Twin Peaks S03E10 "Laura is the one"

I think I can safely say that this episode marks the moment when everything is starting to come together in a cohesive way. Finally, a few more things made sense this week; not least when FBI Director Gordon Cole "saw" Laura, they worked out that the white haired lady is communicating with Evil Cooper and they obtain a photograph from the apartment we saw in opening episode which shows Evil Cooper in that glass structure. Tying together all the different parts is essential for a newcomer like me, so I was very pleased to see such explanations so obviously spelled out this episode.

Dougie! What can we say? He has his doctor's checkup, as his wife and doctor both notice he's lost weight and looks in peak shape. I was expecting much more from an examination as the doctor didn't get into the mental side of things at all. Surely he noticed his behaviour and limited communication skills??? Then there's the Dougie sex scene! LOL. That was just amazingly funny.

Remember the guy who ran over the kid a few episodes ago? Well the sicko is back and he kills a witness this week and also seems in cahoots with one of the police officers on order to remove evidence. This guy is totally off his head and sick. He also steals money off his family in a rather surreal scene.

Aside from that, we've the organization in background that hire the dwarf now trying to pin everything on Dougie with the Casino's issue of not getting an insurance payout. Seems more hitmen might be going after Dougie? This can only be superbly entertaining.

Rating 7/10 - Enjoyable and thankfully revealing this week even though I'm still baffled by most of it.

Twin Peaks S03E09 "This is the Chair"

What I thought

I'm still struggling a little now that we're half way through season but this episode was very welcome as it was much easier to follow, absorb and enjoy.

Evil-Cooper is very much alive, as expected, despite taking multiple shots to the chest. We saw him getting seen to by those "miners" shortly after he was taken down. This week he's meeting up with yet more contacts for a new ride and gun. Interestingly, he sends a text message to the lady with the white hair (yup, I'm rubbish with names) which is very curious given that she's with the FBI who go to identify the man with the missing head.

Dougie gets some screentime this week but not a lot as it's mostly the police guys in the station talking to themselves, his boss or doing their thing arresting the dwarf guy in a semi-comical fashion. The laughing police guy is frustratingly amusing. There's also more evidence that Dougie is starting to slowly remember things as he stares at a USA flag and power socket this week.

At Twin Peaks Police HQ the guys get their hands on more information in the form of some small papers showing coordinates and dates, which happen to have been foreseen and are only a few days away! Curious. They also have a hint that there might be two Coopers.

There's more ridiculous dramatic confessions from the librarian killer guy from many episodes ago this week which explains a lot, as he and the lady killed had a paranormal blog and were dabbling in things to do with another dimension, Seems they made contact and then things went seriously wrong.

Didn't care much for last 5 or so minutes, as it's another segment in the bang bang bar with a band playing and a couple characters talking things out. Don't think I've actually watched an episode through to the end because of the musical interludes - something I just don't like in my TV.

Rating 7/10 - So, decent stuff. Nothing too cryptic for my well confused brain this episode and also dripping of explanations.

Colony Season 2 Episode 1

After what has been an incredibly long time in the UK, finally Season 2 started this last week on Sky Atlantic. We were treated to a 'Previously on ..' segment to quickly warm our memories up, before we launch into ... 45 minutes of a flashback. Yes, we went to before the alien occupation. In fact, hours before, as we see Will with his then work partner, Devon, having their disagreements before being sent to investigate numerous VIPs that have gone missing.  There's a massive EMP attack, which takes out everything electrical, including transport. With panic around the city, Will has Katie get the family to safety, which in his view is their bar business in town. Right, because that's safer than anywhere else, right? Initially I wondered if this was just a brief flashback or we'd be going to and fro for the whole episode, but no, it went on until the last few minutes, leaving me with little doubt that one of the main reasons for the flashback was to setup Devon. Indeed, we return to Will right before the end, being on the other side of the wall as he was at the end of Season 1, looking for his son. After a beating by a gang who are less than helpful, he heads to a house where he's greeted by a gun being held at him by ... Devon. Cue the dramatic conclusion music and the credits. Yes, this was pretty predictable from that perspective.

However, all in all, it was very interesting to see what happened on that day, especially the very little actual alien activity. We hardly saw anything extraterrestrial, aside form the massive blocks of wall flying through the air and landing in place. This show's greatness is keeping the alien's in the background, if they are actually aliens at all! We don't know do we? Maybe it's a major government coverup? Who knows. But by keeping the mystery at arm's length, the show has an awesome backdrop of mystery, fear and the plain unknown that in itself is the prime draw for me to this programme. We learn along the way more about Broussard, who seems to be a genius at working out when to leave a building before it's demolished. Why the rest of the troops didn't think like him I have no idea. We also find out that the EMP took out his mother's life support, thus giving him even greater resentment of the alien arrival. Proxy Synder we see coming into 'power'. He's probably my favourite character in the show, although he didn't really get to do an awful lot this episode aside from look mystified as he was escorted about with little to no information on what was going on.

Rating 7/10 - An enjoyable opener which I hope the payoff of the long flashback wasn't just so we had Devon setup for her introduction at the end. The arrival of the aliens in a very stealth and invisible manner was done amazingly well, and really helps propel this show high in the watchability factor for me, aside from of course, having likable main characters.