I know the second season of Twin Peaks is not “good”, but the Windom Earle plot feels like it is for what the character of Dale Cooper was made. Like, I would watch a show about their story that didn’t have Twin Peaks baggage.
Which is a problem because elsewhere the show introduces new characters Laura Palmer-ish qualities, ignores Laura’s peers who have their own echoes of her, and seems mostly disinterested in exploring that. It also banishes all of the mother characters to off screen lives. (In talking about this show’s misogyny, these points to me are much more damning than the violence.)
The worst plot is the Lana Budding Milford plot. It’s a sign of some really terrible dynamics. Laura’s tragedy repeated as farce. And I don’t know how intentional any of it is. I remember reading an oral history of TP years ago, someone saying that Cooper constantly eating donuts and cherry pie was a sign that he was unconsciously objectifying women as much as any other man on the show, so some of this could be intentional. But it’s always played as a joke. The only person who seems at all disturbed by it is Lucy, and I get the feeling her portrayer, Kimmy Robertson, is the only one who took Lucy seriously at all. (Really, it’s a remarkable performance.)