10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 12
7. The Horne Brothers Are In Different Places
Chekhov's hotel room key finally reappears in an expository (but no less powerful) sequence between Ben Horne and Frank Truman.
In it, Ben fills in the few remaining blanks of Richard's backstory and Frank does so with his crime spree. Richard grew up without a father, precipitating a downward spiral of criminality and sociopathy. Richard Beymer's acting is phenomenal here; his eyes clenched shut realisation masks resignation, sympathy, and perhaps even guilt. Much was theorised about "which" Ben we would see: the campy villain of season one, or the reformed force for good of season two. In The Return, Ben Horne has never been portrayed as richly. He is not black nor white but grey; a rounded human being. Ben returns the hotel key to Truman as a memento for the other Truman. Again, the grave nature of the conversation is such that one can only also "hope for the best" for the absent Michael Ontkean. A cameo seems the least of our worries.
Jerry, meanwhile, might literally be out of the woods; he is seen tumbling through a field, running away from the mountains. He falls flat on his face.
It is impossible to determine what this subplot means, if anything, at this point. If it is just a slice of physical stoner comedy, it's brilliant - even if, like much of Part 12, it is swollen with trolling overtones.