Twin Peaks (TV Series) Part 7 (2017) User Reviews

Plot lines finally get moving in 57 minutes of pure enjoyment

[TouchTheGarlicProduction · 10/10 · 18 June 2017]

I really loved this episode. I felt like it really got things moving in a way they just haven't been since Part 4. The Return was not made as a TV show, it was written and edited as an 18-hour movie, and a David Lynch movie at that. By consequence, the way it splits up into episodes does not in any way coincide with any peaks or rhythms in the story. You just get an hour a week. That means that sometimes it's good, sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's an hour of pure atmosphere with little progression whatsoever. It certainly doesn't help that we got the first four hours all at once. I say all this because these are the pitfalls that some of the previous episodes have fallen into and that this one most certainly does not fall into. This Part was 57 minutes of pure enjoyment for me. It was full of brilliant moments and managed to spend time with a whole lot of story lines while also focusing on a couple and giving them the screen time they needed to really get rolling. I feel like almost as much progress was made in this one episode as there was in the first four parts combined.

While the episode visits a lot of story lines, there are two that receive multiple scenes and make major progression in this one; the Diane/Albert/Doppelcoop story and Hawk's investigation in Twin Peaks. Seeing as they've been nudged along at a snail's pace of a scene a week or every other week up till now, it was incredibly satisfying to see them not only get screen time, but a lot of major development. I was particularly glad that we weren't left on the massive cliffhanger with Diane from last week. Not only did we see here again, but we got deep into developing her character. I have to admit that I wasn't sure about the idea of introducing her into the show as a character, but now that we've gotten to know her and a bit about why she is the way she is, I totally buy it. I loved her scene with Doppelcoop because they never outright state what happened, they only strongly imply it. I think the bluntness of her or Coop or Albert saying it would rob the scene of its power. As it is, it is perfectly shocking and haunting.

All in all I don't have much to say about this one, other than that I really enjoyed it. I'm glad we got to see more of Ben Horne. The Doc Hayward scene was fun but sad due to the circumstances. And finally, thanks to this episode and the last one, Janey-E is rapidly becoming one of my favourite characters in the Return. I hope she doesn't die a horrible death.

A Really Raw Episode

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 19 June 2017]

There are now forces out there who are wondering what's up with Cooper. Of course, the intersection of the two personalities has to come at some point. I realized that while Michael Ontkean is not in the new show, having him ill and fighting cancer is quite poignant as the other Truman needs to stay at arm's length to gain information. Hawk is the one doing the legwork, and, I suppose his being a Native American, there is a sense of inscrutability at work. Bad-Cooper has been waiting his turn. His near robotic sense of the world is piqued when he gets a visit in jail. He has knowledge and a psychotic vent to protect himself and engage in revenge against any threat. So there are some violent things ahead. Dougie (Good-Cooper) continues to piece together bits and pieces of his past. His wife is a great character although at times I wish she'd shut up. Dougie continues to function somewhat like Peter Sellers in "Being There." His haphazard being seems to bring about positive results for him. I'm still not sure what's with the homicidal midget with the knife and what this motivations are. Cooper obviously reacts with the instincts of well-trained FBI agent when he and his wife attacked. Meanwhile, Bad-Cooper is using blackmail to resurface and he has a partner (although, he may be expendable). We'll see.

Twin Peaks, third season, seventh episode: There's a body all right

[kluseba · 8/10 · 20 June 2017]

Seventh episode: There's a body all right / The Return, Part VII

Content: Hawk and Frank Truman look at the pages torn from Laura's diary, which contain an entry about Annie telling Laura in a dream that the good Dale Cooper is trapped in the Black Lodge. Lt. Knox from the Pentagon arrives in Buckhorn, and is stunned to find that the body is that of Garland Briggs, which has not aged in 25 years. Albert and Gordon convince Diane to speak to Cooper in prison. She reluctantly agrees, but leaves deeply upset over what occurred the last time she saw him. Andy investigates the hit-and-run incident, but the farmer who owns the truck Richard Horne was driving refuses to speak and arranges to meet him later, but never turns up. Cooper's doppelgänger blackmails Warden Murphy into releasing him and Ray. In Las Vegas, police visit Cooper at work to question him about Dougie's destroyed car. As Cooper leaves with Janey-E, Ike pulls a gun on them, but Cooper expertly disarms him. Beverly tries to locate the source of a mysterious humming noise in Ben Horne's office, then returns home to her terminally ill husband.

