Day Two Hundred and Eighty - Twin Peaks: Season 1, Episode 6, "What the Log Saw."

We're back for more Twin Peaks on our Halloween Spooktacular and it looks like Agent Cooper and the Bookhouse Boys are closing in on another possible crime scene for Laura's ill-fated night.

Following up on the evidence that Bobby planted at Jacques Renault's apartment, Cooper, et al, head to the woods near the border and discover not one but two log cabins that hold some interest in the murder of Laura Palmer. The first is the residence of the mysterious Log Lady, whose log is finally ready to impart what it saw that night... after tea and sugar cookies. The second cabin, though, which is Renault's, definitely holds some clues of a more concrete nature.

Meanwhile, the rest of Twin Peaks is busy with their own issues. Norma's husband is back, trying to find his way out of the doghouse with her even while he assaults Leo who, apparently, was his minion before prison. Guess that means Hank was definitely a Black Hat (more on that in coming episodes), but what does that mean for his connection with Josie?

Speaking of Josie, we see her in the shadows at the hotel. It seems that not only is Ben Horne conspiring with Catherine, but Josie isn't quite the innocent widow that she makes out to be for Truman and Pete. Look forward to her own conspiracies getting more and more dangerous.

Bobby visits the kooky shrink, who uses his knowledge from sessions with Laura to draw Bobby out, and Donna and James widen their small group of White Hats to include Laura's cousin, Maddie.

I think that my favorite part of the episode came from Audrey and her not-so-subtle blackmail of the Horne's store manager so she could get the coveted Perfume Counter job that she thinks will help in her own investigation of Laura's death. That and her end-of-episode ploy for Cooper, where she shows up naked in his bed at the hotel, make for prime Soap material.

It's painfully obvious how much of a send up to Soap Operas that Twin Peaks was as opposed to a straight supernatural murder mystery show like, say, Fringe or X-files (both shows that definitely draw a part of their existence and inspiration from Twin Peaks). Normally, that's a turnoff for me and there are definitely parts of Twin Peaks that I could do without. The whole Donna/James/Maddie love triangle that's developing is just so much fluff, as is Bobby's therapy and Shelly's domestic violence woes... but I can suffer through the hammyness thanks to the occasional clue that shows up in those sequences.

As for the rest, though... which is pretty much anything with Agent Cooper and company... all of it is absolute gold. Riveting, funny, often doughnut-laden gold.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~