The Last Evening
- Episode aired May 23, 1990
- TV-14
- 46m
Audrey is hired at One Eyed Jack's, but is caught in a trap when her father arrives. Cooper gets Jacques Renault to reveal the details of Laura's last night in the cabin. Deputy Andy saves T... Read allAudrey is hired at One Eyed Jack's, but is caught in a trap when her father arrives. Cooper gets Jacques Renault to reveal the details of Laura's last night in the cabin. Deputy Andy saves Truman's life and apprehends Renault.Audrey is hired at One Eyed Jack's, but is caught in a trap when her father arrives. Cooper gets Jacques Renault to reveal the details of Laura's last night in the cabin. Deputy Andy saves Truman's life and apprehends Renault.
- Shelly Johnson
- (as Madchen Amick)
- Leo Johnson
- (as Eric Da Re)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis is the only episode of Twin Peaks (1990) that was directed by co-creator Mark Frost. However, Frost also directed all of the segments of "Invitation to Love" - the soap opera that is often seen on the character's televisions.
- GoofsEarlier in the season, the missing necklace is on a leather strap. When stolen from Dr. Jacoby's office, it is on a chain. The next time we see it, it is on the leather strap again.
- Quotes
Special Agent Dale Cooper: [Talking to tape recorder] As you can hear from the ambience sound around me, and I notice with some relief, that the icelandic group staying on my floor has either checked or passed out.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Hand of Glory (2012)
- SoundtracksTwin Peaks Theme (Instrumental)
Written by Angelo Badalamenti
The first thing that caught me off guard was that the first season is only 8 episodes long (including the pilot) but yet it covers a lot of ground. I had remembered it as being longer than it was but I guess not. It took me the pilot to get back into it but soon I was with it and I more or less ripped through this season in one weekend and I found it engaging (if not quite compelling) and easy to watch. In some ways it should not work because, as is made clear by the characters viewing "Invitation to Love", the show is partly a sort of complicated character melodrama with lots of soapy moments or elaborate twist that would not feel out of place within the show within this show. However, unlike many shows of this ilk, Twin Peaks has this darkness to it that makes it more engaging, more touching and genuinely unnerving.
This is not to say that it always sits well together though because at times I found the overuse of music to be a little grating, while some episodes had a few too many soapy moments in close proximity to one another, making it a little harder to take. That it does work is quite something though because it does have this weird air to it that is typical Blue Velvet Lynch – good clean Americana on the surface but yet just below the surface are secrets, darkness, desire and betrayal; the irony of Cooper being the outsider to this community is that he may be the only truly "pure" character in the whole first season.
My impression of the show thinking about it from a distance remains that it is weird for its own sake, but watching season one again challenges this. OK it is undoubtedly odd in almost every regard but it is so in a way that works and it is necessary to have this constant to enable a story about demons where plot is driven forward by dreams and visions. And it is driven forward because I had forgotten how quickly season 1 moves; things that I thought came later came very early (the dwarf dream sequence, the introduction of Bob and Mike etc) and it feels like all the basic structure is in place. Each episode feels very full as well as there are a lot of characters and side-plots. Some are better than others but, whether or not they relate directly to the central murder, they do all contribute to the central theme of darkness below the surface and they do all engage well.
The thing that surprised me looking back was the performances. Many are very good but this is mainly in the context of the weird soap-opera-esquire world of this show, taken out of this context some are pretty poor and one can understand why many of these actors have remained in relative obscurity since. MacLachlan is great though. His wide-eyed innocence and steady pursuit of the case is engaging and he has some great comic timing (the llama moment being hilarious thanks to his deadpan). Ontkean's Turman works well alongside him in a simple enough role. Not too far beyond this point though a lot of the cast tend to be more of the "daytime TV" level, although like I say this does work. Amicc, Ashbrook, Frost, Marshall, Goaz and others certainly do OK but only in this context. Some are different though and Wise is probably the most impressive in his difficult role – which is better in season 1 when you are able to look back in retrospect. Likewise Boyle and Fenn are good while McGill is a real solid presence.
Season 1 of Twin Peaks is great, even looking back on it across 20 years of changes in television. It is short and punchy and unafraid of being odd and difficult because it is also engaging at the same time. The twisted darkness behind the otherwise soapy exterior works very well as the balance is mostly there, while there is a lot of humour and oddness to combine with genuine mystery and the creeps. I'll leave it a few weeks but I'm looking forward to season 2 a lot.
- bob the moo
- Apr 21, 2010
Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix