Twin Peaks, third season, fifth episode: Case files

Fifth episode: Case files / The Return, Part V

Content: Cooper is dropped off at Dougie's workplace, an insurance company, still in a daze, although he reacts to a statue outside, the smell of coffee, and the words "agent" and "case files". The young boy across the road from Dougie's car goes to look at the device left by the assassins, but a group of punks break into the car which explodes. The Mitchums beat and fire casino pit boss Warrick after Cooper's winning streak. In Twin Peaks, Shelley lends her daughter Becky money, only to have her head off to take cocaine with her boyfriend. Dr Jacoby streams his conspiracy theory videos over the internet in order to sell his golden shovels, with Jerry Horne and Nadine Hurley among his viewers. Cooper's doppelgänger makes his phone call in prison, which causes the security systems to go haywire. In Buckhorn, an autopsy on the male body found reveals Dougie's wedding ring in the stomach. At the Pentagon, Colonel Davis is informed that the fingerprints on the Buckhorn body belong to Garland Briggs—the sixteenth set of such prints found over 25 years.

Analysis: There are quite a few things to analyse in this episode. First of all, it becomes obvious that Dale Cooper's presence in Dougie Jones gets more and more dominant. He reacts to the word ''agent'' because he was once a special agent and seems alert when his boss gives him some ''case files'' as Dale Cooper seems to remember that he was once working on case files himself. His admiration for the statue with a gun outside Dougie Jones' workplace underlines Dale Cooper's admiration for an elegantly dressed man with a weapon like he was twenty-five years earlier. Secondly, a woman that wants Dougie Jones dead and Dale Cooper's evil doppelgänger both make calls to a mysterious device in Buenos Aires. I believe the ultimate evil entity of the Black Lodge I mentioned before could be connected to this device. It's obvious that this entity must be extremely powerful when even a cold-blooded assassin like Dale Cooper's doppelgänger and a woman that hired several hitmen call for help at this specific place. Those who have watched "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me" might remember that a certain Agent Phillip Jeffries, played by the late David Bowie, who had a cameo appearance in the F.B.I. headquarters, actually disappeared in Buenos Aires. It's possible that this agent is used as a shell by the evil entity and that it will make its appearance soon. Thirdly, we have the fact that the beheaded male body found in South Dakota has Major Garland Briggs' fingerprints on it as well as a ring that seems to belong to Dougie Jones. My explanation would be that the evil entity from the Black Lodge used parts of Major Garland Briggs' body to commit the crime in South Dakota. This crime now seems to be a ritual kill made for Dale Cooper's evil doppelgänger. As mentioned before, Dale Cooper couldn't return into his normal body possessed by his evil doppelgänger and came back to reality as Dougie Jones. By committing this ritualistic murder, the evil entity enabled Dale Cooper's evil doppelgänger to avoid going back to the Black Lodge and forced the real Dale Cooper to wake up in a fabricated body. This seems to lead to the conclusion that Dale Cooper isn't actually working against the evil entity but for it as a hitman. The fact that Major Garland Briggs' fingerprints were found sixteen times on different bodies in twenty-five years seems to indicate that we have to deal with a dangerous mass murderer worse than Cooper's evil doppelgänger or BOB.

Description: The fifth episode is the weakest of the new seasons so far but still fairly above average and quite on the same level as the fourth episode. Despite a slower pace than the first three episodes, there are still quite a few things happening in the fourth and fifth episode. Dougie Jones' story line is still amusing but also has a very sad touch because none of his family members, friends or work colleagues seem to realize that he needs help. Slightly amusing scenes such as Doctor Jacoby's conspiracy theory videos interchange with quite serious sequences such as the brutal sequence at the casino. Overall, the fifth episode isn't as light-hearted as the third episode and quite dark at times but not as unsettling as the first three episodes. It's probably the most balanced episode of the new season so far in terms of atmosphere, content and locations but Dougie Jones' story line gets slightly repetitive and some scenes such as the ongoing investigation in Twin Peaks are a little bit too slow, even by David Lynch's standards. On a side note, the fourth episode left us with a conversation between Gordon Cole and Albert Rosenfield about a person that could talk to Dale Cooper's evil doppelgänger but this story line wasn't picked up at all in the fifth episode which was slightly disappointing in my opinion. I hope this promising conversation will take place in the sixth episode.

Favorite scene: The scene at The Bang Bang Bar is truly haunting. A certain Richard Horne is smoking without permission and gets into a verbal conflict with a waiter. He then skillfully bribes security personnel and continues to provoke. He grows less and less sympathetic when he menaces a young woman who asks him to light her cigarette. This tense sequence is underlined by flashing lights, experimental jazz music played by a live band called Trouble and a vividly dancing crowd which recalls the nightmarish elements of David Lynch's "Lost Highway".

Rating: 6.5/10