Twin Peaks The Return - Final thoughts

 Twin Peaks The Return - Final thoughts.

- The smoke has settled, it's been a few weeks, and as I sit here, recovering from the head cold from HELL I'm finally able to somewhat make sense over how wonderful and strange this journey David Lynch brought us on over this past summer.

To sum up quickly, for years now I have been a massive Twin Peak's fan for years. Having originally watched the first two seasons after a friend introduced it to me when I was fourteen or so, I instantly fell head over heels with how truly stunning, and weird this show was. I loved how quirky and strange it was. I loved the memorable characters, how over the top it all seemed, and most of all the mystery. For years the two seasons of Twin Peaks were huge favorites of mine that I re-watched constantly. In fact back in 2014 I even got a Twin Peaks/Agent Cooper inspired tattoo to pay tribute to a show I found so much comfort in watching. Around this time rumors were flying high about a season 3. For years fans wondered "How's Annie?" since the last episode that aired in the early 90's left several very frustrating cliffhangers. Laura did tell Cooper she would see him again in 25 years, so of course after the show became such a cult classic everyone was itching to see if another season would be possible. There have been tons of memorable TV series with avid fans (Star Trek, Buffy, Lost, GOT, Ect) but Twin Peaks fans are a special breed, and it would only make sense to at least see Agent Cooper one last time slurping coffee, and gobbling up cherry pie. After a stellar blu-ray box-set The Missing Pieces was released, Lynch and Frost basically broke the internet when they tweeted that our favorite gum was coming back into style. Before you knew it Kyle Maclachlan was teasing us on Twitter, and teaser posters began to be made. Finally a studio was chosen. This time Twin Peaks wouldn't be held back by networks on basic cable. No, they wouldn't have to worry holding back. This time they were given the green light by Showtime. 

I stayed fateful to keeping away from spoilers. I really can't express how much Twin Peaks means to me. It's my all time favorite show, so I wanted to see what it was like back in the early 90's when audiences originally watched the first two seasons weekly, without spoiling anything. Besides a few on set photos that leaked that I accidentally saw, I stayed far away. In fact, some people even asked me why I wasn't posting about the production/filming of season 3. Here I laid the cards out pretty truthfully. I wanted to go into this blind. A friend of mine messaged me saying they had worked on the effects on season 3 and could just say only one thing. I was going to love it. Of course I was excited, and May finally rolled around of this year. Lucky for me, the same friend who originally got me into Twin Peaks had Showtime so we made a plan every Sunday I would come over and we would watch it together. That night we stocked up on coffee and donuts, and as soon as the opening credits appeared, showing the faint ghost image of the stunning Laura Palmer...I felt goosebumps.

Here we got to see Agent Cooper (played by the wildly talented Kyle Maclachlan) now older, but still looking just as charming and handsome as he did all these years ago. He sits filmed in black and white and is joined by the giant who gives him two clues. 

4:30, Two Birds, One stone, and Richard and Linda. 

Cooper says he understands. 

I sure as HELL didn't.

We got to see Dr. J receiving a shipment of shovels living out of a trailer up the mountains, then switching to the stunning overview of New York City that makes it look as if the buildings are made out of crystal and glowing gold. Here we see that Lynch didn't see this as a season 3 but more as an 18 hour movie. I'll be the first to admit, the pacing drove me nuts at first. Lynch gave zero fucks frustrating the audiences. There are slow panned out scene with little to no dialog, and rarely explains anything. We're shown a young man paid to watch a giant glass box. He's visited by a cute girl who works down the block at a coffee shop. This whole scene is played out slow, and leaves you unsettled, honestly wondering what does it all mean? Why are all these cameras pointed at the glass box? Why is it kept such a secret? Who's paying for all of this? 

