Twin Peaks – The Return: Part 11

One of the most brilliant things about this show is how one character can tell another character that he had a dream the cut on his face had healed and then pull the plaster off the dude’s face and you’re not even surprised to find out that it had. You don’t even realise until you stop and think about that just how acclimatised you’ve become to those little impossibilities. You don’t watch Twin Peaks without first adjusting your mind a few steps to the left.

And what a dream it was too. Saved Dougie’s life… as if that guy didn’t need any more supernatural help. Wonder what else went down in that dream. Cool though that a prescient dream saved the life of Dale Cooper while a prescient dream helped solve the murder in season one-two. Just gotta trust in the mystic powers of the subconscious… and I’m starting to really enjoy the slapstick comic partnership of the Mitchum brothers, going back to the Candie stuff last week. It’s better that they’re not the bad guys.

However while Dougie and the Mitchum’s were scoffing down cherry pie and raising toasts… somebody’s just been very much inconvenienced. It wasn’t the Mitchum’s original idea to try kill Douglas Jones, it was a seed very much planted by somebody else. Dude in the tower office is gonna be pissed – that’s two hits of his that’ve failed on VegeCoop now. Plus the car explosion set up by that woman who tower office guy later had whacked by Ike the Spike. Somewhere along the way EvilCoop, the Big Glass Box and Agent Phillip Jeffries appear to be involved in this too.

So here’s something we learned this week: Becky is the daughter of Bobby and Shelly. And Shelly was listed in the credits as Shelly Briggs. So there you go, they were married and had a kid. However neither wears a ring and Shelley strongly implied that she’s into something with Balthazar Getty’s character which paints his finger pistol in the premiere in a clearer light. Somewhere along the way they must’ve separated and Bobby became a cop and their daughter grew up and married a redneck doper and… still not convinced that he’s as guilty as he seems. Becky almost ran her own mother over with her car and shot six holes in a hotel door. Pretty sure she’s not someone to be trusted all too much at this stage.

But once again: Shelly really doesn’t get to cast much judgement here given her track record with the fellas. Even when Bobby sorted his life out she still left him for a criminal psycho. And, ah, do you remember in the film where Bobby straight up kills a guy? Because he does. He kills a person and they never ever acknowledge it. I guess we just brush that one under the rug and forget it.

Say, what does Norma think of all this? Not a word, Norma? Just another discerning look? Okay then.

Also did you see the woman that was hiding with Steven (Becky’s husband)? That was Alicia Witt, who played the piano as Donna’s youngest sister in the original series run.

Diane is one of the hardest characters to place after eleven parts. She’s clearly got some shifty thing going with the Bad Coop and Albert definitely suspects something. He’s the one who catches her trying to memorise the coordinates on the arm of the body they find on-site. And yet she’s still there among them as they talk some seriously classified stuff… presumably because of their age-old connection but I’m not sure there’s a whole lot of trust going in both ways there.

What she said about the Woodsman who wandered up to the car was strange. It also wasn’t quite what we saw her see from the other side of the screen. Suffice to say that her motivations are quite cloudy right now.

As for Shaggy, woulda been nicer if his head had exploded last episode while he bawled in the prison but whatever. Served his purpose then got popped. Given the headless corpses of both Major Briggs and also the librarian lady he was sleeping with it was no shocker that a case of ‘spontaneously explosive cranium’ also claimed him… although now we know it was a Woodsman responsible for that. Question is: if one strolls up to you unseen how the hell are you supposed to stop it?

From Gordon’s point of view, it appears he may have found the entrance to the Room Above the Convenience Store too. Phillip Jeffries said in the film that he sat in on one of their meetings there. Laura found her way in through a painting given to her by Mrs Treehorn. We know that Bill Hastings went somewhere but it coulda equally been the Lodge. But there’s definitely some sort of portal that opens up in the sky in Buckhorn, just in case you wanted to pay a visit.

Hey what’s if that place is where that old convenience store from the origin episode once stood, the one where all the Woodsmen shuffled about outside? Unless these portals are portable. But the nugget about Sycamore Street or whatever it was doesn’t sound accidental. Remember the song from the season two finale, the Jimmy Scott tune?

I told you the cupcake lady was still alive. Didn’t I say that? I forget now. But I definitely thought it. Even with the trade off in acting that you usually find in David Lynch projects it didn’t make sense that it was an accident she was still visibly breathing there on the floor and, as I had pointed out to me later, the whole lit candle and open stove trick was pretty much spoiled by the hole that Richard punched in the door. For the probably son of EvilCoop he sure is clumsy about his nefarious deeds.

Umm… not sure Hawk’s map is gonna get you to the grocery store on time, just quietly.

As for that annoying woman in the car honking her horn and screaming about what a hurry she’s in, I choose to read that as a Lynchian commentary on how people watch these shows. She’s in such a rush to have everything her own way, to fit this interaction into her own schedule at the complete expense of everyone else that a small child/zombie wakes up and starts vomiting horrifically (not garmonbozia, though) all over her car.

In other words, did we meet Audrey this week? No… although there was a mention of Big Ed. Did we see Dougie make anything but incremental references to his true self this week? No… but the cherry pie was a nice touch. No dramatic reveals in episode eleven. No drastic mythological unveilings. But don’t tell David Lynch how to pace his television show. He’s a lot better at this than you or I.

Oh, hey, and don’t forget: There’s fire where you’re going.


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