In the years since the original "Twin Peaks" aired, television has been full of shows stating that they could be capture that same magic, and a lot of shows have gotten a lot of praise for trying, but as we started to get more and more episodes of this show, everybody had to take a step back and admit that there's never going to be anything like "Twin Peaks." In the first show, Lynch took the format of the murder mystery and mixed it with elements usually found in soap operas, revolutionizing the way that primetime television looked in the meantime. With this show, Lynch has shown a new way of making television once again, this time with the execution of it. This entire thing was shot as one long film and was afterwards cut into 18 episodes of television. That's why certain scenes feel like they're a bit out of sync with other scenes in the same episode; because they were shot randomly and then decided on which episode to be included in afterwards, which is a dangerous gamble for most, but for someone like Lynch, it proves to be a new fun way of evolving filmmaking, and providing some great and memorable television. With this second episode, Lynch takes a few steps forward, putting the mystery aspect that was set up in the first episode aside and focuses on the journey of the lead character in an episode that is very well-written and full of visual treats for any real David Lynch fan.
Where the first episode felt a little removed from the "Twin Peaks" that we all fell in love with, this seems like it's that premiere that we all thought we were going to get. And having it as the second episode actually works way better as we're not back in the world and can focus on the strangeness a little deeper. It's addictive television that only Lynch knows how to deliver and most of it is due to his dedication to the weird, finally having to not compromise on his vision and giving us something that's 100% from his mind.
The episode dives more into Cooper's doppelganger by connecting him with one of the more interesting characters from past "Twin Peaks" lore. It also tells the audience that everything that has come before is relevant, and that if you haven't seen the film, you better get on it soon. He is depicted as a brutal character who doesn't take disloyalty with a grain of salt, plus setting him up to be a very scary antagonist for the show. He is the exact opposite of Cooper, a character that we all love, making it very easy to absolutely hate this guy.
We're then served with a lot of that Lynchian magic as we go back into the Black Lodge. It somehow seems less weird than last time, and more weird at the same time, making the entire sequence all the eerier for it. The place is as usually filled with mysterious characters, although their goals have been greatly improved upon, both with this and the 1992 film, giving them a deeper connection to the world outside and actually making their play with Cooper all the more relevant, hitting home the urgency of what they're doing, yet still keeping certain things vague.
As last time, Kyle MacLachlan really gets a lot of time to shine here. Not only does his Cooper seem like a very different version - he's older and has been out of his comfort zone for a while - but he pulls double duty with the doppelganger, playing the exact opposite of what he does as Cooper. MacLachlan has always been a greatly underappreciated actor, but his role in this show throughout all its iterations continue to stand as a truly great one, and it only expands on its legacy with this show and all the different versions he plays.
"Part 2" adds to the new that was introduced in the first one, by focusing a bit more on the old elements that we love. It shows that the show is fully committed to the weirdness that Lynch brought to the original, but that they're not afraid to sacrifice story for the sake of visuals.
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