Twin Peaks “The Return – Part 5” was – of course – written by David Lynch and Mark Frost and was directed by Lynch. It felt like a lot more questions were asked than were answered in the episode, but considering there are 13 more episodes to go, that’s really not surprising. I have heard that many of the nuances may be lost on those of us who aren’t familiar with all the tie-in threads of the story beyond the original series and follow up movie. So if you have insights from the books or audio, please jump in and share!
The episode begins back in Rondo Rosa – still hilarious as the name of the production company too! Two guys are watching Dougie’s (Kyle MacLachlan) car – and so is a drugged out mother (Hailey Gates) and her son (Sawyer Shipman) who seem to live across the street from where Dougie left it. In fact, it turns out there are two sets of thugs watching – one in a black muscle car and one in a red muscle car.
Later in the episode, when his mother is passed out the kid goes out to check out the flashing device he can see under Dougie’s car. Before he can touch it, the black car rushes up and the thugs proceed to try to steal the car – until it explodes! Apparently, the device was a bomb.
Meanwhile, back in South Dakota, Coroner Constance (Jane Adams), who we learn does stand up on the weekends, tells Detective Harrison (Bailey Chase) and Detective Macklay (Brent Briscoe) that the body of the decapitated man indicated that he hadn’t eaten in days. She still found something interesting in his stomach, however – Dougie’s wedding ring! Inscribed with “to Dougie with love Janey-E!
Later in the episode, there’s a hit on the decapitated body’s fingerprints that draws the attention of the Pentagon. There’s been a match to Garland Briggs! Even more intriguing is that this is the sixteenth time since he went missing. More dopplegangers perhaps? If it is real, they will have to inform the FBI, so Lieutenant Knox (Adele Rene) is dispatched to South Dakota by Colonel Davis (Ernie Hudson) to check it out.
Meanwhile, the Doppleganger is still being freaky in his cell. We get a nice flashback to Dale looking in the mirror and confronting BOB (Frank Silva), and then see the Doppleganger looking at himself in the mirror and his face morphs to be partially BOB. He tells his reflection, “You’re still with me. That’s good.”
Tammy (Chrysta Bell) looks at Cooper’s picture and compares it to the Doppleganger. She’s also looking at the fingerprints. She’s clearly not satisfied.
Later, Warden Murphy (James Morrison) lets the Doppleganger have his one phone call. He waits until they are all in place before looking right through the two way mirror and telling them, “Now that everyone’s here, I’ll make my call. Who should I call? Mr Strawberry?” He punches a ridiculous number of buttons and all the electrical things in the prison start flashing. The Doppleganger says “the cow jumped over the moon” and hangs up, and everything goes back to normal. The Warden wants to know what just happened!
Cooper as Dougie is having a hard time. Janey-E (Naomi Watts) manhandles him into the car, but not before Dougie stands staring and crying at Sonny Jim (Pierce Gagnon). Is he worried about what’s going to happen to the real Dougie? My theory is that if Cooper can’t re-take the body that the Doppleganger is in, he will have to stay in Dougie’s body and Dougie will actually die, leaving Sonny Jim with no father – and Cooper loses the one friend he seems to have made with Sonny Jim!
Janey-E tells Dougie that she’s hidden the money, but he needs to call and repay the $50,000 that he owes. She pushes him out of the car, but he’s fascinated by the statue in front of his office building, and likely never would have made it to work if Phil (Josh Fadem) hadn’t come by with coffee – once again, it seems to be the only thing to get a real reaction from Dougie. I loved him literally sucking back the ‘Damn good joe!” It has to be what saves him, right?
Dougie ends up in a staff meeting. Frank (Bob Stephenson) isn’t happy that Dougie has his coffee – which he never drinks anyway – but he hilariously settles for – and clearly loves – Phil’s green tea latte. Tony (Tom Sizemore) reports on a claim that he insists they must honor. Dougie sees a green light flashing over him and blurts out that Tony – who is supposed to be his friend – is lying! So, apparently he can see more than jackpots? Although this is also clearly tied to money.
Dougie’s boss, Bushnell Mullins (Don Murray) gives him a stack of files to go through as punishment for calling his best agent a liar. Dougie has until the morning to go through all of them. Luckily, Rhonda (Elena Satine) takes Dougie under her wing when he once again is about to pee his pants. Presumably, once someone actually shows him where the toilet is he can remember what to do – he just doesn’t remember where the bathrooms are. She mysteriously offers to let him kiss her after putting off Darren’s (Wes Brown) unwanted advances. Is she sweet on Dougie? Is there something between them? Dougie/Dale is of course oblivious. He also fails to get past the statue on the way out of the office.
We finally catch up with Shelly (Madchen Amick) and Norma (Peggy Lipton) at the Double R Diner. Becky (Amanda Seyfried) is Shelly’s daughter and Shelly is too indulgent. She gives Becky money, but Norma warns Shelly that if she doesn’t help Becky now – clearly, by cutting her off – it will be a lot harder later. She’s not wrong.
Becky’s boyfriend Steven (Caleb Landry Jones) is a complete loser. We see him in an early scene being dismissed from a job interview for having the worst resume the interviewer had ever seen! Becky gets into Steven’s muscle car, and of course, the money was for him – and his drug habit. Unfortunately, it would appear that Becky is as addicted to cocaine as he clearly is.
Also in Twin Peaks, Frank (Robert Forster) is on the phone to his brother Harry, and it sounds like Harry is very sick with a bad prognosis. His call is interrupted by Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) telling him that his wife Doris (Candy Clark) is there. Turns out that Doris is quite the bitch! She has a long list of complaints that Frank absorbs in a long-suffering way.
Hawk (Michael Horse) and Andy (Harry Goaz) are continuing to go over the evidence. Andy asks Hawk if he’s found any Indians – because Hawk is supposed to be finding a clue through his heritage. Hawk tells him he hasn’t found any.
Dr Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) appears to have a new career as a podcaster. He’s all about the corporate conspiracy – it’s like it’s ripped from the headlines! We find out what he’s doing with the shovels – he’s using them as gongs, but more importantly, they’re for digging yourself out of shit – and he’s selling them for the low price of $29.99! We see other faces from the past as his viewers include Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) and Jerry Horne (David Patrick Kelly).
Finally, there’s an incident at the Bang Bang club – it’s not just for musical interludes anymore! Although the band – Trouble – are pretty darn good! Richard Horne (Eamon Farren) is smoking and is told to put it out – he’s sitting right beside a no smoking sign. He refuses, and his bad boy attitude catches the attention of the girl’s in the next booth – who have no idea what they are getting into. When Charlotte (Grace Victoria Cox) starts flirting with him, he grabs her viciously be the throat and wants to know if she wants to fuck him. Clearly more than she wanted. He tells her that he’s going to laugh when he fucks her. Is this the Richard that the Giant warned Dale about?
Back at the Silver Mustang, Rodney (Robert Knepper) and Bradley (Jim Belushi) Mitchum beat the crap out of Supervisor Burns (Brett Gelman), blaming him for Dougie’s run on the slot machines. Three blond waitresses watch as the pit boss is beaten and fired. They put the pit boss (David Dastmalchian) in charge and tell him they want to know if Dougie ever returns.
Lots of old faces and new in this episode. It seems things may be coming together. Jade (Nafessa Williams) mails Dale’s Twin Peaks Inn key back, so that may send the entire team back to Twin Peaks. We are starting to see some of the threads come together, but I’ll be a lot happier if we can actually get Cooper back – as amusing as Dougie is, I miss Coop! What did you think of the episode? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