Analysis: This episode seems to announce that Dale Cooper will shortly be returning to Twin Peaks as Douglas Jones. First of all, Douglas Jones' exploded car and the vicious attack by a hit-man might soon lead to the F.B.I. getting involved and discovering that this man looks incredibly similar to Special Agent Dale Cooper. Secondly, Hawk and Truman have discovered the true meaning of the three pages torn from Laura Palmer's diary and have understood that Evil Cooper is a menace while Good Cooper must be helped. Thirdly, Benjamin Horne understood that the hotel key that was sent by mail is related to Special Agent Dale Cooper as well. Three different parties might therefore have realized that Special Agent Dale Cooper's actions in the past, present and future are going to be very important. There are more elements to analyze. Why does Major Garland Briggs' body looks like it didn't age in the past twenty-five years? The reason is that he was already killed by Evil Cooper twenty-five years ago but his body had been conserved and was only released from the Black Lodge recently. Evil Cooper seems to have used this body for several evil actions. The deceased Major Garland Briggs might even have been inhabited by an evil spirit from the Black Lodge that cooperates with Evil Cooper. Maybe his body was now released and discovered because it can only stay outside the Black Lodge for twenty-five years and has therefore become useless. The appearance of the body could be a warning from Evil Cooper to the F.B.I. to not interfere with him. What about the strange appearance in the morgue? I think it's the same entity that was seen in the prison in the second episode. My guess is that it's the evil spirit that possessed Bill Hastings and forced him to commit murders for Evil Cooper. It might try to sabotage the investigations on the mysterious murders. Maybe this spirit is a demonic doppelgänger of Ray who seems to be Evil Cooper's most reliable associate. Up next, why was Diane so scared to meet Evil Cooper again? It seems obvious to me that Evil Cooper did something terrible to her. Maybe he raped her or performed an evil ritual on her to get some garmonbozia. Evil Cooper obviously tried to discredit Special Agent Dale Cooper in order to make people despise or forget about him in order to take his place in the earthly world. What's going on with the humming sound in Benjamin Horne's office? Obviously, spirits from the Black Lodge are mobilizing since a confrontation between the two Dale Coopers seems to be imminent. The question is whether these spirits are good or evil. Since the Giant appeared several times in this hotel and even had a human host who was working there, it's possible that he uses the hotel as a portal once again, probably to get in touch with Douglas Jones or Dale Cooper to wake him up, so he becomes who he really is again.

Description: The seventh episode was pretty much on the same level as the previous episode. The start was much faster and gave a lot of information about the different side stories, the middle section was very intense leading to the climax when Douglas Jones got attacked by a hit-man but the conclusion to this episode felt a little bit stretched. Especially the sequence at the Bang Bang bar overstayed its welcome. The acting of Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, Naomie Watts and Christophe Zajac-Denek was phenomenal. However, my favourite character of this episode was a very quirky Gordon Cole portrayed by David Lynch himself. His dialogues with Laura Dern, Albert Rosenfield and several side characters had a perfect balance between comic relief and emotional seriousness. This episode shows that David Lynch is not only a great director, musician, painter and writer but also a stunning actor. David Lynch seems to fully convince in any form of art which might make him one of the most complete artists in the world.

Favorite scene: Once again, there were several interesting scene but the one that stood out for me was the attack on Douglas Jones. Douglas Jones was instinctively acting like Special Agent Dale Cooper as he protected his wife in the first place, then disarmed the ruthless contract killer and finally chased the hit-man away. The slow and menacing build-up towards this scene, the intense climax and the aftermath with the numerous short interview sequences with several eye witnesses were perfectly acted, directed and executed. Ike "The Spike" Stadtler might become one of my favourite antagonists in the Twin Peaks universe.

