10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 10
8. The Cycle Of Abuse Keeps Spinning
The unprecedented timing of Twin Peaks: The Return possesses a neat - as distinctly opposed to cheap - dramatic shortcut.
Caleb Landry Jones' Steven Burnett was depicted as a drug-addled loser earlier in the series. He seemed initially to be a spiritual son of Bobby Briggs; inept and careless, with a hint of vulnerability generating a degree of sympathy. Part 10 indicated that this was short-sighted. He interrupted Carl Rodd's plaintive acoustic rendition of 'Red River Valley' by throwing a coffee cup through a window. Burnett, tweaked out, chastised wife Becky for barely making minimum wage and having the audacity to criticise him for making nothing. It was an ugly scene that made rich use of Jones' trademark intensity. Burnett loomed over Becky with an outstretched fist, threatening to both pummel her and expose some secret. "I know exactly what you did," he said.
This one scene, buoyed by a quarter century of painful memories, crystallised the "ruthless passage of time" promised by Frost in the scant promotional drive. Becky is very much Shelly's daughter; Steven is very much a controlling monster shaped in the Leo Johnson mould. The cycle of abuse has been perpetuated through generations, its pathos coopted through tragic inevitability. Lynch's treatment of women has been criticised throughout his entire career, but this didn't feel gratuitous.
At its most dramatically rewarding and progressive, Twin Peaks is an indictment of patriarchy. Laura recovered her agency in death. Becky's fate, while unknown, is in the hands of a man who has handled this subject with more care than is often credited.