My Thoughts on Showtime’s Twin Peaks Episode 12
Jonathan Barkan
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The 12th episode of Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” has ended, and we’re in the final third of the season. And for as much as I’ve lauded and cheered on this new season, I think it’s time we recognize this as being the worst episode so far. Don’t get me wrong! Some great stuff happened here, to be certain, but there wasn’t a lot to move the story forward apart from a few small threads.
Anyways, let’s get into this episode, shall we?
Right away, I’ll say that if you wanted the story of Dougie/Dale Cooper to continue from last week’s episode, you’ll be sorely disappointed. All we get to see of him is when Sonny Jim takes him outside for a game of catch, which Dougie fails at miserably. Jim throws the ball and it bounces harmlessly off of Dougie’s shoulder, falling to the ground. That’s it. That’s all we get of him.
When it comes to furthering the mythology of “Twin Peaks,” perhaps the most important part of this episode came at the beginning, when Albert, Gordon, and Tammy are sharing a bottle of wine and Tammy is clued into Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s investigation into UFOs and extraterrestrial life. Albert tells Tammy that it was shut down as part of a massive cover-up. Then, a few years later, the FBI and the military jointly formed the Blue Rose Task Force, which would continue such investigations and would be led by Gordon along with four agents, Albert, Dale Cooper, Chester Desmond, and Phillip Jeffries. All but Albert have mysteriously disappeared, which is why he and Gordon were hesitant to bring anyone new into the fold…until Tammy. She is offered the chance to join, which she delightfully agrees to.
While this isn’t the first time we’ve heard “Blue Rose,” it’s the first time such a direct explanation of it was given. We now know more about the universe in which “Twin Peaks” resides and what curiosities are searched for.
After Tammy is “initiated” (more wine does the trick), Diane enters and you can feel the temperature in the room drop by a few degrees. However, Gordon offers Diane the chance to be deputized due to her knowledge of Blue Rose. She agrees by quoting The Man from Another Place, saying, “Let’s rock!”
Later, Diane sits at the bar by herself and texts who we are supposed to believe is Evil Cooper, who asks her about Las Vegas. Gordon and Albert, who we know have a fix on her cellphone and its contents, try to figure out what that could mean, to no avail. The last we see of Diane in this episode is that she plugs in the coordinates that she memorized off of Ruth’s arm into her phone, which bring up Twin Peaks.
There’s only one scene left in the episode that doesn’t take place in Twin Peaks, which involves Tim Roth and Jennifer Jason Leigh staking the house of Warden Murphy. When he arrives, Roth assassinates him. The Warden’s son comes out and is screaming in grief, to which Roth turns to Leigh and says that they should go get some Wendy’s. It’s a dark scene that doesn’t shy away from the horror of the act nor the depravity and callousness of Roth and Leigh. The people that associate with Evil Cooper truly are the worst and they should rightfully be feared.
Now, let’s dive into the town of Twin Peaks and everything that happened there, shall we?
First of all, we once again reunite with Sarah Palmer, Laura Palmer’s mother. She’s at the grocery store stocking up on vodka, Bloody Mary mix, and cigarettes only to have a nervous breakdown of sorts when she sees a new display of turkey jerky. She runs out without taking her groceries, clearly in an upset state. Later, Deputy Hawk goes to her house to check up on her, which she doesn’t seem to take too kindly to. In fact, she’s almost outright hostile. But when a sound comes from within the house, as though someone or something is rattling bottles around, she gets a fearful look on her face, causing Hawk to emphasize that he is there for her no matter what, an offer that she almost rudely dismisses by shutting the door in his face. Even after all these years, Grace Zabriskie still manages to evoke rage, terror, grief, and confusion on her face in ways that other thespians could only wish to achieve.
The second of three big scenes in Twin Peaks comes when Sheriff Truman visits Benjamin Horne at the Great Northern to let him know that Richard was the one responsible for the hit and run and that he also tried to kill the only witness, Miriam Sullivan (I finally got her full name and spelling). Benjamin is shocked and heartbroken, accepting the responsibility of paying for Miriam’s medical bills and asking about the boy’s parents.
During this scene, he gives Truman the key that was mailed in that he believes to have been the room number that Agent Cooper was staying in all those years ago. He wanted to give it to Harry Truman, a memento of their times in decades past, which Sheriff Truman believes to be a wonderful gesture.
After Truman leaves, Benjamin instructs Beverly to make arrangements to take over the payments of Miriam’s hospital costs after telling her a story about how his father bought him a Schwinn bicycle. It’s a tender moment; and it, as well as the rest of the scene, really reveals just how much Benjamin has changed for the better over the years. Whereas, he was once a scheming, conniving, cheating son of a bitch, Benjamin now seems to be restrained and vulnerable.
Yes, that picture above is no lie: Audrey Horne is back! However, if you were expecting some sort of explanation as to what happened to her during that bank explosion, think again. Instead, we’re introduced to her husband, Charlie, who is a dwarf. The relationship between the two is obviously on incredibly rocky grounds as Audrey has no problem admitting that she is seeking love and sexual pleasures from another man. While Charlie tries to act shocked, it’s obvious that he simply can’t maintain that illusion.
The two are in an argument – one where Audrey is doing most of the shouting and Charlie is being passive/aggressive – about Billy, someone who has apparently been missing for two days. The quarrel is taking place because Audrey wants to go to the Roadhouse to see if this Billy might be there and Charlie is saying that he’s tired and has a lot of paperwork to take care of. The disagreement culminates with Charlie reaching out to Tina, a third party that Audrey knows (and hates), to get information about Billy. When Charlie hangs up the phone, he refuses to tell Audrey anything he heard, electing instead to stare at her with his jaw clenched in fury.
Some small events that took place in between scenes:
- Carl stops a guy in the trailer park to confront him about selling blood for food money. Carl recognizes that this guy is helping around the community, so he gives him $50 and tells him to not worry about rent for the month. Carl is clearly a genuinely good person, the kind that makes Twin Peaks the community it is.
- Jerry Horne has escaped the forest! However, he was running in a field, so we don’t know where he’s going to end up next.
- Dr. Jacobi had another livestream, one that Nadine gave her full attention to. More about the evils of corporations, more shovels for sale.
- Two women had drinks at the Roadhouse and rattled off a bunch of names that mean nothing at the moment.
- The closing song was Chromatics playing an instrumental version of Johnny Jewel’s “Saturday.” You can hear the original version here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtODUdKA1B8
While the return of Audrey was nothing short of incredible and a further explanation of Blue Rose added to the rich mythology of “Twin Peaks,” this episode simply felt flat and kinda pointless. Too many new character names were introduced, such as the ones by Audrey and Charlie as well as the two women at the Roadhouse. These names mean nothing, at least not yet.
Everyone who has watched the original two season of “Twin Peaks” knows that there were episodes that weren’t on par with others, so I feel that we should give this one a pass. Everything up until now has basically been at least a 7 out of 10, so having the first 5 come at Episode 12 ain’t all that bad.
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