Re: Press Review
Posted: 07 August 2018, 17:46
Part 13 Proves the Magic of Pie, Coffee, and an Arm-Wrestling Death Match (Ben Travers / IndieWire)
For all the fun in guessing, “What’s next?” on “Twin Peaks,” Lynch remains a master at evoking enjoyment from the now. And of all things Lynch could’ve cooked up, an arm-wrestling death match turned out to be extremely enjoyable.
Mr. C delights in mocking his competitor, Renzo (Derek Meers). “What is this, kindergarten?” he says when first told of the terms, but his most devious side emerges mid-wrestle. Allowing his arm to bend but not touch the table is a quintessential power move, and one we’ve seen countless times over. (One wonders if David Lynch has ever seen Sylvester Stallone’s arm-wrestling classic “Over the Top,” and, if so, if this is his third consecutive episode that acts as a response to iconic ’90s entertainment.)
Yet how Mr. C repeatedly returns to “starting positions,” as he likes to call it, is what makes the scene gleefully delicious. “It hurt my arm when you moved it down here,” Mr. C says, allowing his arm to lower. “But it really hurt when you had it down here.” He then reverses the wrestlers’ positions to prove it, and here’s where the smile would creep across his face, if Mr. C was capable of such emotions.
But certainly it spread across yours. Combining the absurdity of arm-wrestling with the brutality of Mr. C’s mission is vintage “Peaks”: mixing genres and upending expectations to evoke an unexpected and unpredictable emotional effect. Here, it makes for an exchange both amusing and tense. Viewers can laugh all the way up to Mr. C caving in Renzo’s face. It’s bloody and shocking, making you recoil after delighting in tamer, less permanent pain. Though you knew it wouldn’t end well for his opponent, the value came in watching the specifics unfold. In studying Mr. C, there’s quite a bit to process in the moment and for the future.