10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 13

6. Dougie Is Saved

13 Mr C Renzo
Showtime

Duncan Todd's plan to execute Dougie Jones via the Mitchum Brothers went awry via Black Lodge intervention and the infectious goodness at Dale Cooper's core. Plan B also went awry.

Anthony Sinclair, having acquired poison from a corrupt police officer within Todd's/Mr. C's empire, meets Dougie in the plaza surrounding their office. Before they can meet, Dougie walks face-first into the glass doors of it in a cheap but no less hilarious physical comedy bit, at which Kyle MacLachlan has excelled throughout.

Sinclair seems to literally agonise over his decision to slip the white powder into his coffee; you can almost feel the reflux coursing through his chest in what is a sensational physical performance from Tom Sizemore. He eventually does so as Dougie is drawn into the coffee shop by the heavenly waft of cherry pie. When Dougie returns, he notices a smattering of dandruff coating Sinclair's suit jacket. A triggered memory of cocaine, laying dormant from the Laura Palmer case, or a premonition of the poison?

What triggers this act of his own volition isn't clear; what is is that Sinclair, mistaking it for a shoulder rub - the contrivances are so contrived that you cannot help but admire them all, especially when the payoff manifests as such a great gag seconds latter ("that bad, huh?") - suffers a crisis of morality, and tosses the poisoned coffee.

"I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" he wails, with an infantilised, over-apologetic zeal - another implication of the source of evil running amok in the world.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!