Hands-Down the Best Episode of the Revival

[aidan-callari · 10/10 · 19 June 2017]

While I have loved the revival of Twin Peaks so far, the lack of plot progression has gotten a bit frustrating. This episode, however, is the fastest moving episode so far this season. It also answered many of the fan theories that have been brought up since the season began. The first fan theory to be revealed is that the paper Hawk found in the stalls were indeed the missing pages of Laura Palmer's diary. However, one of the pages is still missing. The next of these fan theories was that the decapitated corpse from Episode One was indeed Major Briggs. However, he hasn't aged over the past 25 years, strangely.

Also, we saw another major step towards Dougie becoming Agent Cooper again. You may remember Ike "The Spike" from last week's episode. Well, he tried to shoot Coop, only to have Coop karate chop him in the throat, and rip his hand off the gun. The doppelgänger of The Arm appeared, telling Coop to "rip off his hand".

We also saw some Diane development, after she was briefly introduced last episode. She proceeded to cuss out all of the characters she met, eventually asking Tammy what her name was, and then telling her: "F**k you, Tammy". She spoke to Evil Coop, and told Agent Gordon that that was not the Cooper she knew.

We then saw Evil Coop threaten to mail more of his dead dog's legs to the warden if he did not let him go. He did, and this whole scene proved that Evil Coop is equally as evil as Bob was in the original show.

Overall, this episode provided a lot of needed context, and helped the plot move along quite a bit.

+Needed Context +Fastest Paced Episode Yet +Great Visuals +Great Return for Dr. Hayward +Mention of Harry Truman +Great Acting

10/10

A man sweeping the floor

[TheDonaldofDoom · 2 February 2020]

There's a fair amount of plot progression in this episode, but a lot of it is characters slowly finding out things we already know - like that the Cooper in prison probably isn't the real Cooper. That means that the story at points feels like it moves a bit too slowly, as we already know the answers to some of the questions they're investigating. There are still some interesting discoveries, like the pages that reveal communication with Laura Palmer and tie into FWWM. Andy's investigation also brings back an atmosphere similar to the old Twin Peaks.

Diane is one of the most entertaining parts of the episode, just because her endless meanness is not what we would have expected from the Diane Cooper was talking to 25 years ago. I guess the Diane we see now reflects the darker, less friendly change of tone that has happened in this season.

Compared to some of the other episodes, this level is less relentless with the weirdness, although there is a floor sweeping scene that lasts a couple of minutes. With scenes like this, it's hard to know if Lynch is playing with the audience or what.

Enough With Dougie

[ThomasDrufke · 8/10 · 22 June 2017]

Is anyone feeling very conflicted about this Twin Peaks revival? On one hand, David Lynch has my undivided interest with the way he shoots and presents each scene. There's never any time to take your eyes off the screen. But at the same time, there's really no need to continue the Dougie storyline. How many times can new characters refuse to acknowledge that there's something seriously off about him? With that said, this episode felt a whole lot more like classic Twin Peaks than the previous few episodes. Nearly every scene featured one of the classic characters. However, I'm still waiting on the return of Big Ed and Audrey. Where do they fit into this insanely packed cast of characters? Speaking of returns, it was nice to see Doc Hayward make his return, even if it was during a muffled Skype call with the new Sheriff Truman. Though that scene didn't ultimately amount to much narratively, boy was it cool to find out that those papers Hawk found were indeed from Laura Palmer's diary. It's hard to believe they were stuck in a bathroom stall for 25 years, but it was a neat addition to the Twin Peaks lore nonetheless. Other than that, it wasn't an overly eventful episode. A few other tidbits include: Dougie having that innate ability to take out the gunman seems to be another link to good Coop, the humming at Ben Horne's office felt like some sort of acknowledgment to Josie's whereabouts but I could be way off, whatever that guy was yelling at Norma's diner felt like such a Lynchian moment, and lastly, it sure seems like Ashley Judd will play more of a role than originally thought. But let's get this Dougie thing over with already, right?

