Twin Peaks: The Return – Part 10 Recap

There were a lot of truly disturbing scenes in Part 10, but the episode was peppered with some comedic moments as well. It wasn’t exactly enough to counterbalance the moments of extreme violence, but it did serve as some much needed comic relief in an episode that shined a harsh light on the dark and violent side of Twin Peaks. Horrific acts of violence against women have always been at the heart of the show and we see multiple instances in Part 10 that show that, in that regard, nothing has changed in this small corner of the Pacific Northwest.

Part 10 opens with one of these instances. Richard Horne shows up at the trailer of Miriam Sullivan, the woman who witnessed him driving off after the hit-and-run. Richard shows up to threaten her into keeping quiet but Miriam has already called the police (although she doesn’t specify who at the station she spoke to). The fact that Richard hasn’t been arrested yet leads me to believe that she spoke to Chad, who would have a vested interest in covering it up since he’s partnered with Richard in the drug business.

Miriam tells Richard that she sent a letter to Sheriff Truman that day saying that if anything happens to her, Richard is the one responsible. Richard may just have been there to try and intimidate Miriam but once he hears this, he snaps. He bashes in the door of her trailer and attacks her. Even though it occurs off-screen and we just have a view of the exterior of the trailer as it happens, the sounds of Miriam’s screams and the sickening thud as Richard hits her and she falls to the ground makes it almost worse than if we’d been forced to watch it.

Richard turns the gas on and lights a candle before he leaves but seems oblivious to the fact that the opening in the door will likely prevent the trailer explosion. Inside the trailer, Miriam is on the floor unconscious and bleeding from the head—a wound that I doubt she’ll come back from. Richard calls Chad on his way out and tells him to intercept Miriam’s letter before it gets to Sheriff Truman. Chad isn’t as responsive as Richard would like, whether out of sheer laziness or fear of getting caught, but when Richard threatens him Chad agrees to try to get the letter.

There’s a brief respite from the violence as Harry Dean Stanton’s Carl Rodd plays his guitar outside the manager’s office at the (New) Fat Trout Trailer Park. He plays a lovely, acoustic performance of the folk song “Red River Valley” but is interrupted by a coffee mug thrown through the window in a trailer opposite him. We can hear a loud domestic dispute inside and Carl just looks at the trailer, tired and defeated.

Inside we see that the couple in question is Shelly’s daughter, Becky Burnett, and her husband, Steven. He’s tweaking out and screaming at Becky who is cowering terrified on the couch. This is Shelly and Leo 2.0 and it makes the scene that much sadder knowing that the cycle of violence in Shelly’s life is repeating itself in her daughter’s. While we don’t actually see Steven hit Becky (as we did with Leo and Shelly in the original series), he does physically attack her and raise his hand to hit her so I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that he has beaten her in the past. If not, this is certainly not the first time this kind of domestic violence has occurred in their relationship. As he holds her down on the couch, Steven tells Becky that he knows exactly what she did. We, the audience, have no idea what that is, but it was something serious enough to elicit violent threats from Steven.

Cut to Las Vegas where some more comic relief comes in the form of Candie—one of the three Pink Girls from the Silver Mustang casino—chasing a fly around the room with a napkin. Rodney Mitchum sits in the living room, going through the casino surveillance logs, not really paying attention to the fly or to Candie. It’s a drawn out scene and as soon as Candie picks up a remote control in front of Rodney, you just know where it’s going. Eventually, the fly lands on Rodney and Candie hits him in the head with the remote. She starts to scream and cry hysterically as Rodney’s brother, Bradley (James Belushi) rushes in to see what all the commotion is about. Rodney is bleeding from the head but he’s basically fine and I think the Mitchum Brothers are more annoyed with Candie’s hysterics than concerned with the actual wound. It didn’t seem to occur to Candie that hitting the fly would also mean hitting Rodney until after the fact, which begs the question: what the hell is up with Candie?

