Recap of Episode 2

This is innncccredible, Jerr!

Season 1 Episode 2


Written by: Mark Frost & David Lynch

Directed by: David Lynch

Original Air Date: April 19, 1990


"The Best Damn Sandwich I Ever Ate!"

The Horne family enjoys a silent dinner when Jerry arrives with baguette sandwiches for Ben to try. Ben takes a enticing sniff, then a bite and then another until he's stuffing his face. He tells Jerry it reminds him of Gennie and Jennie down by the river. Jerry laughs and says, "No wonder!" Then Ben and Jerry excuse themselves to speak privately. Once alone, Ben tells Jerry that Leland's daughter died and the Norwegians left. It depresses Jerry so Ben cheers him by with news that there is a new girl at One Eyed Jack's. They decide to jump in the boat and head off.

Later the brothers Horne arrive at One Eyed Jack's and order two double scotch's on the rocks. Then Blackie emerges with her harem of scantily clad beauties. Ben quickly recites poetry to Blackie until Jerry interrupts crudely by saying, "Where's the new girl?" Blackie points her out and the brother's flip to see who gets her first. Ben wins and takes the nervous newbie off.

"I Almost Told You I Loved You Then!"

Mr. and Mrs. Hayward say an awkward goodnight to James and Donna at their house. Doc Hayward strongly hints that it's getting late, but allows James to stay alone with Donna. After James and Donna share an intimate chat. James tells Donna about a time in school when Laura was still alive that he knew he was falling in love with her. Donna is moved and says she felt it too. She asks if they're going to be together as a couple. James responds by making out with her.

"Jack With One Eye!"

At the Great Northern, Dale returns to his hotel room. Hawk calls him to tell him that he saw a one armed man at the hospital earlier. Then there's a knock on Dale's door. He opens it and finds a note that says, "Jack with one eye!"

"Go Out For A Pass!"

Mike and Bobby pull into the woods. They get out with their flashlights and look for a football drop off from Leo. However to their surprise, Leo is waiting for them with a gun. Bobby notices someone dressed in black hiding behind a tree. Leo tells him not to worry about and wants to know where the rest of his money is. Bobby explains that it was in Laura's safety deposit box. Leo says Laura was a wild girl. Then Leo announces that his wife has been stepping out on him. Bobby gets nervous and asks if Leo knows who. Leo answers, "I'll take care of it!" Then he insists that Mike and Bobby go out for a pass by pointing his gun at them and yelling, "run!" Mike and Bobby panic and run back to Bobby's car. Right as they arrive, Leo tosses the empty football at their hood. Mike declares that he's had enough and they drive off!

"Ed, You Make Me Sick!"

Big Ed walks in his door dripping with motor oil grease while Nadine is working out on her rowing machine. He trips on her drape runners and spills grease on it. Nadine freaks and snarls, "Ed you make me sick!" Then in anger, Nadine manages to bend the metal bar on her rowing machine. Later Big Ed heads to the Double R diner to see Norma. He explains that he's in the dog house with Nadine over the drape runners. He says Nadine has one big bee in her bonnet. At the end, Big Ed returns home to a very excited Nadine who quickly tells him that their going to be rich. She shows him that the grease he spilled on the drape runners made them completely silent.

"It's Big Bad Bobby Cat!"

Bobby knocks on Shelly's door unexpectedly while she's watching Invitation to Love. She hesitates to open the door, but Bobby pushes his way inside. Shelly tries to hide her face, but Bobby immediately notices bruises on her cheek. Concerned he asks what happened. Shelly explains, "Leo Johnson happened to me!" Bobby assures her that if Leo hurts her again, he'll kill him.

"The Idea for All of This Really Came from a Dream?"

Sheriff Truman, Hawk, Andy and Lucy help Agent Cooper set up an experiment outside. Lucy sets out up plenty of donuts and coffee for everyone. Dale uses a blackboard to explain to the group about Tibet and deductive technique. He gives them some background on how the Dali Lama was forced to flee his country. Dale says he had a dream that drove him to want to help the Tibetan people as well as having subconsciously gained the ability to use deductive technique. 