We're visited by old fan favorites such as the Horne brothers. Love that they made Jerry who was the family fuck up a huge stoner now in his 60's while Ben the once town villain now a humble older man with Ashley Judd working for him. Yep, you read that right. This is what I love, the amount of actors who were scattered throughout these 18 episodes were amazing. We see Lucy, still working behind the desk at the sheriff's station, still adorable as ever. It also explains that we have two Truman brothers (since the actor who played Harry is retired and didn't return) this was Lynch using this major roadblock to his advantage. Instead of re-casting he made him have an older brother. Works for me!

Finally, we're shown the doppelgänger Cooper. Remember? The one who stole Cooper's body and escaped The Black Lodge when he went to rescue Annie all those years ago? The one who smashes his head in the mirror after seeing his true reflection (the spirit of Bob) before laughing like a madman asking "How's Annie?" I somehow fucking forgot about this HUGE cliffhanger, and after 25+ years we're treated to see what he's been up to. The true MVP of this season is Kyle Maclachlan who plays several different roles. The Evil Mr. C was his best to date. Somebody give this man an Emmy! Tons of my friends love how attractive I was over his long hair. Hey, it worked for me okay? His intro with the slowed down version of American Woman playing as he travels down the dark road, before climbing out looking like the ultimate badass. I don't know if it was the hair, the leather jacket, or maybe the dead pan expression he gave but this was truly a chilling performance throughout the entire show. They took such a friendly nice guy who played such a good hearted/natured man, and turned him into pure evil. This was again clever on Lynch's part with working around the fact the actor who played Bob died years ago. I'll be the first to say evil Mr. C stole the show for me and was my favorite character.

We get a strange murder mystery a few states away when a woman is found with her head cut off and placed on a man's body. This man belonging to Major Briggs. (another actor who sadly is no longer with us but Lynch made a major part in this season.) We hear that Briggs died in a fire shortly after the events of season 2. How come his fresh corpse that somehow hasn't aged 25 years either? It all leads back to a married man the woman was having an affair with. It's rumored the two of them had discovered a different dimension (Black Lodge anyone?) clearly there's more than what meets the eye. We see Evil Mr. C is behind this, and leaves the audiences more confused than they originally are. What I loved was they were staying away from the cute quirkiness of the first two seasons. This was dark, violent, and bizarre. We also get to see the glass box again and just when the young man and his coffee shop girlfriend are about to get it on, something appears and legit rips them apart. We aren't in Twin Peaks anymore kids...

We follow Evil Mr. C and his crew and learn that he knows he's going to be pulled back to The Black Lodge soon. He has a plan to stop it. We return back to the memorable Black Lodge where Cooper meets some old friends (Laura, who looks absolutely beautiful) as well as her father, he meets the one armed man who serves as a guide as well as the evolution of the arm aka a brain or chewing gum on a tree. I'll be the first to admit, first time I watched this I was turned off by the effects. They seemed very low budget and rough around the edges. Best way to explain the effects in these Lodge scene were very late 90's NBC made for TV fantasy movies like Merlin or Mirror Masked. There were never ending strange scene that made me feel like I was dropping acid. Still, seeing the zig-zag floor lifting up as Cooper tries to leave made me floored as well as impressed. It goes to show Lynch gave zero fucks. Showing Mr. C crash his car and see the red curtain of the lodge as he covers his mouth and throw up the garmonbozia oozes out of him made me scream and cheer. Here we're shown that since the body is unavailable to have Cooper re-renter, the lodge makes him enter another body. Dougie Jones. An over weight insurance agent who's screwing around with a hooker named Jade (another MVP of the show) This is another role Kyle plays great. It's shown that Mr. Jones only exists for this sole purpose. Once the real Cooper enters him, he's now Dougie. He's slow, barley able to function (such as speak, repeating, following directions, even using the bathroom!) I found all of this a complete riot. "Jade give two rides!" or how he has The Great Northern key in his pocket after all these years. We see in this sketchy Vegas neighborhood where Dougie was shacking up, there are people waiting for him, guns aimed. It seems as if maybe people knew this sort of thing might happen. I loved the part where Dougie sees the Sycamore street sign and you see a faint click in his mind. The hooker gives him 5 bucks since he seems to have lost his keys to his car and drops him off at a casino. Here we're treated to showing Dougie aka Cooper has a little bit of the lodge still in him. He gives his five dollars and receives a cup of coins where he watches people do the slot machines and hears one of the men yell "Hellllloooo!" after winning. Dougie sees the symbol of the lodge above the machines and starts winning him, yelling this very memorable line. Just call him Mr. Jackpots!

