Yeah, I know: seven hours!
Thats still a lot of TV!
Me already mourning the end ofTwinPeaks: The Returnhere at the end of its second act?
Credit: SHOWTIME
Call it the mid-life crisis of myTwin Peaksfandom.
Cant there be more?
just, David Lynch!
Keep us once more from the horror, the horror of a NON-EXIST-ENTTwin Peaks!
Keep the revival alive!
It certainly had the title for it.
Zombie Laura?!)
certainly stoked the coals for another apocalyptic barn-burner.
After a promising start, the episode decided to model Sarahs fragmented mind and subverted, still-life existence.
Mr. C was conspicuously MIA for the third consecutive week.
Lets rock was my least favorite hour of the season.
But thats not to say it was bad or that the qualities lacked meaning or purpose.
Theyre frozen in ice for eternity.
The thwarted forward motion of Lets rock!
also mirrored stories about people either engaging their responsibility to progressiveness or avoiding it.
Ill unpack that claim as we go through the episode scene by scene.
We might wonder how much of that odd, interminable sequence with her husband was even real.
(I think all of us are tremendously relieved that Trick is out of house arrest!)
(Arrested development: another wink-wink at the halting nature of this episode.)
Maybe well learn more about all these newbies in the (dwindling!)
hours to come; maybe not.
Even so, the results were mixed.
Bottom line: Part 12 will probably go down as the most polarizing installment of the season.
Im sure the French totally love it.
Are they ever going to leave?
(Again, Mr. Brown, I do apologize.)
Albert asked Gordon to crank up his hearing aid so he could communicate in hushed tones.
This episode was anything but concise, and not always pleasing to the senses.
But Albert proved to be an entertaining orator of Blue Rose lore.
Project Blue Book concluded that there was no evidence to credibly corroborate reports of UFO or EBE activity.
In other words, a cover-up.
Cheers, said Rosenfield, raising a glass and mock-toasting the corruption of the Watergate-era military industrial complex.
Dante might call this jot down of betrayal a kind of treason.
?
?
????.
Drifting Briggs-like in the blackstar abyss, perhaps.
The task force got its name from a woman involved in one of the groups earliest cases.
Her last words before her death were blue rose.
(I nominate either Naido or American Girl for said Blue Rose speaker.)
Miguel Ferrer, you are missed.
Albert explained that Cole had been reluctant take on new agents in light of the groups mortality rate.
But the gang needed new blood, and maybe some diversity, too.
Agent Preston fit the bill.
Graduated with honors from George Washington University.
Deans list at M.I.T.
Top of her class at Quantico.
Did Tammy want to join?
And with that, the task force went suffragette city.
Cole flashed her a wham, bam, thank you, maam!
grin not his last in this episode and they raised their goblets to seal the deal.
Im pretty sure we witnessed a version of Lynchs famous lets-just-hang-out-and-talk casting process here.
Enter the Snake.The Blue Rose recruitment drive wasnt over.
Pushing through the red curtains was treasonous Diane, Mr. Cs atomic blonde spy.
Whats in it for me?
Some cash, said Albert.
Maybe the satisfaction of learning what happened to your friend Cooper.
Translation: Whatever happened to doing the right thing for your fellow man, just cuz?
Yeah, Dianes a turncoat.
But at this point, its hard to blame her for not knowing who or what to trust.
Rounding out this sequence with her presence made for some interesting meanings.
Diane accepted her commission.
This was all disingenuous theater, of course.
By making her a deputy, Cole and Albert were trying to keep an enemy close.
By taking the job, Diane was playing all sides against each other.
Lets rock, she said, waving a pair of fingers at them like a gun.
Cole coolly rapped his knuckles in the table like Frank Underwood ofHouse of Cards.
The game between them was afoot.
), sprinting into a grassy clearing, stumbling, picking himself up, running some more.
The two horns of Twin Peaks loomed behind him like a monolithic demon.
It was as if he was running from the devil.
Which made it an appropriate segue to the next scene… Shes a woman under the influence of spirits including some supernatural ones.
Her mind, body, and house has become a black lodge.
She may share it with a legion of demons.
It wasnt even the authentic kind.
It was that faux beef turkey jerky stuff.
She had never seen it before and it unsettled her.
Triggered by the unnatural disruption to her expectations of reality, Sarah began saying scared, scary stuff.
Were you here when they first came?
And men are coming!
I am trying to tell you that you have to watch out!
They can happen to me!
Something happened to me!
Lynch scored this sequence with soundscape of sinister abstracted noise.
Sarahs seemingly possessed ramble reminded me of Jeffries agitated demeanor.
Something seriously fd up looms.
it’s possible for you to feel it in your bones.
Sarah walked out, leaving her stuff behind.
Which isnt a bad thing, I guess.
Its not like Sarah needs to be drinking more!
A sweet gesture, Bag-Boy, but definitely not the help she needs.
And I suspect her house is still plenty stocked with foul spirits, anyway.
Kriscol had taken to hawking his blood to make ends meet.
Carl was pained to see his friend selling himself out, committing treason against himself just to survive.
Keep your blood, Kriscol, said Rodd.
Lord, I love this man.
(Recap continues on page 4)
Field of Dreams: The Sleeper Must Awaken!
It bounced off his chest and made Dougie wobble like a Weeble, but he didnt fall down.
It was rather funny, but also poignant in this episode about broken, ineffective parents.
Moments like these make me dread the thing we all want.
Whither the Jones family if and when Cooper gets his mind back?
Word traveled to the Twin Peaks Sheriffs Department about Sarahs strange behavior at the convenience store.
Its a goddam bad story, isnt it Hawk?
During their encounter, Hawk heard what sounded like a rattle of bottles or dishes.
Was someone in the house with Sarah?
No, she said.
