Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 3 "Call for Help" Review

 "AS HAPPY AS THIS NEWS MAKES US, ALBERT, WE CAN'T PUT THIS ON THE RADIO!"
-FBI Deputy Director Gordon Cole




Part 3 of The Return picks up with Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) falling through space and landing on a structure looking out on a purple sea.  He goes inside and meets Naido (Nae Yuuki), a woman with no eyes.  She leads Cooper up a ladder onto a structure floating in space.  She pulls a lever on a mechanism on the roof and gets an electric shock.  She falls off of the structure and into space.  As Cooper watches her fall, the head of Major Briggs (Don S. Davis) floats by and says "Blue Rose."

Cooper goes back inside and finds another woman, American Girl (Phoebe Augustine).  A nearby mechanism starts pulling Cooper towards it.  At the same time, Mr. C (Kyle MacLachlan) starts being pulled back into the Black Lodge as he drives across South Dakota.

In the Rancho Rosa Estates, a development near Las Vegas, we meet Dougie Jones (Kyle MacLachlan), a tulpa of Agent Cooper, created by Mr. C.  Dougie has just finished having sex with Jade (Nafessa Williams), a prostitute.  Jade goes off to shower and Dougie starts to feel violently ill.  He is pulled into the Black Lodge instead of Mr. C, although Mr. C is still greatly affected and crashes his car before vomiting up garmonbozia.  He is later found by state police.

In the Black Lodge, Dougie meets Mike (Al Strobel) who tells Dougie he was manufactured and his purpose has apparently been served.  Dougie disintegrates into a small, golden orb.

Agent Cooper returns to the real world in the same house Dougie was taken from, but the journey leaves Cooper disoriented, confused, and unable to understand most of what is said to him.  Jade finds him and, believing he is Dougie, tries to help him.  She discovers Cooper doesn't have his car keys, but only a key to the Great Northern Hotel and realizes she has to give him a ride.  They leave his car behind.  While in Jade's car, Cooper drops his Great Northern key and bends over to get it, which allows him to escape death from a gunman who doesn't see him in Jade's car.  A second assassin puts a bomb on Dougie's car believing him to still be inside the house.  He is seen by a little boy in the house across the street.

Jade drops Cooper off at the Silver Mustang Casino and gives him five dollars to call for help.  When she tells him to get out of her car, it triggers a memory of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) telling him he can leave the Black Lodge.  Cooper inadvertently ends up getting quarters for his five dollars.  He follows images of the Black Lodge around the casino which lead him to different slot machines, where he immediately wins a jackpot at each one he plays.  He also helps an angry and poor gambling addict win a jackpot when he points out a machine to her.

At the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department, Hawk (Michael Horse), Andy (Harry Goaz), and Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) begin going through evidence to find what is missing.  All they find is a missing chocolate bunny that Lucy admits to having eaten.  Hawk doesn't believe that the chocolate bunny is what they are looking for.

Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) paints his shovels gold.

At the FBI headquarters, Agent Tammy Preston (Chrysta Bell) presents her findings in the case of the glass box murders in New York City to Gordon Cole (David Lynch) and Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer).  Cole than gets a call related to Cooper.  He tells Tammy and Albert that they are all going to South Dakota in the morning.

The episode ends with the Cactus Blossoms performing at the Roadhouse.


What Works:

Just when you think this show can't get any weirder, we get Cooper's journey through the structure near the purple sea.  This sequence is utterly bizarre.  Bizarre actually undersells it.  I love all of this.  We meet a really strange new character in Naido and the nearby pounding during these scenes is unnerving.  I love the look of the scene where Cooper and Naido go to space.  Plus we get an appearance from the late Don S. Davis in a way I don't think anyone expected...a floating space head.  You gotta love it.

Another small note is the garmonbozia that Mr. C pukes up.  It's gnarly to watch and looks really visceral.  It's a gross scene and it aids the unnerving tone of the episode, as does the performance of Hailey Gates, who plays a drugged-addicted mother.  Her constant shouting of "One-one-nine" is genuinely chilling.

I love the look of Dougie's disintegration.  His hand deflating looks great and then we get some more wonky effects as Dougie's head disappears and he transforms into orbs.  The unique visual effects in this show add a lot to the flavor of The Return.

Cooper's disorientation throughout the season was something I went back and forth on a lot during my first watch of the season.  I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.  I have eventually landed on loving it, especially in his journey at the casino.  I love when he shouts "Hello!" every time he plays the shots and wins the jackpot.  It's something my friends who have watched the show and I frequently reference.  It's occasionally maddening, but a lot of fun.  Plus it makes sense that all those years in the Black Lodge would have had a profound effect on Cooper.

The discussion between Hawk, Andy, and Lucy about the chocolate bunnies is nothing short of hilarious.  They all give great performances and have fantastic dialogue.  This really fits in with the original run of the series and its nice to have moments like this.

Finally, I love seeing Gordon Cole and Albert Rosenfield back.  We don't get much time with them, but we get some iconic Gordon shouting lines and some nice sarcasm from Albert.  Some things never change.


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 the Award goes to Mr. C for successfully avoiding being pulled back into the Black Lodge.  This is his 4th time winning this Award, which ties him for 2nd place with Windom Earle.


Verdict:

This is another amazing episode of The Return.  It's wonderfully bizarre and manages to have a very unsettling tone without losing the fun.  We get some awesome practical and visual effects and some hilarious dialogue.  Plus Cooper playing the slot machines is iconic.  This episode has absolutely got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing 

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