Twin Peaks, Episode 3.15: The Return, Part 15

Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 15
There's Some Fear in Letting Go

In a roundabout, “Twin Peaks” kind of way, “Part 15” of “The Return” actually answers some long simmering questions. The Doppelganger ventures to the Dutchman, an inter-dimensional night club accessible above a particular convenience store. There he meets Philip Jeffries, who claims he did not order his murder. Outside, he encounters Richard Horne – his son – before clobbering the kid and taking him with him. In Twin Peaks, the Sheriff's Department get a final message from the Log Lady while Norma and Big Ed finally commit to one another. In Vegas, “Dougie Jones” continues to recall details of his previous life.

Once again, “The Return” is at its most fascinating when venturing into the surreal shadow worlds that its unearthly entities emerge from. The journey to the Dutchman's Club – the place above the convenience store that One-Armed Mike referenced twenty-five years earlier – is another intoxicatingly Lynchian journey into the night. Upon arriving, Lynch uses his tried-and-true method of mixing the mundane and the otherworldly to create an effectively surreal atmosphere. And this is all before Philip Jeffries, transformed from David Bowie into a giant tea kettle that produces bubbles of glowing light, reappears. While the references to the mysterious “Judy” remain as cryptic as ever, the entire sequence is so delightfully surreal, I can't help but love it.

Bowie opted out of appearing in “The Return” due to his cancer diagnosis, which was still a closely-guarded secret at the time. So Jeffries' transformation proves to be another off-beat tribute to one of “Peaks'” late participants. “Part 15” features another such tribute. Catherine Coulson was clearly ill when she filmed her scenes for “The Return.” She makes her final appearance here, the Log Lady announcing her own death to Hawk. The characters pause and give her a moment of silence, which might as well be Lynch mourning the lost of his long-time friend. It has become increasingly clear that “The Return” was as much a chance for Lynch to eulogize his passed collaborators as it was a chance to continue the story.

Emotion was clearly on David's mind throughout “Part 15.” Lynch has always been a master at pairing music with images, a skill he shows off once again here. Otis Redding's “I've Been Loving You Too Long” scores the scene where Big Ed and Norma finally – finally! – get together. While far from my favorite of “Peaks'” various entanglements, seeing that love story climaxes after so many years is absolutely satisfying, especially when paired with such a perfectly longing song. “Part 15” concludes with an image of Charlane Yi, another of “The Return's” high-profile guest stars, struggle to get off the floor of The Roadhouse while “Axolotl” by The Veils wails away. It's not a series of images with any particular meaning but the girl slowly building up to a blood-curdling scream certainly provides a certain feeling, of discomfort.

Still, even as it pulls into its final third and things really pick up, “Twin Peaks: The Return” continues to struggle with some of its lesser story lines. In fact, it bluntly resolves two here, as if the show itself could hardly be asked to care. Becky's drug-addled husband seemingly meets his end, while Duncan Todd in Las Vegas is blasted away by the Doppelganger's assassin friends. That's resolved, I guess. What saddens me the most is how Audrey Thorne has been so wasted this season. All she's done is scream at her diminutive husband and worry about her lover. It seems like she's still getting the shaft, all these years later.

Despite some flaws, “Part 15's” parts are greater than its whole. Those individual moments of Lynch-produced dream logic are absolutely worth the ride. Once again, this show produces sights and sounds like nothing else seen on television, before or since. [8/10]