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Twin Peaks Rewatch 46: The Return, Part 11

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Twin Peaks Rewatch 46:

Twin Peaks Rewatch 46


The Return, Part 11
Twin Peaks is firing on all cylinders this week, as the tonal hallmarks of The Return mesh with some absolute standout moments from longtime series regulars and newcomers alike. We had a great time watching and considering this episode, and we hope you did too.

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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In the David Lynch documentary "The Art Life" he recounts a story of being a young boy playing with his friends outside in his nice little neighborhood in Montana. I'll probably get some of these details wrong, but I remember him mentioning seeing a naked, bloody woman walk out of the woods? out from behind some houses? and sit down on the sidewalk (maybe I'm not remembering that part right either.) Interesting to see something similar play out during this episode.

 

Lots of things to love during this episode.

I really appreciated the economy of the storytelling. In this episode we learn that not only is Shelly's last name Briggs, but that it also didn't work out. 

 

Loved the totally bizarre scene that starts with the bullets whizzing into the Double R and ends with the angry/scared lady shrieking along with the car horns as her zombie daughter vomits all over and Bobby looks as dumbfounded as I felt. Also love/fear the strange little badass kid.

badass.JPG

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I'm going to present this in a format that abuses line breaks because it's based off of a series of texts that my friend Kevin and I sent each other throughout watching the episode.

 

Some good subtitles this episode. Nothing that quite approaches "[Intense Ethereal Whooshing]", but hey.

"[boy] Nice!"

"[smooches]"

 

Norma has been going through that stack of mail forever.

 

The going theory in my friend group is that Carl Rodd has been killed and replaced by Windom Earle, who has trained the denizens of the New Fat Trout to follow his commands via flute. That van got to him and Shelly in like 15 seconds. Speaking of Shelly, she really just needs to stop hanging around with anyone except for Norma.

 

Per the credits, the minivan mom is actually Gertrude Hayward  Donna's piano-playing sister from the original run.

 

 

And finally, the most important thing about the episode, which made me cry laughing when Kevin suggested it to me originally, and which is still making me laugh as I type this out. When you're watching the fallout from the gunshot through the RR window, mentally replace the lady and her drugged-out daughter with Frank and Charlie from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. She'd have stopped honking if only Deputy Bobby had offered her a nice egg in that trying time.

 

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I love the Mitchum brothers. I've seen some theories suggesting that Candie may be the vessel for Laura, or something important like that. I think she is just a Lynchian version of a xanax popping sugar baby (I don't mean that pejoratively). Lynch likes not always just to subvert tropes but to portray them in a state so extreme that it exposes the horror or absurdity or comedy behind it. I lived in Vegas for years and it is a completely outrageous and surreal place to begin with. I feel like with Candie and the girls it's Lynch playing up the literal notion of a trope - the super hot girlfriends of the powerful Vegas gangsters - to a level that reveals iconography or imagery usually associated with a glamorized notion of the rewards of hypermasculine life as a totally empty and bizarre way to actually live. Whereas the Mitchum brothers have this absolutely perfect aesthetic for a classic Vegas crime movie (think Casino with Pesci and De Niro, a fucking brutal movie) and yet they are complete babies and doofs. That's classic Twin Peaks but it also subtly reveals the absurdity of this normally glamorized idea of the American gangster. The two of them eating breakfast together like 8 year olds who share a bunk bed was great. Every expectation of how these kind of characters would normally play out goes in a different direction. Like if you start any Mitchum brothers scene on a freeze frame you're so conditioned if you are familiar with Mafia movies and so on to have this sense of danger and power or eroticism and everything that all of those characters do just makes those expectations fall completely flat. Also the zoom-in on Candy talking about the traffic was a great soap opera type of shot. 

 

The other thing that stood out to me about this episode was how Lynch just piles on anxiety after anxiety onto poor Bobby in the Double R. His daughter is extremely unstable and committing serious crimes impulsively. Her husband is maybe abusing her. Now Shelly is disappearing in the middle of a crucial moment with mysterious scumbag. Then gunshots. Then the couple fighting over the kid shooting the gun which takes forever while that lady honks her horn the whole time. You feel like relief is coming when Bobby decides to stop the honking lady but it just reveals another deeper layer of terror and confusion. 

