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Twin Peaks Rewatch 41: The Return, Part 7

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Twin Peaks Rewatch 41:

Twin Peaks Rewatch 41


The Return, Part 7
Hawk and Sheriff Truman add new evidence to Laura Palmer's case file for the first time in 25 years, Major Briggs is identified as the body in the Buckhorn morgue, Doc Hayward caught some trout, and everyone—inside the show and out—starts really coming to grips with the reality that the Cooper the're watching is not the Cooper they knew. After a couple weeks of slow burn, this week's episode of Twin Peaks is packed, and we're happy to get to discuss it with you.

If you have a question for us or thoughts to share on the new season of Twin Peaks, write us at [email protected].

Looking for a place to discuss the season with fellow viewers? We recommend the Twin Peaks Rewatch forum.

 

 

 

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Let's talk about part 7 before we record the podcast tomorrow! I'm still taking notes and gathering thoughts but a couple things jumped out, after the discussions we were having in the Part 6 episode and thread:

 

  • The room key made it home in a non-dreamlike way (or maybe something's still weird, as evidenced by the mysterious hum)!
  • The pages were totally from Laura's diary! Everyone was right :)
  • It was Briggs' body but maybe he's been gone for 25 years? Wonder if he spent some more time in an old timely aviator costume right before he died ;(

 

So yeah... Approximately infinite plot/evidence/mystery questions were answered and raised this week. It was crazy and felt very different from last week's. 

 

 

What did you all think? What's on your mind?

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I liked this episode a lot! It felt like a ton happened which is not usually the case.

Really surprised by the number of plot threads that were explicitly spelled out, and moved forward quickly.

Scattered thoughts

  • Laura Dern was fabulous. I think the FBI stuff is becoming my favorite parts of the show, especially Albert and Gordon (The Backwards Word!). 
  • The scene where Coop takes out the assassin was incredibly badass and stressful.
  • Very glad the new Renault is a total skeezeball. I imagine there will be more scenes with him, but I would be very glad if that's all we got.
  • Are we supposed to know more about what DoppleCoop and the Warden were talking about? All that scene said to me was that DoopleCoop has some shit on the warden.
  • Edit: Also the use of Skype was surprising to me. 

This felt way more like a typical episode of television to me in terms of plot progression. 

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I don't think that we are supposed to know much more about Cooper and the Warden than what was shown on screen. I drew the same implications you did -- Cooper has information on the warden and is aggressively blackmailing him to get out of jail, and  it seems he had this plan laid out from before he was locked up.

 

(If there's more to it than that and it sailed over my head please let me know.)

 

I feel like I should watch this episode a second time immediately but I'm not sure if I'll have time to do so before we record. It was dense.

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Scattered notes:

 

* Someone said the black lodge symbol could be seen on the wall in Horne's office after the humming. I haven't re-watched to confirm. 

 

Could the key arriving to Horne's office have awakened latent lodge forces there? Josie maybe?

 

* Badcoop visited Audrey in the hospital before absconding. Could the implication be he raped her while in a coma and is the father of Richard?

 

* The giant mentioned 430. Andy wanted to depose the owner of the truck Richard hit the kid with at 4:30.

 

* Could the soot/tar hobo be to the principal as Bob was to Leland Palmer?

 

A lot happened.

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Great episode!  My theory about the sweeping scene is that it symbolized how the "floor" is being swept and all of the seemingly random pieces are being collected and "cleaned up" and gathered together. After all, so many of the random things we've seen this season seemed to come together in this episode, and as a result, the plot took off, and we spent more time in Twin Peaks the town.  The mess of the last 25 years is being tidied up.  Of course, the idea that the pieces are being gathered together into a pile of garbage in the road house is quite ironic.

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-This definitely felt like the conclusion of the first act: All that Roadhouse garbage being swept up into a nice neat pile pretty much summed up where we're at. I like that we ended in the RR, and loved that you could hear Heidi giggle during the credits when she pinched a customer's cheek. 

 

-If there was any doubt that Take Five was chosen because it was the most obvious song choice imaginable I present to you...Green Onions!

 

-I burst out laughing at Truman's fancy wooden monitor desk. Weird anachronistic technology continues to be my favorite part of the show. The conversation with Doc Hayward was a little awkward, but I assume that they could only get Warren Frost for a Skype call before he passed. I was happy to see his face.

 

-I'm thinking that Bad Coop may have assaulted or raped Diane the last time they saw one another and that she's had to live with that for the last 25 years

 

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I think Badcoop assaulting Diane was the implication. Perhaps he dropped in to get Coop's tapes?

