All the Twin Peaks #3

I wanted to be boat girl, but whatever.

Twin Peaks Journal
Episode #3: Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer
Airdate: April 19, 1990
Written by: David Lynch and Mark Frost
Directed by: David Lynch

Summary: Ben and brother Jerry go to card-suit themed brothel; Bobby and Mike have been involved in drug deals with Leo Johnson, who wants more money; Cooper uses an ancient Tibetan rock-throwing technique to narrow down list of people of interest; Albert Rosenfield arrives; Nadine is successful in inventing silent drape runners; Cooper dreams of Laura.

Other Areas of Interest:
*Ben and Jerry with those Brie sandwiches---there seems to be some innuendo implied with these sandwiches that I really don't care to explore any deeper, although Jerry looks down at the sandwich when discussing Laura's death, was there something more between them?

*Doc Hayward uses good old-fashioned intimidation to orchestrate his daughters' chastity---"Will you be joining us for church tomorrow, Donna?" Eh, James is dim enough, it probably was all that was needed.

DOUGHNUT AND COFFEE TABLE!!!

*The new girl at One-Eyed Jacks looks very much like Laura Dern (Lula? is that you?)

*When Cooper throws the rocks for each "J" name, two rocks hit stumps, James Hurley and Josie Packard. All the other rocks must mean something, right?

*Cooper smiles big when Laura kisses him in the dream . . . (!)



Rating: 🍩🍩🍩🍩 (Four doughnuts out of four possible)

This is one of my favorite episodes. You really get a firm sense of direction in the Lynch-helmed ones, and this has it. There's something giddy and immature about Ben and Jerry Horne together, being naughty and going off to screw whores, just as there are cheesy moments peppered throughout the episode (Ben serenading Blackie, Big Ed and Norma, Lucy babbling on about which names to erase, and so on) but Lynch gives everything just the perfect amount of silly time and then cuts before it gets to be too much because just as you start to think things are silly or cheesy all the time, you get a Leo Johnson scene or that red room at the end, and things are dark and serious as hell, reminding us all that in the middle of all the doughnuts and coffee and dorking around, some pretty sinister stuff has been going on, too. Balance. Without it the show would be all soap opera or all violence instead of a skillful weaving of both, at once.

Best Lynch Moment: THAT RED ROOM AT THE END
Best Line: "Leo needs a new pair of shoes!" --Leo, shining light onto own feet.
New Characters: Jerry Horne, Blackie O'Reilly, Albert Rosefield, Little Man Dancing
Coffee, pie, or doughnut references: 6
Journal Entry of the Day: These two, Bob and Leland (shudder).