Monsters of Television

All small towns are hosts to their fair share of crazy. It’s a rule, a code that the universe must obey. Some towns, it must be said, have a few more odd citizens per capita than others. Whether this concentration of strange is a by-product of isolation, limited gene pools, circumstance or chance varies. For Twin Peaks, I get the feeling that something else is to blame.

Twin Peaks in many ways reminds me of another show set in a little town: Haven. Take the supernatural elements away from Haven, and Twin Peaks could be its sister city. They are both populated by closely connected people harboring all manner of secrets and patrolled by an unnaturally observant outsider who is assisted by a well-meaning local. There are differences, of course, but they both follow the aforementioned rule: every small town has to have some crazy in it.

Twin Peaks gives us Log Lady, who I love to pieces just for being so dang absurd a character. Every town needs a Log Lady. Then we have Eye Patch Lady, who – from all appearances in this episode – is even more insane than I originally expected her to be. I feel there’s a story there, and I can only hope that it is as delicious as I suspect. And that we get to find out about it, because with a cast this large and a story this complex (and only a two-season series), it might get lost in the shuffle.

Even if we don’t get Eye Patch’s tale, we do find out a lot more in this episode about who’s who, who is with whom, and who, exactly, Laura Palmer was. It seems when Ms. Homecoming Queen wasn’t out cheating on her boyfriend and doing cocaine, she was organizing food drives and tutoring. The dichotomy is interesting, and no doubt the story that we are looking for lies somewhere in the middle. We also get to see Laura as more than a corpse or a video image. Other than the video footage used to great effect in the pilot (and trotted out again for us here), we had not seen Laura in action. “Traces to Nowhere” gives us a glimpse of Laura through James’s flashback and, at the end, a hint of her voice and inner thoughts through a tape recording. Both tell us more about Laura and about her connections to other characters. Who are, in turn, connected to even more characters.

One thing Twin Peaks does very well, only two episodes in, is to make every combination of characters, every small revelation or tiny aside seem important. No scene seems like wasted time, because you get the strong feeling that everything is connected and that all this build-up is leading somewhere important. That’s a sign of clever planning, clever writing, and clever pacing. Whether it leads to an actual payoff or not is yet to be seen. But for now, it still feels like it’s worth the ride.

Episode two also gives us much more in the way of concrete answers. In the pilot, characters kept their secrets, made do with significant looks or ambiguous dialog. Here, we get straight answers, honest revelations, and some genuinely practical information. Of course, all these discoveries do is lead to more questions and intrigue, but it’s a good way to keep the audience invested in the mystery without leaving everything we know so far as a mystery.

Notes:

• I thought it was an aberration for the pilot, but no: the theme music trips me out.
• “Diane, it struck me again earlier this morning – there are two things that continue to     trouble me. And I’m speaking now not only as an agent of the Bureau, but also as a human being: what really went on between Marilyn     Monroe and the Kennedys, and who really pulled the trigger on JFK?”
• “Do your palms ever itch?” This show makes them itch in a good way. It also makes me want doughnuts in much the same way that Pushing Daisies (another quirky, short-lived show) makes me want pie. Hell, this show makes me want pie, too. I just like pie.
• Speaking of pie: “They’ve got a cherry pie there that’ll kill you!” I AM KEEPING TABS ON THESE MENTIONS OF FAMILIAR PHRASES. I AM WAITING FOR THEIR MOMENTS.
• The Dale and Harry bromance continues to blossom! “I think I better start studying medicine. … Because I’m starting to feel like Dr. Watson.”
• A sock in one hand and soap in the other was all that was needed to make me cringe. Seriously, honey, just kill the bastard in his sleep already.
• HOLY COCONUTS! That necklace! CUE THE DRAMATIC STRINGS!