Twin Peaks: Season 2, Episode 6 "Demons" Review

 "COOPER, YOU REMIND ME TODAY OF A SMALL MEXICAN CHIHUAHUA!"
-Gordon Cole



"Demons" picks up with James Hurley (James Marshall) bursting into Harold Smith's (Lenny Von Dohlen) house to get Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) and Maddy Ferguson (Sheryl Lee) out of the house.  They fail to get ahold of Laura Palmer's (Sheryl Lee) diary.  Donna and James repair their relationship.  Donna tells Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) about the diary, while Maddy tells James that she is going to go home to Montana. 

Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) gets Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) to the Bookhouse to recover from being drugged with heroin.  The Sheriff figures out that Jean Renault (Michael Parks) is behind all of this and that Cooper was his true target.  Later, Cooper returns the money to Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) and they take Audrey home.

Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelly Johnson (Mädcheb Amick) bring Leo (Eric Da Re) home, but learn their insurance money is not nearly as much as they thought it would be.  Later, they throw a party to mock Leo's new state and nearly have sex in front of him, but when Leo's head moves, Shelly gets scared and they stop.

Jonathan (Mak Takano) tells Josie (Joan Chen) that they will be heading back to Hong Kong that night, but Josie hasn't received the money Ben owes her, so she doesn't want to leave.  Jonathan threatens to kill Truman if she doesn't.  She goes to get the money from Ben and ends up walking away with the check for 5 million dollars from Mr. Tojamura (Fumio Yamaguchi).  Truman finds her and Jonathan preparing to leave and tries to convince her to stay, but she ends up leaving.

Cooper's supervisor, Gordon Cole (David Lynch) arrives in Twin Peaks to check in on him.  He was sent an anonymous letter to deliver to Cooper.  It's the opening move of a chess match from Cooper's old partner, Windom Earle (Kenneth Walsh).

Ben brings Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) back into the fold to help him stall the Icelandic investors while he looks into Tojamura's offer.

Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) tracks down Phillip Gerard (Al Strobel) and brings him to the police station.  They withhold his medication, which allows the spirit of MIKE to take over.  He reveals that he and BOB (Frank Silva) used to be partners, but MIKE has been reformed and wants to stop BOB, who is also possessing someone and very few can see his real face.  He helps Cooper realize that BOB is currently at the Great Northern.


What Works:

I love the scene where Bobby and Shelly throw a party for Leo just to make fun of him.  The scene is an emotional roller coaster.  It's goofy, creepy, disturbing, and funny.  It ends up being a very unsettling scene, but very effective.  It definitely makes you worried for Bobby and Shelly as they continue to have Leo living with them.

This is the episode where we finally get Gordon Cole in person.  I love that David Lynch put himself on the show as a deaf FBI agent who has to shout all the time.  I find that hilarious and I always smile when Cole is on screen.  I love whenever he and Cooper interact.  It's shockingly wholesome a lot of the time, especially when you look at how government agents are usually characterized on TV shows.

Michael Ontkean gives a great performance here and you can really feel his heartbreak as he confesses his love for Josie, but she still leaves anyway.  Truman is such a wonderful character and it sucks to see him get hurt like this, but Ontkean really sells it.  

Speaking of Josie, we get my favorite scene of the series with her.  I love how she and Ben Horne play off each other during their negotiation and that they both have evidence against the other.  It's playful and I really like that Ben isn't mad that he loses the negotiation.  He's simply impressed with Josie's play.

Finally, the conversation with MIKE is a great way to end the episode.  We finally get the law enforcement team, besides Cooper, interacting with the supernatural for the first time.  Al Strobel gives a phenomenal performance and sets up an awesome cliffhanger with us knowing BOB is at the Great Northern.


What Sucks:

We still have Mr. Tojamura hanging around.  While I do like the conversation between Tojamura and Pete (Jack Nance), I still don't love this character's inclusion in the show, especially when they bring up Nagasaki.  It has aged very poorly.


Crystal Coffee:

Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "Demons," this Award goes to James Hurley for getting Maddy and Donna out of Harold's house before it got more violent.  This is his 1st time winning this Award.


Verdict:

"Demons" is another great episode of Twin Peaks.  The stuff with Leo is unsettling, we get Gordon Cole's proper introduction, Michael Ontkean and Al Strobel are on point, and we get my favorite Josie moment of the series.  The Mr. Tojamura storyline really needs to end, but the rest of the episode has absolutely got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

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