In which we re-watch all of Twin Peaks and spout spurious nonsense about it.

Listen to this week’s Spotify playlist.

When did title sequences die out? Was it all the fault of Lost? I love the title sequence, it draws you in, gives you a preparatory moment to attune yourself to the world you’re about to enter. There’s virtue in repetition too, as any good Fall fan will tell you. The population sign – apparently increased at the behest of the network – hits home, especially at the start of this episode. 51,201. That 1 is significant.

So, after the cliffhangeriest cliffhanger since Dragonfire we’re back. There’s a really interesting duality at the heart of this episode; several times we’re set up with people doing what is ‘good’, or ‘right’ versus people being ‘truthful’.

Bobby is the obvious spokesperson for truth in this episode, railing against the futility of ‘putting people in the ground’ whilst the Major speaks of philosophy and calling the people of town out as hypocrites at the graveside. Dana Ashbrook totally wins this episode actually, for all he’s not in it much the couple of scenes he does have are fantastic – the little tete-a-tete with the Major, laden with Christian imagery is as much a stand-out as Leland riding the coffin later on.

And if Bobby speaks for truth the we have to look to the anti-Bobby for ‘good’. Yes, everyone’s favourite huffy mumbler Mr James Hurley… He doesn’t do much other than act huffy and wounded today, says he’s not going to the funeral and then of course does. He behaves as we’re conditioned to expect of our worthy TV heroes, whilst Bobby all rage and impropriety is the one who is actually speaking the truth.

The dynamic is also reflected in the relationship between Albert and Harry – Albert doesn’t give two hoots from an evil owl what anyone thinks of him, he’s here to do a job and being liked isn’t a part of that. His disrespect for the dead (and the living for that matter) puts him at odds with all round good guy Harry Truman and on the receiving end of a glorious hay-maker from the sheriff – landing on Laura’s corpse which is surely much more disrespectful than whatever procedures Albert had planned. Once again, the person behaving ‘improperly’ is actually the one who is speaking the truth and most likely doing some good. It’s interesting to note too that (as I’m sure I mentioned a couple of episodes back) almost everything that Harry thinks he knows is wrong. The fight between the two also sees Coop having to take sides as Albert wants to file a report (again, not nice, not good, but probably the right thing to do), and he chooses the town over the bureau. We’l come back to that in a few episode’s time. It also contains one of Albert’s finest lines: “Return to your porch rockers and resume whittling!”

It’s everywhere if you start looking for it – Dr. Jacoby “I’m a terrible person”, Shelly mocking Leland, Hawk’s to the point manner.

We can’t talk about this episode without mentioning Leland. He’s utterly heartbreaking to watch at the funeral, just a man completely destroyed (whilst Sarah gets angry at his inappropriacy), and his desperate need for a dance partner at the wake (do Americans call it a wake? You know what I mean.) scaring everyone away. Curious cultural thing here; being Scottish I always assumed that, it being a wake and all, that he was just pished…

Elsewhere this episode we see the appearance of Madeline (mirrored by Invitation To Love), Norma’s husband being released on parole, Donna has a fantastic hat, more jiggery-pokery with duplicated ledgers and the introduction of the Bookhouse Boys – the town’s last defence against the ancient evil lurking in the woods…

Unsorted Observations:

The traffic light features pretty heavily in this episode.

The Log Lady talks about ‘ducks in the eyes’ (presumably meaning tear ducts) – there’s a long close-up of ducks just before we see Leo Johnson.

Audrey’s all in red.

There are black onyx dog statues in the diner, similar to those we see in the pilot, just before we cut to Josie.

The coffee in the Double R looks pretty rotten actually…

Harry says to Josie “nothing is going to happen to you…”. He’s been wrong about everything else so far.

Catherine is mirrored by the portrait behind her.

The log looks pretty upset at the funeral…

Next Week – Andy and Lucy have an argument and Cooper’s boss calls.

Join The Great Twin Peaks Re-Watch here, or read last week’s post here.