I’ve long been averse to rewatching the later episodes of Twin Peaks Season 2—after Laura’s murder is solved—because they’re occasionally brilliant but largely wince-inducing. Ben Horne’s Civil War obsession. Andy and Dick’s “little Nicky” storyline. James’ incredibly boring affair with a married woman. I remember my deflation, way back in the 90s, at watching the series lose its magic. Lynch and Frost had been the original magicians, and once they left the show mostly to others, almost everything started to feel like a mess of quirky tricks and gags.
The great Fire Walk With Me followed as a prequel in 1992, but chronologically speaking, the series’ second season was—for a quarter-century—the frustrating end. But in the aftermath years of Twin Peaks: The Return, which I love more and more, revisiting the later episodes of Season 2 is less painful. Now I can view those episodes as an interesting dip before the towering, bewilderingly deep and strange Return.
Nevertheless, last week I was watching the episode immediately following the climax of the Laura Palmer mystery… and my disc started glitching out so bad that a couple of scenes were unplayable. It was like my Blu-ray player knew what was coming.