Long story short he's brought back to his house where his wife played wonderfully by Namoi Watts, and son are waiting. It's clear the real Dougie was sorta a jerk. I love how nobody really questioned how strange he was acting the whole time. Kyle really sells this, show slow he walks, talks. I love when he sees the photo of Jade in another episode and lights up like a little kid saying "Jade! Jade give two rides!" I know some people were frustrated with the whole Dougie storyline, and trust me I get it, I was getting a little on edge towards the end, but after re-watching all 18 parts again, I understand exactly where they were going with this. My favorite of course is when Mike (the one armed man) appears in front of him and begs him not to die. Somehow this scene sent chills down my spine. We follow Dougie as tiny things from his life as Cooper screams out at him such as having coffee. I love watching him go to work, and seeing all isn't as it seems in the insurance world. Another thing that pulled at my heart strings was when he sees the statue of the police man. How he stares at it with wonder like a child, reaching up. I would like to believe this was him thinking of his friend Harry. Dougie became a staple in this 18 hour movie. Not only was he lucky, but he had a certain kind of charm to him. I loved all his scenes with Janey-E (his wife), and Sonny-Jim (his son) how quickly Cooper as Dougie fixes everything. Between winning all that money and paying off the debt, fixing the horrible things going on at his work involving the Mitchum brothers. What I LOVED was how much I enjoyed the Mitchum brothers. Every scene they were in with the girls (mostly Candie) was hysterical. Candie with the remote trying to kill the fly KILLS me every time. I love whatever this girl was on, because she was high as a kite and said some of the best lines. The scenes with the Mitchum brothers and Dougie were some of the best and became huge favorites of mine very quickly.

I loved the sex scene between Janey-E and Dougie. (She knew EXACTLY what she was doing when he took that shirt off) I love how after the car, and gym set, and everything else you see this family coming together. The goodbye scene between them broke my heart, but the final shot of the new Dougie (improved thanks to Cooper) filled my heart with joy. It was so good to see some characters get a happy ending. Still, I cheered when finally Cooper figured out how to wake up. I think we were all the one armed man when he finally said "You're awake...finally!" As soon as Kyle snapped out of it, he jumped right into Agent Cooper, like putting on a comfy pair of slippers on. Love this guy.

Speaking of Kyle, I need to gush more about Mr. C. What a villain. He was able to make himself into somebody absolutely terrifying. Watching him turn into this evil man was truly something that left me speechless. I watched him on this journey and loved every scene he was in. The prison scene honestly gave me chills. His slight slip-up speaking a word backwards, his emotionally moving scene with Diane put tears in my eyes, and how about when Ray shot him? After the NIN show and him sitting up I seriously screamed out loud. One of my favorite characters this season. Loved the disturbing history behind this character. How he very well was responsible for the death of Major Briggs, or how he fathered a child with poor Audrey Horne while she was in a coma from the bank explosion. Fan theories and rumors flew and were finally confirmed. I still say Audrey's backstory was the most tragic. How he abandoned everyone, left town, dropped off the grid, raped Diane his good friend as well, and then turned into a drug dealing, murderer, using Cooper's body for the worst things possible. His black eyes were soulless, and he truly was one of the best things about this season. Loved the shot of him in prison when you see a slight glimpse of Bob as his reflection and he says "You're still with me, good." What a total bad ass. His arm wrestling scene with Derek Mears had me screaming, as was his scene finding Philip Jeffries (again Lynch working around the passing of David Bowie) and using a giant tea kettle...yes you read that right. Up to him becoming face to face with his adult son Richard Horne, and using him to test out the coordinates he's been given throughout his journey, only to have his son killed. Loved his little sigh before simply saying "Goodbye my son." and turning and walking away. Stone cold mother fucker. I will admit his showdown at the end was a little lackluster. Not the ending I expected after all this buildup.

