Twin Peaks: Season 3, Part 6 "Don't Die" Review

 "We are living in a dark, dark age, and you are part of the problem."

-Janey-E Jones

As Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) continues to stare at a statue of a lawman, a police officer gets him back to the Jones household.  Janey-E (Naomi Watts) is starting to get concerned with Cooper's behavior and plans to take him to see a doctor.  That all changes when an envelope showing Dougie Jones (Kyle MacLachlan) with Jade (Nafessa Williams) is delivered to the house.  Janey-E is furious with Dougie and when the people who sent the envelope call, she agrees to meet with them the next day.

Mike (Al Strobel) appears to Cooper to try and get him to wake up.  Then small beams of light appear on Cooper's case files and Cooper follows the light with a pencil and marks up all the files.  At work the next day, Bushnell Mullins (Don Murray) dismisses the scribblings at first, but then realizes that they reveal something to do with one of his other employees, Anthony Sinclair (Tom Sizemore).

Janey-E learns that Dougie lost a $20,000 bet, but with interest he now owes $52,000.  Janey-E refuses to pay that much and gives the men $25,000 after chewing them out for being predatory.

Albert (Miguel Ferrer) goes to a bar to meet Diane (Laura Dern).

Richard Horne (Eamon Farren) meets with a drug dealer, Red (Balthazar Getty), about moving product in Twin Peaks.  Richard snorts some of the drug and is insulted when Red calls him "Kid."  In a rage, Richard recklessly drives through Twin Peaks.  He ends up running over a young boy right in front of the boy's mother.  The boy dies and Richard speeds away from the scene, but he and a local teacher, Miriam (Sarah Jean Long), make eye contact as he drives off.  The tragedy is also witnessed by Carl Rodd (Harry Dean Stanton), who sees an aura of light leave the boy as he dies.  He then tries to comfort the mother.  The denizens of the Black Lodge feed off the pain and suffering of everyone who witnessed the tragedy.

In Las Vegas, Duncan Todd (Patrick Fischeler) works on his computer when a red box appears on the screen.  He takes an envelope out of his safe, but is careful not to get his fingerprints on it.  The envelope is sent to Ike the Spike (Christophe Zajac-Denek), a hit-man.  Inside are photos of Dougie Jones and Lorraine (Tammie Baird).  Ike goes to Lorraine's office and kills her and two of her coworkers with an ice pick.

When Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) accidentally drops a coin in the bathroom, he notices the bathroom stalls were made by a company named after the Nez Perce tribe.  Hawk pulls apart the stall door and finds pages hidden inside.

Doris Truman (Candy Clark) arrives at the station to hysterically berate Frank (Robert Forster).  Deputy Chad (John Pirruccello) makes some cruel statements about Doris.  The station's dispatch officer informs him that Doris only started acting like this after her son committed suicide.  Chad is completely dismissive. 

At the Roadhouse, Sharon Van Etten performs.

What Works:

The Dougie Jones storyline is such a roller coaster for me.  I love it a lot of the time, but sometimes I kinda just want the story to move along.  At the beginning of this episode, I was at the lets just move on part of the story, but when the light starts appearing on Cooper's case files, it gets more interesting.  We don't know what the payoff is going to be, but it's significant and does a good job of getting me back on board with this storyline.  Plus his scene with Sonny Jim (Pierce Gagnon) is really sweet.

Naomi Watts is incredible in this episode.  She gets to showoff a wide range.  She's concerned, furious, sympathetic, and sad all in one scene.  Her response to Cooper saying that Jade gave him two rides is hilarious.  I also love how she puts the two debt collectors in their place.  It's some righteous fury that feels like it comes from a very personal place.  It's some great writing from Mark Frost and David Lynch, plus Watts giving one hell of a performance.

We finally get to meet Diane in person for the first time.  She doesn't have anything to do in the episode, but it's a great reveal that Laura Dern is playing Diane.

The Richard Horne storyline is absolutely brutal to watch unfold.  His meeting with Red is a total trip and I still don't know what to make of it, but I like it.  And then we get to the tragic hit-and-run.  It's set up perfectly and it's so hard to watch, especially on the rewatch.  First we have Carl watching the mother and son playing in the park and we have to sit their helplessly as the boy crosses the street.  The way the truck driver waves them on to go ahead and take the crosswalk is just so sad.  Eamon Farren is fantastic as Richard and makes the character so easy to hate.

Ike the Spike is introduced in this episode and he might be the most memorable new character of the season.  He's only in a few episodes, but he makes the most of every second of his screen-time.  His attack on Lorraine and her coworkers is one of the most memorable moments of the entire season.  Sure, it's dark, but it's also very funny.  Especially when Ike realizes he bent his ice pick and how sad he gets.  He's such a fun character.  I only wish we got more of him.

Finally, Chad is the worst.  And we knew that.  Up to this point, he's mostly just been an annoyance.  I love how Hawk just dismisses him from the bathroom.  But then we get the cruel comments he makes about Doris and Frank's son and the audience's collective hatred of him just about maxes out.  He's the worst and the show does a great job of making you hate him.

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 the Janey-E Jones for her handling of the thugs and paying off Dougie's debts at a much lower amount.  This is her 1st time winning this Award.

Verdict:

"Don't Die" is a very memorable episode for lots of reasons.  It got me back on board the Dougie Jones plot, Naomi Watts is fantastic, we get the introductions of Diane and Ike the Spike, and we get more reasons to hate Richard and Chad.  There's a lot to love and feel here, even if a lot of it is emotionally devastating.

 10/10: Amazing