10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 15
1. Howls In The Roadhouse
The climactic Roadhouse scenes, often cut into in media res and invariably focused on an unfamiliar, "hidden" cast of Twin Peaks, are designed to disorient; with three hours left, Ella's job performance isn't likely to be revisited.
This scene, however, worked as both devastating short story in itself and a harrowing thematic echo of events in Las Vegas. Charlene Yi's Ruby sat alone in a booth, transmitting pure fear as two bikers circled her like predators. "I'm waiting for someone," she croaked. They didn't care; they lifted her from her seat and sat her on the floor. With a sorrowful expression, so powerful in its mining of empathy, she crawled across the floor. She then let out a primal roar, piercing through the Veils' excellent performance of 'Axolotl'. Was she raging against a world in which agency is stripped away by brute, neanderthal strength? Was she empathetically channelling the thematic vibrations felt by Dougie Jones and Janey-E? This was pure hopelessness distilled in an incredible physical performance from Yi.
The scene was powerful on a sensory and interpretive level. Only Lynch could conceive of something like it. The Return is a four month present. It matters little if the digital effects during the Duncan Todd scene were wonky at best.
It would be almost churlish to err on the side of cynicism in the face of a microscopic flaw.