Resolution. When Arbitrary Law originally aired, a lot of the audience for Twin Peaks had already abandoned it, perhaps not accepting the resolution that they'd been shown when Leland/BOB killed Maddy. It's a shame they did, because the performance Ray Wise gives here at the end of this episode is a treasure, as he vacillates between BOB pretending to be Leland, BOB unleashed, and then finally, true Leland at the end, as he realizes and remembers what he's done to Laura. It's wonderful and heartbreaking, and as with the last episode, is surrounded by dull and uninteresting. But for a moment we can ignore all that. We can spend the time at the roadhouse as Cooper puts things together, we can revel in the return of Don Davis as Major Briggs, and delight in the unexpected catchphrase “That gum you like is going to come back in style.” As we bid farewell to this plotline, and recognize what awaits us in the middle of season two, we can, just for a moment, treasure what we've had.
For the rest of the season, Damn Good Podcast will be doing more of a digest of three episodes at a time. We recognize that the back half of Season 2 is nobody's favorite, but we still want to give it some scrutiny. Each episode, rather than going scene by scene, will go character by character and we'll talk about what the show is doing. Hope you enjoy the new format that, hopefully, will take us all the way to the premiere of Season 3.
A Damn Good Podcast about Twin Peaks is a proud member of the Swingset.FM podcast network, showcasing diverse and unique podcasts about sexuality and geekery since 2010. Email us at contact@damngoodpodcast.com
