After two installments that seemed to be treading water, Twin Peaks delivers an episode that might be the most “familiar” of the entire run to date.  It’s easily the most accessible episode yet, advancing a number of plot threads and giving some hope that all of this is leading somewhere.

 

 

The first major clue that this episode is going to propel the narrative forward is the plain and simple manner in which the pages found by Hawk in the previous installment are linked quickly and directly to a specific scene in Fire Walk With Me.  Not only does it give the audience a chance to remember that Laura’s diary (not the secret one) had pages missing, but that it was a plot point never resolved.  And the subsequent conversation between Sheriff Frank Truman and Doc Hayward starts putting the pieces together for the folks in Twin Peaks.

 

Another part of the equation is Diane’s encounter with Dark Cooper, and it is filled with dread from the moment that Albert tells Gordon that Diane is far from happy about the notion of seeing Cooper again.  Much is said about the night that Diane last encountered who she thought was Dale Cooper, but the exact incident is left to the imagination.  It’s easy to assume sexual assault, given Killer Bob’s nature, but David Lynch is all too talented at coming up with horrific scenarios.

 

 

Meanwhile, yet another sign of Cooper’s impending restoration comes when “The Spike” launches his attack on Dougie Jones.  Instead of sleepwalking through the attack, Dougie seems to invoke some of the old Cooper defense training.  It comes across as instinctual, as it should, and that shows the audience that Cooper really is inside that bewildered shell.  It’s just a question of how quickly he can be brought fully back into his true self.  (Though it’s hard to figure out what the “evolution of the arm”, or its doppelganger, was doing at that particular time; maybe he was working with the One-Armed Man to endure Cooper “doesn’t die”?)

 

Speaking of arcane, there is even an odd explanation given for Dark Cooper’s strange greeting to Gordon in “Part IV”.  Apparently it ties to the reversal of the fingerprint on the left ring finger of Dark Cooper.  Gordon outright mentions that this is the “spiritual finger”, which is meaningful when one considers that it would be the finger that the green owl ring might have once resided.  It all interconnects to give clues to the agents that Dark Cooper is not who he appears to be.

 

 

There is also confirmation that the body found in “Part I” is, in fact, that of Major Briggs.  That ties back to the conversation about the night that Cooper apparently disappeared (as well as the very end of The Secret History of Twin Peaks).  Of course, the body is also 25 years younger than it ought to be, considering the time of death was only days earlier.  So it once again suggests that there is a specific reason why the events of the story are happening at this specific time, at least within the narrative.

 

Among the remaining details (hints about Harry Truman and his illness, Andy’s secretive activities), there is a focus on the Hornes.  In particular, Ben has received the key to Cooper’s old room, which brings back his own memories about the old days.  And since there is mention of One-Eyed Jacks, and hints that Ben is still philandering, it’s starting to feel more and more like the old Twin Peaks is right around the corner.