For a while, I took it on faith that the show's increasingly wacky developments were going somewhere and very early on, around the time of the pilot, I even thought all roads would lead to Rome (by which I mean that even subplots like the mill burning and the drug deals would tie into Laura's death and whatever was haunting those woods). When I saw this episode for the first time a few months ago, it felt like a disappointment. Bobby and Ben overplay their parts, the lighting is showy (in that flamboyant, slightly embarrassing early 90s fashion), and the not-so-impromptu reunion only serves to remind us of how far we've come since the realistically textured beginning, not always for the better. None of this feels especially fresh and when the old gang gathers at the road house it has a vaguely obligatory and self-inflated air. The episode is constantly dredging up totems of 'Peaks' past - the giant, the waiter, Bob in the mirror (he's not nearly as frightening now that he's not an abstract ghoul), and even the infamous dream footage from season one. Mark Frost joins Robert Engels and Harley Peyton, the show's favorite writers, to wrap things up, and Tim Hunter (whose vision was second only to Lynch's in season one) turns in an overly stylized effort which lacks Lynch's grace and wit. Need more evidence that the reveal of Laura's killer (rather than his capture) was the true culmination of 'Twin Peaks'? David Lynch is nowhere to be found on Episode 16. But it closes the book, and there's only so much it can to do to alleviate the definite truth of the Log Lady's third and fourth sentences. It is definitely flawed - its attempts to tie everything together are forced and a bit too pat, and the style is sometimes too far over-the-top.

Nonetheless, this is a decent conclusion to a story which has already reached its climax, a relatively satisfying denouement for the characters we've come to know and love. This one's fairly clear, but the 'final answer' it promises doesn't quite arrive. Usually these intros are so shrouded in obscurity as to be senseless. The above quote is not derived from the show proper, but rather from the Log Lady's introductions, which accompany each episode on the DVD. Since this is effectively the end of 'Twin Peaks' as we know it, I've decided to break one of my rules. Then the knowing is so full, there is no room for questions.' But there is still the question, why? And this question will go on and on until the final answer comes. At least we know what we sought in the beginning.

There is a depression after an answer is given.

Written by Mark Frost, Harley Peyton and Robert Engels

Twin peaks season 2 episodes