One Star Classics

I go on a quick holiday, and all I get is three episodes to catch up with. The world is a fickle friend, and instead of doing recaps full of meandering speculations, I will instead post only my meandering speculations based on the three episodes. You’re welcome!

Tulpa: The doppelgänger phenomena got an actual anchor in tulpa, a part of mysticism Lynch previously has incorporated into his movies. Defined as «a magical creature that attains corporeal reality, having been originally merely imaginary», it makes an abstract concept of Twin Peaks a bit more concrete. Of course, when put it into the context of Cole’s quote in part fourteen — «We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives inside the dream. But who is the dreamer?» — one can’t help but wonder who is dreaming up the «imaginary».

Timeline: There is no question scenes in this season are not in sequence — Bobby confirmed as much in part thirteen — but it doesn’t seem to really make much of a difference as far as the narrative goes. It’s still easy to follow the main story-line.

But James talking about his birthday and The Roadhouse in the episode after him performing the stone-cold classic «Just You» brings with it questions: One, 25 years later, and that is still the song he chooses to perform? It’s time to let the crooner career go. And was his birthday the only reason The Roadhouse let him perform it, or has the song become a major hit, right up there with Chromatics and Nine Inch Nails? It seems plausible, seeing the girl weeping in the audience.

The enigma that is James just keeps on staying mysterious.

Phillip Jeffries: The second linchpin character portrayed by dead actor is becoming even more prominent. With Mr. C now knowing who put a hit out on him, a showdown is brewing, though who with… Well, not Bowie, but then, they did substitute The Man from Another Place with a tree, so I guess Jeffries can show up in any which form.

Audrey, Billy, Tina: Judging by the scene in The Roadhouse, Billy and Tina do exist, but the Audrey and Charlie situation appears like a bona fide nightmare. The feeling of futility when trying to make a point the other person doesn’t seem to hear is of bad dream, and I’m not convinced Audrey really is existing in reality.

Twin Peaks: Speaking of, can the inhabitants who resided in Twin Peaks during the Laura Palmer case actually leave the town? Seems they are are repeatedly going through the same situations (while growing older), purgatory style. Furthermore, I’m 25 years too late for the boat on this, but how can Twin Peaks be located in Eastern Washington? That makes no sense for so many reasons — foliage, people flying into Seattle to get there, etc. For god’s sake, if the Blue Rose cases started in Olympia (represent!), we’re firmly on the west side of the state.

Sarah Palmer: One can assume the person in the incubation scene in part eight really was her, judging by how she could remove her face, akin to Laura. As this revealed a dark… something… behind it, does that mean she is a tulpa, too? Or is this part of her after the aforementioned incident?

Robert Knepper and Jim Belushi heading a conga line? Sold!

Andy: I said he would have more to him than the original run in an earlier post, now confirmed with him being transported to the White Lodge to meet The Fireman. (RIP The Giant.) Nailed it! (Which makes it one out of roughly seventy-two for me.) This, of course, also re-introduced…

Naido: The lady from The Purple Room makes a triumphant return, and I wonder… Is she a tulpa? Or is she, like The Man from Another Place and Bob (I assume), an inhabitant of The White Lodge, or whatever world The White Lodge is part of? Either way, what is she doing in Twin Peaks?

Finally: Cole dreaming of Monica Bellucci just makes sense. The man loves the ladies.

Three weeks left — the last two episodes will air on the same night — and a lot of threads are coming together. I doubt everything will be answered (nor should it), and a second beginning-to-end viewing will probably reveal a lot more than we’ve currently caught onto.

Showtime has quietly started fishing for another season. I doubt that will happen — directing eighteen episodes in a row is inhumane — but I wouldn’t be surprised if we’d see a follow-up movie, just like how Fire Walk With Me book-ended the previous run.

Make it a James rockumentary, and I’m so there.

There is plenty of interesting stuff going on in this episode, be it the reuse of Angelo Badalamenti’s «Heartbreaking» from Lost Highway or Amanda Seyfried‘s excellent portrayal Shelly’s daughter, Rebecca. (Never mind her almost killing her mother with a car.) My personal favorite scene involved Robert Knepper and Jim Belushi eating cereal together. Classic David Lynch humor, by two… lord, I am saying this about Belushi… great actors.

The episode, named «There’s Fire Where You Are Going», was a juxtaposition of classic Twin Peaks and Fire Walk with Me. On the one hand you had the welcome screen time of classic characters like Mädchen Amick’s Shelly, joined with darker scenes: Cole reaching for a vortex, revealing Woodsmen in a set of… stairs? The diner from Fire Walk with Me?

