2x20 The Path to the Black Lodge

[6.6/10] It’s appropriate that this episode opens with the face of Ted Raimi, because much of the best parts of “The Path to the Black Lodge” evokes the cinematography of him and his brother Sam in the Evil Dead movies. In several moments, the camera pulls back, or someone feels as though they’re being watched or pursued, in the same way that the demons or spirits that attacked Ash once did. There’s even a POV shot swooping through the woods for good measure.

In the episode, Twin Peaks gets literal with its demon. Several people in the episode -- a random lady, Pete Martell, and Cooper himself, start to feel their hand quiver as though it’s acting without their control. Only later, after the aforementioned swooping, do we see that it’s the product of Killer Bob, presumably trying to force his way back into the land of the living. His writhing limb is appropriately creepy (as most Bob stuff is). And while the notion that there is an actual entry point for The Black Lodge makes the show’s mythos feel a little too literal for my tastes, the whole in the ground where the infamous red-curtained room from Cooper’s dream is reflected gives the whole thing a bit of a charge.

I have to admit, as skeptical as I’ve been about Twin Peaks more supernatural side at times, it’s become one of the most interesting things about the show. The series seems to have dumbed it down a bit here -- Bob trying to break back into possessing people, the lodge having a welcome mat, and The Giant being much more clear than usual -- but it’s still a neat wrinkle to otherwise run-of-the-mill drama the show has to offer.

It doesn’t take a genius to see that the show is setting up something terrible to happen for the winner of the Miss Twin Peaks contest, but The Giant specifically warning Cooper off from letting Annie enter adds to the doomed quality of the event.

We check in with a number of potential contestants this week (presumably just to ensure there’s a wide array of possible victims). Lucy is going to enter, I guess because the baby could use the money. The probable succubus is still plotting with The Mayor to rig the contest in her favor. Ben Horne wants Audrey to enter so that she can become the spokeswoman for his cause. Shelly is practicing her speech about the environment with Bobby (the two have a gooey, disappointing reconciliation). I forget why, but Donna previously expressed a willingness to enter. And as just mentioned, former nun Annie is trading theologian quotes with Cooper offering a thin excuse for why she would enter. Who knows why exactly it will all go wrong, but surely it will, and Twin Peaks contrives ways to include every conceivable young woman in the contest.

The romance angles with these young women continue apace, only this time with a more sexual twist. Cooper and Annie are still a pretty disappointing couple. Again, I’m a fan of Heather Graham’s work, but she definitely seems stilted and overmatched here, with her line delivery seeming as though it’s being read off of cue cards without any convincing emotion to speak of. Annie and Cooper exchanging quotes feels like the show trying hard to show there’s a connection between them that the chemistry just doesn’t support. And Annie telling Cooper she wants to sleep with him feels out of nowhere and out of step with the character we’ve come to know thus far.

The same goes for Audrey and John Wheeler. The pair have a variety of missed connections in the episode, but at the last minute, Audrey manages to flag her beau down before he has to leave back to wherever it is he came from. I’ve generally enjoyed the two of them as a couple, but “The Path to the Black Lodge” really doubles down on the overwrought romantic drama, and it’s not for the better. The revelation that Audrey is a virgin kind of works -- the idea that her bark is bigger than her bite -- but it too comes out of nowhere and worse yet, feels like a thrown-in way to try to heighten the importance of her relationship with John rather than something that develops organically from the character.

In terms of other major storylines, Windom Earle continues to be an utter bore as he chews scenery in the most rote manner imaginable. The character is going for something like The Joker but comes off like an overactive toddler who hasn’t taken his medication. The cackling and faux-crazy routine still doesn’t work, and having him babble about The Black Lodge or torture Major Briggs for information does little to counteract that fact.

We do get some reasonably important plot details. Apparently the pictogram from the cave is a map to The Black Lodge. Leo is quietly (and mostly incompetently) planning a rebellion against Earle. And Cooper’s figured out that Earle has been toying with Audrey, Donna, and Shelly, and warns them to be on the lookout. It’s not much, but it’s nice to see the show at least moving the ball and bringing us closer to the endgame.

Otherwise the episode checks in with the other parts of the narrative that are rolling merrily along. Catherine Martell and Andrew Packard break through another layer of Eckert’s box and find...another box. Donna seems poised to discover that her dad is not her dad, which the show keeps dragging out. Lucy is going to “decide” who the father is soon. Some random guy who looks like Truman’s illegitimate son is working at the sheriff’s office without explanation. And Ben is seemingly committed to his “trying to be good” routine.

Again, there’s some force that comes from the fact that Twin Peaks is digging into its supernatural side once more. That latent creepiness carries the episode through some of its weaker points. But the predictability of the Miss Twin Peaks shtick, Windom Earle’s sideshow and the miscalibrated romantic stuff drags much of the rest of it down. This is still more watchable than the average episode, maybe because it seems slightly more focused than usual, but without the Bob material, it wouldn’t be much to write home about.