The Log Lady has a message for us in Twin Peaks episode 10

This week we’re reunited with the villainous Richard Horne, check in with the Log Lady for an important clue, and learn something about a certain character that paints them in a very different light. This hour of Twin Peaks feels like a bridge between storylines, setting some interesting stuff up, but never quite standing on its own as a result. But even when nothing much is happening, this is still one of the best things on TV.

A vision of Laura

Last week sparks seemed to fly between Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) and Buckhorn coroner Constance Talbot (Jane Adams). And sure enough, we see the pair laughing over wine and dinner as Gordon Cole (David Lynch) and Tammy Preston (Chrysta Bell) look on with some amusement. But things get decidedly more sinister when, later on, Cole hears a knock at his hotel room door and has a strange, terrifying vision of a weeping Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) and someone calling her name.

The footage used in the vision is from the scene in the movie Fire Walk With Me where a distraught Laura asks Donna Hayward to reassure her that she’s her best friend. As for the significance of the vision, and why it happened to Gordon Cole in a South Dakota hotel of all places, I have no idea. The episode’s description is “Laura is the one”, a line spoken at the end by the Log Lady, so it seems Twin Peaks’ tragic homecoming queen may have more of an impact on this series than anyone expected.

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Et tu, Diane?

The vision fades and Albert is behind the door, who informs Cole about the text Diane (Laura Dern) received from Evil Cooper last episode. It transpires that Diane replied with an encrypted message: “They have Hastings. He’s going to take them to the site.” Is Cooper’s former secretary in cahoots with his doppelgänger? And is she doing it out of choice, or is he manipulating her like Warden Murphy?

Cole mentions thinking something was off with her when they embraced back in episode 7, and rewatching it, he definitely seems distracted by something. As for ‘the site’, this likely refers to the entrance to what Bill Hastings calls the Zone—which is almost certainly the Black Lodge. Diane seems concerned that Hastings will lead the FBI there, but we’re not sure why yet. Here’s hoping Diane has a change of heart and decides to help Cole and the gang catch Evil Cooper.

The glass box

Preston hands Cole a photo taken from one of the cameras surrounding the experiment from episode 1. “Remember the penthouse murders?” she asks Cole as she hands the picture over, revealing Evil Cooper standing next to the glass box. Sam Colby, the man who was murdered by the creature that emerged from the box, told fellow victim Tracey Barberato he was hired by a mysterious billionaire. Could this be the doppelgänger? We saw a photo of Evil Cooper’s house in a previous episode, a palatial mansion, which suggests he has the money.

Drama in Las Vegas

In Las Vegas, gangsters Rodney (Robert Knepper) and Bradley Mitchum (Jim Belushi) watch a report on the local news about Ike ‘The Spike’ Stadtler’s botched attempt to assassinate Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). Recognising him as the man they think ripped off their casino (“That’s our Mr. Jackpots.”), they decide it’s finally time to pay ‘Dougie Jones’ a visit.

Meanwhile, Duncan Todd (Patrick Fischler) calls Anthony Sinclair (Tom Sizemore) into his office—a corrupt colleague of Dougie known to be committing insurance fraud. He orders Sinclair to approach the Mitchum brothers and pin a fraudulent claim that fell through on Dougie. If Sinclair fails to deliver on this, Todd says he’ll have to kill Dougie himself.

Sinclair arrives at the casino and does as Todd instructed. The Mitchums seem to believe him, and Sinclair tells says that Dougie has a personal vendetta against them. As if Cooper didn’t have enough assassins and other criminals after him, he now has some a pair of ruthless mobsters to worry about. Well, he would if he was capable of worry, or any other emotion.

Dougie love

Cooper, still drifting through the life of insurance salesman Dougie Jones, goes for a medical checkup. His doctor (John Billingsley) is impressed by his fitness and apparent weight loss, and so is Dougie’s wife Janey-E (Naomi Watts). Kyle MacLachlan is in remarkable shape for a man approaching 60.

Later that night, as Cooper dimly eats a slice of chocolate cake, Janey-E tries to seduce him. They have sex and Cooper seems to enjoy it, but remains in his mindless stupor. What’s it going to take to wake this guy up? Maybe it’s Stockholm syndrome, but I think I’ll miss Dougie if and when Cooper wakes up. There’s something wonderfully innocent about him in a show that is otherwise brimming with horrible people.

Richard’s rampage

Speaking of which, this episode sees the return of the deeply unpleasant Richard Horne (Eamon Farren). Now revealed to be the grandson of Sylvia and Ben Horne, he pays a visit to Miriam Sullivan (Sarah Jean Long), the woman who saw him kill the boy with the truck in episode 6. He kills her and orders corrupt cop Chad Broxford (John Pirruccello) to intercept a letter she sent to the Sheriff’s Department revealing what she saw. Broxford succeeds and grabs the incriminating letter from the mailman, but Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) seems suspicious.

At the home of Sylvia Horne (Jan D’Arcy), we learn that her son Johnny (Eric Rondell) wasn’t killed in his accident last week, but looks badly injured. As he stares at a bizarre teddy bear that repeats “Hello, Johnny. How are you today?” in a mechanical voice, Richard storms in, roughs his grandmother up, and steals her money and jewellery. She calls husband (or possibly ex-husband) Ben (Richard Beymer) in a fury and demands to be sent more money, ending the call by threatening to call her lawyer. All is not well in the Horne family, and there’s still no sign of Audrey. Could this drama be what brings her back to Twin Peaks? And if Richard is her son, who’s the father?

A message from the log

And the episode ends with another cryptic message from The Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson), who tells Hawk (Michael Horse) that “electricity is humming.” We know that Lodge spirits have an intimate connection with electricity, which makes this line particularly ominous. She also tells Hawk that “the circle is almost complete” and that “Laura is the one”, the meaning of which is currently, like so many things, a mystery.

In part 8 the giant and Señorita Dido send a glowing orb of light bearing Laura’s face to Earth in response to the birth of Bob in the nuclear test. Is Laura Palmer the key to defeating the forces of darkness in Twin Peaks and beyond? Between this and Cole’s vision, it’s becoming apparent that the late Ms. Palmer has an important role to play. If she, or her doppelgänger, escape the Lodge, things could get very interesting indeed. But for now we’re left with a haunting Roadhouse performance by singer Rebekah Del Rio, who David Lynch fans will remember appeared in a pivotal scene in Mulholland Drive.