3x14 Part 14

[5.8/10] Hey! Now there’s the Twin Peaks I remember! The one that focused on the townies and made little-to-no-sense and while, somehow, repeating plenty of things we already know.

If you can’t tell, I wasn’t a big fan of this one. We get some neat details, but they’re also exclusively told through exposition. With one notable exception, this is “tell, don’t show” the episode, and considering the people who are doing the telling, it dulls the senses until you’re just glad the thing is over.

First things first, we learn that Dianne is Janey-E’s sister, a reveal that’s a bit convenient, but which I actually like. For one thing, it makes some odd sort of sense that even a diminished clone of Dale Cooper would seek out the closet thing he can find to a Dianne. For another, it (coupled with Frank Truman’s call to Gordon Cole) provides a plausible reason for the FBI agents to put two and two together in terms of connecting Dougie Jones and the things happening in Twin Peaks.

We also get the further origins of the Blue Rose cases. Sure, it basically comes from Albert turning into a walking talking Wikipedia page, but it’s interesting to learn how the whole thing started with Cole and Jeffries, and the reasons for the blue rose name.

That said, I could do without the excruciating bit with Gordon’s dream that effectively provides a “Previously On” segment for Fire Walk with Me. To some degree, I need to make concessions to the demands of commerce, and accept that not everyone watched the Twin Peaks film so recently before embarking on “The Return” and would thus appreciate the refresher. Still, it’s an instance of “telling you what you already know” and I quickly got bored with it.

Then we get the good guys from the sheriff’s office going out to Jack Rabbit’s Palace at the time appointed by Major Briggs. It provides Bobby a chance to return to his bad acting ways and for Lynch & Frost to return to the stilted dialogue they put on display in the original run.

Still, things get interesting when our heroes come across what appears to be the eyeless woman Cooper encountered before he was zapped into Dougie’s place. It’s interesting that she ended up here, and more interesting still that it’s Andy who gets sucked up into (maybe?) the White Lodge and is entrusted with instructions by the giant.

While the scene in the lodge also rings of more “tell you what you already know” in terms of using flashbacks to parts of prior episodes, it works reasonably well. This is more of a stretch on my part, but I like the idea that Andy can exist in the White Lodge because he’s a total innocent, and absolute naif with no malice in his heart, which makes him a good vessel for The Giant’s ploys.

And the Giant introduces himself as “The Fireman” -- a powerful word considering what “the fire” represents in this show. It’s another instance of the show’s good vs. evil battle -- The Giant is the one trying to put out the fire that Bob (and by extension us, with our nuclear weapons) started.

But then it devolves into some trademark nonsense for nonsense sake, as bad cop Chad (who’s been thrown in a jail cell) starts hollering like a monkey in response to the eyeless woman and a “drunk” (who resembles the quasi-zombie girl Bobby encountered a couple of episode ago.) Maybe you can chalk it up to it all representing something primal, but it mostly feels like a waste of time.

The same thing is true for the extended monologue featuring James and the kid with the green gardening glove. If either the kid of James were better actors, maybe you could pull of a scene this long that’s just someone telling a story about something relevant that happened rather than showing it, but between James’s usual mediocrity and the kid’s dodgy accent, it amounts to what feels like a high schooler performing a monologue for their class. Sure, it’s intriguing that they’re introducing a (non-Nadine) person with super strength, and that The Giant is using his powers to try to get people into the right place at the right time, but it’s a fairly dull way to convey that information.

What isn’t dull is Sarah Palmer’s scene at a run down bar. I’ll be honest -- I don’t know quite what to make of it -- but the image of Sarah removing her face (like Laura did in the early part of the season) and then biting someone to death (like the smoky figure in the early part of the season) at least suggests interesting connections. And consider this my nomination for Grace Zabriskie as low-key MVP of the episode, managing to bring a sense of hollowed out menace and a scary sense of exhaustion and contempt for the world in few words and a lot of body language.

Unfortunately, we end on more telling and not showing, with the daughter of Tina (the woman Audrey’s husband called for information on the mysterious Billy) having a conversation with her friend about the scene Billy caused. The mouth dripping thing suggests that maybe Billy is the guy in the cell who was hooting with Chad and the Eyeless Woman, but it’s still pretty opaque what any of this has to do with anything, and more to the point, once again, the two young women in the scene aren’t talented enough performers (and/or the writing isn’t strong enough) to carry an extended scene that’s recounting past, unseen events.

But hey, the closing song is good (and if one thing’s been consistent about “The Return” it’s been the quality musical selections) so at least we go out on a (nigh-literal) good note. Twin Peaks isn’t nearly as enjoyable when it’s just a parade of townies telling stories to one another (or even the much more entertaining G-Men telling stories to one another) but when it gets to actions, to moments, and not just memories, there’s still something solid there.