Twin Peaks: Season 2, Episode 15 "Slaves and Masters" Review

 "Replacing the quiet elegance of the dark suit and tie with the casual indifference of these muted earth tones is a form of fashion suicide, but, uh, call me crazy...on you it works."

-Agent Albert Rosenfield

"Slaves and Masters" picks up with Evelyn Marsh (Annette McCarthy) and Malcolm Sloan (Nicholas Love) talking to the police and blaming James Hurley (James Marshall) for the death of Evelyn's husband, though it's clear Evelyn feels guilty about what she is doing.

James and Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) discuss what their next move should be.  James believes that he can get through to Evelyn to clear his name.  Donna tries to talk to Evelyn first, but Malcolm interrupts and threatens to kill Donna if he sees her again.  James confronts Evelyn at her home, but Malcolm knocks him out and prepares to kill him.  Donna tries to stop him, but it's Evelyn who ends up shooting and killing Malcolm.

Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and Shelley Johnson (Mädchen Amick) are interviewed by Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) and Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).  Bobby reveals that Hank Jennings (Chris Mulkey) was the one who shot Leo (Eric Da Re) and they decides to charge Hank and send him back to prison.  Later, Shelley goes back to work at the Double R Diner.

Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) returns to Twin Peaks and lays out all the evidence of what Windom Earle (Kenneth Walsh) has been up to, including sending fake bombs to various law enforcement all around the country, all of which contain articles of his late wife's clothing from their wedding day.

Earle puts a shock collar on Leo and forces him to do his deranged bidding, including writing a note that Earle tears into three pieces and delivers one piece each to Shelley, Donna, and Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn).

Ed Hurley (Everett McGill) and Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) decide to officially get together and embrace the future.  Nadine (Wendy Robie) walks in on them and tells them she's okay with them being together because she's with Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger) now.

Cooper and Truman interview Josie Packard (Joan Chen) about the murder of Jonathan (Mak Takano).  She doesn't answer any questions.  Cooper manages to get a fiber sample from one of Josie's coats.  Josie gets a phone call from Thomas Eckhardt (David Warner), but Catherine (Piper Laurie) interrupts and later invites him over for dinner.  Josie is forced to serve dinner to Catherine and Eckhardt.

Cooper has Albert test the fiber he pulled from Josie's coat.  Albert comes to the conclusion that whoever shot Cooper was wearing the coat, most likely Josie.  Cooper asks Albert not to say anything to Truman until they are 100% sure.

With Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) still believing himself to be General Robert E. Lee, Jerry Horne (David Patrick Kelly) schemes about taking advantage of the situation for business purposes, but Audrey puts a stop to that because Ben's will puts Audrey, not Jerry, in charge if he dies or is otherwise incapacitated.  They, Bobby, and Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) take on Civil War personas and help Ben win the war for the confederacy, which snaps Ben back to reality.

Cooper realizes that every time Earle takes a chess piece in their game, he will kill someone.  He and Truman bring in Pete Martell (Jack Nance) who is revealed to be a chess expect.  Pete agrees to help Cooper stalemate the game while losing as few pieces as possible.

Cooper returns to his hotel room to find Caroline's (Brenda E. Mathers) death mask and a tape from Windom Earle.

What Sucks:

I'm going to go out of order this time, just to get the bad stuff out of the way.  Like before, the Evelyn/James storyline is painfully dull, but at least it's basically over after this episode.

Finally, once again, Ben's Civil War reenactment storyline is very uncomfortable and hasn't aged well.  Luckily this storyline also ends in this episode.

What Works: 

Going back to the Evelyn/James storyline, I will say I really like the scene with James and Donna in the bar.  Not so much for the story elements, but how strange and surreal the scene is.  The line of cops sitting at the bar and the odd behavior of the bartender makes the scene very memorable.

I also appreciate how the finale of the Civil War storyline feels like a bad elementary school play.  It's embarrassing and no one besides Ben seems to really know what they're doing.  Then it turns into a Wizard of Oz reference.  I feel like the writers and director didn't like these storylines either, but at least tried to make them fun and strange.

I love the return of Albert to Twin Peaks.  Miguel Ferrer always gives a great performance, but the first thing he does is give Sheriff Truman a hug.  After the beef they've had for the entire show, the hug between these is genuinely heartwarming.

While Windom Earle was introduced in the last episode, this is his first full episode and we really get to see who he is as a character.  Kenneth Welsh is delightfully nasty and unhinged.  I love how he can change on a dime.  The way he tortures Leo is great character establishment.

Finally, Pete hasn't had much to do with the main storyline at all over the course of the show.  I love that he turns out to be a chess expert and that Cooper recruits him to help him in the conflict against Windom Earle.  I'm always up for more Pete.

Crystal Coffee: 

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For this episode, the Award goes to Windom Earle.  Evil can be competent!  We learn just how much he's been able to get away with so far from Albert.  He also manages to subdue Leo and force him to do his bidding and got into Cooper's room to antagonize him some more without being caught.  He walked right past Cooper without being noticed.  This is his first time winning this Award.

Verdict:

This episode continues two of the weaker storylines of the series, but it has a bit of fun with both of them and mostly concludes them.  The rest of the episode is very enjoyable, especially the return of Albert, a full episode of Windom Earle, and Pete being brought into the main storyline in a very fun way.  This episode has certainly got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good