Speaking of the movie, what is happening in Hasting’s trailer yard? Matthew Lillard once again delivers a stellar performance, all until his head is cut off. What was the deal with the Woodsman doing so? Cole and Albert saw him, as did Diane, yet the two former claimed they didn’t, and Diane shrugged it off. On purpose? Or does the view into the Black Lodge do… something, anything… to those staring into it? The scene was freaky, with more than a touch of Fire Walk with Me.

Back in Twin Peaks, Alicia Witt had one episode in the original run as Donna Hayward’s sister; the odds of her being back as Steven’s — aka Rebecca’s husband — lover seemed slim to none, but there they were, with Rebecca shooting a gun through her door.

The revelation of her being Bobby’s daughter was interesting if for nothing more to show she is also Major Briggs’s granddaughter. For what it’s worth, Major Briggs is the major (oi, no pun intended) character of this season, dead actor be damned.

After learning of the gun incident, Bobby — Dana Ashbrook impresses again — has to investigate an(other) accidental shooting, finding a kid who triggered his dad’s gun in a car. The woman behind in the ensuing traffic jam goes hysterical, with Bobby finding a sick kid spewing what could look like garmonbozia. Maybe. Or something else. (Creepily awful as it was, it was also kind of funny, but that might just be my horrible self.)

Back in Vegas, the Mitchum brothers are ready to snuff off Dougie, who luckily is warned by Mike (projecting from the Black Lodge) about what is about to happen. The solution? Buy a cherry pie (what else?) and present it to the brothers, just as Belushi had envisioned in a dream. Receiving the previously withheld insurance check — I still don’t truly understand why Dougie’s boss changed his mind — they invite Dougie for pie and champagne. (Simultaneously giving the viewers a well-deserved laugh and a well-deserved wakeup call for Dougie.)

In Twin Peaks, Hawk receives another call from The Log Lady, which leads him to show a map to Truman with… well, apparently, you don’t want to know what, but it sure looks like Mr. C’s tattoo.

Dougie is about to change into Cooper sooner than I (at this point) had expected; it’s clear he’s tethering on the brink of the transformation. A fantastic MacLachlan performance, yet again. (Kyle, you deserve pimping your wine like you currently are on Twitter!)

As «Heartbreaking» plays us out, I can’t help but feel this was The Return’s most jarring and most fascinating episode. «Part 11» as it is, really does make more sense of a title in the arc, seeing season three fully is an 18-hour movie.

«Part 8» is still my favorite, but this one was close. Very David Lynch, very Mark Frost, very Twin Peaks.

I would frankly have been happy if this episode only consisted of Harry Dean Stanton strumming his guitar and Rebekah Del Rio and Moby jammin’ at the Bang Bang Room. Of course, that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Part ten — aka «Laura Is the One» — was a whole lot more part nine than it was part eight, though with a larger chasm between the funny and the dark, presumably by design. The renewed focus on casino gangsters Knepper and Belushi was welcomed, and it’s particularly interesting seeing the former providing comic relief. Knepper tends to portray more nefarious characters, be it in Prison Break or iZombie, and it’s nice to see him break out a little bit into something different. (Albeit still as a mobster.)

Also, did they make a quick reference to Brando? One can’t help but wonder if Michael Cera will make a reappearance.

On the other end was Richard Horne, probably the most flagitious character Twin Peaks has had to offer. As he beats his grandma — which for all intents and purpose revealed he is Audrey’s son — and murders a witness to his hit-and-run, I am not certain if what we’re seeing is a b-plot, or if it somehow will tie into the greater Twin Peaks lore. If Audrey is the mom, I can’t help but think there is more to the storyline than what we’ve seen so far, and Richard actually leaves town.

Gordon, meanwhile, provided the episode’s most eerie moment, with a vision of Laura’s crying face taking up the entirety of a doorway, disolving into a puzzled looking Albert. With text messages having been intercepted between Diane and Mr. C, I’ll be curious to see where that storyline goes. When the two met earlier in the season, I got the impression Diane truly didn’t know who or what Mr. C was, and one can speculate that she does not know who she has been communicating with.

And most importantly, will Jerry Horne ever get out of the woods?

As weird and surreal this season is — ratings have been middling at best — things are starting to come together to one coherent story. New questions arise, but they are very much attached to a greater picture. Will we ever see Cooper again? At this point I’d be surprised if he would return before the last two episodes, which will air back to back.

I wouldn’t put too much stock in that opinion, though, seeing I’ve been wrong about pretty much everything so far.

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!