Just got through watching the second half of the series again; I'd only seen most of these episodes once, and was interested in seeing how I liked them now that I know the result. I must say, I love the final episode, but the five eps preceding it really helped the show find it's feet again to a large extent. I'd totally forgotten how good they were; the first time through I was probably too distracted by how disappointing Earle was to fully appreciate these episodes. It wasn't the same as the first half of the series by any means, and had some weak storylines, but they are very enjoyable and interesting, and even create a mood of mystery and menace, much like that of the first season, despite the silliness. It was still on and off, but it was definitely a show I'd be eager to follow for a few more years, given the quality didn't go haywire again. Here's my pros and cons (I'm leaving out the final episode for the most part, as I already knew I love everything about it):

Pros:

Sweet romantic scenes, undercut by darker tones: I am one of the few fans of the Cooper-Annie romance. It wasn't the same as him with Audrey, but Audrey had become so detached from Cooper at this point it would be strange if she was the one Earle took to the Black Lodge. Annie and Coop are just so right for each other, and their scenes together were really sweet, they give me the same feeling that early Donna-James scenes did or that Jeffrey-Sandy scenes do in Blue Velvet. Love them. Her mysterious suicide attempt gives the storyline an edge, as do the ominous signs that the romance is doomed. Love the slow pan out as they talk in the diner in ep 27. The love making scene in ep 28 is horribly corny though, just a bad scene. The Gordon-Shelley scenes are pure bliss as well, hilarious and sweet. I hope the creators were planning to build on that relationship, that would be such an amazing love triangle. And as much as I dislike the Audrey-Jack relationship it occasionally works, and I'm almost positive that Jack had some kind of dark secret that was never revealed; something about the way he's photographed in the dark, and the cryptic statement about his friend, no partner, being murdered... it could've been interesting.

Cooper's a detective again. After a long time of not doing a whole lot and having Harry and Dennis/Denise calling the shots for him, Cooper's calling the shots again, wearing the black suits, and talking to Diane. The character meandered a little bit since Laura's murder was solved, but now he's the same as ever. His backstory is actually interesting to me, and adds depth to the character. 

Donna's got a good plotline again: I don't understand why so many people hate this storyline. For me it achieves the same soap opera style bliss we saw in season 1: it's mysterious, exciting, even moving, and stays just on the right side of campiness. It also returns to the show's themes of the internal family structure being destroyed, and the way in which everyone in this town has dark secrets. This would not have been out of place in season 1. Plus Ben is clearly not Donna's father in the final episode. Sad how Donna's unable to "be part of something good", since even her seemingly innocent family is involved in dark proceedings. As seen by Ben's example, trying to do good can yield tremendous consequences.

Return of old plot elements: Here we get reconnected to the Laura Palmer storyline as Cooper links it to the Black Lodge, as well as the mystery of the woods... the blatant obviousness of episode 16 is now being reduced by these mysterious developements. Plus the tantalizing hints of the Red Room sequence in the finale in episode 27... 

Creepy imagery: Lots of creepy new images in the final few eps; the spilled coffee dripping like oil, the hands shaking, Windom Earle's black teeth and white face (which Lynch appropriated in FWWM). The show was defintely out of interesting new images, ever since episode 14 really, and this is a nice recovery.

More Doc Jacoby: You probably gathered I'm a fan of Doc Jacoby, and he's in almost every one of these last few episodes... in fact he's in season 2 much more than I remembered. He's got some really good moments too. 

Nadine starts to come back: I like the indications that somewhere deep down, Nadine is still the same person. It's very well done, and kind of sad. Wendy Robie plays it very well.  

Dead weight is gone: Josie and James had been pretty much played out. I enjoyed Josie's plotline all the way through, but it had to culminate some time. And James had ceased to contribute anything to the show. Same goes for Hank. It was time for them to go. It's funny how you hardly even notice they've left a lot of the time, even though they've been a constant part of the show for so long. 

Cons:

Catherine's useless: Catherine, who had been the most interesting character on the show for some time, due to having the most tantalizing plot line, and the great acting of Piper Laurie, is virtually left out here. She spends the whole time trying to open a box. The puzzle box added to the feeling of mystery here, but as a storyline it's simple and undramatic, giving everyone involved very little to do.

