In Part 10 of TWIN PEAKS Janey E finds true love again with Dougie/Cooper, but time is running out for them as forces align to take Dougie down. Richard Horne is on the verge of being caught for the hit and run incident, and does everything in his power to cover his crime up. Will Laura Palmer make a triumphant return from the dead?
How long can Cooper wander around in a somnambulist state with everyone thinking he’s Dougie, before either the truth comes out or he snaps out of it. We know it’s only a matter of time before his real identity is revealed now that the local PD are running his prints and DNA through the database, but will Cooper live long enough for Gordon to locate him? There have been at least two attempts on Cooper’s life already, all of which appear to have been orchestrated by Evil Cooper to clear Cooper out of the way so Evil Coop can stay in this world and not return to the Black Lodge. With Ike the Spike in custody, and Evil Cooper threatening to kill Todd Duncan if he doesn’t eliminate Cooper, Todd turns to an unlikely person to finish the job, Dougie’s co-worker Anthony.
Anthony clearly isn’t going to get the job done. He’s a terrible criminal, which is clear once Cooper points out through abstract drawings that Anthony has been manipulating fraudulent insurance payouts. He acts tough when confronted, but there’s no bite to this little dog’s bark. Anthony must convince the Mitchum brothers that Dougie has a personal vendetta against them and is the reason a property of theirs that burned down was ruled an arson and not paid out, in the hopes the Mitchum’s will kill Dougie so Anthony won’t have to. The Mitchum’s have already seen the guy they call “Mr. Jackpots” on the news after Ike was arrested for attempted murder, so once they realize he hasn’t just taken them for $447,000, but also cost them another $30 million after their insurance claim denial, it’s clear they’re planning on putting the hurt on Dougie/Cooper. What does Todd have on Anthony that he can manipulate him to do Evil Cooper’s bidding?
Janey finally takes Dougie/Cooper to the doctor because he’s been acting strange lately, and what the doctor’s examination reveals gets Janey all riled up. Cooper is in much better shape than Dougie was; his physique is in top shape. Both she and the doctor marvel about how much weight Dougie’s lost. You can see the desire and the attraction build in Janey’s face the longer she looks at Cooper with his shirt off, and it isn’t long before she’s seducing him at home. In what can only be described as a slightly hilarious, awkward, and yet problematic sex scene, Janey’s passion for Dougie gets so loud it even wakes up Sonny Jim. Janey is in love with Dougie again, even though she’s unaware this isn’t her Dougie, but it brings up a strange conversation. Cooper clearly enjoyed the sex while it happened, but he was just along for the ride. Janey did all the work, while Cooper lay there lost to the sensations with a slightly confused and joyous smile on his face. Can sex with a person who isn’t all there mentally really be consensual? I hate to say this, but I thought about this as the scene unfolded: If the gender tables were turned, and Janey was not mentally all there, wouldn’t it be rape? Maybe I shouldn’t go there, but it’s what it kind of seemed like, and it made the scene even more uncomfortable to watch since it was played for comedic effect. Clearly Janey loves Dougie, but this isn’t Dougie, and there’s no way Cooper really knew what was going on as it was happening.
On another note, I don’t think I was alone in hoping Audrey would return to the world of Twin Peaks this week, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, we’re shown just how violent and depraved her and Evil Cooper’s progeny can really be. It was clear in the episode where Richard ran over and killed the child with a truck that Richard is a psychopath, but he takes things to new extremes this episode. A woman named Miriam knows all about Richard’s involvement with the child’s death. Richard shows up at her trailer home to talk to her, but she’s not having any of it. Miriam has already told the police what Richard has done, and also written a letter to the Sheriff stating it again, and noting if anything happens to her it was Richard. In a fury of off-screen violence with only our imaginations and the audio to guide us, Richard kicks in her door and kills Miriam, leaving a candle and the gas oven on in the hopes of burning up the evidence of what he’s just done.
The only problem is the letter Miriam wrote is still out there, which is where Chad comes into play. Richard demands Chad intercept the letter before Sheriff Truman receives it, which makes for an awkward scene between Lucy and Chad. He’s able to pocket the letter before she sees the mail, but the way he does it makes her suspicious. It appears Richard is in the clear again, so he takes the opportunity to pay a visit to his grandmother Sylvia Horne in order to get his hands on some money. Sylvia doesn’t want anything to do with Richard, and demands he leave immediately, but instead Richard strangles his own grandmother while poor Johnny, who’s tied to a chair for his own safety, is unable to help and can only watch as his nephew Richard brutalizes his mother. Richard empties her safe of all of the money, steals her jewelry, and calls her a “cunt” before leaving her bruised and battered on the floor of her home while Johnny struggles in anguish. Richard’s own grandparents have cut him off, and surely know he’s a psychopath. If a Doppelganger makes a baby in the real world, can the child grow up to be anything but pure evil? Clearly Richard needs to be stopped, but how?
There are two incredibly intriguing moments in this episode regarding Laura Palmer. The first is a vision Gordon sees in his doorway after there’s a knock on his door. An apparition of Laura appears in his doorway for a few moments and then vanishes, revealing Albert standing there. What does it mean, and why has she appeared to Gordon? Albert has text messages between Evil Cooper and Diane that prove Diane is working with Evil Cooper. Agent Prescott also has photos pulled off of the memory sticks found in New York from the room with the glass box, and they show Evil Cooper there. He’s behind trying to trap Cooper, and connected to the murders of the young couple watching the box. The other interesting moment is a conversation between Hawk and the Log Lady where she tells him, “Hawk, Laura is the one.” Is it possible Laura is the key to stopping all of the evil that’s leaked into our world from the Black Lodge? The Giant did breathe her into existence after the atomic bomb unleashed evil into this world. Will Laura some how save everything?
More thoughts:
- We get a glimpse of Nadine while she watches Dr. Jacoby’s video show. She owns a store called, “Run Silent, Run Drapes”. It seems she’s infatuated with Dr. Jacoby, so where’s Ed at these days?
- Shelly’s daughter Becky is in a relationship that may be even more violent and dangerous than Shelly’s and Leo’s. Becky and Steven are drug addicts, and it seems pretty clear Steven is abusing her. Will she find a way to escape like Shelly did?
- Jerry Horne is still lost in the woods. What is he searching for? How has he become so disoriented? Does it have anything to do with the Black Lodge?
- How much longer will we have to wait to find out what’s happened to Audrey since she gave birth to a demonically evil child?
- The Bang, Bang Bar features Rebeka Del Rio (who also sang the haunting song in Mulholland Drive) singing a song she wrote with David Lynch titled, “No Stars”.
Season 3, Episode 10 (S03E10)
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