Elsewhere in Vegas, Janey-E has finally got DougieCoop to the doctor where she and the doctor discover that “Dougie” has lost a lot of weight. The real Dougie was overweight and generally unhealthy but, with Cooper having replaced him, he is now in perfect health. Also, he’s totally shredded and Janey-E is super into it. For the first time in probably a very long time, she is attracted to her husband—or who she believes to be her husband—and who could blame her?

It would appear that a 25-year stay at the Black Lodge comes with a complimentary gym membership because Coop wasn’t this jacked when he went in. Also, there’s no scar from the gunshot to the gut Cooper took in his room at the Great Northern in the original series. This could be an oversight (although I doubt it) or it could hold some sort of significance.

That evening, Candie is still distraught over the remote control incident while the other two Pink Ladies (Mandie and Sandie) serve cocktails to the Mitchum Brothers. The local news plays on television and the news report on the arrest of Ike the Spike comes on. The Mitchum Brothers are happy to see that Ike is in custody as it saves them the trouble of having him killed. Apparently, they already had a hit out on Ike but it’s no longer necessary. The report continues with the footage from after Ike’s attack on DougieCoop and the Mitchums instantly recognize him as their Mr. Jackpots. The news report convinces them that “Dougie Jones” is actually who he said he was.

Back at the Joneses, Janey-E is feeling frisky after having seen her husband’s new-and-improved body at the doctor’s office. DougieCoop is oblivious to her, just happily eating some cake while Janey-E asks him if he finds her attractive. Then it cuts directly to a sex scene between DougieCoop and Janey-E that is played for comedy but also slightly disturbing when you really think about what it happening. There’s been a lot of discussion as to whether this constitutes a rape, given that DougieCoop is unable to verbally consent to sex with Janey-E but in my opinion it’s a lot more complicated than that.

It could be argued that both parties are being violated here. DougieCoop cannot truly verbally consent—he can only really repeat—but it’s distinctly possible that Janey-E may have gotten verbal consent from him that was in actuality just him mimicking her (i.e. if she said, for lack of more creative phrasing, “Let’s have sex,” and DougieCoop mimicked, “Have sex,” she would have taken that as verbal consent). After all, Janey-E has no idea that this isn’t the man she married. Maybe she should by now, but she doesn’t. The scene shows her falling back in love and reconnecting with someone who she believes to be her husband, and since we know that it isn’t really her Dougie, it makes it that much sadder to think about what will happen to Janey-E if/when Coop regains his full self.

DougieCoop was obviously physically enjoying the act—which doesn’t in and of itself make it consensual—but I think in any discussion of consent in this case it is important to remember that DougieCoop, while he is challenged verbally, is perfectly capable of physically responding to a perceived threat (ex. the Ike the Spike attack). I tend to believe that he would have stopped Janey-E using physical force if he perceived her sexual advances as threatening.

But as with most things in Twin Peaks, this is all open to interpretation and this is just my personal take on a controversial moment in an episode filled with acts violence. Whatever your opinion may be, there are a lot of levels to this that make the scene much more complex than just a HA-HA-LOOK-AT-THE-FLAPPY-ARMS moment played for comedy. But I did love the flappy arms and the goofy, post-coital grin, and the way Kyle MacLachlan played the scene was just brilliant.

There’s also a really tender moment between the two of them afterwards, when Janey-E says “I love you,” and DougieCoop says, “Love you.” It’s the same mimicry we’ve come to expect from DougieCoop, but there’s something much softer in his face and his voice when he says it that, to me, ends the scene on a very sweet note. It also makes me wonder if there’s more going on inside his head in terms of human emotion than I previously thought. We’ve seen him have an emotional response to Sonny Jim and I believe this shows him having a (positive) emotional response to Janey-E.

