"Laura Is The One" - Peaks Nine and Ten Tighten The Screws

In what could only be called a deliberate speed bump for the series, the last two episodes following the heels of one of Lynch's finest, most bewildering career moments, ease down with enough supplemental plot and character information to fill several episodes. We of course, catch up with the left for dead Evil Coop, who meets cohorts, Hutch and Chantal at a remote farmhouse. Eventually having his wounds taken care of, and with new phone and firearm, sets off to finish the job, possibly up north. Meanwhile, activity brews in earnest as Gordon, Tammy, Albert, and an ever crabby Diane, surprise land in Buckhorne, to see the alleged body of the late Garland Briggs. Soon brought up to date with the headless corpse, and the utterly baffling questions that come with it, not to mention being informed about the escape of "Cooper"from prison, matters at last seem to be pointing toward Vegas. But not before even more complications stall matters for Cooper/Dougie, still recovering from the incident with Ike The Spike.

As episodes, the duo feel very much like a much needed rest stop after the mind melting experience of Part 8, and to reinforce this, they are among the funnier episodes thus far. While it may feel strange to head in this direction after such unrelenting darkness, one must remember the original series, and it's occasional tendency to camp it up. Thankfully, the jokey nature of these installments never overshadow, nor undedcut the tension that has been steadily building since Part 1. But experiencing more of Diane, her powerful pantsuit, and dwindling patience with the whole affair leads to some standout laughs, and later deep suspicion, as it could be possible that our friends have been taken for a ride. Never one to avoid a risky curveball, Lynch keeps us guessing, and seems patiently hellbent on doing so. 

And speaking of Vegas, pieces are now undoutedly moving. The orders coming down from Evil Coop, eager to tie up all loose ends, have grown accelerated. The targets on the backs of both Dougie Jones, and Warden Murphy, have grown large, all while the still quite adrift Good Coop remains only slightly lucid. A car accident, is apparently the real reason his bosses and wife seem to be so nonplussed by his bizarre behavior.  "Answers" that only seem to arrive in mere nuggets of familiarity. Wilder still, is the revelation that nothing on Jones predates the late 1990s! Which does stand to reason that Dougie as decoy countermeasure has been in motion long enough for matters to slip. The notion that Dougie, was a plant that somehow became a lowly insurance salesman with a bit of a gambling problem, among others remains both funny and tragic. An empty vessel in a mostly empty town. Possibly quite strategic of Evil Coop. And let's not forget Janey E, and her newly rediscovered lust for this new improved husband of hers. 

Oh boy. 

But the true revelatory moments between these episodes  involves what at last feels like a long gestating full arc for a character. The very idea that Bobby Briggs, of all the original cast, would be one who would go a near full 180 from the punk kid we knew decades ago, to the dutiful boy scout he is now, cannot help but redeem him. The very moment his mother imparts him and our friends with his dad's secrets, it's like a moment of complete exaltation. His attempts to open what would contain a cryptic message for everyone is hard one for me, an old series fan to shake. The kind of redemptive moment that has been quite rare throughout these mostly foggier chapters. 

Jack Rabbit's Palace. Dirt. Two Dates.

Two Coopers.

Couple this with Tammy's questioning of Bill Hastings, who at last reveals his and Ruth's encounter with another plane of existence. Possibly even seeing Major Briggs at the time of his death. Further weaving together the show's more fringy world building with it's larger American vision. Something Frost has been the core vault master of since the original. With a scene that is equal parts sad, hysterical, and compulsively eerie. 

Scooba-diving.  

What follows with Ben Horne, possibly too freaked out by the combination of his brothers, Jerry's chemically induced adventures, or the accident suffered by his long ignored son, Johnny, is surprisingly not as eager to fall into Beverly's arms. But for how long? And then there's the pair at the Roadhouse, and one of the most disconcerting bits of dermatological discomfort ever filmed. Fragments, ever falling slowly into place.

That tone again. Anything like the tone of the metal tube that Bobby opened? Perhaps music is key toward opening the gateway? Is there truly some form of time travel at work? 

And..then there's this Richard Horne problem. 

I was merely speculating about what he/who he is, and Part 10 makes some very blunt moves toward clarifying my fears. Not only do we at last see him in action beyond his already detestable acts of violence against strangers. This time, it's upon people he knows, and there seems to be no end to his monstrosity, even if he is but a wannabe. Going out of his way to kill an informant, intercept information from within the sheriff's station, and later perpetrating something so heinous to me, it almost feels like some form of extreme ritual. The ferryman asks a pretty penny these days. A compulsion to find oneself so hateful, that only demons will welcome you. But the greatest tragedy, is perhaps his origin. I still don't want to believe who he really is. But if true, it's the kind of seismic attack that could fracture the Peaks many of us have known and loved. 

Strangely, the themes of family pervade as far as the infamous Mitchum Brothers, who's connections to so much of what has been transpiring in Vegas and beyond, is at last explored. Primarily through the perpetually aloof, Candie. One of the previously featured casino girls, with her often hopeless tendency to be distracted, and life increasingly on a thread, is also strangely cared about by these men who seem to grant an air of classic Vegas mob menace. Now being maneuvered to take out Dougie once and for all, the boys seem to further embrace the show's notion of such a town as the center of American culture; strangely caring, yet brutal, gaudy, and almost all bluster. 

And what a note to end this pair on; Magaret's message. Could it be that the teens of Twin Peaks past may indeed be the heroes we have long waited for? There is a truly romantic notion at work should James at last find his footing in this series. "Laura is the one.." As if hinting at her being the ultimate anti-BOB.

All signs leading in the same direction. 

And with the return of Rebekah Del Rio, the rest stop is complete. It might be time to buckle up again.

No Hay Estrella.