Twin Peaks: Season 1, Episode 2 "Traces to Nowhere" Review

 "There was a fish in the percolator!"

-Pete Martell

"Traces to Nowhere" picks up with Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) waking up at the Great Northern Hotel, where he meets Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn), who tells him Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) used to tutor her brother.

Dr. Hayward (Warren Frost) tells Cooper and Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) the results of Laura's autopsy.  She died from blood loss and had sex with at least three men that day.  They then question James (James Marshall) who admits he shot the video of Laura and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) at the picnic.    He reveals that Laura had just started recently using cocaine again because something had happened to her.  He tells them how Laura jumped off his motorcycle and ran off into the night before dying later that night, but doesn't tell them about the necklace.  They release James and his Uncle Ed (Everett McGill) picks him up.  Ed, who was at the bar fight at the Roadhouse the previous night, tells the Sheriff he thinks his beer was drugged by the bartender.

Cooper and Truman release Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) and Mike (Gary Hershberger) as well, but warn them to leave James alone.  They later see that James is having dinner with Donna and her family, which further enrages them.  It's revealed they are in some sort of business with Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) and Laura was involved as well.  They owe Leo 10,000 dollars, which was in Laura's safety deposit box.

Leo gives his wife, Shelly (Mädchen Amick), laundry to do and she discovers a bloody shirt and hides it. Leo realizes the shirt is missing, but can't find it.  When Shelly gets home, he beats her with a bar of soap for losing his shirt.

Cooper and Truman visit Josie Packard (Joan Chen) who was being given English lessons by Laura.  In their last session, Josie could tells something was troubling Laura.  Cooper also figures out that Josie and Truman are romantically involved.

Josie's sister-in-law, Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie), is romantically involved with Ben Horne (Richard Beymer), the owner of the Great Northern.  They have a scheme to try and get the Packard Sawmill away from Josie's ownership and discuss burning the place down.  Later, Ben confronts Audrey about scaring his potential business associates out of Twin Peaks.

Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) has a vision of a frightening man with long, gray hair (Frank Silva).

Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) questions the parents of Ronette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine) and discovers she had a job at Horne's department store, also owned by Ben Horne, working at the perfume counter.

Cooper and Truman visit the Double R Diner, where they talk to the owner, Norma (Peggy Lipton), about Laura Palmer, who helped organize a Meals-on-Wheels program to deliver food to the elderly.  Norma agrees to get Cooper a list of the people who received meals from her.  The Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson) tells Cooper and Truman that her log saw something the night of Laura's death.  She tells Cooper to ask her log what it saw.  He doesn't and she leaves.

Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) listens to a tape Laura made for him and it's revealed that he has the other half of the heart necklace.

What Works:

Again, Dale Cooper is just the absolute best.  His enthusiasm for pie and coffee is simply infectious.  I don't know what I like more; watching him work the case or watching him simply enjoy life.  

We also get one of my all time favorite lines of the series from Pete (Jack Nance), which I have at the top of this post.  Whenever someone brings up Twin Peaks, a fish in a percolator is one of the first things I think of.

Audrey Horne is a top-tier Twin Peaks character.  She didn't get a ton to do in the pilot or even in this episode.  But this is where she meets Dale Cooper, which is a really fun pair throughout the early parts of the series.  I love her first meeting with Cooper.  It's just so odd and it's clear that her brother isn't the only one with some emotional problems.

We also get our first good look at the man we'll come to know as BOB.  I don't have much to say here, but just the quick glimpse we get of him is chilling.

Finally, the reveal that Dr. Jacoby has the necklace is great.  I don't know what I expected to be in that coconut, but it wasn't that.  It's a great cliffhanger to end this episode and it pairs so well with the ending of the pilot.

What Sucks:

My least favorite storyline in the entire series is the relationship between James and Donna.  They both annoy me greatly the vast majority of the time.  They're totally fine in the pilot, but this is where it starts to go downhill.  On the initial viewing, there's not much to be annoyed with, but on the 5th rewatch that I'm on, I could feel the irritation coming on.  Anytime they have a scene together or they talk about one another gives me dread for what is to come with them.

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "Traces to Nowhere," this Award goes to Special Agent Dale Cooper for the 2nd time in a row.  It's pretty much by default here. I liked the way he worked the case and how he figured out Truman was involved with Josie.

Verdict:

The first episode after the pilot usually isn't as good for most TV shows.  And while that is technically true, this is still a really great episode.  I don't love the stuff with Donna and James, but everything else is awesome.  We get some more great character work, lots of fun moments, a real introduction for Audrey and BOB, and an excellent cliffhanger.  It has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great