We return to Twin Peaks for another epic Dr. Amp rant session. “The fucks are at it again,” and so is Dr. Jacoby. He goes off on the government and the pharmaceutical industry, and we see his biggest fan Nadine listening, absolutely enraptured by him. Turns out that Nadine realized her dream of silent drape runners and now owns a store called Run Silent, Run Drapes. Just in case it wasn’t clear enough that Nadine is a Dr. Amp Superfan, we see one of Dr. Jacoby’s golden shovels hanging in her storefront window as the drapes open and close (silently, of course).

Jacoby makes a mid-rant reference to the government “bloating like a big red fucking balloon,” which is interesting considering that we have seen red balloons popping up all over The Return—in Vegas especially, where red balloons appear outside Dougie’s office building, in the junkie mom’s house, and in Dougie’s house for Sonny Jim’s birthday. This is one of those things that may or may not hold any significance to the larger story but it’s worth noting Jacoby’s comment if only because red balloons have appeared in lots of random places so far.

Jerry Horne is still lost in the woods. He’s got no cell service and he starts screaming, “You can’t fool me. I’ve been here before!” At this point, we have no concept of how long he’s been out there. After last week’s incident with the foot-that-wasn’t-his-foot and Jerry’s comment here about being there before, I really do believe that something very strange and otherworldly is going on with Jerry. If there’s one thing I know for sure about the town of Twin Peaks, it’s that you don’t want to mess around in those woods.

At the Sheriff’s station, Chad is following Richard’s orders to intercept Miriam’s letter. He makes some forced small talk with Lucy about the weather up at reception as he waits for the mail truck. Lucy makes a very bizarre comment about a time when she and Andy thought that their clock had stopped and that time seemed to go on forever, which could just be a throw-away “Lucy being weird” comment, but also—given that time is pretty wonky in the Twin Peaks universe, and that Andy and Lucy have been acting especially bizarre this season—might hold some larger significance.

Chad sees the truck pull up and tells Lucy he’ll get the mail and she’s instantly suspicious of him. Lucy can seem completely out of it sometimes but she does have her moments. She watches Chad as he goes through the mail, and it’s unclear if she can see him remove a letter and stuff it in his shirt. It’s interesting to note that the letter that he takes from the stack is from “Miriam Hodges,” but Miriam’s last name is listed in the credits as Sullivan. Miriam also told Richard that she wrote a letter to Sheriff Truman, and the letter Chad takes is addressed to the Twin Peaks Sheriff Station. Also, Miriam said she sent it that day so I doubt it would have already arrived. All signs point to Chad taking the wrong letter but he’s oblivious and texts Richard to tell him that it’s done.

For me, the most disturbing scene in the episode occurs at the Horne house. Johnny is alive but looks seriously banged up from smashing his head against the wall (and I think his jaw might be wired shut as well). He is restrained to a chair and the table in front of him, where there sits some Robot Teddy Bear from Hell that repeats, over and over and over again, “Hello, Johnny. How are you today?” It’s especially sad given that this thing is a replacement for Laura, who used to care for Johnny. Laura would talk to him and read to him. Now, he’s cared for by this monstrous thing.

The intercom buzzes and a man announces that Richard (identified as Sylvia Horne’s grandson) is on his way up to the house. This is important because it narrows Richard’s parentage down to only three possibilities: Audrey (likely), Johnny (unlikely), or adopted (even less likely). Sylvia is clearly frightened but opens the door for her grandson anyway, if only to tell him to leave. But Richard does whatever he wants and what he wants at this moment in time is to get money from his grandmother by any means necessary.

Johnny is visibly disturbed when Richard enters the house but he’s powerless to stop him because of his restraints. He’s forced to watch and listen as Richard attacks Sylvia. Johnny’s chair tips over as he struggles to free himself and he watches as Richard chokes and screams at Sylvia, calling her all manner of misogynistic names and threatening to “cornhole” Johnny if he doesn’t get what he wants from her. Richard cleans Sylvia out—the safe, her jewelry, the contents of her purse—and calls her the C-word on his way out the door. All the while, the Robot Teddy Bear From Hell continues to repeat, “Hello, Johnny. How are you today?” It’s one of the more disturbing things I’ve watched on television in recent history, and I watch a lot of dark shit.

