There are scenes where you don't know if Marshall is horrible or brilliant... Awkward deliveries of lines, dumb expressions, stupid reactions... But that's James Hurley, right? The scene where he meets Jeffrey Marsh or the pencil breaking bit and later expression in his face from the Pilot come to mind...

I'm actually really surprised at everyone who's dissing Michael Ontkean's acting when his character breaks down.  I found it very hard to watch, in a good way, to see such a rational, clear-headed man lose it.  I agree with Audrey for the most part, Season 1 is pitch-perfect, right down the casting of the secondary characters.  But the latter half of season 2, my God.  Let's see...my first reaction to the appearance of Dick Tremayne was "THIS THING NEEDS TO BE PUT DOWN," but as annoying as he is, especially when interrupting the dramatic moments with Leland, at least he has charisma, which is more than can be said for fucking Billy Zane, who's so bland he belongs in a men's perfume commercial.  What's more offensive is that he's the romantic interest of one of the series' most beloved characters; Audrey.  Audrey should have ended up with Coop, they belonged together, fuck Heather Graham, I mean she does her best but she just didn't feel right to me.  There were a lot of shitty characters and performances in the latter half of season 2, but the biggest fail has to be Billy Zane.  The writers were just pulling stuff out of their asses at that point, and I bear an ever-so-slight grudge against Lynch for ditching his creation.  I don't what the fuck Mark Frost was on, I mean he directed one of the best episodes of the whole series IMO.  Basically the biggest mistake was revealing the killer early.  Notice how every time Lynch's creativity is tampered with, something bad comes of it; think Dune.  And infuriatingly, Lynch made a fucking brilliant final episode, and just when it looked like he might be able to save the seriesCANCELLED

Oh well...

There was a fiish..iinn the percolatrr!

Heather Graham. Heather Graham. HEATHER GRAHAM! Ugh.

(Although I do like the idea that she's mirroring Cooper.) 

Ben:  "We've laid in a gala reception for your fair-haired boys tonight.  All of Twin Peaks' best and brightest."

Jerry: "We're holding it in a phone booth?"

Yes, it's the "get outta here!" that makes it kind of painful to watch.

In all fairness though, it's an impossible scene to play.  And to give Otkean his props, he has the hardest role to play- there aren't any bells and whistles to fall back on with him.  he's the constant straight man.

Well, now that you guys mention it you are right, there's definitely something awkward in the way Michael Ontkean yells at people...

His "Put it down!!" to Josie sounded like if he said "TIMBER!!!!"...