Episode 4 (Twin Peaks)

"Episode 4", also known as "The One-Armed Man",^{[nb 1]} is the fifth episode of the first season of the American mystery television series Twin Peaks. The episode was written by Robert Engels, and directed by Tim Hunter. "Episode 4" features series regulars Kyle MacLachlan, Piper Laurie and Richard Beymer, and introduces series co-creator David Lynch in the role of Gordon Cole.

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. Engels has identified several 1960s television series—The Wild Wild West, Mayberry R.F.D. and The Fugitive—as being influential to the series as a whole.

First airing on May 3, 1990, "Episode 4" was viewed by approximately 19 percent of the available audience during its broadcast, marking an increase in viewers from the previous week. "Episode 4" has received positive reviews from critics.

Plot

Background

The small town of Twin Peaks, Washington, has been shocked by the murder of schoolgirl

Cooper interviews Laurence Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn), a psychiatrist who had been seeing Laura. Jacoby does not wish to breach his confidentiality agreement, but admits that he struggled to understand Laura's problems. He also casts suspicion on a man driving a red Corvette—Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re).

Gordon Cole (David Lynch) calls Cooper at the sheriff's station, offering insight into Laura's autopsy. Brennan brings in his sketch, which Cooper identifies as the man from his dream. 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. The man, Philip Michael Gerard (Al Strobel) is a traveling salesman, who denies any involvement or that he knows BOB.

At the same motel, local businessman

Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) travels to a parole hearing for her husband, Hank (Chris Mulkey). She is uneasy about helping his case as she is seeing Ed Hurley (Everett McGill), but promises him a job at the diner she owns. Meanwhile, Johnson's wife Shelley is having an affair with Briggs; she shows him Johnson's bloodstained shirt. He takes it, promising to rid them of Johnson for good.

Cooper, Truman and Brennan visit a veterinarian connected to Gerard; they find twine there of the type used to bind Laura. They believe that the bird that clawed her body is one of the animals being treated there, and confiscate the practice's files in order to locate the owners of birds being treated there. They learn that the scratches have been caused by a myna, and that drug smuggler Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz) owns one. They raid Renault's home, interrupting Briggs, who is planting Johnson's bloodied shirt. He flees, undetected; however, the shirt is recovered as evidence.

At the RR Diner, Hurley meets Madeline Ferguson (Lee), Laura's identical cousin; the two seem instantly smitten. Norma finds out that Hank has been released from prison; that evening Packard receives a brief phone call from him that leaves her shaken.

Production

"Episode 4" was the first of the series to be written by

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.[12] Tamblyn improvised elements of his performance, including a magic trick involving two golf balls, which was something he had learned and wished to include during his role in the episode.^[13] The character of Gordon Cole, first played by Lynch in this episode as a voice in a telephone call, was conceived as being hard of hearing; this was because Lynch liked the idea of delivering his lines in a loud voice, and worked backwards to establish a reason for this. Engels wrote most of Cole's dialogue over the series, having had experience with his own mother being similarly hard of hearing.^[14]

Engels felt that the three largest influences on the series as a whole were the 1960s television series The Wild Wild West, Mayberry R.F.D. and The Fugitive—the inclusion of a one-armed character in Twin Peaks was a direct homage to the latter of these.^[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.^[16]

Hunter's direction in some scenes was inspired by

"Episode 4" was first broadcast on the ABC Network on May 3, 1990. In its initial airing, it was viewed by 11.9 percent of US households, representing 19 percent of the available audience. This marked a slight increase from the previous episode, which had attracted 11.3 percent of the population and 18 percent of the available audience.^[21] "Episode 4" was the forty-fourth most watched broadcast on American television that week.^[22]