Twin Peaks 3.14

‘Twin Peaks’ 3.14 Recap: “We Are the Dreamer Who Dreams”

The ‘Twin Peaks’ episodes without Dougie are decidedly better than the episodes with him and show the potential of what this new season could, and should, be. It’s a shame there are so few like this.

Buckhorn, South Dakota

Gordon phones Twin Peaks to return a call from Sheriff Truman. He assumes that means Harry. After a brief bit of comedic misunderstanding with Lucy on the phone, he’s introduced to Frank, who tells him about the recent discovery of the pages from Laura Palmer’s diary, which mention the possibility of two Coopers. Gordon thanks him but strangely doesn’t question any further or ask to see the pages.

Albert tells Tammy the story of Blue Rose case #1. In Olympia, WA, a woman named Lois Duffy was murdered by another Lois Duffy, her doppelganger, who spoke the line “I’m like the blue rose” and vanished into thin air. The arresting officers on the scene were Gordon Cole and Phillip Jeffries. When Albert asks Tammy what this means to her, she points out that a blue rose isn’t found in nature and would have to be manufactured.

Gordon interrupts their conversation, followed by Diane. Gordon asks about the last night she saw Cooper. Diane doesn’t want to talk about it, but eventually admits that Cooper mentioned Maj. Briggs that night. Albert tells her about the ring found in Briggs’ stomach with an inscription to Dougie from Janey-E. Diane recognizes the names. Her half-sister is nicknamed Janey-E, and she’s married to a man named Douglas Jones. Diane and her sister are long estranged (which would explain why she didn’t know Dougie was a doppelganger of Cooper). Gordon thanks her for her help and calls the FBI’s Las Vegas office to put out an APB on Douglas Jones. Apparently, there are 23 men by that name in the Las Vegas metro area.

Gordon then launches into a story about the dream he had last night, in which he had coffee with Monica Bellucci. (The actress cameos as herself, without any dialogue.) At first, this seems like another of David Lynch’s frivolous non-sequiturs, but the dream eventually segues into memories of Gordon’s last interaction with Phillip Jeffries (David Bowie, posthumously cameoing via a clip from ‘Fire Walk With Me’). Gordon and Albert both remember Jeffries pointing to Dale Cooper and asking, “Who do you think this is there?” All of this strengthens their belief that Cooper has a doppleganger.

Twin Peaks & the Woods

Frank, Bobby, Hawk and Andy arrest Deputy Chad. Frank says he’s been on to Chad’s dirty dealings for months.

Next, Bobby leads the other three through the woods toward an old Air Force listening post station where his father used to work. They don’t go that far, because on the way is the Jack Rabbit’s Palace mentioned in Maj. Briggs’ note. It’s a giant tree stump that Bobby used to play at when he was a kid. Per the instructions in the note, they put soil in their pockets and hike to the coordinates Briggs provided.

In a clearing in the woods, they see smoke and flashing lights. A naked woman lies on the ground. It’s the eyeless girl Cooper encountered in Episode 3. She grunts unintelligible words. A vortex opens up in the sky above them. Suddenly, Andy vanishes.

Andy appears inside the Lodge, or some other waiting area. (It’s not the Red Room.) The Giant sits across from him and introduces himself as “The Fireman.” A strange-shaped box materializes in Andy’s hands. Smoke issues from it and floats to a window in the ceiling. Without ever saying a word, Andy looks up and sees a number of strange, sometimes scary images – the freakish “mother” monster that spat out eggs in Episode 8, the dirty Woodsmen, the convenience store, Laura Palmer, Agent Cooper and Mr. C, himself and Lucy, the eyeless woman, and finally an electrical pole with number 6 written on it (first seen in the Fat Trout trailer park in ‘Fire Walk With Me’, also glimpsed earlier this season but inexplicably transplanted to Twin Peaks when Richard Horne ran down the little boy). The smoke then retracts back into the box and Andy blinks out of the room.

Andy reappears in the woods, now carrying the naked woman. He somehow knows things all about her and announces clearly that she is very important and that people want her dead. They need to bring her to the sheriff’s station and lock her in a cell to keep her safe. Frank and Hawk seem disoriented. They have no memory of what happened to them the last few minutes.

