Twin Peaks, Episode 3.7: The Return, Part 7

Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 7
There's a Body All Right

Part seven of “The Return” sees the show's various plot points making big leaps forward. The paper Deputy Hawk discovered in the bathroom stall door are the missing pages from Laura Palmer's diary – possibly stashed there by Leland, two decades earlier – detailing a dream she had where she learned the Good Dale is in the Lodge, while the Bad Dale escaped. After police asked “Dougie Jones” about his exploded car, the still dazed Cooper unexpectedly leaps into action against an assassination attempt by Ike the Spike. Gordon and Albert talk Diane into visiting the Doppelganger in prison, which unnerves her. Afterwards, he blackmails the warden into letting him go. Also: Andy investigates the truck that ran down the little boy last episode, Benjamin Horne looks for an odd humming noise at the hotel, and the Project Blue Book people's goals become more clear.

In its seven episode, “Twin Peaks: The Return” becomes the show fans might have been expecting. (At least, if David Lynch fans didn't know better than to expect the unexpected.) The revival season finally picks up on plot points from season two's finale. Via a surprise appearance from a wizened but still kicking Dr. Haywood, we finally learn more about what happened after that infamous cliffhanger ending. The reference to Laura's journal, the dream she had in “Fire Walk with Me,” and Annie Blackburn also establishes further continuity with the original one. Even if Sheriff Harry Truman is kept off-screen, it's nice that he's still involved, thanks to a phone call from Frank. In other words, as much as I love the absurd humor and aggressive weirdness of “The Return” up to now, it's really nice to see season three finally connecting more with the original run.

Yet don't get the impression that “The Return” has stopped confounded expectations. After her brief appearance last episode,  we finally get to learn more about the mysterious Diane... And she's hardly what you might've expected. Played by Laura Dern, the quintessential Lynch muse, the silver-haired Diane comes off as bitter and serrated-in-tongue. Even the otherwise unshakable Albert is put off by her rough edges. As the episode goes on, we get the impression that there's a probable good reason why Diane is so frosty towards the FBI and Cooper in general. While why Dale Cooper once recorded each message to Diane is still unknown, Dern's depiction is at odds with the whimsical humor that idea suggest. Which fits “The Return's” habit of zig-zagging fandom hopes.

Even if “Part 7” feels more like what you'd expect from classic “Peaks,” the unerring undercurrent of dread and darkness that has been present throughout the whole season is still here. We finally get a fuller idea of just how purely evil the Doppelganger is. Doc Haywood says “Dale,” back in 1990, paid Audrey Horne a visit while the teenage girl was in a coma. Combined with the sheer terror he creates in Diane, we are forced to confront a horrible, unavoidable truth. Cooper's Doppelganger, most likely, committed several sexual assaults. In-universe, Dale Cooper went from being a staunch defender of good to the most vile of criminals. And, thus, “Twin Peaks” applies its favorite theme – evil existing inside good, just beneath the surface – to its heroic protagonist. (If this wasn't clear enough, the episode also reveals the Doppelganger has reversed finger prints. He's literally a perverted, inverted image of upright, good guy Dale Cooper.)

The darkness inherent in this idea is certainly boosted by the utterly sinister way “The Return” continues to depict the Doppelganger. The calm way he shakes Diane's confidence or smoothly intimidates the warden is a testament to the character's malevolent power, as well as Kyle MacLachlan's performance. His midnight escorting out of the prison is another “Peaks” moment that is made far creepier simply by the sound design and visual presentation. Yet there's also plenty of humor in “Part 7.” Seeing “Dougie Jones” leap into action and karate chop a short assassin in the throat is ridiculous and hilarious. So is the disbelieving reactions of everyone around him.

Like I said last time, “The Return” was starting to frustrate me with its slow pacing and its favoritism of surreal asides and absurd humor. Perhaps that was all by design, as “Part 7's” newfound commitment to moving the story forward could not be more satisfying. Perhaps those first six episodes, deeply weird and agonizingly slow at times, where necessary to get us to this point. I'm not one to doubt the shamanistic visions of David Lynch, at least not too often anyway. [7/10]