Part 15 of The Return opens with Nadine walking down the road with the golden shovel on her shoulder. Traffic passes by her as she approaches Big Ed’s Gas Farm. She is excited to see Big Ed and tells him that she has changed. She admits to being a horrible person to her husband and that she had kept the two of them apart. Nadine tells him that she has finally decided to let Big Ed be free so that he can be free to go to Norma. “Ed, you are free. Go and enjoy!” she tells him. They hug and she marches back the way she came with the shovel in her hand.
Ed hurries to the Double R where he waves Norma down. He tells her that Nadine has given him his freedom. As he shares the news, Walter walks in behind him and they go off to the booth to chat. Big Ed watches, confused. He sits at the bar and orders a cup of coffee from Shelly. “And a cyanide tablet,” he adds in frustration.
Back in the booth, Norma tells Walter she is selling her share of the franchise to Walter. She wants out and wants to simply own the Double R. At the bar, Big Ed sits there, eyes closed. Walter works to convince Norma to change her mind but she refuses. Walter gets up and tells her that she is making a huge mistake. He walks off, past Ed who still has his eyes closed. Norma reaches out to him and places her hand on his shoulder. He turns to her and they look at each other. “Marry Me,” he says and they kiss as the music plays in his head. “Of course I will,” she tells him. “I love you with all my heart and I can’t stop now…” the music plays.
It’s night and the road is dark as Mr C drives the truck to the Dutchman. He pulls off to the side of the road and stops at a familiar building – The Convenience Store. Just in front of him is one of the woodsmen. He follows the woodsman up the steps at the side of the building and they vanish.
Trees….
Mr C finds himself in a dark room. He approaches a woodsman who appears to be bleeding from the mouth. Mr C tells him that he is looking for Philips Jeffries. He pulls a switch from behind a large console to his side. Blue light erupts and we see the Jumping Man’s face from FWWM and other faces appear over it – including what looks to be Sarah Palmer. The blue light vanishes and another woodsman appears in the doorway. He waves at Mr C to follow him and they walk down a dark hallway. At the end of the hall is a staircase. As they walk through the hall, trees appear in the darkness. Mr C and the woodsman enter the room with the staircase and they continue up the steps. Mr C enters another room at the top of the staircase.
He walks to a door and opens it. He is at a motel that looks a lot like the motel that Leland met Teresa Banks. Two woodsman walk with him across the parking lot to a locked motel room. Room 8. A woman approaches him wearing a nightgown. She says backwards, “I’ll unlock the door for you.” She goes to the door and unlocks it. She pushes it open and then walks away. Mr C enters the room and closes the door behind him.
The hum of electricity can be heard. A light flickers above Mr C’s head. He watches as the wall fades away and a large black object appears. It’s the same large terminal that we see in Part 3 and then in Part 8. This one has a pipe sticking out of it and smoke billows from it. The device clanks.
Jeffries: Oh, it’s you.
C: Jeffries
J: Thank God (device clanks)
C: Why did you send Ray to kill me?
J: What? I called Ray.
C: So you did send him? (device clanks) Did you call me five days ago?
J: I don’t have your number. (device clanks)
C: So it was someone else who called me
J: We used to talk
C: Yes we did.
J: (FWWM Flashback) Well now I’m not gonna talk about Judy. In fact, we are not gonna talk about Judy at all.
C: 1989. (device clanks) You showed up at FBI headquarters in Philadelphia and said you met Judy (device clanks)
J: So you are Cooper?
C: Phillip (device clanks) Why didn’t you want to talk about Judy? Who is Judy? Does Judy want something from me
J: Why don’t you ask Judy yourself. I’ll write it down for you. (From the smoke, numbers float out of the pipe. Mr C pulls out a notepad as the device clanks again. He writes the numbers down and the device clanks)
C: Who is Judy?
J: You’ve already met Judy.
C: What do you mean I’ve met Judy. (The phone starts to ring and the device clanks.) Who is Judy? Who is Judy?
The large device disappears and Mr C goes to answer the phone. He puts up to his ear and blue light explodes around him. He suddenly finds himself outside of the convenience store in the phone booth. He listens to the earpiece and he suddenly distorts with the sound of static.
As he walks away, he sees Richard Horne who tells him that he saw him and recognized him as an FBI agent. Richard mentions that his mom, Audrey, has a picture of him. Mr C spits on the ground, distracting Richard. He grabs the gun and throws Richard on the ground kicking him twice in the stomach. He tells him to get in the truck and they will talk along the way. Richard gets up and climbs into the truck. Meanwhile, Mr C texts “Las Vegas?” to an unknown number. He gets in the truck and drives away.