 

Dougie is a shaman. The return of the old homeless woman who had a gambling addiction was great - she was basically given real salvation through Dougie and I feel strongly that this is strongly tied into David Lynch's personal interest in mysticism but may also have some strokes of Frost's fascination with Sumerian and Native American mythologies too. Dougie's rebirth has turned him into some kind of messianic Mr.Magoo and I love watching it although I'm not sure I buy into the worldview behind it. It's great that Phil has learned that Dougie will move through the office faster if he makes him chase the coffee.

 

 

20 minutes ago, Phlogiston4lyfe said:

Norma has been going through that stack of mail forever.

 

Per the credits, the minivan mom is actually Gertrude Hayward  Donna's piano-playing sister from the original run.

It looks like she's mostly doing accounting for the Double R? I could be wrong. I feel so sad for Gertrude too, I totally forgot about that. 

 

 

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This episode was perfection, and I think my favorite so far. : D I'm loving how the humor and tone of the original show is creeping in more and more these last few episodes, maybe not coincidentally as Coop is slowly waking up. Damn good!

 

All of Dougie's scenes in this one made me smile so much. Also I want to learn piano now.

 

I'm curious about the discrepancy between what Diane saw and what she said she saw. She sees the woodsman sneaking up behind the car, but she says she thought she saw the woodsman getting out of the car. If she didn't want to help, why mention it at all? And if she does want to help, why say he got out of the car rather than snuck up behind it? Maybe she did see him get out of the car when the camera wasn't on her, but in that case it still would be weird not to say the guy snuck up and got in (and the window was open, so he wouldn't have even had to get in). The way she squinted and didn't really react, and the fact she said that's as far as she'd go and stayed outside the fence, suggests that she is maybe familiar with the black lodge spirits, but the discrepancy in what she said makes me wonder if either she can't quite see or maybe can't remember. If Bob isn't in BadCoop anymore, maybe he's got her; she only started acting so sketchy after Bob was removed from BadCoop.

 

 

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1 minute ago, Splintersoup said:

Amazing episode. I didn't catch the last words Coop said when he got his second piece of pie. Anybody know?

 

According to the subtitles it was Friend (specifically, it was shown as something like [Mouth Full] Friend.)

 

I audibly gasped when he said Damn Good.  Because it's the most Cooper like his voice has sounded (to me in the moment, which might be wishful thinking). 

 

So much about that final pie scene felt like it was bursting with Coop now being just under the surface. 

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Thanks for that!

 

And I totally agree about when he said "damn good." Even his facial expression changed during that brief moment. I have no idea what his defining moment will be to eventually come to, but if it happens it will be the most satisfying payoff.

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1 hour ago, Phlogiston4lyfe said:

 

Per the credits, the minivan mom is actually Gertrude Hayward  Donna's piano-playing sister from the original run. 

 

She was in the minivan, too? Because Gersten Hayward (Alicia Witt) was the woman Steven was cheating on Becky with (seen in the stairwell after Becky shot up her door). I didn't recognize her in that street scene. Need to watch this one again. 

 

Loved the episode btw, so many great moments. 

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4 minutes ago, pokysharpy said:

GORDON: Ah! The policeman's dream!

 

Gordon Cole is. The. Best.

 

I also lost my shit when, after studying Hastings's blown apart head, Gordon announces, "He's dead."

