Twin Peaks is happening again… The much anticipated return is titled “The Return” with each episode listed as a subsequent Part. The series is written by David Lynch and Mark Frost and is also directed by Lynch. I’ll confess up front to being a pretty big Lynch fan, though more of his earlier work. His more recent work has been a little out there, even for me. I’m looking forward to Frost being somewhat of a regulatory factor in the project.
My favorite season is probably the first, which is not unusual as often quirky, new formats work best when they are still fresh and unexpected. I think that is one reason that coming back to
Twin Peaks after 25 years works so well. New audiences won’t be familiar with it, and it’s also fresh for fans. This series seems to be a return to the storytelling that worked so well with the series and that seemed to falter with the
Fire Walk With Me film. The beautiful cinematography and surreal elements should really resonate with fans of shows like
Hannibal or
Legion. However, unlike
Legion,
Twin Peaks – like
Hannibal – has a coherent narrative to tie up the whole package.
The show almost literally has a cast of thousands, but most exciting for existing fans like myself, has to be the return of so many of the original cast – even those who were killed in the first run of the series! The first episode even begins with old footage from the red room in the Black Lodge with Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). We see a girl running away from school and then cut to that fantastic theme music.
We cut to the present, and Agent Cooper is still in the red room, but this time with the giant (Carel Struycken). Cooper is told to listen to the sounds. It’s in our house now, and to remember 430 and Richard and Linda.
In New York, Sam Colby (Ben Rosenfield) is watching a mysterious glass box that is surrounded by cameras. Tracey (Medeline Zima) brings him coffee, but both Robby and the Security Guard (Michael Bisping) tell her she’s not allowed in. However, the next time she comes with coffees the Security Guard is mysteriously missing, and Robby lets her come in.
He tells her that he’s supposed to watch the box but he’s never seen anything in it. The last guy who watched the box did see something, but Robby doesn’t know what or what happened to the guy. The two start making out and eventually having sex, and of course, then something turns up in the box. As the two watch horrified, it breaks out of the box and attacks them – presumably killing them.
We get a brief scene with Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer) who is still managing the hotel and dealing with having to deal with a dissatisfied customer over a skunk. He’s joined by his brother Jerry (David Patrick Kelly) who is still pretty odd.
There’s a brief scene with Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) telling an insurance salesman that neither Sheriff Truman is available as one is sick and one is away fishing. It’s a nice way to explain away the fact that Michael Ontkean isn’t reprising the role of Sheriff Harry Truman.
We get another recurring visual of a road at night. This is accompanied with oddly cadenced music with slow vocals, and we see the Bob version of Agent Cooper. MacLachlan is simply magnificent in these episodes, and he must have had a blast playing such polar opposite versions of Cooper. Bob goes to see Otis (Redford Westwood) to pick up Darya (Nicole La Liberte) and Ray (George Griffith). After beating up the guy watching Otis’ door, Bob tells him to get something better at his front door. As Bob, Darya, and Ray leave they all seem somewhat digitally manipulated. It’s just another way to make the viewer uneasy about what we’re seeing – as if seeing Coop as Bob wasn’t enough!
In Buckhorn, South Dakota, Marjorie Green (Melissa Jo Bailey) calls the police because of a horrible smell coming from her neighbor’s house. She hasn’t seen her neighbor – Ruth Davenport (Emily Stofle) in three days. The cops arrive, and we get some hilarious back and forth about the key to Ruth’s apartment before Marj remembers that she has it. They find Ruth’s head with the decapitated body of a John Doe.
Evidence leading to Bill Hastings (Matthew Lillard) are all over the apartment, so Detective Mackley (Brent Briscoe) shows up at the Hastings’ house to arrest him. Bill’s wife Phyllis (Cornelia Guest) is upset because they are expecting company for dinner.
Mackley is assisted by Detective Harrison (Bailey Chase) and they question Hastings who basically screws up his alibi and then asks for his lawyer. When he presses to know what’s going on, the detectives finally tell him Ruth is dead and his fingerprints are all over the apartment. He seems genuinely shocked.
Phyllis is even more disgruntled when the cops show back up with a warrant to search the house. They find what could be fish or flesh in the trunk of the car.
Meanwhile, back in Twin Peaks, Margaret Lanterman – the log lady (Catherine E Coulson) calls Deputy Chief Hawk (Michael Horse) with a message from the log. It wants him to know that something is missing and he has to find it. Furthermore, it has to do with Special Agent Dale Cooper. The log says “the way you will find it has something to do with your heritage.”
Hawk gets out the old files to look for something missing. Lucy shows back up with Andy (Harry Goaz) in tow, and we learn they have a son, Wally. Lucy points out that the something missing is Agent Cooper himself!
In Part 2, Phyllis comes to the jail to visit Bill, and he tells her that he’s in so much trouble. He tells her that he wasn’t there, but he did have a dream that he was in the apartment – and we know how bad dreams are, right?!
