In episode 11 of Twin Peaks, director David Lynch starts bringing more of the pieces together, and finally confirms the parentage of one of the newer cast members. Oh, and he has evil hobo ghosts and giant portals in the sky as well, because he’s David Lynch. Join us as we break down the 7 most Lynchian moments in chapter 11, starting with that disturbing opening sequence.
The Watcher In The Woods
One of David Lynch’s signature themes in his works is the ugly side of life is always just under the surface of everyday wholesome Americana. It is a notion showcased in this episode more than any other in this entire run of the new series so far. In the opening of this chapter, we see a group of boys playing ball outside their trailer in the woods outside Twin Peaks, as American and Norman Rockwell-esque as you can get.
And then, as one of the boys goes out into the streets after a ball, he sees the bloody, semi-conscious Miriam Sullivan (Sarah Jean Long) clinging for dear life, crawling out of the forest nearby. The ultra vile Richard Horne left her for dead last week, but unlucky for him, she lives, and can now (hopefully) tell the police what he did. The scenario is a Lynch signature moment – the ugliness that lives beneath the white picket fence showing its bloody face.
Becky On A Rampage
Ever since we learned that Shelly Johnson (Madchen Amick) had a daughter earlier in the season, Becky (played by Amanda Seyfried) has been trouble, constantly borrowing money from her mom to help out her deadbeat husband Stephen, who is a drug dealer and a loser, and later we find out, a wife beater.
Well, in this episode Becky has had enough, and goes to visit her husband in the apartment of his new mistress (who is Gerstan Hayward from the original series, youngest sister of Donna Hayward) with a gun in hand. This is all after taking her mother’s car after her poor mom jumped on the hood like a stunt woman to try and get her to stop from making a stupid mistake. Becky put a ton of bullet holes in the door of Gerstan’s apartment, but no one is hurt at least.
Later, it’s confirmed for us longtime Twin Peaks fans that Becky is indeed the daughter of Shelly and Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook), but it seems Shelly and Bobby are no longer together, sadly.
The Vortex
In Buckhorn, South Dakota, Agents Gordon Cole (David Lynch), Tamara Preston (Chrysta Bell), Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer), and Diane Evans (Laura Dern) are led by Detective Macklay (Brent Briscoe) with Bill Hastings (Matthew Lillard), who is still under custody, and who is guiding them to the exact location where he said he was able to enter an alternate dimension and apparently met with Major Briggs, before Briggs’ head floated off.
Hasting directs them to a run down lot, which still has a few shacks falling apart on the premises. Albert and Gordon sneak in through a hole in the fence to investigate further. As Gordon gets further into the lot, he looks up into the sky and sees a kind of vortex opening up above him. Albert sees that Gordon has started to fade out of existence, but he also sees him long enough to reach both arms into the air.
Then, as they say, shit gets real. As Gordon continues to stare into vortex, he suddenly sees some of the Woodsmen (from episode 8) standing on a staircase. Gordon vanishes for moment, and Albert then manages to pull him back to our reality. As theyâre processing what just occurred, Diane sees a Woodsman walking towards the police car that Hastings and Macklay are in, and then the Woodsman – and does not seem phased. The Woodsman somehow makes the head of Hastings explode in the back seat, as if popping a balloon. On top of all that, Before they head out, Gordon and Albert see something further back on the lot and discover the headless corpse of the murdered Ruth Davenport.
“You Don’t Wanna Know About That.”
At the Twin Peaks Sheriffâs Department, Deputy Chief Hawk (Michael Horse) and Sheriff Frank Truman (Robert Forster) are going over a Native American scrolled map that Hawk describes as being âvery old, but always current. Itâs a living thing.â He tells Truman that the date and time on Major Briggsâ message leads to Blue Pine Mountain, a revered place by Hawk’s people, which has a fire symbol next to it on the map.
Frank asks Hawk for even more information about the various symbols on the map, and when he asks him about the black circle with two wings on it, Hawk simply says âYou donât ever wanna know about that.â It’s the same symbol that Evil Coop showed to Daria in episode one. Is this the symbol of the Black Lodge?
‘WE’RE ALREADY LATE!!!’
After Bobby Briggs and Shelly try to confront their daughter about her poor life choices at the Double R, a shot comes in through the window from outside. Turns out, it’s from a kid who fired his dad’a gun from the backseat of their minivan on accident. Because of this commotion, the woman driving the car behind them won’t stop honking the horn for a single moment, driving everyone insane.
Bobby finally goes to tell the driver to calm the eff down, and she starts to scream at him at the top of her lungs about how she needs to get home right now, they’re already late, all while letting Bobby know that her little girl in the passenger side of the car is “sick.” Suddenly, the little girl starts rising from her seat like a zombie version of Linda Blair from The Exorcist, with green puke dribbling from the corner of her mouth. I have no idea what any of this means in the context of the story, but its disturbing as hell in the truly Lynchian tradition.
Cherry Pie Saves Dougie’s Life
Dougie is told by his boss at Lucky 7 Insurance that the claim filed by the mobster Mitchum Brothers (Jim Belushi, Robert Knepper) is actually valid, and he hands Dougie the check for the $30 million payout they have coming to them. He takes Dougie out to a limo sent by the brothers for a private meeting that the brothers assume will end with a bullet in Dougie’s head. Before the limo gets there though, Dougie sees a vision of the One-Armed Man (Al Strobel) in the Red Room calling him over to a nearby shop. He goes in, then comes out with a big cardboard box.
When the car with Dougie pulls up to the meeting location in the middle of nowhere, Bradley (Belushi) tells his brother that he had a dream about killing Dougie, and that if the box heâs holding has inside it is what was inside it in his dream, then they have to let him live. Rodney (Knepper) then makes Dougie open the box. And when he does, the brothers find a full cherry pie inside, apparently the same one that was in Bradley’s dream. When the brothers get their money back on top of it, Dougie not only lives, but he becomes their new BFF. All because of a dream of some cherry pie. What is more Lynchian than prophetic dreams and cherry pie??
“Thank You, Mr. Jackpots”
To celebrate their $30 million dollar windfall and their new best friend Dougie Jones, the Mitchum Brothers take Dougie out to a fancy cocktail lounge, where, of course, they proceed to eat cherry pie (as one does in a cocktail lounge). It’s Dougie’s first time saying the words “damn good pie”, which could be a breakthrough moment in his becoming Dale Cooper again. Or maybe not.
Suddenly, the old lady from the casino in episode 4Â walks in, dressed to the nines, and thanks “Mr. Jackpots” for changing her life, reuniting her with her son Denver, and letting her have a normal life again. She kisses him on the cheek, and lets the Mitchum brothers know they are in the presence of somebody special. If only they really knew how special…as in Special Agent.
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What your favorite moments from episode 11? Let us know down below in the comments.
Images: Showtime