Review Tonight! "Twin Peaks" S02E14 “Double Play”

[Mad-Pac]

Aired Thursday 9:00 PM Feb 02, 1991 on ABC

Cooper confides to Truman his past experiences with Windom Earle, Leo awakens from his coma, Audrey strikes a business deal with Bobby, James realizes what a great idea he had when he got involved with that woman, Windom Earle is revealed.

CAST

Kyle MacLachlan ...Special Agent Dale Cooper
Michael Ontkean ...Sheriff Harry S. Truman
Mädchen Amick ...Shelly Johnson
Dana Ashbrook ...Bobby Briggs
Richard Beymer ...Benjamin Horne
Lara Flynn Boyle ...Donna Hayward
Sherilyn Fenn ...Audrey Horne
Warren Frost ...Dr. Will Hayward
Peggy Lipton ...Norma Jennings
James Marshall ...James Hurley
Everett McGill ...Big Ed Hurley
Jack Nance ...Pete Martell
Kimmy Robertson ...Lucy Moran
Piper Laurie ...Catherine Martell
Eric DaRe ...Leo Johnson
Harry Goaz ...Deputy Andy Brennan
Michael Horse ...Deputy Tommy 'Hawk' Hill
Kenneth Welsh ...Windom Earle
Russ Tamblyn ...Dr. Lawrence Jacoby
David Patrick Kelly ...Jerry Horne
Ian Buchanan ...Dick Tremayne
Robyn Lively ...Lana Budding Milford
Don S. Davis ...Maj. Garland Briggs
Annette McCarthy ...Evelyn Marsh
David Warner ...Thomas Eckhardt
Dan O'Herlihy ...Andrew Packard
Brenda Strong ...Jones
John Apicella ...Jeffrey Marsh
John Boylan ...Mayor Dwayne Milford
Ron Blair ...Randy St. Croix
Craig MacLachlan ...The Dead Man


WRITING CREDITS

Mark Frost...(created by)
David Lynch...(created by)
Scott Frost...(written by)


DIRECTED BY

Uli Edel

 

[Bob Peters 61]

And it's starting to get good again.

Leo's probably getting his, wandering into Windham Earle's cabin.

Of course James has been set up to take the blame for the rich guy's murder. At least he has Donna on his side despite the wicked woman's attempt to send her home. Could be his only hope.

Dr. Hawthorne sat the bumbling duo down an told them the sad story of little Nicky. And of course as they're sitting there blubbering about it Lucy done swatted another of those big bloody bugs. Good comedy relief.

And speaking of comic relief, the Mayor and his brother's widow have a new dynamic. I don't know which was more ill-advised: the lawmen letting him take his shotgun in with him when put into a room alone with her or his leaving an expensive shotgun behind when he left with her and a face full of her lipstick.

At least Dr. Jacoby earned some more envious looks with his apparent sexual luck. Some guys have all the fun.

And we get the backstory of Windham Earle Vs. Dale Cooper. Looks like the main case for the next bunch of eps.

This one gets 8 big bugs leaving big splats of blood when swatted.

 

[Brimfin]

I have to agree with Mad-Pac’s observation in his earlier review that this show would be better if it concentrated on fewer storylines instead of being overly abundant with them. Case in point is one of tonight’s stories which may or may not be done with – the rich blonde gig. James finally comes to his senses and decides it’s wrong to hang around and make out with someone else’s wife. Unfortunately, Jeffrey’s car has already been sabotaged and he was killed. The scene wasn’t very well done; we saw him drive off and then heard a screech and a crash. Since there was no immediate reaction afterward, I wasn’t sure that she just wasn’t wishing in her head that he would crash. We didn’t learn of his crash until the show was almost over. There was a nicely done bit where Donna comes for him, not being fooled by Evelyn’s gambit of telling her James had left already. Evelyn tells James to run and go with Donna – seemingly Eve has really fallen for James and doesn’t want him to go to jail as planned. So they escape for now, but there’s no guarantee this is the end of it. Whether it is or not, I never saw enough of a storyline there to feel like she had really fallen for James, or vice versa – which is what she had originally hoped for. She tells him that he’s the first person she ever said “I love you” to. So she just marries someone without ever even say “I love you” to him once. And when we finally spend a few minutes with Jeffrey he seems like just an ordinary schlub unworthy of being murdered – doubtfully the wife-beater Eve and her “brother” were trying to pass him off as. The whole thing was just a waste of time and I really hope this is the end of it.

Meanwhile, Andy reveals to Lucy the suspicions he and Dick have about little Nicky and she investigates only to find that his real story is sad with his real parents dying tragically and that he actually tried to heroically save his adopted parents by pulling them out of a burning car. Only good thing about the whole bit was when she said to Andy and Dick, “I hope you’re happy now,” and they start to comically cry instead. (Also one bit of dialogue, saved for the end of this review.)

Major Briggs comes back, but only reveals that he thinks he was taken to the White Lodge but doesn’t remember anything about it. That ranks right up there with, “Laura whispered the name of her murderer in my ear, but I forgot.” Big letdown after last week.

Bobby recovers from his jerk virus long enough to go home and check on Shelley, even though Audrey had essentially told him to just help her out and forget about Shelley. He gets there just in time to save her from Leo. The whole scenario was weird. We saw Shelley walk in the door last week and then see Leo, but now the door is mysteriously locked along with all the other exits. Sure Leo could have locked the other doors while she was gone, but how did the slow-moving hulk manage to sneak over and lock the front door after she came in without being seen? Anyway, one shove of his wheelchair topples her over and turns her into a weak, crawling mess who can’t outrun someone walking at one mile an hour or even burst through one of those plastic sheets on the side of the house without getting caught. But Bobby gets there in time to save her, and then she has to save him while he is being strangled with an ax blade. She stabs Leo’s leg, and he flees. Unfortunately for him and us, he flees right to Windom Earle’s secret hideout.

Indeed we get two reveals tonight – Windom Earle, who’s been talked about for weeks and Thomas Eckhart whose name was mentioned only recently by Catherine. Both look like imposing figures who will be tough to reckon with. Ben is still bonkers but the doc explains that pretending to correct who won the Civil War will somehow help him correct his own past mistakes. Cooper is cleared of all charges, but still suspended. Audrey has lost the nice persona she had when she was with Cooper and is now a devious plotter like she originally was.

That’s all for this week. I’ll give it 6 big butcher knives which are helpful if you don’t own a gun.

Best dialogue:
Andy: We think Nicky murdered his parents.
Lucy: He’s 9 years old.
Andy: We think he was 6 at the time of his crime.