Titled: Part 10: Laura is the One

Director: David Lynch
Writer: Mark Frost

A lot of missing pieces are finally starting to come together on this week’s installment of Twin Peaks. Even though we have a lot more information to work with now, more questions have been raised than those that have been answered. Richard Horne, a certified bad dude who’s somehow involved with Chad and Red in moving drugs across the Canadian border, has now been established as the grandson of Benjamin and Sylvia Horne. After murdering Miriam, and arranging for Chad to intercept the letter she wrote to Sheriff Truman which detailed all of his crimes, Richard violently robs his grandmother and states his intention to flee the country.

Richard bears a striking resemblance to the only member of the Horne family who is currently missing from the series: Audrey. If Richard is Audrey’s son, that begs the question: where is Audrey, and how did her son end up being such an asshole? The last time we saw Audrey was at the end of the previous season, when she was in a coma and was visited by Doppelganger Cooper. Technically, that could mean Bob (through the medium of Doppel Coop) is Richard’s father. Before this episode premiered, some people theorized that Audrey was actually the eccentric billionaire funding the box in New York that leads to the Black Lodge. The reveal that Richard is the grandson of Benjamin makes this slightly less likely in my book, but when it comes to David Lynch, all bets are off until we see something concrete.

Arguably, the best moment of the episode is shirtless Cooper at his doctor’s appointment. Anyone who doubted that Kyle MacLaughlan is still hot after two decades has been thoroughly proven wrong. Cooper also makes a good impression on Janey-E with those pythons he calls arms, and she seduces him in a simultaneously awkward and amazing sex scene. Despite his revitalized love life, Cooper has yet another problem heading his way. Duncan, who we know is working for Bad Coop in Vegas, is orchestrating a conspiracy to convince the casino-owning Mitchum Brothers that Dougie personally sabotaged their plan for insurance fraud.

Meanwhile, Jerry Horne is still high out of his mind in the woods. Is he on a spirit quest to find the entrance to the White Lodge? Or did he just make the rookie mistake of eating too many edibles? Speaking of the White Lodge, Bobby and Truman were noticeably absent from this week’s episode. We do get a moment with Hawk as he speaks on the phone to the Log Lady, who presents a cryptic message, including the episode’s tagline, “Laura is the one.” This premonition, paired with Gordon’s sudden vision of Laura, seems like it’s foreshadowing the return of Laura Palmer.

The construct of time is something that Lynch likes to play with in his work. Even with the established flashbacks that show nuclear testing in the 1940s, I’m not sure that we’re always seeing events in chronological order in this season. The question is presented to us on multiple occasions throughout the series: is it future, or is it past? One thing I’d like to point out is tonight’s performance at the Roadhouse was by Rebekah Del Rio, who previously fulfilled a similar role in Lynch’s masterpiece, Mulholland Drive. In that film, Del Rio’s performance of Llorando, a Spanish version of Roy Orbinson’s Crying, is the dividing point between the fantasy and reality of the film.

Is the Roadhouse a parallel for Club Silencio? It’s absolutely no coincidence that Del Rio is performing in a black and white zigzag dress against a red curtain background, evoking imagery of the Black Lodge itself. Is this episode going to be the line between the illusion and reality of Twin Peaks? We won’t know until next week.

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“Mary Cox is an entertainment writer from the United States. Her hobbies include making good beer and bad decisions, watching drag queens fight on the internet, and overanalyzing everything. Mary one day hopes to be the person shouting “World Star” in the back of a Waffle House brawl video. She is currently tolerating life in Toronto. You can follow her on Twitter at @M_K_Cox”