But let's backtrack a little. I love how Gordon and Albert were huge players this time around (it meant a lot to me since Miguel is no longer with us.) that these two older gentlemen along side Tammy (who fans didn't like? I loved her) basically re-opened the Blue Rose case. This trio was amazing, and kicked major ass. Gordon and Albert cracked me up (between Gordon not hearing a damn thing, Albert hating life walking in the rain, Gordon's French date, and the adorable scene of Gordon and Tammy watching Albert have dinner with a girl who finally gets his dry sense of humor. This team kicked major ass, and it made the scene of them seeing Mr. C in prison even more unsettling. I loved Gordon talking about his "We are the dreamer" scene, as well as them working all together to solve this mystery. We also get the highly talented Laura Dern onboard as Diane. The unseen presence of Cooper's tape recorder. Her acting when she comes face to face with Mr. C was moving, as well as haunting. Loved her style, as well as her "Fuck" everything attitude. It killed me when she admitted Mr. C raped her, and then she goes to the black lodge. What did unsettle me as the final two episodes. I had a feeling who she was all along, but that red wig? Argh! I know the white/blond hair was a wig but the red was horrible. Also something between her and Cooper just didn't mesh. I would have rather seen him team up with Audrey...

Speaking of Audrey. I adore Sherilyn Fenn and feel she got royally fucked by LFB when the first show aired with her not becoming Cooper's love interest. If I was Lynch I would have been bullshit. Still, for episodes we didn't see Audrey, and everyone began to wonder what was going on? When she finally did appear, everyone sat back speechless, maybe included. Was this really one of the most memorable characters from the original run? Her last appearance made up for all of that. After countless frustrating scenes talking about characters we don't know and bickering with her tiny husband Charlie, she goes to the Roadhouse looking for her lover Billy (?) when suddenly the MC announces Audrey's dance is next. Here we watch her almost in a haze start to slowly dance to the same music she once danced to as a teenager. This scene was truly something. When a fight breaks out, Audrey snaps out of it grabbing her husband saying "Please get me out of here!" when BOOM you see Audrey in a white room, her face clean of makeup, staring at her reflection. She's just as confused as the audience as she goes "What?!" and that's the last we see of her.

I know there was holdups and trouble on set, but I'm sorry I would have KILLED to see Kyle and Sherilyn together again. Like before fan theories were all over the place with her. Finally it was confirmed by Richard himself, that he was indeed her son. That Mr. C did visit her when she was in the ICU and raped her when she was in a coma after the bank explosion. Besides that we know very little and it's up to the audience to wonder what happened to her and where is she? Is she still in the coma? Did she go insane? Is she dead? Is she in the black or white lodge? Nobody knows. Still, I can't feel horrible knowing she's trapped somewhere. She was raped by a man she thought she could trust, and even had feelings for. She was left pregnant, gave birth to a deeply disturbed child, and now? Who knows? I would have loved to see her be the one instead of Diane to be rescued. I can still pray for a season 4, but that last shot will forever leave a lasting impression on me.

Speaking of Richard played by the talented Eamon Farren who perviously worked with Lynch's daughter Jennifer in the thriller Chained played another great villain. Right from the start you know this guy is crazy. He's violent, threatens with sexual abusive, has dirty cops paid off, helping deal/doing drugs, and accidentally hits an innocent child in the road before taking off. That scene was heartbreaking and the late Harry Dean killed me as he knelt by the mother who was holding her dead boy in the road. We follow Richard as he brutaly beats the only witness to the hit and run nearly to death, before showing up at his grandmother's (Silvia Horne) and his uncle Johnny. (Am I the only one who LOVED that talking light up bear?) This scene floored me by how intense and disturbing it was. Whatever has happened in the past 25 years left some very bad blood between the Hornes and his young man. I was rooting for him to meet up with Cooper (who right from the start I was convinced was his father) when they finally did and Richard had his very electrifying send-off, and Cooper said out loud "Goodbye my son." my heart broke for Audrey. Her only child who was deeply disturbed died at the hands of the man who raped her. In fact I found the whole Mr. C/Audrey/Richard storyline the most interesting. So much in fact in 2 weeks I'm getting another Twin Peaks inspired tattoo paying tribute to these guys!