Just a stack of something settling in the kitchen.
Some eagle-eyed fans noticed that the wallpaper behind them matched the wallpaper in Lauras room.
I wonder if were supposed to be wondering if the Palmer household is now infested with Woodsmen.
But if so, why?
Put another way: Twin Peaks runs on log ladies, cut down, chopped and pulped.
(2) Next to Miriam, on a bedside table, was a bouquet of blue roses.
THEY HAVENT ASKED YET, she replied.
Barely hours on the job, and already Diane is selling out and being treasonous.
The ice in your Vodka is your soul in Hell, Diane!
Flee the ninth circle!
That boy has never been right, said Ben, noting that Richard never really had a father.
Frank didnt seem too impressed by Bens performative (though genuine) agony.
What he wanted was Ben to step up and take responsibility for Miriams hospital bills.
She had no insurance and needed an operation.
Ben readily agreed to cover all costs.
He wondered if Harry might want it as a reminder of his old friend Coop.
Frank noted the synchronicity of the keys arrival and his departments re-investigation into Coopers whereabouts.
Maybe Ben never tried with Richard because he didnt think it would make a difference.
Maybe the Schwinn story was a tacit admission that he was wrong to ever think so.
He was interrupted by Albert, who had FBI business to discuss and wanted the French Woman to leave.
It took her forever to comply, and Gordon didnt mind one bit.
Every little thing she did was magic to him.
She put a finger to her red lips and took her time figuring out where to touch Gordons face.
Gordon promised to call down to the bar and summon her back up when he was done with Albert.
What a dirty old dog.
This was a joke.
Albert did not laugh.
But Gordon had no use for Alberts humorlessness or shame.
Albert, sometimes I worry about you, he said.
I love how Lynch totally understands how hes perceived and sympathizes but also doesnt give a crap.
After more angry silence, Gordon showed an interest in business, and Albert got down to it.
He told Gordon about Dianes latest text exchange with Mr. C. Gordon was perplexed.
One possibility: the intercepted text itself.
Too busy flirting with French women and reading other peoples texts!
But that was a couple episodes ago.
Good boyfriend Hutch double-checked.You sure, honey?
I could take out his legs and you could torture him later?Nah, she said.
Just get it over with.
It might have been the only act of expediency in Lets rock.
So Hutch took out the warden with two shots.
The lawmans young son ran out of the house yelping in horror.
Hutch could care less.
Next stop, Wendys, he said, a glib quip that seemed right out of early Quentin Tarantino.
He seemed to be straining to connect to his own shtick.
He cut to the chase of his big sell the crass commercial for golden shovels more quickly than usual.
You wonder if his arc is trending toward total burn-out and total sell-out.
The fs are at it again!
F you who betray the people you were elected to help!
A society that helps people a world of Carl Rodds is the pining dream ofTwin Peaks.
Whatever happened to our Nancy Drew?We remember Audrey for her precocious behavior and sensational single moments.
Poking holes in someones Styrofoam coffee cup.
Sabotaging her dads Ghostwood development project by manipulating the Norwegians.
(Those gullible Norwegians!)
Dancing with herself while mooning over agent Cooper.
Auditioning for a role at One Eyed Jacks by knotting a cherry stem with her tongue.
In a different world, she might have become an FBI agent.
The worldview ofTwin Peaks: we are broken-hearted people in a broken society.
(The halved-heart locket of the original series might be the thematic totem of the saga.)
This sequence, which stretched for more than seven minutes, was a fail for me.
It felt phony, and it didnt flatter Fenn as an actress.
The only thing that makes it compelling is the possibility that phoniness was exactly the whole point.
The theory thats emerging: Audrey is either still in her coma or insane.
But the theory also may be a desperate attempt to get good with a scene that was pretty bad.
This is not so unusual for Lynch, or any director, really.
Charlie is the cold element in this scene, cool in temperament, barley moved by Audreys bluster.
Heres a brief, imperfect description of what played out.
Charlie didnt want to go.
(Man, did I have a huge pop crush on Audrey back in the day.)
But as the scene went on, our understanding evolved.
Audrey was having an affair with Billy.
We were bombarded with names.
In addition to Billy, there was Tina, Paul, and Chuck.
Charlie had a relationship with Tina, whom Audrey hated/resented/just plain didnt like.
Was Charlie having an affair with her?
I thought maybe we were supposed to think that, but Im not sure.
Here, for me, the scene finally got interesting.
Charlie seemed shocked, dismayed, and saddened by Tinas report.
(If this is true, it complicates the theory that all of this was imagined or crazy-talk.)
When Charlie hung up the phone, he honored that promise by not saying one more word to Audrey.
Youre not going to tell me what she said?!
YOURE NOT GOING TO TELL ME WHAT SHE SAID?!
Her retort spoke for all of us, at least in the moment.
Upon review, with theory swirling in our head, it becomes more interesting, or at least suspicious.
But this also might be the fallacy of fan confirmation bias.
I loveTwin Peaks, ergo, I want all ofTwin Peaksto be awesome.
So maybe Im trying to make a bad/disappointing scene good/satisfying but project intrigues upon it that arent legit?
Welcome back, Audrey.
More Drinking, More Phone Fun with Diane.A quick cut-back to Diane at the Mayfair bar.
Diane was also wearing a different outfit than the one she wore earlier in the hour.
She pulled up a vintage-looking map on her phone that allowed her to input coordinates.
Ruths numbers pinpointed a certain town in northern Washington known as Twin Peaks.
Diane looked either stunned or scared.
Diane, how far are you willing to go to find out what happened to your friend Cooper?
In Twin Peaks USA, unfaithfulness is epidemic and people hate last names.
A guy named Trick interrupted their conversation.
Some jerk (Richard?)
He said he was lucky to be alive.
Yeah, I know.