 

And, after that potential assault, we learned he visited Audrey in her coma. Oof. That's so dark. 

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7 minutes ago, FRENDEN said:

 

* Badcoop visited Audrey in the hospital before absconding. Could the implication be he raped her while in a coma and is the father of Richard?

 

This did not occur to me, but seems plausible

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Am I the only person not yet convinced that Richard Horne is related to the other Horne's? They meaninglessly repeat first names all the time, so I don't see any reason why they couldn't start repeating last names too.

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Loved the fact that we ended at the double R, but the creepy music that kept trying to overcome the jazzy song gave me a bad feeling. I found it very disturbing. I also found Bad Coop more disturbing  in this episode, maybe because I've gotten used to seeing KM as Dougie the last few weeks.  

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I half expected Dougie to legit squeeze Ike the Spike's hand clean off. 

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Was Gordon Cole whistling aimlessly, or the opening of Rammstein's Engel?

 

Loved DouggieCoop reacting to Ike the Spike's attack ... Cooper's instincts are all present and correct. 

 

And for those who were wondering ... Drop in any mailbox key fobs were definitwly a thibg., And not just for hotel keys. They were given away by other companies as a benefit, like road service and auto loan companies. I had one from GMAC.

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I don't think what bad coop is blackmailing the warden about actually matters. I wouldn't be surprised if it never comes up again. 

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It's safe to assume that the main plot of this season is the twin Coopers.  Are there any plotlines at this point that still are completely disconnected from it?  Cause here's all of the overall plotlines that we see nearly every episode I can think of:

 

- Cooper-as-Dougie, which ties into all the other Vegas plotlines as well as finally reaching Twin Peaks this episode with the room key

- BOB-as-Cooper (referred to simply as "BOB" for simplicity), which ties into all the South Dakota plotlines, the FBI story, and the Sheriff's Department as of this episode

- Gordon, Albert, Tammy, and Diane investigating BOB

- The murder in South Dakota, likely committed by BOB, which includes Major Briggs' body

- Hawk, Truman, Andy, (maybe Bobby?) and Lucy investigating "what's missing," which in this episode leads to the diary pages convincing Hawk the Cooper they had known never returned to Twin Peaks

 

The only ones I can think of that haven't tied into the main thrust of the season yet are whatever Richard Horne's up to, the visits to the RR with Becky and (Unnamed?) Brother From Get Out, and Dr. Jacoby's Ustream Shout Hour.  Also looking to see if Matthew Lillard ever shows up again?  I don't think he's been seen since the premiere.

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3 minutes ago, JPL said:

Maybe Briggs didn't age because he was in the White Lodge?

That was my thought as well. That's why I made the stupid reference to aviator attire, since that's what he was wearing when he blinked in and out during season two. It's weird that he wouldn't age but Cooper would, but there don't seem to be rules as to how any of this works - or more specifically, the rules seem very bespoke to each situation - so who can say. 

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My favorite scene was the Ike the Spike attack scene, especially its True Crime docudrama aftermath. 

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We know that Badcoop needs Dougie dead and that both waves of assassins have failed. Badcoop tracing Dougie's steps to handle things himself could lead him to the casino. If Badcoop enters the casino, it will trigger the shady casino goons looking for Dougie. That could be a good confrontation and a resolution to the casino portion of the plot.

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2 minutes ago, ddennism said:

My favorite scene was the Ike the Spike attack scene, especially its True Crime docudrama aftermath. 

 
I loved the mini True Crime docudrama after the attack also. Especially the touch of the focused "spotlight" on the gun and tweezers.  Totally something you would see in that kind of show. 

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Everything about the Dougie/Ike scene was great. I need to watch that again.

 

Are we to believe that Dougie squeezed Ike's hand so hard that it took a few layers of skin off on the handle of the gun? That seemed ambiguous. It looked sorta like the hunk of organic schmoop that was in the trunk of Hastings' car.

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Yeah, it did seem to be a similar organic gunk.  I think it being Ike's skin is a misdirect, maybe its something from Dougie? He did pick up and hold the gun didnt he?  I need to rewatch the earlier eps for clarity but has he ever directly touched anything directly related to his past life?  I know he's gotten close to fingering people's badges and stuff but maybe its 'Dougie's essence' sloughing off to become Coop?

Also, i just made the connection about Doc Hayward being on this episode.  Mark Frost had to have planned it so that episode was shown on Fathers Day, right? Great tribute to his Dad there.

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Doc Hayward's scene was heartbreaking knowing the reality behind it. That's three actors on screen who died after filming, now, I think.

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