Phyllis is having none of it, and she’s pissed! She tells him to fuck off, and that she’s known all about the affair. He counters that he knows about her and George (Neil Dickson), who unfortunately is his lawyer! Phyllis tells Bill that he’s going down and can expect life in prison. It’s clear that the two hate each other. After she leaves, we see what looks like a burnt mannequin of a man in an empty cell, who then fades and flies away.
When Phyllis returns home, Bob is waiting for her. She appears to be working for him, and he compliments her that she did good – she follows human nature perfectly, implying that she is less than human. He then tells her that he has George’s gun and shoots her in the eye, killing her and framing George!
In Las Vegas, we see an exchange of money between Mr Todd (Patrick Fischler) and Roger (Joe Adler). Roger wants to know why Todd let’s “him” make him do these things, and Roger says Todd better hope he never gets involved with someone like him. There’s little doubt that Roger is talking about Bob.
Meanwhile, Ray is asking too many questions and Bob tells him to mind his own business. Ray tells him that he has the information he needs. Bob clarifies that he wants the information, he doesn’t need it. The subtext is clear. Bob does NOT need things… he wants them and takes them.
Margaret calls Hawk – who is in the woods searching – with another message from the log: “The stars turn and the time presents itself.” Is this a reference to Agent Cooper finally being able to break out of his mental prison – we’ll see later in the episode that Bob says his time is running short.
Hawk tells Margaret that he’s almost there. She tells him that she’s too weak to go with him, but she tells him to stop by afterwards. She has coffee and pie for him. She asks him to let her know what happens. This is a poignant reminder that Coulson herself was too weak and would soon pass away. It’s also clear by the coffee and pie reference that she was pretty sure that Hawk might be bringing Cooper back with him.
Hawk finds himself in a clearing in the woods with what looks like a pool of black tar – is this the door to the Black Lodge? He was the one to tell Cooper about it – the Black Lodge where the dark part of the self resides. As Hawk stands there, the woods turn red and they into red curtains and we’re back in the red room.
Cooper is there with Mike (Al Strobel). Suddenly, Laura Palmer is there, telling Cooper that he can go out now. She asks if he recognizes her and he does. Cooper points out that Laura Palmer is dead, and she responds that “I am dead, yet I live.” She takes her face off and her head is full of brilliant bright white light. He asks when he can go. She kisses him and whispers something to him before she screams and is torn away.
The floor turns from white and black to red and white, the curtains blow up to reveal a white horse and darkness, and then Mike is back. The question remains is it future or is it past? Cooper follows Mike to a different room. There is a very odd tree with some kind of head that is mostly mouth on it. It looks strangely like the head of the thing that attacked Tracey and Sam. Mike tells Cooper this is the evolution of the arm. Remember that Mike cut off his own arm because of the tattoo that linked him to Bob. Mike asks if Cooper remembers his doppleganger – Bob. Mike tells Cooper that Bob must return before Cooper can leave.
Bob, meanwhile, returns to find Dayla on the phone. Ray is in prison, and Bob knows that he and Darya were plotting to kill him. She tells him they were splitting half a million dollars, but she doesn’t know who hired them. He tells her that he’s supposed to go back to the Black Lodge tomorrow, but he’s not going. Bob kills her. Bob makes contact with Phillip – which seems to be Mike’s first name. He tells Bob that he’s going back in and he will be with him again. Bob has another woman in a room down from Darya’s. She’s happy Darya is dead because she was getting jealous.
Back in the black lodge the tree is sure it’s time. The number is now 253, Cooper walks between rooms to the chant of Bob, Bob, Bob. Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) is now there. And really? They have to find a way to bring him back to actual life! Leland wants Cooper to find Laura and Mike senses that something is wrong.
Cooper looks behind the curtain and sees Bob driving. The tree is freaking out. Suddenly, Cooper drops and falls into the glass box in New York. We loop back to Tracey and Sam. Cooper is sucked out of the box again and is hurtling through space!
Mrs. Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) is watching tv and possibly smoking more than even before! This is a beautifully shot scene as you can see the reflection of the tv in the mirror behind her. She watching some horrible national geographic kind of show of some lines viciously killing a water buffalo. She’s clearly totally into it!
The final scene sees a bunch of the old gang finally arrive. They are all at The Bang Bang bar and we are also treated to the wonderful musical stylings of the Chromatics. Shelly (Madchen Amick) is in a booth with her girlfriends when James (James Marshall) walks in and she tells us that he was in an accident and is quiet now, but he’s still cool!
So, it’s business as usual on
Twin Peaks. We have murder and mayhem, split personalities and odd personalities, and reality and dreamscapes all vying for our attention. I think the series is off to a great start – and it received a standing ovation at Cannes – so the magic was happening again there! MacLachlan and Lee give particularly memorable performances. What did you think of the episode? Are you an old fan? New to the show? Let me know your thoughts and speculations below!