Audrey?: Sherilyn Fenn's as fetching as ever, but the Audrey character is totally lost here. Does she have any underlying motivation? What happened to her playfulness, and enjoyment in manipulating people? Why's she suddenly on best terms with her father? And the scene where she loses her virginity is painful, even if the fact that she's a virgin is the only interesting addition to her character in the second half of the series. Itr was interesting for me to see the set up for her situation in the final episode though, and Sherilyn Fenn plays it well enough for me to still have interest in what the character's doing.

Miss Twin Peaks: The set up is effective enough, but the execution is just lame.

Dick and Mr. Pinkle: Why? Dick really wasn't necessary at this point and Mr. Pinkle was never a good idea. Not to mention his character seems to be totally rebooted her, he's lost the dark, crazed side to him.  

Lana: She actually didn't get that bad until the last few episodes. The mayor's always great though.

Windom Earle: He's pretty scary in the last couple episodes actually, but most of the time he's just stupidly corny and not threatening. And the Log Lady disguise? 

No Norma and Ed: They were so great a few episodes ago, but they're left out of the proceedings for the most part here. 

I thought that episodes 25 and 27 were the standouts of this lot (discounting the finale). I love Stephen Gylenhaal and Duwayne Dunham's styles. All in all I was once again interested in most of the storylines and wanted to know where they would've gone, though I'm happy enough with the way things turned out. What did you all think of these episodes? 

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

I actually like the sixth episode of the second season a lot.

I thought it was the right tone if they wanted to do full seasons and not be able to have the time for the care and tweaking of first season episodes.

I agree with a lot of your pros and cons. I'm not sold on the Donna/Ben plot though. I know new developments have to be brought in, but I like the idea that all the answers are there from the pilot on, and I know it was never thought or planned/foreshadowed that Donna is related to Ben. Does that make sense?

Despite my yelling and screaming at those final six episodes at the time because of the scrapping of the Audrey/Cooper plot, at least they have a solid direction and are building towards something -just like the final half of the first season.  I still don't like the special effect moments though, and the redundancy of the Cooper/Annie then Audrey/Wheeler scenes- but it is what they were stuck with. The writing across the board though is quite good.

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

giospurs, yeah I'll start that up again. I had to wait to get more stills from the great jerry horne.

No, I didn't nessessarily mean the pilot -but I do mean from the beginning season and set-up. I just don't like when things come out of left field like that when there wasn't foreshadowing -it's just a personal opinion. It just didn't seem very smart to me.

I never thought Donna was NOT Ben's daughter with the direction they were going, at least when I've thought of it.

The first season did have more planning time.  they started filming in August of 89.  Whereas the second season had a larger quota of episodes to fill and had to be churned out more quickly.

giospurs, I love that avatar of yours.

As far as I can see, Ben is Donna's father. Here's why: there is no name of the father on the birth certificate, Ben talks to Mrs Hayward secretly, about their affair years ago, and Ben is about to tell Donna something behind the scenes at Miss Twin Peaks, but Donna storms off! Surely, he is about to say, "I am your father".

When Donna screams "You're my real daddy!" to Mr Hayward, she does not mean it literally.

Oh, no doubt about it -that was the intent.  I only meant that I don't acknowledge it because of when it was planned, and felt like a desperate storyline -that hadn't been built on anything.

I never watch the early episodes thinking that Donna is Ben's daughter.  It's not like the scene where Cooper fires away at the shooting gallery after he talks about the person who taught him "the pain of a broken heart."  Most likely, Caroline hadn't been thought of yet, but at least the groundwork had been laid for such a storyline.  I liked all the plotlines to have roots. Just a personal opinion.

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!

-- Gerry

the black dog runs at night

When Donna screams "You're my real daddy!" to Mr Hayward, she does not mean it literally.

I don't recall Donna ever saying "You're my real daddy" to anyone - Just "You're my daddy" a few times. I don't remember her saying "real"

That god damn trailer's more popular than Uncle's Day in a whorehouse!