Behind him, lights in the convenience store light up and smoke erupts behind it. The smoke and lights become more intense and it slowly vanishes from the location, leaving trees behind it.
In the woods, a man by the name of Cyril Pons is walking his small dog. He is approaching a large tree where Steven and Gersten Hayward are sitting. He has a gun and is rubbing his leg. Gersten asks him why he did something, and he says there is no why. She asks what “she” gave him. He loads the gun as she holds him. As they talk, the man with the dog approaches. The couple sees him and Gersten runs around to the back of the tree. The man and the dog walk away and while she hides behind the tree she hears a gunshot. She looks into the woods, the trees spiraling around her.
At the new Fat Trout Trailer Park, the Cyril flags Carl down and informs him of what he had just seen. He points to Steven and Becky’s trailer – “he lives in that trailer right there.”
Cut to the Roadhouse where ZZ Top is playing. As people dance, four people talk at a booth as James and Freddie approach. James calls to Renee and her husband becomes upset. He gets up and hits James. He continues to beat James as the husband’s friend joins in. Freddie hits each men in the face with his green glove. They hit the ground, and one foams at the mouth. “His eyes don’t look right,” James says peering at him.
In Vegas, the FBI bring in Douglas Jones and his wife. But it’s the wrong Douglas Jones — a family with multiple kids.
At Mr Todd’s office, he calls Roger into his office. Behind him, Chantal walks in and shoots Todd in the right eye. She then shoots Roger. She begins to leave but Roger screams in pain. She comes back and shoots him again killing him. She has Hutch on the phone and tells him to order french fries with extra ketchup.
Back in Twin Peaks, James and his friend are placed in jail. Chad is still there with the Naido and the drunk who is bleeding. The latter continues to repeat words and Chad tells him to shut up. James and Freddie sit down and then notice the woman across from them who is sitting in a cell reaching out. She makes strange sounds and the drunk imitates her.
In Vegas, Hutch and Chantal eat their fast food talking about killing people. We learn that she does not like small ketchup packs.
Over at the Jones house, Janey-E gives Cooper his nightly slice of chocolate cake. He begins to eat it as Janey stares up at him, caressing his arm. As Cooper eats his cake, he separates the salt and pepper shaker from each other. After taking another bite, he presses a button on the remote control in front of him. Nothing happens and he takes another bite. He presses a button again and nothing happens. Another bite. This time he presses the Power button. Sunset Blvd is on the air. “The old team together again. Nothing can stop us!” the actress Gloria Swanson says. They continue to chat and then William Holden says, “Get Gordon Cole!”
Cooper’s eyes light up. He pauses the show. He stares at the TV and his eyes move to the electrical outlet. Cooper gets on the floor and slowly crawls across the carpet on all fours. There is an electrical humming. He attempts to put the fork in the outlet but it doesn’t go in. He turns it around inserts the other end. White light. Janey turns around and screams. Then everything goes dark.
Cut to Twin Peaks. The Log Lady calls Hawk.
L: Hawk. I’m dying.
H: I’m sorry Margaret.
L: You know about death, that it’s just a change, not an end. Hawk, it’s time. Ther’s some fear, some fear in letting go. Remember what I told you. I can’t say more over the phone. But you know what I mean from our talks when we were able to speak face to face. Watch for that one, the one I told you about, the one under the moon on Blue Pine Mountain. hawk. My log is turning gold. The wind is moaning. I’m dying. Good night, hawk.
H: Good night, Margaret. Goodbye Margaret.
Cut to the conference room where Sheriff Truman is working on his laptop. Andy, Bobby and Lucy enter and Truman asks why they are there. He tells him that Hawk told them to meet him in the room. Hawk enters and informs them that the Log Lady had died. Lucy begins to cry and Truman removes his hat.
Out in the woods, the lights in Margaret’s house slowly die.
Audrey and Charlie continue to argue. Charlie has his coat on and they are standing at the front door. Audrey continues to argue with Charlie and Charlie is still sleepy. Charlie asks if she is going to put her coat on and she continues to fight. He finally takes his coat and walks into the other room. He sits on the couch and Audrey runs into the room. She jumps on him and yells that she hates Charlie.
Cut to the Roadhouse where people dance to a live band. In a booth sits a young girl alone – her name is Ruby. Two men approach and she tells them that she is waiting for someone. They pick her up and place Ruby on the floor – she sits there, legs crossed. She finally leans over and places her face to the floor. She begins to crawl toward the stage and pushes past a few swaying legs. As the music plays, she screams repeatedly.
Fade to black.
As the credits roll, we see the motel from earlier in the episode. At the end, the scene cuts and in the background we see the woman who unlocked the door for Mr C in the distance – her head covered in the shadows.
