Part Seven of TWIN PEAKS is the most accessible episode to date, as the show really begins to hit its stride. There are a lot more questions to be asked once Hawk has found the missing pages of Laura’s diary, and both Evil Cooper and Dougie have big moments that change the momentum of their story.
I love the weirdness this season has brought to Twin Peaks, and though it can be taxing for the casual fan, I find what Lynch and Frost have done so far to be enthralling, head scratching, and patience testing all at the same time. The story has unfolded unlike anything else on television, as it gives itself time to breathe and stretch out, letting the tension build until this episode when Twin Peaks really starts rolling. Nearly as much happens in this episode alone as has happened in the entire series so far. It seems like the slow build up to this moment is what gives this episode so much power, and perhaps now the series is off to the races. Where to start? There is so much to cover this episode.
The pages Hawk found in the bathroom door of the Sheriff’s Department were the missing pages from Laura Palmer’s diary, possibly hidden there by Leland Palmer. The important clue the Log Lady told Hawk he’d find is a moment from Fire, Walk With Me where Annie Blackburn appeared to Laura to tell her the Good Dale is trapped in the Black Lodge and can’t get out, and to write it in her diary. This revelation pushes Sheriff Truman to contact Doc Hayward since he was one of the last people to see Cooper after he came out of the Black Lodge. What he remembers is that after taking Cooper to the hospital, he saw Cooper sneaking out of the intensive care unit an hour later. Audrey Horne was in a coma in intensive care after the bomb exploded in the bank. What was he doing in there? Since Twin Peaks isn’t afraid to go down a creepy path from time to time, is it possible Evil Cooper is the father of Richard Horne and the child was conceived during that visit to Audrey in intensive care? It would explain how evil Richard is. What will Hawk and Sheriff Truman do with this information now? Will it get back to Gordon and Albert?
Gordon and Albert are on their own mission to recruit Diane to help figure out if the Dale Cooper in Federal Prison in South Dakota is legit, or if she thinks there’s something off about him too. She’s reluctant and angry, and tells them both to get lost several times before she agrees to talk to Cooper at the prison. Diane knew Cooper better than anyone else, and it seems they shared an intimate night together she’ll never forget, so she really may be the best judge of him. Laura Dern plays Diane with a vulnerability that’s covered by anger and alcohol. Something Cooper did wounded her deep, and after seeing him in prison, she’s shook. This isn’t the Cooper she knew, something is missing inside of him. Her impression gels with Albert and Gordon’s about something being off, now that she’s verified it for them, what will they do next?
In the town of Buckhorn, South Dakota Lieutenant Knox pays a visit to Detective Mackley to find out the source of the fingerprints he put into the government database that matched Major Briggs. There have been hits on Briggs’s fingerprints numerous times at crime scenes over the past decade or more, but this time the prints are from the headless body found in the first episode. It seems impossible since Briggs has been dead for years, but the coroner says the body died five days previous, and belonged to a 40-year-old man. Briggs would be over 70 if he were still alive. How is this possible, and where is the head? The discovery shocks Lt. Knox and she calls her superior right away. Is this a Briggs doppelganger like Evil Cooper? If so, how is that possible, and what happened to the real Major Briggs? Does this have anything to do with Evil Cooper?
Even though Gordon tells Warden Murphy to hold Cooper until they say otherwise, Evil Cooper sends a message to the Warden he has information he’ll tell the warden in private. Evil Cooper has something on the Warden, and it’s something big. So much so that he’s able to blackmail his and Ray’s way out of prison. What is the secret so big that a warden of a Federal Prison would risk everything to let him go, supply him with a car and a phone, and basically leave the door open for two prisoner’s to escape? Will Evil Cooper head to Las Vegas to try and kill Dougie? We know one of them must die or return to the Black Lodge, and the one armed man already warned Dougie not to die. It’ll be interesting to see how this all shakes out.
The real Cooper is on the verge of waking up to the realization he’s not Dougie. There are moments where it feels he’s just about to snap out of it, but doesn’t. In real life if someone walked around like a vegetable and merely repeated the last thing said to them, someone would get help, but it seems Dougie was a man of few words and little action, so no one seems that surprised. Something happens after Janey picks Dougie up from work that changes everything though. Ike the Spike, the small assassin, rushes them with a pistol, and Cooper snaps into action. He shoves Janey out of the way, chops Ike in the throat with the edge of his hand, and wrestles the gun out of Ike’s hand. A shot goes off, and then a version of The Arm (the tree with bubble gum as a head) appears to Cooper to tell him, “squeeze his hand off.” Cooper chops him in the throat again, and Ike runs away, but there’s a piece of his hand stuck to the gun, and the cops put it in an evidence bag. The real Cooper instinctively came to the surface to fend off this attacker, does that mean he’s almost fully awoken? What will he do once he’s revived? Will he find his way back to Twin Peaks to do battle with Evil Cooper in the Black Lodge?
More thoughts:
- Jerry calls Ben from the woods high out of his mind and scared. He doesn’t know where he is, or where his car is. Is there more to this than marijuana? Has something in the woods done this to Jerry?
- Andy tracks down the truck Richard drove when he killed the young boy, but instead of interviewing the owner or taking him to the station, Andy agrees to meet him secretly on an old logging road. When the man doesn’t show up, Andy checks his watch (a Rolex) and is frustrated. How does Andy afford a Rolex? Is he a dirty cop? Say it ain’t so.
- Ben Horne’s assistant Beverly (Ashley Judd) is a mystery. Who is she, and where did she come from? She’s noticed a humming in Ben’s office, and their search for the noise is rife with sexual tension, even though her husband is dying of cancer at home, waiting for her. She berates her husband severely when he questions where she was. What’s her angle?
- Cooper’s room key from the Great Northern Hotel shows up. Will Ben or Beverly let the Sheriff know?
- Jean Renault (played by the same actor who was Jacques in the original series) is the bartender at the Bang! Bang! Bar. He’s running prostitutes and has a phone conversation with someone upset about a couple of girls they were sent. Who is he working with? Is it Red? Chris the policeman, who we know is dirty? Or could it be Andy?
Season 3, Episode 7 (S03E07)
Twin Peaks airs Sundays at 8PM on Showtime
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For six months out of the year Jeff is holed up in his home with nothing to do but shovel snow, watch television, write, and dream of warmer climates.
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Jeff Iblings | Contributor
