that Ep 7 is so lacking in.

[The Gazebo]

But anyway, the single worst and most incongruous part of the episode for me is still that really cheesy, really odd Badalamenti piece during the mill fire scene; it just sounds like some super-generic, disposable 80s thriller score. Hard-driving "ominous" synth paired with a horrid-sounding drum machine. Hard to believe it's by Angelo, and hard to believe it was thought to be of a piece with the rest of the Peaks music. (Now that I think of it, there isn't all that much use of Angelo's score in this episode, is there?)

Oh man, I turn down the volume in almost every rewatch. Like you say, it's as if we're watching a totally different show during that scene.