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"Viva Las Vegas"
 
Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire

Got a whole lot of money that's ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There's a thousand pretty women waitin' out there
And they're all livin' devil may care
And I'm just the devil with love to spare

Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas

How I wish that there were more
Than the twenty-four hours in the day
'Cause even if there were forty more
I wouldn't sleep a minute away
Oh, there's black jack and poker and the roulette wheel
A fortune won and lost on ev'ry deal
All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas with you neon flashin'
And your one armbandits crashin'
All those hopes down the drain
Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime
Turnin' night into daytime
If you see it once
You'll never be the same again


I'm gonna keep on the run
I'm gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up well
I'll always remember that I had a swingin' time
I'm gonna give it ev'rything I've got
Lady luck please let the dice stay hot
Let me shout a seven with ev'ry shot
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas,
Viva, Viva Las Vegas

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The entire scene in the Double R that led into the traffic was a baffling nightmare. The woman carelessly holding the pistol with her finger while shouting, the child looking directly at Bobby while seemingly immune to everything that's happening around him, the CONSTANT honking from the car with a very intentionally obscured driver, the reveal of the driver shouting frantically and the terrifying child rising from the shadow of the passenger seat. Ugh, just perfect. I was a fan of Dana Ashbrook and the Bobby Briggs character (the melodramatic idiot that he was) so I'm glad to see what a strong presence he's forming in this new season as well. Maybe we'll get a scene with him and Big Ed next episode? 

 

The Mitchum brothers and the girls were just great. Wonder what Tom Sizemore is gonna do now... 

 

Don't know about anyone else, but the scenes with Dougie where you see him so faintly grasping on to some thread of his past life are utterly heartbreaking. The soft piano music and Dougie's fixation tore me up. 

 

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2 hours ago, richardco said:

 

I also lost my shit when, after studying Hastings's blown apart head, Gordon announces, "He's dead."

 

And Tammy's eyeroll to Gordon's comment! XD

Yes, this was just an excellent episode from beginning to end. You never know with Lynch...

 

Well, I guess I might have to quibble with the slow slow plot progression, which frustrated at moments. The pacing of the scenes is fine, and was pretty quick this week anyway, but the scenes barely move the plot forward. This is a complaint that won't weigh as much when all of the series is released. Still, this is a TV show, it's released as a TV show, week after week, so I think it's fair to complain about that.

 

But, really, it's a quibble. This was beautiful, powerful, very enjoyable! And I called last week's episode trash. :lol:

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Misc notes/reactions:

 

How and why did Carl and his driver set up this whistle system?!

I feel bad for Bobby and Shelley. There's just enough puzzle pieces at this point that you can kind of formulate what their life was like between season 2 and season 3 and woof. :(

I like that Albert's reaction to Cole being moments away from vanishing from reality is to just give him a little tug back over the line.

The barfing girl in the car is so distressing. The way she kind of struggles back up onto the seat is so gross. I'm amazed I didn't have a nightmare last night.

As crazy as it is, I kind of like the idea Candie is Laura/the Laura doppelganger in a Dougie-esque fugue state.

I think my heart skipped a beat when Cooper snapped out of it for a split second.

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Big Ed was finally mentioned at least! And shots fired there, so next episode we will maybe know what's up?

 

Damn good episode and pie.

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Oh Shelly.  Shelly how could you.  I am so disappointed.

 

I don't know what the timeline is, but we know that events occurred - roughly in this order:

  • Shelly marries Leo
  • Leo turns out to be abusive
  • Shelly starts cheating with Bobby
  • Shelly longer married to Leo (presumably murdered by Windom Earl
  • Shelly marries Bobby
  • They have Becky
  • Bobby gets his life together, contributes to community etc.
  • Shelly and Bobby break up/separate/divorce

We can't - at this stage - know if their relationship ended before or after Bobby reformed, but it strongly suggests that she's only interested in guys who are scumbags.  And then she sits there and lectures her daughter about being involved with a man of unsavoury character while in the very same scene she runs out to snog someone who is a) at least two rungs higher up the drug ladder, and b ) has almost certainly murdered more people and c) is just skeezy ew. Eeewww no.

 

Ugh.

 

But then the honking woman?  While she's going on about how 'we have to get home', I'm thinking 'is she hallucinating someone in the car with her?' BUT NO there is an actual zombie in the car.  Well done Bobby for not just shooting it on the spot.  Even so, the honking woman's disjointed rambling still doesn't make sense.  Why is she trying to get home for dinner and not to the hospital? Why is she encouraging anyone to visit (ie: the uncle) when they might contract whatever the sickness is?  Why is she honking instead of just pulling out and driving around the blockage?  Why does she say 'argh argh argh' and allow herself to be vomited on instead of getting the hell out of the car?  That whole thing was strange and brilliant and none of it made any sense.

