Episode 4 (Twin Peaks)
Hunter's directing of the episode was inspired by Otto Preminger's 1945 film Fallen Angel, making use of small sets and long depth of field shots.
However, other inhabitants of the town have their own suspicions, including the violent, drug-dealing truck driver Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re).
[3][4][5][6] Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) describes her vision of Killer Bob (Frank Silva) to Deputy Andy Brennan (Harry Goaz), while he sketches the man's face.
She also describes a vision of someone taking Laura's heart necklace; Donna Hayward (Lara Flynn Boyle) winces at this, as she is the one who hid it.
He also receives a call from Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse), who has located the one-armed man they believe is somehow involved; the group find him at a motel.
At the same motel, local businessman Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer) meets with Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie); the two are having an affair and planning to burn down the town's sawmill.
[11] Hunter recalls being pleasantly surprised to learn that Russ Tamblyn and Richard Beymer had been cast as regular characters in the series, having enjoyed the early work of both actors during the 1950s and 1960s.
[15] Engels has also noted that the series would make use of normal, conventional storylines and everyday occurrences as a "familiar" framework, allowing subtle details to seem slightly more unusual against this backdrop—he particularly cites this episode's parole hearing for Hank Jennings as an example, as it offers nothing out of the ordinary other than the single domino which Jennings is playing with at all times, drawing attention to the item as it is the only thing which seems out of place.
That film featured several scenes shot in tight spaces with a very small mise en scène; Hunter found himself using several of Preminger's techniques to make the most out of several of the episode's smaller sets such as the RR Diner.
For example, a scene featuring Sherilyn Fenn and Richard Beymer talking had the actors at either side of a room; the split diopter lens allowed for both of them to still be in sharp focus.
I feel bad for the character ... because she's dropped into a small town where some kind of grand struggle between good and evil it playing out and she doesn't know it yet.
[20] Phipps praised Al Strobel's performance, and felt that the episode served to highlight "Cooper's investigation-by-coincidence technique", while describing the character of Madeline Ferguson as "an embodiment of this series' obsession with duality".
[23] Television Without Pity's Daniel J. Blau offered mixed reactions to the episode's acting; he found Sheryl Lee, James Marshall and Grace Zabriskie to have been poor, but praised Kyle MacLachlan, Ray Wise and Dana Ashbrook for their performances.
