Twin Peaks: Season 2, Episode 20 "The Path to the Black Lodge" Review

 "Audrey, there are many cures for a broken heart, but nothing quite like a trout's leap in the moonlight."

-Pete Martell

"The Path to the Black Lodge" picks up with Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) questioning a friend of the late Rusty Tomasky (Ted Raimi).  Cooper realizes that Windom Earle (Kenneth Walsh) took a pawn without declaring a move, meaning he has abandoned the literal part of their chess game.

Cooper, Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean), and Major Briggs (Don Davis) go over all of the information Briggs was able to obtain on Earle's role in Project Blue Book.  They learn he became obsessive, possessive, and violent in regards to his work and was eventually kicked off of the project.  Cooper realizes that Earle's primary motive is not revenge, but to find the Black Lodge.  Earle overhears everything.

Major Briggs goes for a walk to clear his head and Earle prepares to ambush him.  Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) steals the remote to the shock collar he is wearing, but mistakenly believes the remote can be used to shock others.  He attempts to attack Earle when he mentions possibly killing Shelly (Mädchen Amick), but only manages to shock himself.  Earle forces Leo to help him knock out Briggs and kidnap him.  When Briggs refuses to answer any of Earle's questions, Earle injects him with a truth serum.  Briggs reveals that when Jupiter and Saturn meet, it's possible to enter the Black Lodge.  Earle figures out the petroglyph is a map to the Black Lodge.

Lucy Moran (Kimmy Robertson) tells Andy Brennan (Harry Goaz) that she will decide who she wants to be the father of her child the next day and that she is entering the Miss Twin Peaks competition.  Andy helps her with her speech.

Dr. Hayward (Warren Frost) warns Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) to leave Eileen (May Jo Deschanel) alone, but Ben refuses because he believes he is doing the right thing.  Jack Wheeler (Billy Zane) tells Ben that he has to leave for Brazil as his partner there has been murdered.  He wants to see Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn) before he leaves, but she hasn't returned from Seattle yet.  When Audrey does return to the Great Northern, she is immediately brought to the police station by Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse).

Shelly and Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) reconcile while working on Shelly's speech.  Meanwhile, Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) discovers her birth certificate has no father listed.  She and Shelly are both called to the police station as well.  They and Audrey meet with Agent Cooper.  He asks them to check in with the Sheriff twice a day and warns them that they are in serious danger.  

Mayor Milford (John Boylan) learns that Dick Tremayne (Ian Buchanan) is one of the Miss Twin Peaks judges and he plots to get Lana (Robyn Lively) alone with him to ensure her victory.

Audrey gets back to the Great Northern and Ben asks her to enter the Miss Twin Peaks competition to help the Stop Ghostwood campaign.  He tells Audrey that Jack has left for Brazil.  Audrey find Pete (Jack Nance) in the lobby, who sees Josie's (Joan Chen) face in the wood of the hotel.  Audrey asks Pete to give her a ride to the airport.  They get there just in time to stop Jack from taking off.  Audrey joins Jack on the plane and they end up having sex.  Later, Jack flies off leaving Audrey behind.  Pete offers to take Audrey fishing to make her feel better.

Cooper asks Annie (Heather Graham) to go out dancing.  They go to the Roadhouse and Annie tells him that she is going to enter the Miss Twin Peaks competition.  Cooper has a vision of the Giant (Carel Struycken) waving his arms and mouthing "No."

Andrew Packard (Dan O'Herlihy) manages to figure out how to open the 2nd puzzle box and discovers a 3rd puzzle box inside.  Andrew smashes it and finds a small, metal box inside.

Deep in the woods, BOB (Frank Silva) exits the Black Lodge.

What Works: 

Kenneth Welsh continues to be the shining star of the endgame of Twin Peaks.  He gets some absolutely amazing dialogue and I love his interactions with Major Briggs.  The final scene of him, Briggs, and Leo freaking out is completely insane and has always stuck with me.  Plus we get Earle and Leo in a horse costume, which is nothing short of iconic.

We also get a nice moment of redemption for Leo.  As one of the most despicable character on the show, to see him try to save Shelly from Earle is nice, even if it fails miserably.

While I'm still not really a fan of the Audrey/Jack storyline, I do like that it gives us a chance for Pete and Audrey to get some scenes together.  Pete inviting Audrey to go fishing is one of the most wholesome moments on this show.

I really like the scene at the diner with Cooper asking Annie to go dancing.  On paper, it should be just a really cute scene and the dialogue is definitely delivered that way.  But the way the scene is shot is just chilling.  The camera slowly pulls out away from Cooper and Annie and the music makes you feel uneasy.  It's pretty cool to see a scene that is experienced one way by the characters and the audience experiences something completely different.

Finally, the reappearances of both the Giant and BOB are totally chilling.  This episode does a good job of giving the audience a feeling of dread.  Something bad is coming and our heroes our powerless to stop it.

What Sucks:

We spend a little bit of time with a couple of storylines I don't care about.  The stuff with Donna and Ben, as well as Jack leaving town, still doesn't interest me much.  Luckily we don't spend too much time with any of it.

Crystal Coffee: 

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "The Path to the Black Lodge," this Award goes to Windom Earle for capturing Major Briggs, getting important information out of him, and for figuring out the meaning of the petroglyph.  This is his 3rd time winning this Award.

Verdict:

This episode does a good job of ramping us up for the endgame.  Kenneth Walsh steals the show with some absolutely bizarre moments.  We also get a surprisingly heroic moment from Leo, a very wholesome scene with Pete and Audrey, and some excellent scenes that build the dread of what is to come.  There are still a couple of dull storylines we check in on, but this episode has still got it going on.

 9/10: Great