We got to see fan favorites (Shelly, Bobby, Norma, Nadine, Big Ed, Hawk, Andy, ect) and any scene back in town felt like home. Shelly and Bobby are now divorced but have a young adult daughter Becky who's married to a scumbag named Steve who everyone thinks is so charming when in reality he's a junkie who beats his wife and is constantly borrowing money from his mother in-law. I loved the scene of him and Becky snorting drugs and how Lynch was able to capture Becky's drugged up haze. Beautiful. Norma is running a chain of RRs and doing quite well for herself (zero mention on Annie though, hummm...) but her scene between Ed a her after Nadine finally allows him to be happy was one of the most heartwarming scenes in the whole series. Another truly beautiful scene that made me smile. I loved all the moments of the late log lady calling Hawk (the episode where they state she's passed killed me.) as well as Andy and Lucy still clueless, and still in love. The Wally scene killed me. Only on this show...

Also Robert Forster playing Frank Truman won me almost instantly. I missed Harry, but found it respectful how they went about him not being there. The scene that really warmed my heart was when he skypes with the doc. It filled me with dread when I heard about Audrey, but also made me smile. He brought a certain warmth to it, and his very sad backstory with his wife and son made him even more human. 

Also episode 8. Yikes. When it originally aired I was like WTF? After several re-watches, this simply shows Lynch isn't for everyone, and he did what he wanted this time around. I respect it, and can see the beauty of this episode. What I loved the most of the birth of Bob, and Laura being sent to earth. The moment her face is shown in the gold glitter ball made me tear up. So tragic, yet so beautiful. 

I love that we didn't get to find out what happened to Donna (sorry never cared for her nor the actress!) but James has his new friend Freddie with his green glove (I called the showdown at the end episodes ago, and found it a little lackluster, but charming.) loved Shelly's line about James always being cool. Basically that Lynch giving us all the finger. I loved seeing Bobby now turned around and as a deputy. The scene of him talking with his mother made me smile. Goes to show not all is lost in this town. We witnessed Hawk solving clues (loved when he found the missing pages of the diary) as well as the highly unsettling and disturbing scenes with Sarah Palmer. I think this was setting up for Judy, our next villain. Between the scene at the bar, or the ending where she's smashing Laura's photo, I know had there been another season it would have been terrifying. The last two episodes were a bit of a let-down but I've re-watched and they have grown on me. I loved Cooper trying to go back into time to change history (Seeing Pete finally get to go fishing truly as a huge Twin Peaks van made me smile.) watching Cooper lead her through the woods as haunting and beautiful, but it teaches as a good lesson. You can't change the past. The final episode I feel really didn't do it for me. Maybe because it wasn't Audrey by Cooper's side, but something just seemed "off" I did love the final scene, where you learn people are in a different reality, and are different people. "Wait, what year is it?" and Laura's screams were everything. Again wish we could get a final season, but fingers crossed Frost finishes that book.

I love all of the Roadhouse performances (mostly Shadow by the  No Stars by Rebekah del Rio, and Wild West by Lissie.) this was a great platform to show amazing artists. Loved when The Veils performed and we see the young woman crawling on the floor screaming. I was convinced that was Linda! So many beautiful visually stunning scenes. So many great new and old characters. So many questions, and not enough answers. I'm grateful that I was able to witness The Return. It was a wonderful and strange ride that I never wanted to end.

5 stars!