10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 13
2. James Is Still Cool
As we often do, we cut to the Roadhouse as dusk settles in Twin Peaks.
The appearance of JR Starr's master of ceremonies seems to harken the performance of another internationally mega-famous act, in a knowing use of lampshade hanging akin to 'The' Nine Inch Nails in Part 8. Brilliantly, this wasn't Eddie Vedder's turn to croon but James Hurley's; he performed the incredibly divisive slice of chipmunk-ed 50s whimsy 'Just You', used to such startling effect in the original series. There, it acted as a haunting, rug-pulling premonition of BOB; here, the dramatic heft of the piece was reversed in a yrev, very brave choice by Lynch. It's both nostalgic and in keeping with the subversion motif.
The camera cuts back and forth between James and object of his desire Renee - who, perhaps feeling the echoes of tragedy reverberating through time, sheds involuntary tears in another echo, this time of the spiritual disturbance affecting the Roadhouse when Maddie met her end at the hands of Leland Palmer. Two unnamed backing singers evoke the ghosts of Maddie Ferguson and Donna Hayward - the mysterious fate of the latter unknown.
In a way, the performance crystallises the appeal of Twin Peaks, in its histrionic emotional notes and profound mystery, as much as any other scene.