And just like that, the pacing hits high gear, and several plot points unspool and connect.  It almost feels like too much is happening all at once, as it’s hard to know what is significant as even more elements are introduced, late in the game.  Yet it’s the right time, since after this installment, there are only four hours left in the concluding saga of Twin Peaks.

 

 

The episode starts with several Blue Rose revelations, particularly the knowledge that it was the first encounter with doppelgangers by Gordon Cole and Philip Jeffries that started the Blue Rose cases.  Philip Jeffries has been a huge part of the mythology this season, which makes the absence of David Bowie all the more unfortunate.  Yet it’s enough to know that he is apparently operating outside of linear time, which meshes well with the indications that time isn’t quite working the way it should be this season.  And Philip seems to be at the heart of understanding the work being done to put Killer Bob and his Black Lodge brethren back where they belong.

 

None of which is a huge surprise, even if it signals why so much attention has been on Gordon and Albert as the current faces of the Blue Rose taskforce.  The real surprise is how the dots connect with the phone call with Sheriff Truman and the pages from Laura’s diary, and then the bombshell that Diane and Janey-E are related.  It’s a surprisingly easy way to get the agents to Dougie before they follow up on the coordinates, to say the least, and the kind of plot convenience that somehow delights more than irritates.

 

 

Things get even more interesting when the Sheriff and his deputies go to the spot that Major Briggs indicated in his secret message to Bobby.  I was expecting the standard red curtains, but things got a lot more interesting than that, to say the least.  I definitely wasn’t expecting the woman with the distorted face to come back again, but that seems to connect with the notion that the “mother” is the ravenous entity that birthed Killer Bob and has appeared now and then since the start of the season.

 

Andy becomes the chosen spokesperson for The Fireman (the new name for the Giant), and receives a very interesting synopsis of the events to date and instructions on what to do next.  Since it’s all communicated through imagery (not unlike the strange “origin story” for Killer Bob and Laura), it keeps the full resolution of the season mysterious while giving Andy a lot more to do as matters progress.  It’s great to see a lot of the older characters getting their time to shine.

 

 

That includes James Hurley, who I thought would barely be more of a presence than his short appearances to date.  So it’s shocking to see him with that co-worker who has a direct connection to The Fireman and has been given power that will apparently come in rather handy (no pun intended) when the final showdown comes to pass.  What part will Freddie have to play?  Considering we saw how freakishly strong Dark Cooper is in the previous episode, perhaps there is a connection.

 

Then there is Sarah Palmer, who appears to be herself until she is threatened.  And then she reveals that she is something very different.  It’s not entirely clear what has happened, but the easy speculation is that this isn’t Sarah at all, but rather the “mother”, who ate the couple watching the glass box in New York City all the way back in the first episode of the season.  Equally possible is that Sarah doesn’t know she’s been “infested”, which would be sadly ironic given what happened with Leland and Laura.

 

 

There are so many connections made and plots advanced that the conversation between Tina’s daughter about Billy seems almost meaningless.  That said, it does seem to debunk the theory that Audrey is still in a coma, and also appears to connect with the bleeding drunk in the cell at the police department.  Having Chad down in the same cells seems like a very bad idea, since Chad is connected to Richard Horne and Richard seems destined to be connected to Dark Cooper.  But that’s just speculation, since many of the conversations in the Roadhouse have proven to be elusive in their connection to the larger narrative so far.