3x03 Part 3

[7.2/10] Yeah, so, I’m going to stick with my tack from the prior episode and say that I have zero idea how to rate this episode. Which, I think, is good? Again, it provokes a reaction, and while I don’t know what to make of it, that’s still a good thing, especially compared to original recipe Twin Peaks which typically just left me rolling my eyes or putting my face in my hands.

The story of the episode, to the extent there is one, seems to be about The Good Dale returning to the real world, and The Bad Dale trying to stay put. Much of that is depicted in as surreal and outré a fashion as Lynch normally musters, that only really becomes enjoyable 10-15 minutes into the episode.

The opening portion of the episode, the one centered on Good Dale being stuck in some metal apartment floating in space, didn’t do much for me. Normally the symbolic and more high concept parts of the show are the ones that work for me, but this felt too inscrutable for even my tastes. There’s a certain amount of nicely disorienting style to the transparent quality of Cooper looking out from the balcony, or the stop and start movements, or the Pan’s Labyrinth-esque scare of the faceless woman gesturing to him (who’s maybe the creature that attacked the kids in the first episode?), but something about it just felt off and too opaque even for Twin Peaks.

I don’t know where Cooper was (some weigh station between the lodge and reality? Or some place cooked up by Bad Dale?). I don’t know how he got back. I don’t know who that woman that kind of looked like Audrey or Josie from the back was. And I don’t know what that giant face (Maj. Briggs?) saying “blue rose” (a la Fire Walk with Me) is all about. Maybe it’ll be explained later, but in the here and now, it was a big heap of confusing nothingness.

Thankfully, once Good Coop started to come back, the episode more or less found its rhythm. I appreciated the intensity of Bad Coop driving in his sportscar through the desert, trying to ensure the black lodge can’t get a hold of him. It’s great acting from Kyle MacLachlan, showing Evil Coop’s delirium. I believe he threw up creamed corn, which, as usual, has special meaning in Twin Peaks, and I wonder if the smell that the highway patrol can’t stand is burning motor oil a la Bob. Whatever the literal interpretation of the scene, I like the way it conveys the sense of visceral revulsion and being overpowered.

By the same token, I like the advent of “Dougie.” My interpretation is that Dougie was some kind of clone or duplicate or something that Evil Cooper created so that the black lodge would take it instead of him, presumably using the ring. It’s an interesting, if confusing idea that, true to the show, raises more questions than it answers. But there too, Dougie suffering at the onset of the change (replete with arm going numb, hello again Fire Walk with Me) is a nicely intense scene.

And the coup de grace (no pun intended) is Good Coop coming back. I really like that either because of Evil Coop’s shenanigans with the Fake Coop, or because of the interference from the box and room in New York City, or some other thing we don’t know yet, the Good Cooper is in a stupor, childlike, and imitative.

Again, it’s superb acting from Kyle MacLachlan. In particular, it’s an incredible physical performance. His halting walk, his blank gaze, his childlike repetition of what he sees and hears are all just perfect. It’s a convincing portrayal of a man who’s been completely wiped and is rebuilding himself one tenuous thought at the time. I sometimes tire of Lynch’s overly long scenes, but just letting MacLachlan command the screen with his strange but sympathetic portrayal of a full grown man with the expressive abilities of a toddler really works.

I’m definitely repeating myself, but I also don’t know what to make of his incredible luck at the casino via seeing the glimpses of the lodge above certain slot machines. Maybe it’s somebody in the lodge guiding him to help? Maybe he just has an aura about him? Whatever it is, the scene works for the strangeness of it, the supernatural clicking into place as he channels this strange energy back into the real world.

And it gives us an opportunity to see Gordon Cole and Albert again! A new (to us) agent named Tammy slinks around quite a bit and also reports what happened in New York City in the last episode to them. Presumably it’s a Blue Rose case or something, but there’s no time because they get a call that Coop’s been found and they’re off to go see him! It’s definitely a tease at the end of the episode, but it’s an inviting one. It’s nice to see the pair again (though Albert, on of my favorites from the original, sounds pretty damn different), and the prospect of them reuniting with Cooper is an exciting one.

Otherwise, we get a bizarrely long scene of Dr. Jacoby spray painting shovels gold. I don’t need to know why right now necessarily, but the episode spends an awfully long time on seeing every detail of it for no apparent reason.

We also get another scene of Hawk, Lucy, and Andy trying to figure out, per the Log Lady, “what’s missing.” The pacing of the scene is very awkward and stilted, but there’s a few funny moments. In particular, Hawk seeming to consider for a brief moment whether the chocolate bunny has anything to do with his heritage got a laugh out of me. But for the most part, it was an odd, not particularly entertaining interlude. (I forgot to mention that Good Coop being whisked along in the revolving door was some of the funniest physical comedy I’ve seen in a while).

Overall, I don’t really know how to feel about this one. I find myself excited by the plot of it, which is unusual for me and Twin Peaks. The idea of Good Coop coming back and Evil Coop resisting is a compelling one, and Gordon and Albert reuniting with Coop is very promising. I also love Kyle MacLachlan here, doing something amazing and weird with the character. But there’s a lot of strange, go-nowhere or opaque portions of the episode that just didn’t click with me. Once again, I don’t know what to make of most of this stuff, or even if I liked it or not, but there’s something kind of cool about the show existing in that zone of twilight, to where I don’t even know what I think about it.

(As a personal aside, Mrs. Bloom didn’t feel the same way, and gave up on the revival about 3/4 of the way through this one, with an amusing and memorable irateness at its very existence.)