Then he turns the blackboard over and says they need to concentrate on the "J's" in Laura's life. Dale uses rocks and proceeds to toss the rocks at a bottle. He has Truman recite the names of people with J's in their names related to Laura. If he doesn't strike the bottle, Dale has Lucy put a line through the name, eliminating that person from suspicion. Andy accidentally takes a rock to the head, but swears it didn't hurt. Truman asks Dale, "the idea for all this really came from a dream?" Dale enthusiastically answers, "Yes!" Later they deduce that One Eyed Jack's might be a place of interest and finally when Sheriff says the name Leo Johnson, Dale strikes and breaks the bottle.

"Little Audrey Horne Just Walked In"

The Hayward's notice Audrey as she walks into the Double R. Audrey puts on some dreamy music and orders a black coffee from Norma. Donna decides to say hi and sits down next to Audrey. They have a brief chat about Laura. Audrey says she didn't like Laura, but sort of loved her for taking care of Johnny. After Audrey jokingly says "Agent Cooper loves coffee!" Then she asks Donna if Laura ever talked about her father. Audrey says Ben used to sing to Laura. Then Audrey gets wistful and starts slow dancing alone to the music in front of everyone.

"Welcome to Amateur Hour!"

At the police station, Albert and his team arrive. Albert abruptly hurries Lucy to get Dale while Dale tells Harry in private that Albert lacks in the social niceties. Harry responds, "Nobody's perfect!" They go to greet Albert and he quickly proves Dale correct, by making snipes at the town, the Sheriff's station and the local pathologist's report. Harry keeps his cool, but takes Albert aside and says normally if someone walked into his station talking crap, they be looking for their teeth up two blocks up on queer street!

At the Packard's house, Pete and Catherine talk in Catherine's bedroom about the Sheriff stopping by. When Catherine isn't looking, Pete slips Josie a key to where Catherine keeps her secret ledger. After Pete makes jokes at Catherine's expense so she screams at him to go to his room. Meanwhile Josie takes a peek and finds two ledgers, instead of one.

"Pennsylvania Six Five Thousand!"

Over at the Palmer's house, Leland struggles with his emotions in the living room. He turns on some music and starts to swirl around with Laura's picture in his hands. Leland starts moaning uncontrollably so Sarah runs inside to see what's going on. She tries to take the picture from him, but he says they have to dance for Laura. They struggle and end up breaking the picture frame. Sarah turns the music off as Leland cries and gets blood from the broken glass on Laura's picture. Sarah screams, "Leland, what is going on in this house!"

"Let's Rock!"

Dale finally goes to sleep in his hotel room and has a frightening dream. He sees the one-armed man who tells him how he used to kill with Bob until he cut his tattooed arm off. Dale then sees Bob telling him that he'll catch him with his death bag. Bob promises to kill again! After Dale moves into the Black Lodge and it's 25 years later. He sees Laura. Then the arm in the waiting room. The arm says, "Let's Rock!" Then he sits next to Laura. She puts her finger to her nose while the arm rubs his hands together. Then the arm says the gum Dale likes is going to come back in style and asks "Doesn't she look exactly like Laura Palmer?" Dale asks Laura, "Are you Laura Palmer?" She responds, "I feel like I know her, but sometimes my arms bend back!"

After the arm tells Dale she's filled with secrets. He explains that where they come from the birds sing a pretty song and there's always music in the air. He begins to dance while Laura walks up to Dale. She kisses him and then whispers a secret in his ear. Dale instantly wakes up and calls Harry. Dale says they need to meet in the morning, because he knows who killed Laura Palmer!"

End of show!

There is so much to love in this episode I don't really know where to begin. One of my favorite scenes of the whole series is when Dale throws the rocks at the bottle. I think it reveals so much about his character. His boyish charm, his intuitive nature, and in addition his particular set of specialized skills. I also think one of the most touching and in retrospect sickening scenes of the series, is when Leland dances with Laura's picture. In that moment Leland knows, maybe not consciously, but he knows, as does Sarah despite steeped in denial, that he's responsible for Laura's demise. I love how Frost & Lynch layered the story like that, because Ray Wise is so good at playing the distraught father. I always felt that the real Leland really did love Laura. 

Thinking about that makes me sad, but there was also a ton of clever humor in this episode to off set the darkness. Not to mention Dale's trippy dream sequence, which is arguably one of the series most classic scenes. It's no wonder that fans like me obsess about this show; it really is that damn good!




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