What I’m Watching: Twin Peaks

Twin Peaks: Season 3, Episodes 3 and 4 “The Return – Parts 3 and 4” (C/B-)

I’m going against my usual rule here by tackling two episodes at a time since they’re airing that way (just for the first two weeks, of course) because I really couldn’t tolerate it any other way. I was actually ready to give up on this show altogether in the middle of episode three, which was a real struggle to get through, and then things started to get interesting at the end when a barely-functioning Cooper kept sitting down at each slot machine, yelling “Hellooooo!” and winning the mega-jackpot. It’s unbelievably irritating to me that no one realizes that Dougie is not a real person capable of doing anything other than mimicking what he sees or hears, yet life continues to proceed along around him. And somehow, the murderer that Kyle MacLachlan played in the first two episodes is simultaneously existing in a prison cell where he appears to be an undercover version of Cooper who also isn’t all there. It makes complete sense that Naomi Watts, an unforgettable part of David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive,” would show up on this show, and I’m far more impressed with her performance than Michael Cera’s. I’m mixed on Brett Gelman from “Married” as the casino supervisor. I’m also recognizing a handful of players previously featured on the original iteration of this show, like Dana Ashbrook’s Bobby Briggs, now a cop, the impossibly unintelligent Andy and Lucy, the late Miguel Ferrer as Albert, David Duchovny as Denise, and, of course, Lynch himself in a truly fitting role as Gordon, who was just the right person to communicate with his old friend Coop through the glass. I’m feeling more optimistic about and intrigued by this show, so I’ll tune back in for episode five.