Eric De Rey is a good and talented actor
Eric's portrayal of Leo doesn't come off as wooden or amateur to me at all. His emotionless lines strike me as befitting a sociopath and his expressionless face is incredibly menacing. I personally see him as one of the chief antagonists of the first season. Although it is obvious he is a red-herring to the case he is the original villain of the show. For those who aren't as keen on the supernatural aspect he can rival BOB in the menace he emanates-every scene he is in you never know if he might explode and beat his wife, shoot Bobby/Mike or spazz out at some inanimate object. I mean the simple act of slicing open the football is done with a sickening menace-its great acting. He's perhaps the most gritty and believable of the Twin Peaks villains.
The Ben Horne Civil War subplot is interesting
I can see why people can't stand it, but I found this ridiculous subplot weirdly moving and felt it actually built upon, in an erratic fashion, a lot of the shows major themes. I'll agree Richard Beymer can't help but give a magnetic performance and sure the goofy writing didn't take advantage of his talent, but the retreat into civil war fantasies was far from a non-sequator. It's generally agreed upon, I think, that Horne watching footage from his childhood and remembering his dancing babysitter are masterful and humanizing performances and the fact that he jumps from wallowing in childhood nostalgia in trying to relive the civil war is even more hyperbolic than Nadine's cheerleader shtick. But unlike Nadine Ben's breakdown is as political as it is (cloyingly) emotional- larger forces, once allies, seemingly double cross him and take what he felt was his birthright- in the same way the South felt they were economically and emotionally ransacked by the North. The amorality of the slave trade isn't brought up, but to me its always on the forefront, it's Ben Horne's amorality and exploitation of the downtrodden and labor force(funding a brothel, burning a mill that employs most of the town) that eventually leads to his tragedy. He literally re-imagines himself as General Lee and casts himself as an unlikely hero to traverse the tragedy and only than returns to his ordinary self. Except he awakes as Ben Horne the altruistic businessman, strangely continuing his role even though its ambiguous where his actions are coming from. Catherine sees his weasel campaign as petty revenge and his actions toward the Hayward's seem somewhat cruel, as his own wife points out. Anyhow I like the (arguable)ambiguity of that plot and the odd civil War stuff, though I'm painfully aware why some would despise it)
Cooper can be read to have a slight cruel streak
I find Cooper's curios smile when he finds something especially sultry or dark a bit needlessly cruel at times. For example, when he finds the porn magazine or Laura's cocaine. Truman is taken aback and is finding it hard to take in,meanwhile Dale is grinning ear to ear! Also when he pegs Shelly down for not pressing charges against Leo he kind of rubs her in her own face, sarcastically observing that he hopes she will one day get the husband that she deserves back and that he will realize what a wonderful wife she is. He has a fair point but he doesn't imagine that Shelley might have been coerced into it, or that her decisions are base don fear and are her own worse enemy. I'm reading the script and IIRC it's a bit different from the way it was directed, but he says she is an "old-fashioned girl" who "keeps her money at home." I kind of like seeing that mischievous side of Coop come out, be it "I know dark shit that you don't know" or "I see straight through you"-but I know a lot of people don't read these lines/behavior that way.
What controversial opines do you have, thread readers?
Or why are mine terribly stupid and misinformed?
