Dougie dances with death in Twin Peaks episode 13 - all your questions answered

After a ponderous, scattershot episode last week, Twin Peaks is back on track. Evil Cooper catches up with an old friend to settle a score, Anthony Sinclair gets in over his head, and we’re finally reunited with Big Ed Hurley, who has barely aged a day since we last saw him in the original series. And fans of James Hurley are in for a treat when we check in at the Roadhouse. Here’s all the big issues from the episode explained...

What’s the deal with Duncan Todd and Anthony Sinclair?

Sinclair (Tom Sizemore) watches in horror as the Mitchum brothers and Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) dance into his office in a bizarre conga line, celebrating their recent $30 million windfall. Todd (Patrick Fischler) expected the Mitchums to kill Dougie, and said that Sinclair would have to do the job if they didn’t. And that time has come. Enraged, Todd gives him a day to kill Cooper, and the terrified Sinclair reluctantly agrees.

Sinclair meets with corrupt detective Clark (John Savage) and requests poison for the assassination. The next morning he slips it into Cooper’s coffee as he stares dumbly at a slice of cherry pie, but has a change of heart when he somehow misinterprets Cooper’s fascination with the dandruff on his shoulders as him knowing what he’s up to. He tearfully confesses to Bushnell Mullins (Don Murray) about his insurance scams, working for Todd, and the attempted murder of Cooper.

We know that Todd is working for Evil Cooper, and the doppelgänger won’t be happy to hear that he’s failed several times to kill Dougie. But Evil Cooper likely doesn’t know that his twin is being guided and protected by some benevolent Lodge spirit. Whenever Cooper’s about to stumble into danger, something always saves him at the last minute. Hopefully this keeps up if Evil Cooper decides to do the job himself.

Why did the Mitchum brothers buy Sonny Jim a gym set?

When we joined the Mitchum brothers and Cooper celebrating their insurance payout last week, the first thing we hear Bradley (Jim Belushi) saying is, “You mean to say your kid doesn’t have a gym set? Every kid should have a gym set.” Quite how the mindless Cooper relayed this information to the brothers is a mystery, but they were so touched by this that they bought Dougie’s son his very own gym set. They also bought Dougie a brand new BMW convertible, which Janey-E (Naomi Watts) seems particularly pleased by. The fortunes of the troubled Jones family are looking up, which can only mean something terrible is going to happen in the next few episodes. If Cooper does wake up, it’s going to be devastating for Janey-E and her son.

Why did Fusco throw Cooper’s fingerprints away?

Detective D. Fusco (David Koechner) took fingerprints from Cooper’s coffee cup a few episodes back, suggesting that he’d run them, get a hit on Cooper instead of Dougie, and maybe alert Gordon Cole to his presence in Nevada. But, instead, he gets the results back and, learning that their owner escaped from a South Dakota prison a few days ago (which was Evil Cooper, of course), seems to assume it’s a mistake and tosses the prints in the trash, killing the lead. I mean, who can blame him. Dougie clearly hasn’t been in South Dakota lately. But for someone watching the show it’s hugely frustrating. Another dead end.

What happened to Ray, and was it something to do with the ring Cooper made him wear?

The Owl Cave ring is one of the most enigmatic, powerful artifacts in Twin Peaks’ mythology. Mark Frost’s book, The Secret History of Twin Peaks, traces its origins back to the Native Americans, but suggests that it’s much older. It’s unclear what its power actually is, but it has a direct connection to the Black Lodge, and people who encounter it never seem to end up in a good situation. Dougie was wearing it when he was sucked back into the Lodge. Teresa Banks was wearing it before she was murdered. And Chet Desmond vanished when he touched it.

Evil Cooper finally catches up with Ray Monroe (George Griffith) and shoots him in the leg, demanding he reveal the mysterious coordinates given to him by Bill Hastings’ secretary. Monroe hands them over, confessing that he was hired to kill Cooper by Philip Jeffries, the FBI agent played by David Bowie in Fire Walk With Me. We learned last week that Jeffries was part of Gordon Cole’s Blue Rose task force, but his current motives are unclear. Monroe also reveals the Owl Cave ring, saying Jeffries told him to put it on Evil Cooper after he’d kill him. Instead, the doppelgänger makes him wear it, then kills him.

The ring disappears from Monroe’s hand, appearing in the Black Lodge. Then we see Monroe following it, lying bleeding on the zig-zag floor. It seems Jeffries was trying to trap Evil Cooper in the Lodge, perhaps to let the real Cooper escape. You may remember how Mike told Cooper that, in order to leave, his doppelgänger has to come back. But it remains to be seen whether Jeffries really wants Cooper out, or has something else in mind. In episode 2 we heard him (or, at least, someone claiming to be him) saying he wanted to be ‘back with Bob again’, which makes me question his good intentions somewhat.

What’s going on with Sarah Palmer?

Something is seriously wrong with Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie), mother of Laura. And who can blame her? Her teenage daughter was killed by her own husband, who was also being possessed by a demon. That’s gonna screw a person up. In a prolonged scene she watches an old boxing match that appears to be stuck on a loop, and seems distressed that she’s run out of vodka, despite her shopping trip last week. But what exactly is happening in the Palmer household is a mystery. That house has a very dark past, which makes me wonder why she still lives there. In the original series we learn that she has precognitive powers, and is one of the few people able to see Bob’s true form, so it seems likely she’ll have an important role to play in future episodes.

What’s happening with Big Ed’s reflection?

At first it seems that Big Ed Hurley (Everett McGill) is simply stewing over his relationship with Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton), which seems to have fallen apart in the last 25 years. But if you look closely at his reflection in the window, it moves strangely, not quite mirroring his movements perfectly. This could be an illusion or a trick of the light, but quirks like this are often intentional in Twin Peaks. The town’s vicinity to Glastonbury Grove, a portal to the Black Lodge, makes it susceptible to all manner of supernatural strangeness. And if Cooper does return to Twin Peaks, he may awaken forces that have lain dormant for the last 25 years. Could those scary, charcoal-skinned woodsmen be on their way to the Pacific Northwest?