"Twin Peaks" Masked Ball (TV Episode 1990) Poster

(TV Series)

(1990)

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6/10
Attack of the Subplots
framptonhollis11 March 2016
I've heard that by the middle of the second season of "Twin Peaks" it becomes fairly worse. After watching this episode, I suppose this is true.

While it wasn't really bad, there's a lot of new subplots and characters introduced in this episode that I simply do not care for. While I really enjoyed the wedding scene near the end and watching Benjiman Horne's life become increasingly worse and more absurdly comical is rather entertaining, and the scenes in which Dale Cooper needs to defend himself are pretty great (if only because Cooper is just such a fun and interesting character to watch), there's also other subplots added on that aren't very good or interesting, most annoyingly the one featuring this random woman in the red dress whose literally just saying pretentious stuff to James. Where's that going?

Overall, there's some funny and entertaining elements to this episode, as well as a lot of pointless and bad subplots. Hopefully, the last couple of episodes make the show become as great as it was before.
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6/10
Man, I'm just so dissapointed
seanpanigel6 December 2021
To be honest, this is the worst episode of the show so far.

Frankly, both episode 10 and this one, are just plain right almost bad.

Currently, there is nothing that pushes the plotline of the show, there's nothing that keeps me hooked in, and frankley, it was boring.

I'm just so bummed out, because up until this point, the show was flawless, amazing, and masterpiece of television.

But after the plotline of the show resolved after episode 9 of this season, it seems the show's quality and entertainment has dropped massively.

I just hope to god that the show will get back to itself and will not continue with the level it had in those last two episodes, because to be honest, I was kinda bored.
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6/10
the beginning of something new
saintjeremia14 November 2013
Many questions that seemed to be the premise of the entire show seem to have been resolved and now new things start to happen. This show introduces new characters and new plot lines the may begin to set the premise for the rest of the season (I assume; I still haven't seen the shows beyond this one.) All the new characters in this episode, however, threw me off. Suddenly we have so many different things to consider and expect! The woman in the red dress excited my imagination of what possibilities might exist when you let yourself go outside the boundaries of town. Sometimes reality does match movies.

However, although I respect the show and the beautiful atmosphere it creates, this episode was a little much which is why I only rated it a six. This rating should not discourage anyone from watching the show further. I can't wait to watch the next one!
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7/10
2x11
formotog8 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
This was probably the slowest episode of the show so far. It was again very character heavy, but it didn't have so many great moments like the previous episode. Let me start by saying that Nadine's story stinks. It would've been so much better if she'd just died after the season one finale, because even then, she was barely an accessory to the plot. At this point, she is just completely irrelevant and I don't know why she's here, or why she has superhuman strength for whatever reason. James also stinks, and is in the process of proving himself yet again to be a trash bag. Basically, a whole lot of not that much happened this episode. We got the reveal at the end that Andrew Packard is still alive, but it's really nothing compared to the Lucy Palmer mystery. I have to say though, the Mayor was hilarious

Low 7
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8/10
White Lodge/Black Lodge
Hitchcoc22 June 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Things get stranger and stranger. David Duchovny (X-Files) plays a transvestite who is Cooper's potential road out of a trumped up investigation must have been quite interesting 25 years ago. Cooper seems to be on some kind of vision quest as he has been absorbed by the beauty of the Washington woods and the mystery of it. We also get see how much more is going on at the lodge and the One Eyed Jacks. Home is on the down slide as he is being pushed aside by forces he can't control. Or can he? And then there is a return from the dead. Watch it and see what I'm talking about.
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6/10
Dreams, theories, explanations
AvionPrince1623 January 2023
Warning: Spoilers
The rythm get a lot slow than the previous ones and we can feel that the Laura Palmer case is definitely over. We can see the charges against Cooper are still there and he decides to not defend himself and just to assume what happened. Josie talk a lot more about her past and we discovered that she being threated a lot. We have some more funny moment and a new character who James talked with. And Josie will work with another woman. We will meet Denyse a transgenre that is pretty pleasant to know (the story about how she likes to dressed as a woman). And we know also that Eckhardt is not dead and they used him to trap Josie

I dont really like when the episode talk about legend or theories thing: it become something pretty hard to explain and give a lot of excuses to make the plot go forward: i dont mind but it become less coherent in my opinion. We can feel that something will happen in the future like the calm before the storm. But it really just talk and fear about possessions, business. Nothing really thrilling except to know what the characters will become. I enjoyed it anyway but clearly the rythm become slow and a little bit too much talk. But still enjoyable.
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9/10
An old friend has changed
Tweekums27 May 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Having been framed for stealing cocaine from One Eyed Jacks Cooper learns that a DEA agent is going to be investigating him; he isn't too worried as the agent concerned will be Dennis Bryson an old friend of his... he has a surprise when his friend arrives though... Dennis is now Denise! Cooper also learns more about the mysterious White and Black Lodges from Deputy Hawk when discussing the disappearance of Major Briggs. Benjamin Horne meanwhile learns that Jean Renault has usurped him from his role in the drug smuggling operation which uses One Eyed Jacks... even though he officially owns the establishment. Away from the various crimes and mysteries Nadine has re-enrolled in high school and James meets a blonde woman in a bar who offers him accommodation in return for fixing her husband's vintage car.

While we don't really learn much this episode; in fact more questions are raised... especially when somebody who everybody thought was long dead reappears at the end of the episode; I look forward to learning more about the reasons for that. The highlight of this episode was definitely the appearance of David Duchovny as the transvestite DEA agent Denise Bryson; he did a fine job in the role; managing to look and act surprisingly feminine! It was good to see a positive role for a transvestite character rather than using him as a joke character or treating him like a freak.
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8/10
Masked Ball
wyrihu149 October 2021
Overall, a pretty standard and boring episode, the highlight being the introduction of Denise Bryson, Coop's old colleague who has transitioned into a woman. At first I cringed, expecting a stereotypical 20th century negative mocking depiction of a transwoman, and while there are problems here and there ("...it suits him", "transvestite", Denise being played by a cisgender man) the overall positivity of Denise's character is astounding, being shown as a smart, hard-working woman who cares about Dale, whom is confused at first but almost immediately accepts her identity as soon as she says "I prefer Denise". It's heartwarming to see the main character in a show from the 1990s accept a trans character so easily. It's truly one of, if not the first portrayal of a transwoman in TV that wasn't used as a joke, in fact the wonderful David Lynch does not turn Denise's identity into a joke at all. Truly heartwarming, although the rest of the episode often felt quite lackluster overall.
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Misstep
aramis-112-8048802 September 2023
Pouty James, biking away for no good reason, gets involved with an older woman whi apparently digs high school drop outs. Or does she have have an ulterior motive?

An ulterior motive? In "Twin Peaks"?

The problem is, we're not in Twin Peaks.

This episode makes the same mistake Lynch himself made with the later travesty going by the Twin Peaks imprimatur. Viz. It left Twin Peaks. Well, it was his baby. He could ruin it if he wanted to. And did.

It's possible the writers simply didn't have the imagination to further explore the town. But to me, the unity of place was vital to the series. True, the lawmen made occasional forays into Canada, but they had to go to solve plots hatched in town.

Frankly, as someone who grew up in a town 100 times smaller than Twin Peaks (according to the sign) I believe ciry-boy writers just wearied of the little town they created and wanted to bust out. Whatever made then take this direction, they went about it in the worst way. I never liked James and as he rides away I say Good Riddance. But who'll hump Donna?
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