Twin Peaks: Season 2, Episode 5 "The Orchid's Curse" Review

 "Are you looking for secrets?"

-Harold Smith

"The Orchid's Curse" picks up with Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) discovering the letter Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) left for him in his room.  He realizes she is probably being held at One Eyed Jack's.  He lets Sheriff Truman (Michal Ontkean) know, which changes their plan.

Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) takes some time off and tells everyone she is going to visit her sister.  Andy (Harry Goaz) takes over her responsibilities.  He is informed that his sperm count is back to normal and he tries to call Lucy at the number where she is staying, only to discover it's an abortion clinic.

Judge Sternwood (Royal Dano) releases Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) without bail.  He also decides Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) is not competent to stand trial and allows him to be sent home as soo as he is healthy enough.

Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) offers to tell Harold Smith (Lenny Von Dohlen) her life story if she can read Laura Palmer's (Sheryl Lee) diary.  Harold offers to read it to her instead and Donna agrees, but as she tells Harold her story, she takes the diary and baits Harold into going outside to get it back, but it ends with him collapsing.  She goes back to Harold's that night to tell him more and distracts Harold.  She signals to Maddy (Sheryl Lee) for her to sneak into the house to try and get the diary, but they get caught.  Harold confronts them with gardening rake and uses it to slice his own face open.

Ed Hurley (Everett McGill) brings Nadine (Wendy Robie) home from the hospital.  She still believes she is in high school and Ed can't get her in to see Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) because he is in Hawaii.

Mr. Tojamura (Fumio Yamaguchi) meets with Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) and presents him with a better offer than the Iceland group to be involved with the Ghostwood project.  He even gives Ben a 5 million dollar check to prove they are ready to move.  Later, Ben gives Agent Cooper the money to get Audrey back and sends him off to meet with Jean Renault (Michael Parks).  Knowing he is sending Cooper into a trap, Ben sends Hank Jennings (Chris Mulkey) to follow him to save Audrey and get the money back if he can.

Cooper and Truman don't go to the meeting place, but to One Eyed Jacks instead.  They knock out a guard as they search for Audrey.  Truman sees Jean murder Blackie (Victoria Catlin) before he tries shooting the Sheriff.  Cooper finds Audrey and they attempt to flee.  They are held at gunpoint by a guard, but Hawk (Michael Horse) arrives and throws a knife into his back.  They flee as Hank watches and reports to Ben.  Before he can escape, Hank is captured by Jean, who finds the state prosecutor ID on him that Hank stole in the previous episode.

What Works:

Donna is one of my least favorite characters on the entire show and definitely my least favorite of the main cast.  That said, I will give Lara Flynn Boyle major props for this episode.  Her monologue to Harold telling the story of her first love is really well done.  It's a creepy story if you think about it at all, but Boyle does a fantastic job of showing us how Donna felt about the experience.  It's some of her best acting on the entire show.

The raid on One Eyed Jacks is very exciting.  It's fun seeing Cooper and Truman do this together.  It's pretty different than what we usually get on Twin Peaks.  This isn't an action heavy show, but it's fun to get a couple of action beats as they rescue Audrey.  Hawk's arrival is fantastic and Hank's capture is very interesting.

It's a small moment, but I also really like Jean's murder of Blackie.  He stabs her while he is kissing her and he keeps kissing her as she coughs up blood.  Jean's been a charming villain so far, so it's nice to see his more depraved side.

Finally, I like the scene where Truman comes to Leland's defense at his hearing.  Truman goes to bat for Leland, but when you know where Leland's story goes, this moment is so much more tragic.

What Sucks:

We get more of the Mr. Tojamura storyline in this episode.  It's a pretty innocuous scene, but on the rewatch, it has aged very poorly.

Finally, the episode ends with the confrontation between Harold, Donna, and Maddy.  It's interesting on paper and could have worked, but the big problem is that when Harold cuts his face, you can see the fake blood on his gardening claw.  He accidentally touches himself with it before the cut and he gets the fake blood on himself.  That and then the over-the-top moment of him cutting his face fall completely flat for me.  It looks really bad  If only the filmmakers had used a different take, it could have worked.  

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "The Orchid's Curse," this Award goes to Deputy Hawk for figuring out what Cooper and Truman were up to and saving their lives during their raid on One Eyed Jack's.  This is his 1st time winning this Award.

Verdict:

"The Orchid's Curse" is a solid episode of Twin Peaks.  Lara Flynn Boyle and Michael Ontkean both give great performances and the raid on One Eyed Jack's is very fun.  Again, I don't love the Mr. Tojamura stuff and Harold snapping falls completely flat, but this is still a very enjoyable episode. 

 8/10: Really Good