Recap of Episode 8 - Season 2 Premiere
Season 2 Episode 8
Written by: David Lynch & Mark Frost
Directed by: David Lynch
Original Air date: September 30, 1990
"Room Service"
At the Great Northern, Cooper lays helpless and bloodied on the floor of his hotel room as Andy calls out to him from the telephone nearby. Then an elderly waiter walks in with warm milk on a tray and says, "Room Service." He asks if Dale is okay. In response, Dale calmly asks him to call a doctor. The waiter then moves incredibly slow and clumsily as he puts the tray down on the table. He hears Andy on the phone so he fumblingly hangs it up. Dales struggles to talk and asks again if he called a doctor, but the waiter doesn't appear to understand and tells him that he hung up the phone instead. Dale is polite and thanks him. After the waiter has Dale sign for the milk tab. Dale has the fortuity to ask if it includes a gratuity. The waiter says yes so Dale signs. Then the waiter thanks him and warns Dale that the milk will cool down on him pretty soon. He walks toward the door at a snails pace and then turns to say, "I've heard about you!" Dale and he exchange a few thumbs up and then a couple of winks between them before the waiter finally departs. Immediately following, the room gets darker and a spotlight appears as an apparition that becomes a giant strolls into the room.
"The owls are not what they seem."
The Giant hovers above Dale and says that he will tell him three things. The Giant asks if these things come true, will Dale believe him. Dale asks who he is. The Giant tells him to think of him as a friend. Then Dale asks where he comes from. The Giant answers that the real question is where has Dale gone. He proceeds to tell Dale that there is a man in a smiling bag, the owls are not what they seem and without chemicals he points. Dale wonders what all this means, but the Giant tells him thats all he's permitted to say. Then he takes Dale's ring and says he'll return it when Cooper finds the things he told him to be true. The Giant also says "we want to help you." Dale wonders who "we" is, but the Giant doesn't answer that. Instead he tells him that Leo is locked inside a hungry horse and that there is a clue at Leo's house. Finally The Giant notes that Dale will need medical attention and disappears. 
"We have an S.N.A.G."
Meanwhile in Blackie's office, Jerry and Blackie have a strange conversation and she asks why Ben is holding out on her. Jerry snaps at her, shines a light in her face and says, "you used to be so pretty." Then he gives her a bag of heroin and walks away as Blackie calls him a bastard. Jerry heads to the bedroom where Ben is and knocks on the door. He tells Ben they have an S.N.A.G. Inside Ben tells "Prudence" that he likes her, because she knows how to interest a man. He says next time they'll play a game where everyone wins. Then walks out to meet Jerry. After he's gone, Audrey looks at the door with a sad/disgusted expression.
"Is that bag smiling?"
"I'm back, back and ready!"
At the Palmer's house, Maddy sits on the couch in her bathrobe with a cup of coffee and stares at the carpet. Sarah interrupts her gaze by asking if she misses her mother. Maddy doesn't answer and instead says she had the strangest dream about the rug the night before. Sarah looks warily intrigued and questions if Laura was in her dream. Before Maddy can answer, Leland breaks into the song, "Mairzy Doats" and pops out from behind the screen. At first Sarah rolls her eyes, but then looks shocked when she and Maddy notice that Leland's hair turned completely white. Sarah rushes after Leland in concern as he leaves the room. After Maddy has a terrifying vision of what appears to be a blood soaked stain in the form of a T-Rex on the rug. The sight causes her to start shrieking in terror. Awhile later in Ben's office at the hotel, he and Jerry discuss the next steps in their plan. Leland suddenly comes in singing the same song Mairzy Doats again. Almost instinctively, Ben and Jerry begin dancing in response. After Leland joyfully announces, "I'm back, back and ready!"
"It's Agent Rosenflower!"
