2x02 Coma

[3.6/10] So I think we’ve reached the “weird for the sake of weird” portion of Twin Peaks. It’s impressive, in a way, how seemingly deliberately inaccessible Lynch & Co. have endeavored to make the show.

The peak of that is Donna’s first meals on wheels delivery. It’s full of the usual nonsense and doublespeak, but now there’s a kid who can magically transport creamed corn off of his grandmother’s plate and into his hands. Alright then. It’s another long scene that goes nowhere, and what’s truly strange about it (which is saying something for this show) is that Donna seems to just take it all in stride. I’m not opposed to the weird or surreal, but I’d like there to be some meaningful reaction from the characters to help that sort of thing land.

Nevermind the fact that Donna has seemingly abandoned her Laura-imitating ways for no apparent reason. But we get some hint as to why she did it in the first place -- as Bobby records a song with Laura and Maddy and while warbling out “only you” looks longingly at Maddy rather than Laura. You get the impression that Donna is trying to be Laura in the hopes of retaining her beau which, isn’t the worst idea for a story (truth be told I actually kind of liked the musical, emotional atmosphere of that scene), but feels rushed and overdone like so much else on Twin Peaks.

Though again, credit where credit is due, the show has started to be able to consistently chill me. I love the scene where Maddy hallucinates Bob coming toward her. It’s some great direction and design work, with the shot putting the audience in Maddy’s perspective, making it seem as though Bob is coming directly at them. And the force perspective camera work, making Bob seem larger and out of proportion as he gets closer and closer to the camera, really aids in the unnerving effect of it all. It’s a legitimately nice sequence in a sea of drek.

And hey, it’s nice that we have Alfred as a more regular presence here. His opening exchange with Cooper is amusing, and his caustic wit is a nice antidote to the rest of the show’s wide-eyed cornpone. Though he does introduce a new wrinkle to this whole thing -- that Cooper’s old partner has apparently gone nuts and is on the loose. It’s a cliché thing to inject into the proceedings, and something tells me we’ll be dealing with it each and every week, just like the Asian businessman spying on Cooper from behind his newspaper.

Another thing we’ll be dealing with each and every week on this show are bad lines and worse performances. The height of that is Ben and Jerry’s scene in “Coma” where they debate which of the saw mill ledgers to burn. I’ll give the show some credit for throwing in a scene where they try to straighten out this jumbled mess or a storyline and then basically admit that it’s one big clusterfuck. Still, channeling that through two of the show’s cheesier characters (which is, again, an achievement given the circumstances) and ending it with another painful line like “it’s like some kind of dream” just shows the show wallowing in its own corny crud.

We also spin our wheels on some other stories out there. Shelly learns that Leo is likely to be a vegetable and debates whether to bring him home to collect disability insurance. I have to admit, I’m just kind of over the Shelly-Leo-Bobby part of the show. It was never good, but whatever meager tension there was in it ended with the first season finale. Now rather than move the characters forward, it’s just bogging them down in the detritus of the aftermath in a way that feels like a time-fill. There’s some merit in the idea of having to face the shell of your abuser in order to live a comfortable life, but given the actors involved, I don’t have much faith in the show to pull that off. (Though in fairness, this was Eric DaRae’s best performance ever!)

We also learn that the reason Andy is so miffed at the news that Lucy is pregnant is that he’s sterile and thus can’t be the father. So there’s that. Just like with Shelly/Leo/Bobby, I’m pretty well over the relationship between Andy and Lucy as well. There was something kind of cute about the pair of oddballs as a couple initially, but that’s worn thin into a go-nowhere plot that hits the same notes over and over again.

Oh yeah, and Audrey’s storyline has stalled out too. She’s still at One-Eyed Jacks and basically tortures her boss from Horne’s Dept. store into revealing things the audience already knows -- Ben Horne owns the brothel, runs girls from the perfume counter, probably knew that Laura was there. I guess there’s some merit to Audrey learning these things, but it’s a clunky way to deliver info that the viewer’s already aware of.

Clunky is probably the best word to describe “Coma.” Despite the inherent ridiculousness of their reasons for getting together, I actually like Major Briggs and Cooper together here. They both have a presence about them many of the show’s other characters lack, and seeing their energies matched up is a minor thrill. (And his polite interactions with the Log Lady were a highlight as well.) Still, the “satellites gave us the owl message” development seems pretty pointless, though I guess it gives The Giant some legitimacy.

Still, on the whole, it’s an episode with long, drawn-out scenes that don’t really seem to have much of a point or purpose beyond rehashing things that the audience is already familiar with or belaboring points that are already obvious. I’ll be honest, my patience is wearing kind of thing with Twin Peaks and I still have twenty more episodes to go before finishing the original run. Why this show is so lauded is still quite beyond me, but hopefully I’ll be able to wade through the rest of the dross and find out.