In which Blank Coop goes to work and enjoys some ‘Damn good joe’, Evil Coop continues to play with his interrogators, and back in Twin Peaks we catch up with more of the original residents to see what they’re up to.

I’m a huge Twin Peaks fan. Huge. Watched each episode religiously, bought the books, attended the conventions and yet… I’m not loving this new show. The Lynchometer on each episode swings between Inland Empire (Lynch at his most impenetrable) and Twin Peaks the original ABC show, flickering from one side to the other as each new scene unfolds.

Maybe I’m starting to get institutionalised, as this instalment wasn’t actually l hard to follow at all, but more disappointingly, segments were dull. The idiot Cooper is a joke worn very thin, stumbling into work in his pea green suit, muttering single words and desperate for a pee. It’s only evil Cooper that is keeping Kyle McLachlan’s stock high in this show, and I really hope that the FBI Agent breaks out of his funk sooner rather than later.

Scenes set in Twin Peaks town are proving to be the most interesting – the strength of the show was surely the relationships between the characters, not how weird it could get. Again, no names, but it’s great to see some old favourites return to the fray. Unbelievably, we actually have the answer to one mystery – why Jacoby was spraying shovels gold.

Prison Break‘s Robert Knepper is a great new character, the sort of vile, menacing thug played by Angelo Badalamenti in Mulholland Drive, and I’m also intrigued by Amanda Seyfried and her loser boyfriend. And genre favourite James Morrison is there too!

Verdict: Based on this fairly pedestrian episode one wonders if the original 8-10 episode order would have been a more satisfying experience. I’m keeping the faith, but I’m waiting for more. 6/10

Nick Joy