3x07 Part 7

[7.3/10] If the first six installments of the show were about reintroducing this world, lingering in the details, and setting everything up, then the seventh was about actually moving the plot forward, delivering a few real answers, and keeping things moving. I imagine this will be the episode that most old school Twin Peaks fans enjoy the most of the show’s opening third or so, since it feels the most like what the show used to be.

That means we spend the first third or so of the episode in Twin Peaks itself, following where Hawk’s discovery leads Sheriff Frank, and checking in on a number of old faces. It didn’t do much for me, but the back and forth between Ben and Jerry Horne over Jerry being lost feels like the sort of quirk and comedy Lynch & Frost used to spin back in the 90s. We also get Deputy Andy on the trail of Richard Horne, which means Richard is probably off scot free.

On the other side of the coin, there’s something undeniably warm and sweet about Sheriff Frank’s skype session with Doc Hayward. Sure, it too advances the plot, letting us know that Doc saw Mr. C sneaking out of the hospital back in the day (where Audrey was in a coma!). But more than that, it works in parallel with Dianne’s pronouncement in this episode, that Doc saw that it wasn’t the Dale Cooper he’d known, and just feels authentically like a nice conversation between old friends. There’s a homespun charm to the conversation between the old sheriff and the old doctor.

(Warren Frost joins Catherine E. Coulson and Miguel Ferrer who seemed to live just long enough to reprise their roles in this revival, and if I were a more superstitious man, I’d say there’s some providence there.)

It all seems to be setting up Sheriff Frank coming to believe that the Cooper out and about in the world is not The Good Dale. To that end, Hawk’s discovery turns out to be not only the missing pages from Laura Palmer’s diary, but the ones where she wrote down Annie’s warning from Fire Walk with Me. It’s enough for him to call his brother Harry (who sounds worse for wear). Again, I’m impressed at how much continuity Lynch & Frost are playing with here, making meaningful follow-ups to things they set up decades ago.

The episode also closes in Twin Peaks, in one of those “this is more for local color than for plot advancement, and you either like it or you don’t.” Ben Horne and Ashley Judd have romantic tension around his office, while they try to locate an electric hum, the sort that tends to signify spiritual happenings in Lynchland. After a moment of letting it hang in the air, Judd goes home to her sick husband whom she fights with. Seems like the show’s going for a “exhausted by caring for a loved one at home and so finds solace in relationships at work” type of storyline, which didn’t do much for me here. But again, these sorts of local diversions are par for the course for Twin Peaks.

But apart from Twin Peaks, the story is advancing as well. As mentioned before, Diane meets with The Bad Dale face-to-face and concludes it’s not really him, confirming Gordon and Albert’s suspicions that there’s something missing “in here.” Laura Dern’s performance is a little overblown for my preferences, but I like the idea that she is pissed off at the FBI and anyone associated with it, drinking and smoking for comfort, and above all not in a great place. My pet theory is that The Bad Dale did something to her that started her down a bad path of disillusionment, and while the execution leaves something to be desired, the idea of her as this “tough cookie” lashing out at all these folks associated with her old life is an interesting one.

We also get The Bad Dale’s great escape. I like the vagueness of his references to Mr. Strawberry and “dog legs.” It adds a cryptic menace to these unspoken events, and the Warden’s reaction to Mr. C’s calm-voiced threats and demands tells us all we need to know. The Bad Dale is back on the road, and the smart money says he’s on a collision course with The Good Dale.

The Good Dale, however, is looking like less of a pushover by the episode. While a visit from the local cops (including David Koechner!) offers another opportunity for Janey-E to stand up for her husband even when she’s exasperated with him, Catatonic Coop gets his own moment in the sun.

When the small man who took out Lorraine last episode comes at him with a gun, Cooper moves his wife aside and disarms the little person before he can do any damage, receiving an assist from The Arm who tells him to squeeze the little man’s hand off the weapon. It evokes two notions: one, that once again, there is still part of the full-fledged Dale Cooper buried somewhere in Dougie, and two, that the denizens of The Lodge are still looking out for The Good Dale, trying to keep him out of trouble.

But there’s a third player to be concerned with as we seem headed for a Dale-on-Dale rumble. As the young military woman goes to investigate the mysterious murder scene that kicked off the revival, she uncovers a startling revelation (well, two to be more precise). The body that the local forensics team found belongs to none other than Major Briggs, and it’s the body of a man in his forties, suggesting that the good Major was stuck in the Lodge or regenerated there or some mumbo jumbo happened before he was pulled out and beheaded like this.

And there’s a mysterious figure, kept in the background and producing that same electric hum stalking the floor of the morgue that the young military woman is investigating. Who could it be? My money’s on Phillip Jeffries, but who knows.

Overall, it’s one of the most answer-filled and plot-moving episodes of the revival, and hell, the whole show, which ought to please some folks who felt like Lynch & Frost were spinning their wheels. There wasn’t much as transcendent or moving or jaw-dropping like there has been in prior episodes (though the Frank/Doc Hayward conversation comes close) but it certainly advances the ball.

(Oh yeah, what's with Jacques Renalt seemingly having survived his incident with Leland and going back to the Road House to ply his usual trade? Identical twin cousin? Wouldn't be the first time Twin Peaks has tried to pull that.)