The Supernatural, Silva and the Season 2 Problem

[Johnsusername]

My first post here. I agree with the OP about Bob - I never found him that scary tbh. And all that denim!

However, after being terrified by the likes of FWWM, Lost Highway, MD and Inland Empire, I'm very excited to see what Lynch is going to throw at us this time around.

Also, just on season 2 - while I prefer season 1 as a whole, I think season 2 has the better standout episodes - the season opener, 14 and the final episode I think are three of the greatest TV shows ever recorded. However, the usual complaints about S2 (disguises, super powers etc) I totally agree with.

HOWEVER - part of me always quite liked the episodes simply because I got to watch the inhabitants of Twin Peaks and it was like catching up with friends ha.

[Trudy Chelgren]

I must confess, I never REALLY liked the episode where Leland was arrested, (17?) besides from Ray Wise's unbelievably chaotic and the heartbreaking final scenes, I feel that much of the rest of the episode is quite weak. The opening scene in particular; all those HORRIBLE slanted camera angles, and that really cheesy 'somber' slow-motion 'good guys' shot? Please. The seemingly purposefully corny dialogue really hampers what should be a truly devastating scene, (Cooper's "I need 24 hours-to finish this", Albert's "bag this beast...", etc.)

Don't get me (entirely) wrong, all the scenes with Leland are great, really threatening and ominous, and the Young Mrs. Tremond scene is eerie. But for every good scene, there's a poor one; James' fate as Twin Peaks' most immature man-child is truly sealed, ("...sounded like a thousand people singing"), Tojamura is banal and, Norma's argument with her mother is overwrought, MIKE's scene in the Great Northern is really nothing new, and of course, Andy and Dick.

This episode to me feels like an awkward combination between a sorely cliched Agatha Christie tale, (it even has the whole 'the killer is someone in this room' scene, with that awful fake lightning) and a pretty hurried, and unfortunately obligatory, attempt on Tim Hunter's part to discard tired plot lines, and introduce new plot lines. Like the episode is merely an allotted space of time to wrap up plot lines, rather than including all as a whole, cohesive piece, with the first episode of season 2 being a shining example of that approach. But Hunter's being trapped between a rock and a hard place doesn't excuse him from making such a mockery of the episode. It feels like to me, that Hunter's desperately trying to be distinctive by piling on the 'ironic' cheese, trying to compensate for not having many original ideas, or set pieces, to bring to the table. The final scene is fantastic, the sprinklers a touch of genius, but nearly all the rest has a real lack of invention.

[Johnsusername]

The whole Tojamura storyline - I mean, next time I watch the series I'll probably fast forward it haha.

That's the thing about Twin Peaks - some of the lows are pretty low, but the highs are very high. Some of the highest in TV history thankfully!

[dkenny78]

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This episode to me feels like an awkward combination between a sorely cliched Agatha Christie tale, (it even has the whole 'the killer is someone in this room' scene, with that awful fake lightning) and a pretty hurried, and unfortunately obligatory, attempt on Tim Hunter's part to discard tired plot lines, and introduce new plot lines.

I completely agree. The whole resolution of the murder seems arbitrarily rushed, especially when you consider how long it took to get there. My guess is that they were bound by the network edict to reveal the killer to the audience by November, and they didn't want to spend too many episodes after this to have Cooper/Truman/etc. figure it out, so we then get this very truncated resolution.

My main problem is that Cooper really doesn't do any actual detective work that leads him to solve the mystery. All he really does is make a connection between the Giant and the elderly waiter (a connection that should have been very obvious to him long before the episode), and then bring the waiter to a gathering of the usual suspects to essentially make a positive ID.

That said, Leland's interrogation and death scene, along with Cooper's recitation of the Book of the Dead, redeems the episode for me.