8.5/10

Don Murray Is Back

[hackraytex · 8/10 · 4 July 2017]

As others have already said, Episode 7 got the show going again. There was a lot of tedious time in earlier episodes but since I missed the original series, I have stayed with it to get the gist of the show. I am not too impressed with Episode 8 but maybe I will "get it' later on. This kind of reminds me of "Pulp Fiction", "Into The Night" and "Two Days In The Valley" where you have a number of what appear to be unrelated story lines that you know will come together when it is finished so I will be hanging around for the closing act.

Regarding Don Murray. He has been retired for 17 years and came out of retirement to play the part of Bushnell Mullins. It is remarkable that at 88, Mr. Murray had still got it and appears to have hit all of his marks. He also appears to have been quite stimulated by the part and enjoying himself. I certainly hope I do as well if I make it to 88. It was not a large part but given his age and hopefully apparent good health, he did well. I hope this encourages him go for more parts if his health allows. Good to see you back and good job, Mr. Murray.

Cooper: Is That You?

[Samuel-Shovel · 9/10 · 24 June 2017]

Agent Cooper is back! Or it seems imminent, at least. Cooper's FBI skills come out in full force against the small hit-man. Something is clearly about to happen with the Black Lodge. With Bad Cooper out of prison and Good Cooper getting closer and closer to his former self, a showdown seems likely.

Finally getting to see Diane after all these years was a nice touch, as well.

There are so many plot points going on, it's hard to keep track of them. What's going on with Matthew Lillard's? What's the deal with Buenos Aires and that device? What's James Hurley up to? We've barely glanced at him. Hopefully all this will be answered in the next few episodes.

Episode 7

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 9 July 2017]

I do not want to brush anyone off the wrong way but that must have been the longest sweeping scene in history to the tune of Green Onions at The Bang Bang Club. This was preceded with Ben Horne with his new assistant, Beverly trying to figure out where a hum was coming from. Lynch is certainly keeping it wacky.

Deputy Chief Hawk found several missing pages from Laura Palmer's diary. One of them was a dream in which Annie Blackburn told her about Dale Cooper being trapped in the Black Lodge before it ever happened. Then again this would also be intimated by Agent Phillip Jeffries in the film Fire Walk With Me.

After getting a glimpse of Diane in the previous episode, we see now a bitter, drunk, angry woman cursing at Gordon. She sees evil Cooper in jail and confirms that he cannot be Dale Cooper. It leaves us questioning what did evil Cooper do to her?

Evil Cooper meanwhile has something on the prison warden, enough for him to help evil Cooper escape from jail.

Dougie's progress to becoming Agent Cooper again has slowed. He is visited by the police about his car but it is his wife Janey-E who helps out. However with the help of The Arm, when the midget hit-man tries to kill Dougie, the Agent Cooper inside him instinctively karate chops him in the throat as well as ripping part of his hand off the gun.

There is a mystery about the decapitated body being that of the late Garland Briggs but it has not aged in decades. I hope Lynch does not sweep that under the carpet.

Some plot, but still no idea why this is an 18 episodes series

[dierregi · 4/10 · 3 December 2017]

This episode actually HAS some plot, which surprised me - but maybe it is there to prepare the audience for the infamous "episode 8". Still sorely missing is a decent performance from Agent Cooper. We're stuck between Dougie and his insufferable wife and Bad Cooper, the robotic, indestructible evil master.

The FBI actually investigate - or sort of - with foul-mouthed Diane, who's suitably scared by Bad Cooper. I almost forgot what happens in Twin Peaks because very little happens there that makes any sense, apart from the founding of some pages of Laura Palmer's diary, stuck in the door of the police's toilet. They were hidden 25 years previously, or so it seems…

Everything still moving at snail's pace, which I don't mind too much, but still

1x07

[formotog · 7/10 · 14 September 2020]

