**Spoilers ahead** I’m done trying to discover what “Twin Peaks” means or where it’s going, and though I’ll speculate a little bit, I won’t be surprised if I’m wrong. Patient and unhurried, “Twin Peaks” has settled into a kind of meditative groove with little bursts of absurdist comedy, but it’s starting to feel more and more like the original run “Twin Peaks” — less surreal and nightmarish than the first few episodes and less absurdly funny like episodes 3 and 4. But who knows, Lynch can always turn on a dime. To that end it’s easy to get impatient with “Twin Peaks” as it circuitously tells its story, but it does make lots of small and big connections to all the seasons past for the eagle-eyed viewer.
Here’s some highlights from last night’s seveneth episode:
Laura Palmer’s Ghost Still Haunts Twin Peaks
In last week’s episode, Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) found paper hidden inside the door of a bathroom stall. It turns out they are pages ripped out of Laura Palmer’s diary and they are prescient to say the least. But one page isn’t Laura’s. “My name is Annie,” it reads. “And I’ve been with Laura and Dale. The good Dale is in the Lodge, and he can’t leave. Write it in your diary.” (Of course this is where Laura and Dale are seen in the last moments of the finale of “Twin Peaks” season two). This is a reference to 1992’s prequel “Fire Walk With Me” and Annie Blackburn (Heather Graham). “Now I know it wasn’t BOB. I know who it is,” Laura writes which is presumably a reference to her father, Leland Palmer (Ray Wise) who was possessed by Bob.
Hawk and Sheriff Frank Truman (Robert Forster) rack their brains to puzzle things out, speculating that Leland may have ripped the pages out of her diary and hid them when he was brought into the police station for questioning. What does it mean? Hawk doesn’t know, but he’s sure it’s what the Log Lady meant him to find.
Truman then Skypes with Doc Hayward and they discuss when Cooper was released from the hospital in season two. “We all knew Coop, but that morning he was acting mighty strange,” Doc says, describing Cooper’s state of mind as he was discharged. “He turned and looked at me and……I saw that strange face again.” Which presumably means Bob. Start your speculation now that Cooper may have been involved in some of these murders early on or even from the beginning.
Diane Is Reunited With Dale Cooper… Sort Of…
Cooper’s longtime assistant Diane (Laura Dern) was found by Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) and basically told him to go fuck himself. He returns this time with FBI agent Gordon Cole (David Lynch) and he persuades the hot-tempered Diane not only to give them the time of day, but eventually coaxes her to visit the Dirty Cooper in South Dakota’s Federal Prison. She clearly doesn’t want to go, but eventually relents. It’s an emotional confrontation and likely because earlier on Diane alludes to a night she and Cooper had in the past which sounds like some kind of sexual assault. Once there, as she talks to this evil Doppelganger, she knows in her heart this isn’t the real Dale Cooper (something she also convinces Cole of). Again, it points to some potential shadier behavior of Cooper’s in the past.
The Assassination Attempt
Dougie Jones (the good Agent Dale Cooper) is still in his disoriented state. His car — which blew up last episode — has come to the attention of the police who attempt to question him about it. The protective and tough-as-nails Jane-E Jones (Naomi Watts) doesn’t make this easy though. On their way out of the building, Ike The Spike — the little man who went on a bloody rampage last episode — tries to kill Dougie, but suddenly and unexpectedly springs into action, disarming the man with FBI-like muscle memory. The weirdest part is the alien Tree from the Black Lodge suddenly appears in a vision and yells out instructions to Dougie/Cooper while he’s got the man down. “Squeeze his arm off!” it squeals and Dougie presses the would-be murderer’s hand so hard into the gun, it rips off a big piece of flesh. But Ike runs away before the police can arrive and we’ll surely see more of him another time.
The Major’s Lost His Head
Last episode it was confirmed that the headless body found by the Buckhorn, South Dakota police belonged to Major Garland Briggs (Don S. Davis). Army Lieutenant Knox who comes to investigate reports back to Colonel Davis that Garland is indeed the body in question. However, the autopsy shows that the body is that of a 42 year-old-man — right around the age Briggs would have been before he was presumed dead in the original “Twin Peaks” series. So how does a body discovered 25 years later still look as if it’s the body of a 40-something man? These are the “Twin Peaks” mysteries we have to live with for now. Oh yeah, when Knox arrives some freaky dark figure walks by her and we obviously can’t confirm what that is yet.
Doppelganger Dale Breaks Free
Dirty Dale Cooper has had enough of prison. He wants to talk to the Warden and apparently has shady information that he could blackmail him with. Dark Cooper drops some names (Strawberry and McClusky) and this spooks the Warden so much that he’s willing to give the man whatever he wants. Cooper isn’t interested in this criminal activity, he just wants to get out of prison. And his wish is granted.
Other appearances and ephemera:
— Last week a coked-out-of-his-mind Richard (Eamon Farren) mowed down an innocent child with his truck. He’s nowhere to be seen this episode, but his truck is found by police officer Andy Brennan (Harry Goaz). He questions the presumed owner of the truck who freaks out, asks Andy to leave and says he’ll meet him in the woods in two hours to discuss. Of course, he’s a no show and we’re left to wonder if Andy is actually that inept.
— Ben Horne and Beverly (Ashley Judd) try to find the source of a strange humming sound that has infiltrated the walls of the Great Northern lodge. Perhaps it connects to season two and the similar strange noises found in the halls of the motel where Briggs’ headless body was found.
— No band plays in the Bang Bang club this episode. Instead, a long, eerie frame just holds on the empty club as it’s being cleaned and scrubbed down. Booker T. & the M.G.’s famous song “Green Onions” plays in the background of this shot that feels like it goes on forever.
