Twin Peaks: Season 2, Episode 18 "On the Wings of Love" Review

 "I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.

-Agent Dale Cooper

"On the Wings of Love" picks up with Miss Jones (Brenda Strong) attempting to kill Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean).  The Sheriff manages to fight her off, knock her out, and have her arrested.  She refuses to tell them anything and requests to speak to the South African consulate.  The attack is enough to get Truman back to work.

Jack Wheeler (Billy Zane) and Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) plan a dinner date, but Ben (Richard Beymer) accidently ruins their plans by sending Audrey on a business trip to Seattle.  Jack admits to Ben that he is falling in love with Audrey, which Ben approves of.

A bonsai tree is delivered to Truman and it appears to be from Josie Packard (Joan Chen).  In actuality, it's from Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) and has a microphone hidden in it allowing Earle to listen in to the Sheriff's office.  He hears Dr. Hayward (Warren Frost) tell Truman and Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) about Earle's visit to his home.  He also hears Gordon Cole (David Lynch) arrive and reinstate Cooper as an F.B.I. Agent.  He revels that Windom Earle was part of Project Blue Book, as was Major Briggs (Don S. Davis).  Earle decides to make the Queen of his chess game with Cooper the winner of the Miss Twin Peaks Contest and plans to kill her in front of Cooper.

Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) follows her mother, Eileen (Mary Jo Deschanel), to the Great Northern Hotel and sees her meet with Ben.  She tells Audrey about it and they spy on the meeting.  It's clear that they share some sort of history and Eileen warns Ben to stay away from "her."  Donna asks her father about it and he claims Eileen and Ben were discussing a charity fundraiser, but then flowers arrive at the house for Eileen.

Cooper, Truman, and Cole have lunch at the Double R Diner, where Gordon Cole falls for Shelly Johnson (Mädchen Amick) and claims that he can hear her without his hearing aids.  Cooper doodles with the markings found on Major Briggs and the Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson).  Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham) recognizes them as a symbol from Owl Cave.  Cooper asks Truman to take him to Owl Cave.  Truman also tells Cooper he can tell that Cooper likes Annie.  

Cooper, Truman, Andy (Harry Goaz), and Hawk (Michael Horse) all climb into Owl Cave and find the symbols.  When an owl swoops over them, Andy swings at it with his pickax and strikes part of the symbol, which causes another piece to fall out of place and reveals a petroglyph.  After they leave, Earle goes into the cave.  He notices another another depiction of the petroglyph, but upside down, so he rotates the petroglyph, which causes the cave to shake.

At the Great Northern, Annie goes to the bar and gets a drink.  Cooper joins her and they start to get to know each other.

What Works:

I'm always on board for some more Gordon Cole in Twin Peaks.  David Lynch just has so much fun with the role.  Watching him make Truman puke is hilarious and watching him hit on Shelly always cracks me up.

The revelation that the markings on Major Briggs and the Log Lady match a symbol in Owl Cave is very exciting.  It seems like it has been a while since there has been any progress on the mystical storyline on this show and it's nice to get back to it.  Having the guys and later Earle exploring the cave is my favorite part of the episode and we get one of my favorite lines of the entire show, which I put at the top of this piece.  That line sums up my feelings on the show overall.

Finally, I really enjoy Windom Earle's disguise as a poetry professor in this episode.  I think that character could have been a new character on the show if it weren't an Earle disguise.  It's a fun performance from Kenneth Welsh.

What Sucks:

Miss Jones' attack on Truman isn't brought up again after the first few minutes of this episode.  The show is going to forget about it completely and in the end, it feels wholly unnecessary, especially since it was the cliffhanger of the previous episode.

The Audrey/Jack romance still doesn't interest me much.  Jack still doesn't engage me as a character.  I'm surprised Audrey doesn't drop all interest in him once she sees him in that hideous sweater at the beginning of the episode.  I don't think I'll ever unseen it.

Finally, I'm not a fan of the mystery of what went on between Ben and Eileen that carries trough the rest of the season.  First of all, the solution is painfully obvious, yet it gets dragged out for several more episodes.  Secondly, this feels like the writers scrambling to find something for Donna to do over the rest of the season.  James is gone, Laura's murder has been solved, Donna's storyline is completed.  Maybe she should have run off with James.  It would have been more interesting than what we ultimately get.

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "On the Wings of Love," this Award goes to Windom Earle for getting a microphone into Truman's office and for figuring out the petroglyph needed to be rotated.  This is his 2nd time winning this Award.

Verdict:

"On the Wings of Love" is definitely a weaker episode of Twin Peaks.  I love Gordon Cole's part in the episode, the stuff in Owl Cave is intriguing, and Kenneth Welsh continues to be amazing, but a lot of this episode isn't very interesting and doesn't go anywhere.  Miss Jones' attack, the Audrey/Jack romance, and the Donna storyline are all misfires in my book.  I still like the episode, but it's not one of the better ones.

 7/10: Good