Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 5 "Case Files" Review

 "Dig yourself out of the shit!"

-Dr. Jacoby

Part 5 of The Return picks up with with the pair of hitmen still watching Dougie Jones' (Kyle MacLachlan) car.  They call their boss, Lorraine (Tammie Baird), who passes on the message to a device in Buenos Aires.  Later, a gang of car thieves try to steal Dougie's car, but they cause the car bomb to go off, which kills two of them.

In Buckhorn, South Dakota, the coroner, Constance Talbot (Jane Adams), finishes her autopsy of the male, headless body.  She finds a wedding ring inside with an inscription "To Dougie, with love, Janey-E."

Mike Nelson (Gary Hershberger) brings Steven Burnett (Caleb Landry Jones) in for a job interview, but Mike informs him that Steven's resume is the worst he is ever seen and that he didn't even properly fill out the job application.  Without a job, Steven asks his wife, Becky (Amanda Seyfried) to get some money from her mom, Shelly (Mädchen Amick).  Becky succeeds and she and Steven do drugs in his car.  Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) tells Shelly that she needs to stop enabling Becky. 

Janey-E (Naomi Watts) gives Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) a ride to work; Lucky 7 Insurance.  On the way, he becomes fascinated with a statue of a lawman and only ends up getting to work because of the coffee his coworker is carrying.  Anthony Sinclair (Tom Sizemore) quietly tells Cooper that he covered for Dougie's absence so Cooper owes him one.  During the team meeting, Cooper says Anthony is lying about there being no arson in one case.  When their boss, Bushnell Mullins (Don Murray) asks for proof, Cooper doesn't respond.  Bushnell gives Cooper a load of case files to finish for the next day.  After work, Cooper goes back to the statue of the lawman and stays there until dark.

The owners of the Silver Mustang Casino, the Mitchum Brothers (Robert Knepper and Jim Belushi) beat and fire their head of security after learning how much Cooper won.  They make Warrick (David Dastmalchian) the new head of security and demand that he let them know if Cooper ever returns to the casino.

Jade (Nafessa Williams) discovers the Great Northern Hotel key in her jeep and mails it back to the hotel.

Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) hosts a web show, The Dr. Amp Blast, where he sells his golden shovels.  Both Jerry Horne (David Patrick Kelly) and Nadine Hurley (Wendy Robie) watch the show.

The Air Force receives word about the match of fingerprints in Buckhorn, South Dakota.  They are a match to Major Briggs (Don. S. Davis).  Colonel Davis (Ernie Hudson) expects this to be another false alarm, but mentions that if it is legitimate, the FBI needs to be informed.

The band Trouble plays at the Roadhouse.  Richard Horne (Eamon Farren) passes money to Deputy Chad Broxford (John Pirruccello) before harassing and sexually assaulting a woman at the table next to him when she asks for a light.

Finally, Mr. C (Kyle MacLachlan) is given his phone call at the prison.  Well aware that he is being observed, Mr. C uses the phone to activate a bunch of alarms at the prison, so no one can hear what he says or know who he called.  Mr. C calls the device in Buenos Aires and says "The cow jumped over the moon."  In Buenos Aries, the device shrinks down until it is the size of a seed.

What Works:

I really like the scene where the car thieves get blown up.  It starts with the little boy from across the street wandering over to mess with the car bomb attached to Dougie's car.  It's pretty intense as you wonder if the show is really going to blow up a kid.  Luckily, the thieves show up and force the kid away from the car and he is unharmed from the explosion.  It's a well done scene that manages to be sad without being tragic.

It's fun having Gary Hershberger briefly return as Mike and seeing him be so responsible.  It's such a turn for the troublemaking character from the original run.  He's grown up to be a responsible adult who chews someone out for having a terribly-written resume.  It's all we get from Mike, but it's enough to be effective.

It's a small moment, but I really like how when Cooper takes a coffee that was meant for Frank (Bob Stephenson), Frank gets annoyed and reluctantly has a green tea latte instead, but it turns out he loves the green tea latte.  It's a quick and subtle moment, but I love the through-line of Cooper inadvertently changing people's lives for the better.

This is our introduction to Richard Horne, a nasty addition to the series and one of the most memorable new characters in The Return.  This episode only has one scene with him and we aren't told who he is, but we know what kind of character he is very quickly.  Plus he's affiliated with Chad, which gives us another reason to dislike the both of them.

Finally, Mr. C's phone call is my favorite part of the episode.  Just the way he puts on a show before setting off all the alarms is great.  It's unnerving how competent this guy is.

What Sucks:

This is the episode where I always start to get a little tired of the Dougie Jones situation.  It bounces back for sure, but seeing Cooper floating through the office the way he does is always baffling to me.  No one is taking this guy to the hospital?  Seriously?  He is not well!  There's stuff to like with Cooper's storyline here, but at times it's very frustrating.

Finally, there's a little too much of the nagging wife trope going on here.  With Janey-E to Cooper, it makes some kind of sense, even if it's a little annoying, but than we have Doris (Candy Clark), the wife of Frank Truman (Robert Forster).  Doris is awful and totally insufferable.  I get that this helps establish Frank as a very patient man, but I don't think we needed that extra character establishment.  Watching Frank work with Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) and Andy (Harry Goaz) is enough. 

Crystal Coffee:

The Crystal Coffee Award goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For Part 5, this Award goes to Mr. C for somehow managing to trigger all the alarms in a prison so no one could listen in on his phone call.  This is his 5th time winning this Award, which puts him in 2nd place overall.

Verdict: 

Part 5 has a few problems.  I think Cooper's storyline gets a little frustrating and the nagging from both Janey-E and Doris gets tiresome, but there's plenty to like here.  The car explosion, Mike's brief return, the green tea latte, and the introduction of Richard Horne are all great and Mr. C's phone call is excellent.  This episode has definitely got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good