Dale and Harry work at the crime scene at Leo's house. Dale quickly deduces from the condition of the television that Leo must have attacked someone who hit the TV and moved it. Sheriff wonders if it was Shelly, but Dale thinks Shelly is too lightweight to move the heavy TV. Dale realizes that someone shot Leo from outside and the bullet came through the window. Harry asks if it could have been Shelly, but Dale tells him to get his mind off Shelly, because they won't know about her until they find out when she got to the mill. Then Hawk brings over a bunch of Flesh World magazines that smell like gasoline. Harry notes, "The mill." Dale looks at him in agreement and tells Hawk he did good work. Outside, Albert Rosenfield pulls up with his team. Andy is also outside and starts getting upset at the sight of Albert. He runs toward Leo's house screaming, "It's Agent Rosenflower" and upon stepping onto Leo's porch, Andy knocks loose a wooden panel and it hits him hard in the face. After Andy oddly stumbles around dazed with blood coming down from his nose. Albert shakes his head and snarks, "Another great moment in law enforcement history." However Harry notices that under the lose panel is a clue. He and Dale take a look and find a pair of Circle Brand black boots and a lot of cocaine. In response, they both give Andy a thumbs up.
"Hot damn that pie is good!"
At the Double R diner, a random patron yells out, "hot damn that pie is good!" Nearby, Maddy waits at a booth with sunglasses on. Donna walks in, sits down with her and Maddy hands her the glasses saying they are the ones Donna wanted from Laura's room. Donna slowly slips on the sunglasses and takes a slow look around as if taking in the view through Laura's eyes. Then Donna removes them and Maddy shows Donna her eyeglasses. She says she hates them, proceeds to break them in half and claims she's never wearing them again. Then Donna lights up a cigarette and they talk about James. Donna tells her that he spent the night in jail and Maddy worries if Jacoby is in the hospital because of them. Donna says what's done is done and they need to keep quiet about what they did. After Maddy tells her about Leland's hair turning white and Donna remarks how weird it is. Norma walks up to Donna and gives her a letter that arrived for her at the diner. Donna opens it and it says, "Look into the meals on wheels." In a booth behind them, the Log Lady drinks coffee and spits out her pitch gum on the wall.
"After the square dance maybe we can all take a hay ride!"
In the conference room at the Sheriff's station, Albert takes a look at Cooper's injuries. He tells him that Gordon Cole sent him back to Twin Peaks. Cooper explains that his vest rode up, because of a wood tick. Albert rolls his eyes and says that he'll get the report on the shooter to Cooper asap. After he snarks about all the crime in Twin Peaks, despite it being a supposedly safe little town. Cooper advises him to make peace with rural life. Albert then sarcastically says, "sure, after the square dance maybe we can all take a hay ride." Andy walks in and says his nose doesn't have any marks on it, because only blood squirted out. Albert asks where they keep his water dish. Andy then says he found out that Leo was locked up in jail in Hungry Horse, Montana in Feb 1988. Cooper and Albert realize that gives Leo an alibi for Teresa Banks' murder. Meanwhile in the reception area, Lucy does her nails at her desk. Philip Gerard aka the one armed man, walks in looking for Sheriff Truman and says he came to sell him shoes. 
Harry and James listen to one of the tapes Laura left for Dr. Jacoby in the interrogation room. James neglects to mention that Maddy or Donna were involved with his acquiring the tape from Dr. Jacoby. He also tells Truman he thinks Bobby and Mike set him up by putting cocaine in his gas tank. Then James says that the man on the tape that Laura says lights her fire reminded him of a time when he and Laura were in the woods and she started saying a scary poem about fire. In her poem she said to James, "would you like to play with fire little boy? Would you like to play with Bob?" James says that it really stuck with him. Then Dale and Hawk walk in. Dale tells James he knows he has the necklace and he wants it. James is shocked Dale figured it out, but hands it to Dale and says he found it in Jacoby's coconut. Dale asks Hawk to take James back to his cell and in private Dale tells Harry he's surprised that Jacoby is involved. Meanwhile Donna walks in the reception area looking all hot and bothered while smoking a cigarette with Laura's sunglasses on.
"Get out soon, James."
