Wait, So Twin Peaks Has Superpowers in It Now?

When we first returned to Twin Peaks The Return, many of us expected the unexpected and twisted up in anticipation of twists. But much like how Twin Peaks decided to go full-comedy a few weeks back, this week it shocked us once again by sort of becoming an X-Men type saga? At least two ostensibly normal characters revealed they have superpowers, a supernatural creature crossed over into our world and it should go without saying that Andy's interdimensional travel moment was, uh, unusual. "Part 14" was all very Blue Rose, guys. Oh, and Diane (Laura Dern) and Janey-E (Naomi Watts) are sisters! So yeah, this was a great episode. Let's talk about it!

We began with FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole (David Lynch) placing a very important phone call.

On the other end of the line was Sheriff Truman's brother Sheriff Truman (Robert Forster) who informed Gordon that his brother was very ill and he'd taken over his duties at the Sheriff's Department. But more importantly, they'd discovered the missing pages of Laura Palmer's diary and they seemed to confirm that there were TWO Agent Coopers out in the world. This tied into the next scene, in which Albert (Miguel Ferrer) explained the origins of the term "Blue Rose" to Tammy (‎Chrysta Bell‎). Apparently many years ago, a woman was found to have murdered her own doppelganger, which had disappeared upon death, but not before claiming to be "like a blue rose."

In other words, doppelgangers were nothing new to these fellas!

At this point Diane came in and confirmed that during her (unspeakable) run-in with Evil Cooper years earlier he'd confirmed that he'd seen Major Briggs, who now seems to be the most important lynchpin to this saga. But even more shockingly, Diane revealed that she was the estranged half-sister of Janey-E Jones, wife of Doug-E Jones, whose ring the team had found in Major Briggs' corpse. The team was now Vegas-bound!

Before that could happen, though, Gordon recounted the recurring dream he'd had about the actress Monica Bellucci (as herself). In the dream she mentioned something to him about how this existence is like the dreamer who dreams but decides to live inside the dream, but also, who is the dreamer? Stuff like that. Look, I don't meditate, so I don't understand half of this show. But in "Part 14" the main theme was how there's very little difference between a dream and a memory. So are the things we remember merely dreams, and vice versa? Is this entire existence just a fever dream inside a comatose Audrey Horne? These are questions.

Gordon also recalled that Agent Jeffries (the late David Bowie) had once questioned the identity of Agent Cooper, and even though Albert was THERE in that scene, in the present day he only suddenly came to remember that encounter as though for the first time. It's not clear if Agent Jeffries will impact the story any further (he was the one who'd ordered the hit on Evil Cooper), but it was still delightful to see him in that old clip from Fire Walk With Me. Man I love this world.

Back at the Sheriff's Station, the deputies laid out their lunches and then got to work arresting that one terrible deputy for police corruption! I guess because Lucy had personally witnessed him steal mail? I love that this show takes its sweet-ass time in every way, but occasionally just cuts to the chase in surprising ways. And I'm not going to lie to you, seeing this guy get dragged away in handcuffs was applause-worthy. Truly the worst.

Later the boys took a field trip to the woods, and specifically to the coordinates they'd discovered in that secret note from Bobby (Dana Ashbrook)'s deceased father Major Briggs. Almost immediately they came upon a foggy clearing where they discovered the writhing and confused body of that one eye-less Japanese woman from way back in Epiode 3! How'd she get here?

At this point a sky portal opened up and guess who got sucked in?

Andy, of all people! He then met the entity who at one point was called the Giant, and then later ???????, and now calls himself The Fireman. The Fireman then made Andy look up at the ceiling where he got a rundown of every weird thing that happened in Episode 8, including, in case he hadn't put it together yet, the fact that Agent Cooper had an evil doppelganger:

So that should clear that up! And to be fair, when Andy returned to the woods, he seemed coherent, lucid, and borderline competent? He picked up the frightened woman and told the others that they had to protect her, as she was in danger! I found it sweet that he and Lucy found an old bathrobe for her to wear, but I found it somewhat less sweet that the woman found herself surrounded by goons in the other cells.

Like this drunk dude who was leaking brackish fluid from his mouth and who mocked the woman when not behaving belligerently toward the corrupt deputy. This scene was a little much to handle, but oh well.

Gosh, I genuinely loved this little scene, in which the British kid with whom James works as a security guard at the Great Northern explained how his super-strong gloved hand came to be. Apparently he too had been whisked up into a portal and the Fireman instructed him to buy a green gardening glove, which would then give him super strength. And sure enough, the kid kept vaporizing walnuts via his grip. Even more creepily, apparently he'll bleed if he takes the glove off, meaning it's now a part of his body. Anyway, I'm not an expert on super powers, but it feels like this one will come in handy later. Right after this, James got up to investigate that low hum that had confused and delighted Ben Horne and Beverly a few weeks back. Do we think he's going to find that one glowing orb of Laura Palmer perhaps resting on a pile of greasy rags? Stay tuned!

So then this scene happened and it was incredible. Sarah Palmer ventured into a dive bar to have a delicious late night Bloody Mary, and a local scumbag sidled up to her and wouldn't leave her alone. Then after he ranted at her a bunch of sexist and homophobic slurs, she did this:

She opened her face to reveal that inside she was ALL of those predator shows she'd been watching on a loop in her house, and she too was hungry for flesh! (The Bloody Mary joke suddenly because a sick joke as well.) And at this point she RIPPED the guys throat out with her teeth.

Fortunately she didn't get any blood on her, but the bartender still looked very annoyed. Still, I think we can all agree that Sarah Palmer is slightly stranger now than she used to be, and let's hope she exacts a little more justice against the scumbags of Twin Peaks! I would watch that spin-off.

We concluded with a low-key but still mysterious conversation between two women about the legendary Billy, a character we still haven't met. In this case the woman recounted a memory as though maybe she'd dreamt it, in which Billy had shown up at her house, bled all over the kitchen, and then disappeared forever. When she revealed that her mother, Tina, had been sleeping with Billy, the music got all sinister. In doing a little research, I rediscovered that Tina had been the person Audrey's husband had phoned a few weeks back, but then wouldn't tell Audrey what she'd said. In other words, while none of us know who Billy or Tina are, the characters sure do, and they'll probably prove important. But the most chilling part of this was how the woman telling the story couldn't quite keep the details right, like when she kept mentioning she couldn't remember if her uncle was there or not. What was going on here? A dream within a dream?

We then ended with Lissie performing a raucous song about the wild west, I think. And it was the full song, so you know David Lynch must really love it!

"Part 14" was a delightful swerve into intrigue and even superhero lore. Again, it's foolish to assume everything will come together in the ways we expect, but it's nice to entertain the notion of a townwide battle between the good (and superpowered) residents versus the local lowlives who plague them. Fingers crossed the next four episodes provide something close to that, or at least surprise us entirely. Who knows, next week Twin Peaks could become a Spanish-language telenovela all of a sudden. Anything can happen here, and that's why I never wanna leave.

Twin Peaks airs Sundays at 9/8c on Showtime.

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