Twin Peaks: Season 2, Episode 21 "Miss Twin Peaks" Review

 "If we're not at the right place at exactly the right time, we won't find our way in."

-Agent Dale Cooper

"Miss Twin Peaks" begins with Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) and Major Briggs (Don S. Davis) chained up in Windom Earle's (Kenneth Welsh) cabin.  Leo manages to find the key to Briggs' chains and frees him, asking the Major to save Shelly (Mädchen Amick).  Earle returns to find the Major gone.  He places a cage of tarantulas above Leo and forces the rope that opens the cage into Leo's mouth.  If Leo were to let go, the spiders would fall onto him.  Earle listens in on Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) and overhears that Cooper saw BOB (Frank Silva) as Josie (Joan Chen) died of fear.  Cooper believes that BOB was drawn out of the Black Lodge to the fear.  Earle deduces that fear is the key to opening the Black Lodge.  He leaves the cabin and Leo to his fate.

Ben Horne (Richard Beymer) comforts Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn), who is still sad about Jack Wheeler's (Billy Zane) recent departure.  Audrey gives Ben an update from her trip to Seattle.  Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) is using Twin Peaks Savings and Loan to funnel money into the Ghostwood Project, but the bank is trying to keep it quiet as they don't want to draw any negative press.  The Horne's plot to bring them some negative press.  Ben also manages to convince Audrey to enter the Miss Twin Peaks contest.

Lana Milford (Robyn Lively) lures Dick Tremayne (Ian Buchanan) into a storage room and seduces him to try and get his vote for Miss Twin Peaks.

Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham) visits Cooper in his hotel room and asks him for help with her speech.  They end up having sex.

Ed Hurley (Everett McGill) and Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) inform Nadine (Wendy Robie) that they are planning on getting married.  Nadine pretends to be happy for them, but then claims she and Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger) are getting married as well.  She also accidentally crushes Mike's hand when she squeezes it too tight.

Major Briggs stumbles out of the woods and is found by Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse).  He is very incoherent, but does tell the lawmen that fear opens the door to the Black Lodge, while love opens the door to the White Lodge.  He also mentions a queen.  Cooper figures out that Earle plans to kidnap whoever is crowned Miss Twin Peaks and use them to get into the Black Lodge.  Deputy Andy (Harry Goaz) accidentally knocks over Harry's bonsai plant and they discover it's bugged and that Earle has been listening to them the entire time.

Andrew Packard (Dan O'Herlihy) opens the final puzzle box by shooting it.  He finds a key inside.

Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) asks her parents one last time to tell her what the connection between them and Ben Horne is.  They refuse to answer.  At the Miss Twin Peaks competition, Donna confronts Ben.  He gets half a sentence into an explanation before Donna realizes that Ben is her biological father and storms off.

Windom Earle infiltrates the Miss Twin Peaks competition in disguise as the Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson).  Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) sees both Log Ladies in quick secession and confronts one of them, only to be knocked out by Earle.

Lucy Moran (Kimmy Robertson) informs Andy and Dick that she has decided she wants Andy to be the father to her child.  Andy agrees and Dick is more than happy to let him.

Dick is greatly moved by Annie's speech, so she ends up winning Miss Twin Peaks, to Cooper's horror.  The lights go out and Earle activates strobe lights and smoke bombs.  In the chaos, Nadine is knocked unconscious and Earle kidnaps Annie.  When the lights come back on, Andy finds Cooper and tells him that he has figured out the petroglyph is a map to the Lodges.

What Works:

Thus ends the character arc of Leo Johnson.  We see him in the next episode, but his predicament doesn't change.  He manages to save Major Briggs in a desperate attempt to save Shelly.  Leo's journey is a fascinating one.  He was once probably the most despicable character on this show.  If you had told me I would feel bad for him by the end of his story, I wouldn't have believed you.  I'm not saying he gets fully redeemed, but the fact that we can feel any sympathy for this guy is impressive.

Kenneth Welsh is at his scariest in this episode.  Most of the time when Windom Earle is being scary, he's also being fun as well.  That's not always the case here.  When he discovers Major Briggs was freed by Leo, he looks terrifying.  I also find his kidnapping of Annie to be one of the scariest moments in the entire series.  The way he moves in the strobe light while dressed as the Log Lady gives me the chills every time I watch this episode.

I'm not going to lie, I could watch a whole episode of the women of Twin Peaks dealing with Mr. Pinkle (David L. Lander) and his rehearsals.  The Miss Twin Peaks competition is weirdly fun with all of the dark things surrounding it.  It's definitely a case of tonal whiplash at times, but I think it works.   

Finally, we get the end of the Lucy picking the father of her child storyline.  It's something we haven't touched on in a while, but I really like the ending, where Dick seems very relieved she picked Andy and gets out of there as fast as he can.  This is the last time we're going to see Dick in this series and I just want to acknowledge what a wonderful character he is.  Ian Buchanan does a marvelous job the entire way through.  It's a shame he didn't come back for the Return.

What Sucks:

My only problem with this episode comes from the Donna storyline.  Donna has been pestering her parents for several episodes now and she finally goes to confront Ben, only for him to say half a sentence before she cuts him off, says what we all already knew, and takes off.  It just feels like a waste of time and we don't even get to watch Ben fully try to explain himself.  Let Richard Beymer act, damn it! 

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "Miss Twin Peaks," this Award goes to Windom Earle for managing to infiltrate the Miss Twin Peaks competition, knock out Bobby, and kidnap Annie, all under the noses of Cooper and the Sheriff's Department.  This is Earle's 4th time winning this Award.

Verdict:

This is another fun and creepy episode of Twin Peaks and it does a great job of setting up for the finale.  We get satisfying conclusions to Leo's storyline and the Lucy/Andy/Dick storyline.  The Miss Twin Peaks competition is fun, until it's not, and Kenneth Walsh is at his scariest.  The Donna storyline still sucks, but the rest of the episode has got it going on.

 9/10: Great