Up in the conference room, Dale assigns Lucy and Andy the task of looking through boxes of Flesh World magazines. Dale wants them to look for a picture of Ronette so he can go back to the hospital. After Dale leaves, Andy says he feels uncomfortable and wishes he wasn't in this situation with Lucy. She snipes that they're both professionals, but when she peeks into one of the magazines, Lucy is shocked at what she sees.
"Maybe she allowed herself to be killed."
Doc Hayward looks in on Dr. Jacoby, who is dazed and confused and asks the nurse if Jacoby is on something. The nurse says he only had a little food. Then Doc Hayward and Dr. Jacoby both look at the horrible food in unison and Doc Hayward wonders if the food caused his daze. After Harry and Dale come to question Dr. Jacoby about how he got the necklace. Dale insists that he doesn't want any mumbo jumbo from him and demands Dr. Jacoby tell them the truth. Dr. Jacoby caves and confesses to following James and Donna the night after Laura was killed and saw where they buried it. He explains that he took it as a keepsake of Laura. Jacoby says Laura was a divided heart who was living a double life. He then goes on to say that he thinks Laura reached a sort of peace before she died and might have allowed herself to be killed. Dale doesn't seem convinced and asks if he heard anything in the hospital room when Jacques Renault was killed. Dr. Jacoby says it was all like a dream, but there was a peculiar smell, a smell like scorched engine oil.
"I guess I love you too!"
In Shelly's hospital room, Bobby wakes her with flowers. She's thrilled to see him and says that someone shot Leo. Bobby says there are cops outside of Leo's room and they want to bust him for something. Then he asks what happened to her. Shelly tells him about how Leo tied her up at the mill and tried to kill her. Bobby swears he won't let Leo hurt them anymore and asks if she's okay. Shelly tells him yes. After Bobby gets a little frisky and wants to play doctor with her. They end up making out, but Shelly tells him to go so no one sees him. Before he leaves she sweetly tells him she loves him. Bobby seems surprised, but then smiles and says, "I guess, I love you too!"
"By golly, I shot Nadine's eye out on that honeymoon!"
Out in the hallway, Harry, Dale and Albert see Bobby walking away. Harry notes that Bobby doesn't seem sick so Albert snarks at Harry about his deductive police skills. Then they see Big Ed sitting alone and stop to talk to him. Ed tells them that Nadine is in a coma and the doctors think she has to want to come back. Dale asks how he's holding up. Ed says he always felt like, "you make your own way, take care of your own and pick up after yourself." Albert chuckles, "Farmer's almanac?" Dale shoots Albert a stern look and tells him he wants to talk to Ed. Harry takes Albert aside and buys him some coffee. Then Ed tells Dale about how he got hooked up with Nadine as Albert and Harry listen nearby. Ed says he married Nadine after he thought Norma ran off with Hank back in high school. However it was just a misunderstanding and Norma didn't even sleep with Hank. After Ed tells the story of how he shot Nadine's eye out on their honeymoon during a hunting accident with a piece of buckshot. Albert can't believe what he's hearing and tears up from trying to laugh out loud. Then Hawk arrives with James and Dale steps away for a moment. He notices a body bag hanging on the wall in the form of a smile and remembers what the Giant said about man in a smiling bag. 
"A Vision of Light"
Bobby walks into the Double R diner and takes a seat at the counter. Major Briggs in sitting in a booth nearby and asks Bobby to join him. Bobby agrees and slumps into the booth with him. Bobby says school was good and asks how work was for him. Major Briggs says work was good, but tells him the nature of his work is classified. After the Major asks if he can share a vision he had the night before with Bobby. He says, "This was a vision, fresh and clear as a mountain stream; the mind revealing itself to itself. In my vision, I was on the veranda of a vast estate, a palazzo of some fantastic proportion. There seemed to emanate from it a light from within, this gleaming, radiant marble. I'd known this place. I had in fact been born and raised there. This was my first return. A reunion with the deepest well-springs of my being. 
