My Thoughts on Showtime’s Twin Peaks Episode 10
Jonathan Barkan
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We’re officially into the second half of Showtime’s “Twin Peaks” revival and things are actually progressing! That being said, they’re progressing the way Mark Frost and David Lynch want them to progress, so don’t go expecting too much now. However, what forward progress we’ve been given is rather substantial and now the pieces are coming together even more clearly, even if the greater picture is still completely obscured.
Now, go ahead and brew a pot of coffee and get yourself a slice of pie so that we can go ahead and dive into this episode, shall we?
To make things easier to follow, I’m going to discuss events as a whole rather than in the order that the show presented them, which is fragmented and spread out.
One of the big story arcs that we followed in this episode was the return of Richard Horne. We see him visit Marianne’s (Mary Anne?) trailer where she immediately tells him that he’s not welcome. In fact, she claims to not only have called the police and reported him for the hit and run that occurred in the sixth episode but also that she mailed a letter to the sheriff’s department explaining that it was his fault. Furious, he bursts into her trailer and kills her, leaving the gas running with a lit candle in the room.
Afterwards, he calls Chad at the police department to have him intercept the letter. When he learns that Chad did this – he manipulated Lucy and then got to the mailman before it was taken inside the station – he goes to Sylvia Horne’s, his grandmother, home, where she is tending to Johnny. In what can only be described as an intense and surreal scene, Richard assaults Sylvia and demands the code to the safe, where he proceeds to rob her. Meanwhile, Johnny is tied to a chair and table with a strange stuffed animal in front of him that constantly repeats the line, “Hello Johnny! How are you today?” Serene music plays in the background while Sylvia is horrified at Richard’s actions and Johnny is struggling to get free at the sight of his mother in distress. Richard states that he is now leaving town and spews more vile and hateful slurs at Sylvia.
Post this event, Sylvia calls Benjamin Horne to explain what happened before proceeding to berate him and demand more money, saying she’s going to call her lawyer. After they hang up, Benjamin asks Beverly out to dinner. Perhaps the restrained tension we’ve been seeing for several episodes will finally manifest into something?
Coming to Dougie/Cooper, we first see him when Jane takes him to the doctor for a checkup to see what’s going on. There, she suddenly notices the peak physical condition he’s in and is clearly aroused. Later that night, she tries to seduce him – in his current state, it flies right over his head – before taking him to bed and having a damn fine time. I have to say that it’s one of the funniest scenes I’ve seen in “Twin Peaks”, especially because of how oblivious Dougie/Cooper is during the event. He practically does a “dead fish” and just lies back allowing Jane to have her way with him. Afterwards, there is a tender moment where all the frustration, irritation, and anger that Jane has been showing towards Dougie melts away as they cuddle in post-coital bliss. This loving moment continues into the next morning as Jane is being playful and intimate with Dougie before taking him to work.
However, not all is paradise as Dougie and Jane don’t realize that there are forces conspiring against them…well, him in particular. The strange office man, Duncan, calls in Anthony, the man from Dougie’s insurance company. He instructs him to go to the Mitchums – the brothers who own the casino that Dougie won multiple jackpots at – and explain that it was Dougie’s fault that an insurance claim they put in for over $30 million wasn’t approved. The plan is to get Dougie out of the way, by whatever means necessary. Later, as the Mitchums discuss the information they’ve received, they conclude that Dougie needs to die.
During this whole scenario, Candy, one of the three women in the pink dresses, is given more of a role. First, she tries to kill a fly in the Mitchum’s house only to accidentally slam Rodney across the face, causing him to bleed. Later, she’s asked to bring Anthony into the control room at the casino and she certainly takes her sweet time doing so.
Continuing the storyline of Gordon, Tammy, and Albert, we see the first two observing Albert as he’s on a date. They are taking a lot of pleasure in this moment, although it seems that it’s out of genuine love for him and happiness that he can turn off his sour demeanor, even if only for a dinner date.
Later, Gordon is in his hotel room drawing a strange image of a four-legged beast with tall antlers and an arm reaching out towards it. He puts it away when Albert comes to his room. When he opens the door, he sees flashes of Laura Palmer in a shocking moment. The hallucinations fade away and Gordon invites Albert in where they discuss text messages that have been coming and going from Diane’s cellphone, including the one that Evil Cooper sent her. This seems to ring true to Gordon, who states that they need to keep her close. Tammy then comes to the room where she reveals a photograph from the room with the mysterious glass box from the first episode. The photo shows Evil Cooper standing next to it with another man, although we are given no more information about this.
The episode ends with an uninterrupted performance by Rebekah del Rio of “No Stars”, a song that was co-written by David Lynch. Fans will recognize her as the woman who sang “Llorando” from Mulholland Drive. It’s a breathtaking performance and she looks stunning in a dress that echoes the floor of the Black Lodge, especially with the red curtains behind her.
Interestingly enough, the episode ended with a few minutes to spare. For us fans who have waited more than two decades for new episodes, one ending early stings quite a bit. That being said, for all we know, there will be an episode that goes over by a few minutes, so I’m not grabbing my pitchfork just yet.
Here are some side events that didn’t take up much time but should be noted:
-There’s a scene where Harry Dean Stanton is playing his guitar outside the Trout Trailer Park manager’s office. He sees a cup get through through the window of another trailer and inside is Steven and Becky, the former of whom is screaming and physically threatening the latter. It’s the first we’ve seen of them since the fifth episode.
-Dr. Jacobi does another livestream where he is trying to peddle his gold shovels. Nadine Hurley seems to be eating it all up and we see that she’s watching from her office in Run Silent, Run Drapes, a store dedicated to the idea she came up with in the original series.
-Jerry Horne is still lost in the woods and is trying to get reception. This man needs a search party called for him.
-During the meeting between Anthony and the Mitchums at the casino, the music underneath sounds like a new version of Badalamenti’s “Night Life in Twin Peaks”.
-Hawk has another phone call with the Log Lady. She recites cryptic lines, which echo her meeting with Laura in Fire Walk With Me. She ends by saying, “Laura is the one“.
The forward progression with Dougie makes me feel like he’s slowly coming around. I don’t know why but this is the first time where I felt like he’s beginning to make progress and isn’t just reacting to outer stimuli, although it’s in extremely subtle ways.
Seeing Richard and his evil ways being taken out on Sylvia as well as Marianne (Mary Anne?) only leads me to believe that we’re going to see a righteous retribution and I cannot WAIT for that moment.
As for Gordon, Tammy, and Albert, I feel like they’re going to realize that Twin Peaks is the center of everything and that they will need to journey there. I can’t wait for the moment when Gordon runs into Shelly again! Now that I think about it, that might be awkward with Tammy in the picture…
Again, this episode moved several stories forward. Rather than introduce new threads, we were able to see specific storylines that have already been brought up receive more attention. We still don’t have specific answers or closures to any of them but we are getting closer to something clicking. Nothing that has occurred is falling by the wayside. Rather, everything’s unfolding as Lynch and Frost wish them to and purely on their own terms.
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