10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 16
6. And So Are The Brothers Mitchum
Much has been written about Jim Belushi's Bradley Mitchum - about how an actor reviled as both hack comedian and Hollywood sleaze ball, in David Lynch's expert hands, becomes in The Return a warm and avuncular presence. Robert Knepper's Rodney Mitchum is also worthy of lofty praise as part of the double act.
Knepper, best known as a psychopath through his performance as T-Bag in Prison Break and the phrenology of his sharp, angular features, absolutely masters Peaksian humour in Part 16. His understated comment on the suburban condition, after another double act meets their maker from an unlikely source, is classic. "People are under a lot of stress, Bradley," he says by way of explanation - a winning use of bathos and a twisted reinforcement of his gangster "with a heart of gold" character. Better still is the instant reception of Cooper's command to fuel up his private plane en route to Spokane, Washington. He receives the instruction with the clipped, rapid-fire assurance of a Seinfeld character. "Let's-go-meeting-Dougie-in-the-lobby," he says, almost as if he's possessed into speaking in tongues by Cooper's charm.
Aren't we all?