Wandering about, I noticed happily that the house had been immaculately maintained. There'd been added a number of additional rooms, but in a way that blended so seamlessly with the original construction, one would never detect any difference. Returning to the house's grand foyer, there came a knock at the door. My son was standing there. He was happy and carefree, clearly living a life of deep harmony and joy. We embraced, a warm and loving embrace, nothing withheld. We were, in this moment, one. My vision ended and I awoke with a tremendous feeling of optimism and confidence in you and your future. That was my vision of you. I'm so glad to have had this opportunity to share it with you." Bobby is clearly moved by his father's words and gets choked up. After the Major stands up, shakes Bobby's hand and wishes him the best in life. Then he leaves and Hank salutes him on his way out. After Norma walks in and Hank asks how Shelly is doing. Bobby listens to their conversation and looking at Hank remembers that he was the one he saw outside Leo's window the night Leo was shot.
"This leaves only the third man."
Back at the station, Dale sits down with Albert, Harry, Lucy, Andy and Hawk with lots of coffee and donuts in the conference room. He begins to recount what they know about Laura's murder thus far and with Albert's help, they discuss the details of the case. They surmise that the killer wrote the words Fire Walk With Me in his own blood at the train car. Hearing the case details, Andy gets upset and starts crying. Albert makes a joke saying, "I know, it's a real three hanky crime." Andy gets mad at Albert and tells him that he doesn't like the way Albert talks smart about Sheriff Truman or anybody. Then Andy storms out in anger. Lucy and Sheriff Truman look pleased that Andy told Albert off. After Dale continues to discuss the case and notes that since Laura, Jacques and Waldo are dead and Leo and Ronette are in coma's, that leaves only the third man.
At the Packard's house, Harry escorts Pete home. Pete describes smoke inhalation as being like someone taped his lips to the tail pipe of a bus. Then Pete opens a note Josie left for him, which says she left town on business and went to Seattle. Harry seems worried and asks for a phone number, but Pete says there isn't one. He tells Harry he thinks Josie goes to Seattle for the shopping. Then Harry says they haven't found Catherine and Pete ought to prepare for the worst. Pete gets choked up and says he always thought he'd go first. He remarks that Catherine was hell to live with, but says there was once a little love there too. Pete cries, "God help her miserable soul; I loved her." Then the phone rings so Harry answers. We see it's an Asian man calling for Josie from the Great Northern hotel pay phones. When the man can't get Josie on the phone, he hangs up on Harry and calls Hong Kong.
"Mr. Horne, Mr. Horne."
Jerry and Ben stroll through the lobby of the hotel as Jerry describes to Ben an eccentric recipe from France. Various hotel workers past by along the way and greet them as, "Mr. Horne, Mr. Horne." Then they walk into Ben's office and find Hank waiting there for them in the dark. Ben asks where Josie is. Hank tells him she left town to put distance between her and fire. Then Ben asks why Leo isn't dead. Hank says he has brain damage. Jerry wonders how they can tell the difference with Leo. Hank describes how he shot Leo while he was chopping wood inside. Jerry asks how it could be that Leo was chopping wood in the house. Hanks shrugs, "you know Leo!" Finally Ben asks about Catherine. Hank informs them that he called her to the shed during the fire and she should be dead. Ben seems pleased and says if the police don't hang the fire on Catherine, he'll give up sex. Jerry jests, "that's confidence!" Hank wonders what they should do with the ledger, but Ben tells him to leave the creative thinking to, "The brother's Horne" since he's just a bicep. Ben tells Hank not to do anything until they tell him to flex. After Hank and Jerry have a momentary confrontation, but Hank ends up pulling both of them into a hug.
"He wasn't my type."
"It was Laura"
Over at the Hayward's, Donna calls Norma and says she wants to take over Laura's Meals on Wheels route. Then she joins her sisters, parents, Maddy and Mr. and Mrs. Palmer in the dining room for dinner. Donna's sister, Gersten, welcomes everyone to their supper club. She wears a pink princess dress and tiara. She tells them she scored the highest marks in school just like her sisters did before her. Then she tells them that Harriet wants to read a poem about Laura. Harriet stands up and begins to read while Gersten plays piano.
