Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 17 "The Past Dictates the Future" Review

 "That's strange even for Cooper."

-Albert Rosenfield

Part 17 picks up with Gordon Cole (David Lynch) giving some revelations to Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) and Tammy Preston (Chrysta Bell).  He, Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Major Briggs (Don. S. Davis) were made aware of a ancient entity known as Jowday, which eventually became Judy.  He also reveals that Ray Monroe (George Griffith) was an informant.  Bushnell Mullins (Don Murray) manages to pass on Cooper's message to Gordon and the agents head for Twin Peaks.

Mr. C (Kyle MacLachlan) arrives at the coordinates outside of Twin Peaks and he is transported to the home of the Fireman (Carel Struycken) and trapped in a cage.  Major Briggs' head is also there.  They transport Mr. C to outside of the Twin Peaks Sheriff's station.  He pretends to be Cooper and heads inside to greet Deputy Andy (Harry Goaz) and Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) and sits down for a conversation with Frank Truman (Robert Forster).  Andy realizes something is wrong.

Chad Broxford (John Pirruccello) uses a key hidden in his boot to escape his cell and get a gun.  When Andy enters the cell block, Chad points his gun at him.  Freddie Sykes (Jake Wardle) punches his cell door open and knocks out Chad, allowing Andy to cuff him to some cell bars.

Lucy gets a call from the real Dale Cooper, who transfers the call to Frank.  Mr. C and the Sheriff draw on each other, but Lucy arrives and shoots Mr. C first.  Hawk (Michael Horse), Andy, Freddie, James Hurley (James Marshall), and Naido (Nae Yukki) all arrive to witness the Woodsmen arrive to revive Mr. C.

Cooper and the Mitchum Brothers (Jim Belushi & Robert Knepper) arrive as the black orb of BOB (Frank Silva) is released from Mr. C's body.  BOB attacks Cooper and Freddie, who manages to punch BOB a few times and shatter him to pieces.  Cooper places the ring on Mr. C, which sends him back to the Black Lodge.

Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) and the FBI agents arrive in time for Naido to transform into her true form, Diane (Laura Dern).  Cooper tells everyone that he hopes he sees them all again before everything darkens.

Cooper, Diane, and Gordon walk through the furnace room of the Great Northern before Cooper goes through a door alone and meets MIKE (Al Strobel).  They go on to meet with Phillip Jeffries (Nathan Frizzell).  Cooper is sent to February 23rd, 1989, where Judy is.  Cooper watches as Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) sneaks out of her house with James Hurley before jumping off James' motorcycle and running off into the woods.  She runs into Cooper, who stops her from meeting up with Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re), Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz), and Ronette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine).  This ends up preventing Laura from being murdered that night and changing the future.

In the present, Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) has a meltdown and destroys a picture of Laura.

Back in 1989, Laura vanishes as she follows Cooper through the woods.  Cooper can hear her scream.

What Works:

This is the episode that feels like the true finale of the season.  Part 18 feels more like heading in to whatever comes next.  This is the resolution to The Return, at least as much resolution as David Lynch is willing to get us.  This episode is absolutely a blast and leads to a brief reunion between many of our favorite characters and Cooper.  I feel like this is what most of us were waiting for with The Return.  It's great to have happen, but man, is it brutal to have it be so brief.

I love having Freddie around to take down Chad.  Having Chad get arrested was great on its own, but having his escape attempt foiled by a magic, green glove is pretty funny.  It's just really satisfying to see Chad get his ass kicked so handedly.

Mr. C's arrival at the Sheriff's station is very tense.  I had no idea what he was going to do and there were so many of our favorite characters here or en route.  Mr. C is incredibly dangerous and willing to brutally kill anyone in his way.  I was really worried we going to lose a beloved character before Cooper arrived.  Luckily that wasn't the case, but this sequence was still very effectively tense.  Plus I love that Lucy is the one to defeat Mr. C.

Then we have the showdown between BOB and Freddie.  This is very silly, but I absolutely love it.  Especially the reaction shots of all the spectators.  The Mitchum Brothers are just wonderful here, even with their limited dialogue.  I love watching Freddie punch BOB into oblivion.  It just really works for me and is one of my favorite moments of the season.

Finally, I really can't say I was expecting Cooper to be sent back in time to save Laura Palmer, but it's a solid direction to take the story.  It doesn't end up totally working, which is tragic, but I appreciate the heroic nature of the attempt.  It makes sense that Cooper would go for this.  It does leave me with a lot of questions though.  Was Sarah Palmer processed by Judy?  If so, for how long?  What do you think?

What Sucks:

I've never really bought that this was all a plan put into place by Cooper, Gordon, and Major Briggs.  It doesn't fully line up with the original run of the series for me.  When would they have put this plan together?  I could buy that Briggs and Gordon had some offscreen discussion after Cooper became trapped in the Black Lodge, but how did Cooper know about any of this.  It feels like a bit of a retcon of the end of season 2.

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For Part 17, this Award goes to Freddie Sykes for taking down both Chad and BOB.  This is his first time winning this Award.

Verdict:

This is the episode that truly wraps up The Return before taking us off to parts unknown.  It's great seeing Cooper reunite with so many people, plus I love everything at the Sheriff's station, especially the defeat of Chad, Mr. C, and BOB.  I wasn't expecting the time travel, but it works.  Not all of the plan lines up with the original run for me, but this episode has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great