We return to Vegas, to Duncan Todd’s office, where crooked insurance agent Anthony Sinclair sits in the background. Duncan’s assistant Roger comes in to deliver the news that Ike the Spike has been arrested and is dismissed. Duncan then calls Anthony over to give him a task. We learn a lot about the various Vegas threads in this scene. Duncan and Anthony had previously conspired to deny the Mitchum brothers (Duncan’s “bitter rivals and enemies”) the payout for their 30-million-dollar insurance claim. Duncan tells Anthony that he is to visit the Mitchums and pin it all on Dougie Jones so that the Mitchum brothers will handle their “Mr. Jones problem.” He tells Anthony that if he fails, he will have to kill Dougie himself.

In another light moment amongst the dark, we find Albert and Constance having dinner together at the hotel where the FBI Squad is staying in Buckhorn. The two of them previously hit it off, exchanging quips over Major Briggs’ headless corpse, and now they are sharing a nice meal together. Gordon calls Tammy over to watch them from across the room and they have a bit of a giggle over it and agree that it’s very sweet—a word I would not have predicted Gordon would ever use to describe anything having to do with Albert.

Back in Vegas, Anthony shows up at the Silver Mustang to do what Duncan asked of him. He’s talking to Warrick, the Pit Boss, while the Mitchums watch via the security cameras. The Mitchum brothers are in the control room with the Pink Ladies, who lean against the wall in the exact same way they did when we first met them. Warrick radios to the Mitchums that Anthony wants to see them and they send Candie down to go get him.

Candie doesn’t seem to understand their very simple command to go get him. Once they finally get her to go down to the floor, they watch her approach Anthony and talk to him for a very, very long time. The brothers grow more and more impatient until they finally direct Warrick to have them both come up immediately. Even though he’s clearly annoyed with her, Bradley won’t fire Candie because he says she has no place to go—a surprising amount of empathy from a guy who takes out hits on people, but there you have it. The mystery of Candie continues.

Candie finally makes it up with Anthony and they ask her what she was talking about for so long. After a long pause, she tells them that she was talking in detail about the weather and how lucky they are the casino has air conditioning. The Mitchums are not pleased, to say the least, but they just allow Candie to be Candie and turn their attention to Anthony Sinclair.

Anthony does what Duncan asked of him and tells the Mitchum brothers that their hotel fire was ruled arson and that even though he sold him their policy, he didn’t handle the claim. As instructed, Anthony tells them that Douglas Jones handled their claim and that he has a personal vendetta against them and will do anything to make sure they don’t get paid.

Back in Buckhorn, Gordon is chilling in his room with a bottle of wine, doodling something that looks like a reindeer with an arm reaching toward it. I’m not even going to speculate on whether this is just a David Lynch doodle or something more but I’m 99.9% sure some Superfan out there is going to have this tattooed on their body within a week.

There is a knock at the door and when Gordon answers it he sees the face of Laura Palmer crying. The footage used is from Fire Walk With Me: Laura has just discovered that her father is BOB and she goes to Donna’s house crying and asks her, “Are you my best friend?” We can’t hear Laura but we do hear Sarah Palmer’s voice yelling Laura’s name over the ominous music. Suddenly the image of Laura fades away and we see that Albert is the one who knocked.

Albert has come to deliver some news. They know about the text that Diane received and Tammy traced its origins to a server in Mexico. Diane responded to the text with a heavily encrypted message: “They have Hastings. He’s going to take them to the site.” Gordon doesn’t seem very surprised and tells Albert that he already felt something was off after Diane hugged him outside of the prison. Whatever she’s up to, Gordon wants to keep Diane close.

The mystery that is Diane is deepening and we’re forced to confront the possibility that Diane may be working with or for DoppelCoop. There are other possibilities as well. She could be working with the still-elusive Phillip Jeffries who is out there somewhere. She could be working with DoppelCoop in order to double-cross him later and help get Good Cooper back. It’s no secret that Diane is distrustful of the FBI so I can’t imagine she would tell them what she was up to even if her intentions are good. I don’t know what Diane’s deal is anymore but I’m absolutely fascinated by her character, whether she’s playing for the good guys or the bad guys.

Tammy approaches Gordon’s door and just before she knocks if you look closely you can see a glitch near the doorknob—the same place where Gordon just had his vision of Laura. Tammy brings Gordon and Albert a photo from one of the earliest cards in the glass box room in New York, showing DoppelCoop and an as-yet-unidentified man. This strongly suggests that DoppelCoop is the “anonymous billionaire” in charge of the glass box project, although it does not confirm that. At the very least, we know that DoppelCoop is involved with the glass box portal in some way.

Back in Twin Peaks, Sylvia calls Ben at the Great Northern to tell him about the incident with Richard. She tells him that Richard took all the money and insists that Ben make it right. Ben refuses to give her more money and they fight, and their conversation ends with Sylvia telling Ben she’s going to call her lawyer and hanging up on him. At this point, Ben finally gives in to his desires and asks Beverly to dinner. Even though Ben had told Beverly he was married and still wears his ring, it seems like he and Sylvia are actually divorced (or at the very least separated).

We get another scene with the Log Lady, who has served as the Sybil of Twin Peaks throughout the original series as well as The Return. She appears to be on speaker because she isn’t holding the phone as she was in previous scenes where she spoke with Hawk. She gives Hawk, who is listening in his office, the following cryptic message:

Electricity is humming. You hear it in the mountains and rivers. You see it dance among the seas and stars and glowing around the moon, but in these days, the glow is dying. What will be in the darkness that remains? The Truman brothers are both true men. They are your brothers. And the others, the good ones who have been with you. Now the circle is almost complete. Watch and listen to the dream of time and space. It all comes out now, flowing like a river. That which is and is not. Hawk. Laura is the one.

I won’t pretend to know exactly what Margaret’s words mean but I do know that everything she says is important. Margaret sees and knows things that others do not—she always has—and her messages to Hawk, once deciphered, will lead him down the path to the truth. The reference to the Truman brothers and the “good ones who have been with you” sounded to me like a reference to the Bookhouse Boys. Perhaps the gang (including James Hurley) needs to get back together? Whatever Margaret’s message means, it seems clear that something big is going to happen soon and Hawk and Laura will play important roles in it.

The episode ends with an extended Roadhouse performance by Rebekah Del Rio. The song, “No Stars,” was co-written by David Lynch and the performance goes on a long time before the credits start. With the red curtains behind her, Del Rio wears a dress with the same black-and-white pattern we’ve come to associate with the Black Lodge. The song is also the closest in mood to the original series’ Julee Cruise performances of any that we’ve heard so far. All these things combined lead me to believe that the lyrics of “No Stars” have a greater significance to the story. (Also, Moby is there playing guitar.)

I’ll be honest: this episode wasn’t my favorite. Parts of it—especially the scene with Richard, Johnny, and Sylvia—were hard to watch (and rewatch). There was also a lot of Vegas stuff that, while it tied together a lot of things and will serve to drive the DougieCoop plot forward, just wasn’t all that exciting. With the episode title being, “Laura is the one,” I was expecting more Laura than just Gordon’s brief vision. Or if not Laura herself, than more information on what happened to her when she was swept up out of the Lodge, or where the Laura orb ended up. Perhaps I would have liked the episode a little more had I not been anticipating some significant Laura Palmer content. I’ll let this serve as a much-needed reminder not to go into any episode of Twin Peaks with expectations.