"It was Laura and I saw her glowing;
In the dark woods, I saw her smiling;
We were crying and I saw her laughing;
In our sadness, I saw her dancing;
It was Laura living in my dreams;
It was Laura the glow of life;
Her smile was to say it was alright to cry;
Her smile was to say it was alright to cry;
The woods was are sadness, the dance was her calling;
It was Laura and she came to kiss me goodbye"
Hearing the poem makes Sarah tear up, but Leland smiles, tells Harriet it was wonderful and hugs her. After Gersten plays the piano while everyone listens and eats. The camera pans around the table revealing all their expressions. Later during dinner, Donna whispers to Maddy that she's going to start Meals on Wheels tomorrow. Then Doc Hayward and Leland talk about the mill fire and all the jobs lost because of it. Doc Hayward wonders if this will open the door for Ben's development plans. Leland says he can't comment. Then Doc asks, "What the hell happened to your hair?" Leland smiles and explains that it literally happened overnight, but says the sight of it made him feel like he turned a corner in his grief. Sarah looks unconvinced as she chews her food. Then Leland says he feels like singing, jumps up and begins singing, "Get Happy." At first he does well, but then he starts going too fast and passes out. Doc Hayward quickly revives him. After Leland wakes up, insists he's fine and blurts out, "Begin the Beguine!" Sarah sighs into her hands.
"The things I tell you will not be wrong."
Dale talks to Diane at the hotel before going to sleep and remarks that he was so "goofy" after being shot that he actually thought he saw a giant in his room. Then he signs off and closes his eyes. Meanwhile Audrey prays to Agent Cooper in her room at One Eyed Jacks and wonders if he got her note. Then we see her note under his bed at the hotel. Audrey says she thinks she's in over her head and could use some expert guidance. She recounts what she knows about Emory Battis recruiting girls from the perfume counter and Ben owning the club. Audrey cries in her pillow and prays that Dale can hear her. Back in Dale's room, the Giant appears again and apologizes for waking him. At the sight of him, Dale realizes he's not just a dream. Dales says The Giant was right about the things he told him. The Giant responds, "The things I tell you will not be wrong." Then he advises Dale not to look for all the answers at once. He says a path is formed by laying one stone at a time. He also tells Dale that one person who saw the third man is ready to talk now and that Dale forgot something before he disappears.
Back at the hospital, the camera does a slow moving shot through the long hallway leading into Ronette's room. We see that Ronette is beginning to remember Laura's murder and has a terrifying memory/dream of Bob brutally stabbing Laura to death. The scene unfolds in her mind as Ronette begins to thrash and yell out Laura's name. We see a horrifying depiction of Bob running, screaming and roaring like a lion as he attacks Laura in the train car. Finally after he kills Laura, Bob almost looks sad before he starts howling like an animal in pain as he looks over Laura's dead body. End of show!
This is one of my favorite episodes in the series. I've always been partial to the David Lynch directed episodes, but the Season 2 opener, in my opinion, really sets the stage for the dark side of Twin Peaks. Between the Giant's visitations and the final scene of Ronette's dream, I feel like this is the episode where the tone of Twin Peaks shifts toward the supernatural and the mythology truly begins to resonate. Although the episode is laden with humor, in particular pretty much every Albert scene, not too mention that over the top hospital food. Overall a lot of the mythology deepens in this episode with the introduction of the Giant.
I think most fans agree that The Giant and the room service waiter seem to be one and the same and I've always agreed with that theory. It seems like the waiter is the Giant's human host. I always liked Maddy's rug scene a lot too, (spoiler alert) as it appears that Maddy is psychically foreshadowing her own death in that very living room. Also you might notice in the picture above from the conference room with all the donuts that the Owl Cave map is already on the blackboard, even though that isn't introduced in the series for several more episodes. Maybe it was just a continuity slip? Regardless, I truly love this episode. I also think Ronette's dream of Laura's murder is one of the most frightening scenes from the series. Watch below!
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