Finally we get some actual plot progression! And quite a lot of it. Laura's diary proves to be very useful and I think sooner or later the action will redirect itself into Twin Peaks. Major Briggs seemingly didn't age for 25 years, and some kind of dark entity who previously appeared in the jail cell made another appearance. There are a lot of details going into each of these separate plot threads. It's a hell of a lot to keep track of, but at least this episode did give us a lot of progression of the central story. There were a few other details from less important stories like the humming at the Great Northern and the return of Jacques Renault who's now called Jean-Michel. I think the show should tone down on how many threads it's introducing. The scenes between Diane, Gordon and Albert were really great, I absolutely loved all of their performances, especially David Lynch. The conversation between Diane and Bob Coop was brilliant. The lighting and framing was amazing and the performance by both was impeccable. That scene likely would've felt very out of place in the original show, but it fits right in here. The second half of the episode was slower, with a return to Dougie who really isn't doing much different, except he's retained his muscle memory which really isn't much. As for why he's been targeted, I don't know nor really care. That is certainly the most tedious part of the central plot. We did get to see the release of Bob Coop and Ray, so next episode could continue this momentum created by this episode. I am literally begging it turns out that way anyway, this episode was solid and promising for the upcoming episodes, please please don't let it regress again

Mid 7

As terrible as the previous episodes

[alexx668 · 1/10 · 20 June 2017]

It's extremely easy to recap the last episode of Twin Peaks. Nothing happened. Okay, technically some events transpired on the screen, but for all intents and purposes the story hasn't moved an inch from where it was before. So instead I'll talk about why the new Twin Peaks is such a wreck:

1) There is very little story involved. Seven episodes in and nothing much has happened. Basically all the story until now could be put in two episodes and it would have made for a better viewing experience.

2) What little story there is, is extremely dull.

3) What little, dull story there is, is "told" in an unbelievably tedious "slow cinema" manner by David Lynch. But here's the problem, slow cinema is an extremely difficult genre. Very few directors can make it work. In order to do this, not only you need a story with emotional pull, you also need powerful, meditative images. Tarkovsky can do this, Antonioni can do this (even though they're polar opposites in terms of ideology). David Lynch can't do this. He's just terrible at it. What's all the more mystifying is that never until now has he tried to dabble in said genre. Inland Empire was a mess, but it wasn't slow cinema. None of his previous works were either, let alone his best ones (Eraserhead, Lost Highway).

Whatever. The new Twin Peaks is an unfolding disaster of epic proportions, something which in time will be recognized even by the fanboys.

Part 7

[bobcobb301 · 7/10 · 24 June 2017]

The Dougie stuff did not really bother me much this week. That being said, we are almost halfway through the show and we still are no closer to seeing Dale Cooper "wake up". We want Cooper interacting with Hawk, Andy and maybe even solving the crime in South Dakota. Dougie is hilarious, but it's enough already.

I didn't think they should have introduced Diane, but I knew it would happen. Laura Dern may be a good actress but so far this is not what the character should be.

Slow and slower

[queencitykatie · 2/10 · 24 July 2017]

I didn't watch the first series, so the things they had in common didn't register with me. All I know is that it was the slowest, most tedious hour I have spent. I stuck with it in hopes that something in it will help me 'get' episode 8, and I think that will prove to be true. However, most of the scenes were so slow and stretched out that I was tapping my foot and checking my watch.

Good, but not as great as the start

[lareval · 7/10 · 5 October 2021]

This time around, the plot is more grounded and entertaining. Plus we get to see a little more of Twin Peaks as I expected. A good, fun entry.

Boring

[mrdonleone · 3/10 · 19 May 2020]

Nothing happens in this episode. So sad, really. I fell asleep watching it. Boring cinema if you could even call it such.

The good Cooper

[AvionPrince16 · 7/10 · 13 March 2023]

David Lynch character suspect that the Cooper who cam back is not the good one. And Diane will confirm that. So they slowly be aware that something is wrong. And the indian will found some page in Laura diary that will confirm that. We still see Dougie completely lost but we understand that the car who exploded in the streets was Dougie car and that make things interesting. Dale who is in the prison blackmailed the director to get out of prison. They talked also about what happened to Cooper when came back from the black lodge 25 years ago and that bring some memories. Its still pretty confusing right now and im curious about what is really going on? And what they will do about the Dale who get out of prison? It was a little bit more interesting and the references of the past made things more clear in some ways but we still seeking the truth as the characters. We understand also that body who had the missing parts belong to the military and its pretty mysterious because we know its related to major Briggs and i hoped its not him who died. Need to see more.