Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 9)
/ Twin Peaks Watch
Matthew Lillard: Scooby Doo’s Shaggy; Scream’s killer1; Twin Peaks’s fruitcake!
This episode was a cruel joke on those who would have abandoned this season for its (admittedly accurately perceived) weirdness. While there are different characters and different locations, the vibe of «Major Meetings» — as the episode officially is dubbed by Showtime — is the most classic Twin Peaks thus far, and it could have been slotted in one of the two first seasons without much change. The previous episode was full on Frost/Lynch-lore; this one was all Frost/Lynch-quirk.
Don Davis might have been dead for years, but his presence is still in the show as much as it was 25 years ago. Gone as he is, Major Briggs is pulling the two investigations together, and we’re seeing his message to Truman, Hawk, and Bobby and his… well… body to Cole, Albert, and Preston getting close to mesh up. Two Coopers? Both groups are getting the message.
And good grief, could Laura Dern be any better? «It’s a fucking morgue!» followed by the cigarette-stand-off with Cole… Dern has stated on many occasions that Lynch is her favorite director, and the way they’re riffing in this episode is proof positive of that.
Really, though, it is the small things that give the nith episode that classic Twin Peaks panache. Jerry Horne’s random drug-induced foot grabbing; Tim Roth literally killing the phone with a shotgun; the mystery added with Mr. C contacting Diane; Dougie not existing until 20 years ago. The wrapping is 2017, but the contents are 1991. And hey, Badalamenti was back in full force for this one — I keep going between missing his soundtrack to loving Lynch’s current sound design. We got the best of both.
Dougie-turning-to-Cooper is obviously slower than it is steady, and while parts of me would have loved to see Coop return with «America, the Beautiful» squaking out in the background, I’m still pretty good with the use of Kyle MacLachlan in the show. Mr. C is still a superbly sleazy ball of awesome.
I had expected to be able to read stuff into the going-ons this season, but I doubt we will get much to read from until the end, and even then, multiple 18-hour rewatches will probably be required.
And yet again, I’m loving every minute of The Return.
1 Spoiler warning!
Ratings from around the web
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One Star Classics | 6/6 |
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Cumulative Score |