 

I loved this episode.

 

But I'm still super bummed about Shelly.

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Someone pointed out elsewhere the honking woman said she had to get home for dinner, and wondered if there is a connection to Dopplecoop's message to Diane,

"Around the dinner table the conversation is quite lively."

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I'm really trying to like this but I can't. The bar has been set so low narratively that any glimpse of story, no matter how small, are received as a revelation. The show is just a collection of oddly and frustratingly  paced vignettes featuring a few characters we know acting in incoherent ways. Sure, some of the scenes taken in bits are unsetteling or humorous, but  as a whole they are unsatisfying.  It's a series that needed fewer episodes and a good, disciplined editor. Any other other director besides Lynch would be deservingly ripped to pieces. I'm hoping this comes together at some point, but  I need more than Dougie saying "damn fine" to get excited. This is not Twin Peaks. 

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30 minutes ago, Ford said:

I'm really trying to like this but I can't. I believe the bar has been set so low narratively that any small glimpse of story are received as a revelation. It's not really a story. Instead, it's just a collection of oddly paced vignettes featuring a few characters we know. Sure, some of the scenes taken in bits are unsetteling or humorous, but  as a whole they are just not satisfying. It's a series that badly needed a disciplined editor. Any other show with any other director and it would be widely criticized IMO. This episode according to Twitter  was well received. I guess I'm just not getting it.  I need more than Dougie saying "damn fine" to get excited. 

 

Any discussion of this show on social media or forums is a giant circle jerk to how David Lynch is the greatest genius TV has ever seen. 

 

Talk to a random stranger on the street about it (if you can find one, hardly anyone is actually watching this show) and you get a completely different perspective. The VAST majority of this season has been nonsense, there's a reason this series is "ground breaking', the ground it's breaking isn't that of a good tv show. 

 

This series needed an editor and it needed someone with the balls to tell Lynch he was only getting 9 hours. 

 

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5 hours ago, Phlogiston4lyfe said:

Per the credits, the minivan mom is actually Gertrude Hayward  Donna's piano-playing sister from the original run. 

 

I think you meant "per you seeing the name GERSTEN in the credits and assuming it was the woman in the minivan with absolutely no corroboration despite the actress who played GERSTEN in the original run appearing elsewhere in the episode". 

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I was convinced the honking woman was Lewis Black in a wig. 

 

Go back and watch it and tell me it doesn't remind you of that. 

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Can anyone say with confidence what the purpose of all this is? What is the show?

 

Is it the non-investigation in Buckhorn? You'd think there'd be an APB and nationwide manhunt for Mr. C. Instead, the team just bumbles along receiving incredible events (randomly exploding heads, interdimensional vortexes, escaped psychopaths) in a muted, nonplussed way. "Wow, that was kind of weird. What's for lunch?"

 

Is it Mr. C? Or Ray? Or Phillip Jeffries? Zero clue or motivation into any of these elements in weeks. 

 

Return of Dougie? That longing look into the distance appeared like he remembers. It's so much different from the same look we've gotten the past 8 episodes. Almost there. Roll eyes. 

 

How about the TP PD? Kid gets run over, various women beaten, illegal drug trafficking. Ho hum. This map though. Now we're talking. 

 

Is it the countless connections people make about the show from nothing? Wow, those kids were throwing a ball. The ball represents Laura's orb. We throw her around, but can never receive her essence. Lynch is a genius. 

 

Lets just rename this show The Mitchum Brothers. They seem to be getting the most screen time at this point. 

 

Things we learned this week:

 

Shelly is still an idiot and continues to hate herself. 

 

No one knows how to ask the next, most obvious question (i.e. Why yes Hawk, I need to know exactly what that bug thing on the map is. Please explain in explicit detail) 

 

Carl Rodd enjoys Super Mario Bros. 3. 

 

Captain Tripps has infected some kid in a car without much reaction. 

 

Dougie learns a single adjective. 

 

What is the story here folks? 

 

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