3x10 Part 10

[7.1/10] I do want the real Dale Cooper to come back. I’m still hoping to see him say “damn fine coffee” and reunite with all his old pals once more. But man, I am absolutely loving The Dougie Show. There is something so so funny about the way that the rest of the world revolves around him, that people project their affections and resentments and concerns on him while he dodders blithely through it all.

MacLachlan’s proven himself the sort of physical comedian who can make it all work. His simpleton consumption of chocolate cake while his wife tries to get his attention, his flapping arms while they’re in the throes of passion, the stupidly gleeful look on his face at the moment of truth, all just drive home the comedy of this dope being stuck in this web of deceit and murder and domestic squabbles so well.

That web, once again, looks a little clearer this week. We find more connections between Dougie, the men who own the casino where he won big (The Mitchum brothers), his insurance company, and The Bad Dale’s associate in Vegas.

The short version is that the Mitchum brothers had a hotel burn down, and their claim is in the hands of Dougie’s lying coworker, Anthony. Anthony is in cahoots with Duncan Todd, Mr. C’s man in Vegas, and is told to turn the Mitchums on Dougie lest Anthony be required to take Dougie out himself. Anthony’s malfeasance in handling this claim seems to be what Dougie’s boss uncovered, and the Mitchums have a preexisting grudge against Ike the Spike, Todd’s assassin who attacked Dougie. Once more, the disparate threads are being tied together, to where more is starting to make sense.

It’s compelling, both for the weirdness of the interludes between the Mitchum brothers and their spacey showgirl, Candy, and for again, the Kafkaesque sense that all these threats -- the Mitchum brothers, Anthony, Todd, Mr. C, etc. -- are springing up around a man who wants to do little more than enjoy a nice piece of chocolate cake.

We also see Richard Horne go on a pretty unpleasant rampage, where he seems to be carrying on the proud Twin Peaks tradition of someone not needing to be inhabited by Bob to do awful things. His killing of Miriam is tastefully shot and revealed, but still pretty unpleasant. We learn that he too is in cahoots with someone -- Chad, the prick officer at the Sheriff’s Office, who intercepts Miriam’s letter for Richard. And then we get our first real look at Sylvia Horne and her still developmentally challenged son Johnny (sans headdress, but still wearing distinctive headgear).

I’ll say this for Lynch, he always knows how to mix something horrible with something absurd. The scene where Richard assaults his grandmothers is utterly disquieting and filmed with unflinching brutality, but the disquieting nature is only heightened by the repetition of the “Hello Johnny” from the grotesque-looking teddy bear on the Hornes’ table, and Johnny’s flails and cries for help, not understanding the situation as his mother is powerless to stop it. I’ll say this for Richard Horne -- Lynch & Frost haven’t made him an especially deep character, but they’ve quickly established him as as much of a despicable antagonist as you could ever want or even stomach.

That just leaves a scattered handful of other scenes and vignettes. Carl Rodd plays a soothing song on acoustic guitar while hearing the equally terrifying domestic abuse between Becky and her boyfriend. It works well both in showing Carl’s disgust with the horrors of the world and giving us a glimpse at the dark side of Becky’s existence we only had hints of in her first appearance.

We also get some random, if semi-interesting stuff. Albert is having dinner with Constance, in what seems like a perfect match, and Gordon and Tammy silently gushing over it is a nice touch. Nadine is still watching Dr. Jacoby’s rants, enraptured, and we see (via a sign) that she’s still invested in silent drape-runners. It seems pointless so far, but it’s amusing enough. The same can’t be said for Jerry Horne still being lost in the forest while high, but we get some movement in his brother’s storyline, as the trouble with his (presumably ex) wife and his grandson prompts Ben Horne to ask his assistant Beverly to dinner. I’ll admit, I don’t know what the point of this is, beyond showing that Ben is trying to be a good man and fails when the going gets rough, but we’ll see.

That just leaves the strange stuff. When Albert knocks on Gordon’s door, he sees a vision of Laura Palmer, lifted (I think?) from Fire Walk with Me, and hears the news that Diane has been texting in code with Mr. C, and sees a picture of him in the box from New York. Presumably this too is tying all the disparate Cooper threads together, but who can be sure?

Last and least, the Log Lady offers some of her typical doublespeak to Hawk, noting that the Sheriffs Truman are “true men” and that Laura Palmer is “the one.” I’ll admit, this seems like cryptic prose for cryptic prose sake, even if it ends up tying into the resolution of the season. I’m kind of tired of it, to be honest.

Still, a solid episode, with some more element coalescing and pointing us to the different parts of the story bearing on one another.