Back at the station, Andy and Lucy put the woman in a cell and try to make her comfortable. In neighboring cells are the indignant Deputy Chad and a drunk man with a bandage on his face and blood dripping from his mouth. The drunk infuriates Chad by repeating everything he says. Then, when the girl makes grunting noises, he responds with animal sounds. Chad angrily joins in with more animal noises for a moment, making a twisted corollary to the famous scene in the original ‘Twin Peaks’ pilot episode where Bobby Briggs and his friend Mike barked like dogs from these same jail cells.

The Great Northern

We just saw James Marshall performing on stage at the Roadhouse last week, being treated like a rock star. It turns out that his regular job is a lowly security guard at the Great Northern. At night, he sits on a loading dock, taking a break with a younger guard named Freddie. The latter wears a green glove on one hand and claims that he can never take it off. When James asks about it, Freddie (who’s from England) launches into a very long and involved story about being sucked up into a vortex in the air and meeting a strange man called The Fireman, who told him where to obtain the glove. He was told that the glove would give him the power of a pile driver, and he should travel to Twin Peaks to find his destiny.

After listening to all this, James leaves to go check on a furnace. Deep in the bowels of the hotel basement, he hears the ringing noise that has puzzled Ben Horne and Beverly.

Elk’s Point #9

Sarah Palmer wanders into a seedy drinking establishment called the Elk’s Point #9 Bar. (Could the 9 be an inverted 6?) She sits at the bar hoping to drink in solace when she’s approached by a dirtbag with no good intentions. When she bluntly tells him to mind his own business, he really turns up the charm and says some nasty things to her.

Warning “I’ll eat you,” Sarah reaches up and pulls off her face, much as Laura had removed her face to Cooper in the Red Room – but instead of a blinding light, she has a dark void underneath. Images of a hand and teeth are seen inside. Growling “Do you really want to fuck with this?”, Sarah lashes at the man and tears out his throat. He falls to the floor dead. Sarah replaces her face and screams, feigning ignorance about what happened. The bartender rushes over and yells out for someone to call 911. He’s suspicious of Sarah and questions what happened. She frightens him with the sarcastic response, “Sure is a mystery, huh?”

The Roadhouse

More new characters we’ve never seen before are introduced sitting in a booth at the Roadhouse. The two women talk about someone named Billy, and one believes that her mother Tina is having an affair with him. As they talk, their story lines up with the missing Billy that Audrey Horne ranted about to her husband (which would disprove a fan theory that Audrey is an actress starring in an ‘Invitation to Love’-style soap opera). The girl claims that the last she saw Billy, he had blood running from his nose and mouth. Could they be talking about the drunk in the jail cell?

The episode ends with a performance by the band Lissie, who belt out a much more energetic song than the usual moody ballads performed at this club.

Episode Verdict

My feelings for this new season of ‘Twin Peaks’ continue to swing wildly from one extreme to another. I quite liked this episode, which deepens the show’s mythology, addresses (if not quite answers) some lingering mysteries, and starts to tie together side stories that may have seemed extraneous until now. I found it very unexpected and amusing that Andy was chosen to talk to the Giant.

Sarah pulling off her face is a disturbing moment, especially since she does it in the normal world, not in the Red Room or a dream. Ever since Episode 8, fans have speculated that Sarah might have been the young girl whose mouth the frog-bug thing crawled into. While that may or may not be true, her method of attacking the dirtbag is very reminiscent of the way the monster killed the two kids in New York City. I suspect it may have escaped into the world and possessed Sarah.

The episode is also well balanced with some pretty effective humor. A bit where Gordon’s hearing aid goes on the fritz due to an overzealous window washer, and another where the local FBI chief in Las Vegas screams at his subordinate for no reason, are some classic Lynchian quirky comedy.

1 comment

  1. This was my favorite episode of the season, which I’ve said a few times already, and am guessing may say one or two more times before it all ends.

    Lynch has managed to make most other TV shows uninteresting to me. I don’t think he’s getting nearly the credit he should over how innovative this series has been in terms of what can be done on television.

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