***Turn back if your log is afraid of spoilers***
The end is near for the “Twin Peaks” revival and there’s not a minute to waste. We’re getting closer with the end of each episode (which is of course how time works), but last night’s hour was a doozy that set up an endgame more than any part had previously. We spent most of our precious time in Twin Peaks. There were (some) answers, flashbacks (Bowie!), one dreamy cameo, and a tough lesson in feminism that should serve as a warning to bother any woman who’s more into her Bloody Mary than she’s into you. Ouch.
We start in Buckhorn, South Dakota, where Gordon Cole (David Lynch) returns Sheriff Truman’s (Robert Forster) call about pages Hawk (Michael Horse) found in Laura Palmer’s diary, which had information indicating that there are “two Coopers.” Meanwhile, Albert (Miguel Ferrara) is giving Tammy (Chrysta Bell) some background on “Blue Rose,” which we finally learn refers to a 1975 case handled by Cole and Agent Jeffries (David Bowie) in Olympia, Washington, where a woman named Louis Duffy was shot in a motel room. As Louis was dying on the floor, she said, “I’m like the blue rose.” The woman who shot her was screaming in the corner and identical in every way to Louis Duffy. When Albert pushes Tammy to think about the case, Tammy says that the blue rose is unnatural.
Diane (Laura Dern) joins Cole, Albert, and Tammy, and grumbles that she doesn’t want to talk about the last time she saw Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), but tells them that he did mention Major Briggs. They explain to Diane that there was a ring inside the body of Major Briggs, inscribed with the following: “To Dougie with Love, Janey-E.” Diane informs them that she has a half-sister named Janey-E who’s married to one Douglas Jones. They’re estranged. But is she telling them the truth? She appears conflicted after revealing this information. Could it just be a way to get the gang to Vegas?
Gordon then tells them about ANOTHER Monica Bellucci dream he had. He was working in Paris when Monica called and asked him to meet at a certain café. She needed to talk to him. Cooper was there too, but Cole couldn’t make out his face. “We are like the dreamer who dreams and then lives inside the dream,” she told Cole. “But who is the dreamer?” He became uneasy when she asked that and turned around at her urging to see one of the most mysterious scenes in “Fire Walk With Me” in black-and-white: the one where Phillip Jeffries appeared and then disappeared, but not before pointing to Cooper in the Philadelphia office and asking, “Who do you think that is, there?” Cole says this is really something to think about. Albert agrees. I do too.
Back in the town of Twin Peaks, Bobby (Dana Ashbrook), Andy (Harry Goaz), Hawk, and Sheriff Truman set out into the forest. They find Jack Rabbit’s Place, where Bobby and his father used to tell tall tales. They also come upon fog and a naked woman with no eyes who was last seen in Part 3 falling into space. She’s clearly distraught and trying to cry out but she can’t or her words aren’t making sense to anyone. Then a vortex opens in the sky (like the one that entranced Gordon Cole a few episodes back) and this time Andy is taken through and he meets the character we once knew as the Giant (Carel Struycken) who introduces himself as “The Fireman.” Andy looks up and watches as a series of images play: Experiment, Woodsmen, “Gotta Light,” Laura Palmer with two angels by her sides, two Coopers, a telephone pole with the number 6 on it. Upon returning to Earth, Andy explains to the disoriented group that they must keep the naked woman safe. “She’s very important, and there are people that want her dead.”
We then check in on James (James Marshall), who as it turns out is a security guard at the Great Northern in addition to performing the old hits over at the Roadhouse. It’s James’ birthday, and his co-worker Freddie tells James a story about being sucked through a vortex and meeting the Fireman, who instructed a lost Freddie on how to acquire super strength by buying one blue gardening glove and placing it on his right hand. The Fireman told him that to find his destiny, just head on over to Twin Peaks, which he did. “Why me?” asked Eddie. “Why not you?” replied the Fireman. James goes to check the furnace, where that humming electrical noise continues to confound everyone.
Lastly, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) makes her way to a dive bar in town where she receives some unwanted attention from a bad dude wearing a t-shirt that says, “Truck You.” Despite her warnings, he’s relentless with his advances, accusing her of being a lesbian for not being taken with his charms. He gets increasingly uglier with his threats. When it’s clear she’s not interested and not going to tolerate his nonsense, her voice deepens into an unsettling growl and she quite literally takes her face off (like Laura did in the premiere). There’s some smoke, some spurts of electricity, a hand with what looks to be a very swollen finger, and a Cheshire Cat-like smile that will haunt your dreams. “Do you really wanna f*** with this?” Sarah asks before biting his neck off like an animal.
So was this the episode we’ve been waiting for? What are Diane’s intentions? How many other people are receiving life coaching from the Fireman? He must be good, right? And will anyone else be dumb enough to hit on Sarah Palmer? FINALLY, WHO IS BILLY?
See you next week!