Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 16 "No Knock, No Doorbell" Review

 "I am the FBI."

-Dale Cooper

The episode begins with Mr. C (Kyle MacLachlan) and Richard Horne (Eamon Farren) ending their drive in the middle of nowhere.  Mr. C reveals he has received coordinates from three different sources and that two of them match and that is where they are near now.  The coordinates lead to a large rock and Mr. C has Richard climb on top of the rock to check it out.  Richard is disintegrated and Mr. C says goodbye to his son.  All of this is witnessed by a very high Jerry Horne (David Patrick Kelly).  

Hutch (Tim Roth) and Chantal (Jennifer Jason Leigh) stake out the house of Dougie Jones (Kyle MacLachlan).  The FBI arrives, but find the house empty.  They leave a pair of agents behind to watch the house.

Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is in a coma and being watched over by Janey-E (Naomi Watts), Sonny Jim (Pierce Gagnon), and Bushnell Mullins (Don Murray).  The Mitchem Brothers (Jim Belushi and Robert Knepper) arrive with food for everyone and then head over to the Jones' house to stock it up with food.

After the Brothers go into the house, a Polish accountant (Jonny Coyne) confronts Hutch and Chantal for blocking his driveway.  They claim they aren't and it devolves into a shootout.  The accountant kills Hutch and Chantal before being arrested by the FBI agents, while the Mitchum Brothers can only watch in shock.

MIKE (Al Strobel) appears to Cooper in the hospital and gives him a ring to help send Mr. C back to the Black Lodge.  Cooper gives MIKE a strand of his hair and asks him to make another tulpa of himself.  Cooper wakes up, fully recovered, and leaves the hospital with Janey-E and Sonny Jim after giving Bushnell a message to pass on to Gordon Cole (David Lynch).  They meet the Mitchum Brothers at their casino with the Brothers having gassed up their private jet with Spokane, Washington as their destination.  Cooper says goodbye to Janey-E and Sonny Jim, but promises Dougie will come back to them.  

Diane (Laura Dern) gets a text from Mr. C, which restores some of her memories.  She sends a series of numbers back to him before going to see Gordon, Albert (Miguel Ferrer), and Tammy (Chrysta Bell).  She tells them about the night Mr. C came to see her.  She thought he was Cooper at first, but realized something was wrong when they kissed.  Mr. C raped her before taking her to the Convenience Store.  She tells them she is in the Sheriff's Station that she isn't herself before drawing a gun.  Albert and Tammy quickly shoot her and Diane vanishes.  Tammy realizes that Diane was a tulpa.  Diane's tulpa ends up back in the Black Lodge where she disintegrates.

At the Roadhouse, Edwards Louis Severson III performs as Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn) and Charlie (Clark Middleton) arrive.  The MC (JR Starr) next announces "Audrey's Dance."  The dance floor clears and Audrey dances.  A fight breaks out in the crowd and Audrey runs to Charlie and asks to leave.  Suddenly, Audrey finds herself in a white room and talking into a mirror.

What Works:

This is it.  This is the episode.  The one where we finally get Dale Cooper back in all his former glory.  We've only had the real Cooper outside of the real world, where he can't fully act like himself.  In the real world, we've only had Cooper as Dougie Jones.  Having Cooper back to his old self is something we've been waiting for ever since he escaped the Black Lodge.  When he says, "I am the FBI," I cheered.  This was so worth the wait.  Kyle MacLachlan steps back into the role with ease and it's so great to see him get to properly interact with everybody.  It's truly wonderful and a highlight of the series.

The scene were Cooper says goodbye to Janey-E and Sonny Jim is heartbreaking.  They have no idea what is going on and it's hard to watch.  All three actors do a fantastic job.  You almost want Cooper to stay and live a happy life with them.

The Mitchum Brothers continue to be fantastic characters.  Everything they do in this episode is great.  I love their reactions to the shootout and how eager they are to help the Jones family.  They drop everything and get their jet ready to go to Spokane at a moment's notice.  And the scene where Cooper tells them they have hearts of gold is really sweet.  Their arc is insane and I love it.

The deaths of Hutch and Chantal are hilarious and very unexpected.  This random accountant shows up and blows them away.  It's so absurd, but it's very memorable.

Mr. C sending Richard to his death is another fantastic sequence, even if I could have used more of them together.  But it does do a great job of showing us just how dark this character is.  He doesn't even care about his own son and is totally willing to sacrifice him.

Continuing with Mr. C, we find out that he raped Diane and replaced her with a tulpa.  Damn.  Laura Dern really makes you feel the trauma during her monologue.  It's an intense scene with a fantastic reveal.  

Finally, the Audrey storyline is controversial and while I would have been happy with more closure, I really like the ambiguousness of her ending.  I've really enjoyed reading all the different theories about what is going on with her.  The entire Roadhouse sequence is chilling and weird, which is exactly what Lynch was going for, I'm sure.

What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For this episode, this Award goes to Mr. C.  Evil as he is, he sure is effective.  He sacrificed his son in order to avoid a trap meant for him.  He's awful, but competent.  This is his 8th time winning this Award.

Verdict:

This is the episode we were all waiting for and it delivers.  Having Cooper back is wonderful and everything with him, the Jones family, and the Mitchum Brothers is terrific.  We also get some pretty awesome and brutal deaths with Hutch, Chantal, and Richard biting the dust.  Kyle MacLachlan is fantastic and the Audrey storyline certainly leaves us with plenty to discuss.  This episode has absolutely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing