Dougie Jones: A Tale of Delayed Gratification

Twin Peaks gave us what we wanted, just not in the way we expected

Credit: Showtime

Warning: Contains Spoilers

Whenever a late sequel to a classic series is announced, most hardcore fans either rush to complain of it’s existence or wait with baited breath to see their favourite characters return once more.

The latter was the case when David Lynch announced in 2016 the release of Twin Peaks: The Return, exactly 25 years since Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) told Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) she would see him again. The rush was on for fans to anticipate the agent’s return to the series and resurgence into the real world, ready to make quips in his chipper and wholesome tone.

As we are approaching 10 years since The Return’s premiere, I felt it an appropriate time to look back on this excellent and subversive season of television and the character of Dougie Jones.

To the fan’s surprise and also to mine, Coop is introduced and he’s still confined to the Red Room. We see him travel through strange realms before appearing through a plug socket and into the role of Las Vegas family man and gambling addict Dougie Jones. Here we witness him completely catatonic, viewing the world around him with a childlike awe unable to do the most basic of tasks.

We finish the third episode of this unexpected and monumental series with a great deal of mystery. But also with a great deal of longing for classic Twin Peaks. The audience wants Coop back in town with all of the cast. Yet Lynch will not indulge us.

The situations we find Dougie in are humorous and quite frankly charming, unable to utter anything besides coffee or repeating words just said to him. From my personal experience watching this season, I tried to call Lynch’s bluff. I waited episode to episode expecting some supernatural nudge from another place to jolt Cooper back to life, to break through his Dougie exterior. Though I would find myself waiting.

As the season continues, we reunite with many familiar faces and discover what they are up to in 2016. The irony of Twin Peaks not being at the epicentre of the show’s major plot points is very funny to me.

After initially protesting for Cooper’s swift return to the show, I almost forgot about him entirely. I had become so engrossed in Dougie’s story. His wife Janey-E (Naomi Watts) and Sonny Jim (Pierce Gagnon) bring so much emotional warmth to such an absurd scenario. What is even more absurd is the drastic improvements to their lives by way of Dougie. Janey-E is happy in her marriage at last because her husband actually listens to her.

We never find out much about what kind of guy the original Dougie was. What we do know is that he was a philanderer and gambling addict. Based on how happy Sonny Jim is to spend time with the improved version, we can fill in the blanks that he was a non presence in the family home.

Even the Mitchum brothers, Bradley (Jim Belushi) and Rodney (Robert Knepper) who have every reason to despise Dougie, grow to appreciate him and actively look out for him despite their cartoon villainy. Naturally he even brings out their humanity and changes their outlook on life. I think Dougie may be the only person that can thwart an assassination attempt by walking over to pie in a cafe and make the perpetrator feel emotional enough to turn themselves in. He simply brings out the best in people.

What is so heartbreaking about Dougie’s situation is that we know Cooper is there under the surface. His instinctive love of coffee and cherry pie is a reminder of that. What he enjoys and the words he relays back to people tell us a lot about his association to those words. When Dougie accidentally makes a person happy, we see his face light up. This is quintessentially Cooper, who’s joy comes from other’s happiness.

I think MacLachlan’s performance is a key part of what makes the character work. There is something strangely satisfying following the baby steps of a character who has experienced none of the world. The little moments where he looks quizzically at something basic that an average person wouldn’t even think about. There is an honest enthusiasm to his character. McLachlan’s blank stare and slow blink really make us feel for Dougie. I personally reached a point where I wanted Cooper’s return, but not at Dougie’s expense.

Credit: Showtime

Looking back on my experience with this third season, I was foolish for fixating so much on the subject of Cooper. I was taught a lesson about enjoying the journey rather than the destination. When he finally snaps back into it I was immediately joyous, followed by a sudden realisation that Dougie is gone. All that time spent waiting for our hero’s return when I should have cherished the moments with the man in green.

The primary sentiment of the season appears to be that you can never go back again. Things can never be as they once were. By extension this applies to Cooper as a character. If Lynch wanted to bring him back as a way of cheap nostalgia for a show that debuted in the 90’s, it wouldn’t have worked or evoked the same responses from people.

The ending of the series itself is highlighting that Cooper truly believes he can put things back to how they were. That by saving Laura Palmer and entering alternate dimensions, he can fix the problem from it’s source. The truth is he never can. He can’t change the past and the show could never do a conventional sequel purely because the events of Twin Peaks already happened. We should take the fact we even have a third season of this show as a blessing without expecting definitive closure.

I will say that despite the dour ending to the series, I was immensely happy that the Jones family got their own little happy ending. It feels so deserved because of Janey-E’s constant patience and affection for her changed husband and Sonny Jim’s total acceptance of him as his father. The fact Cooper was briefly able to articulate this and remind them that he really cares about them, makes a cartoony premise something really powerful.

Credit: Showtime

Looking back on this season and Twin Peaks as a whole, I think Lynch pulled off something pretty remarkable. He created one of the most unique and authentic legacy sequels to ever exist. Well aware of what the audience wanted to see and actively making us exercise our patience instead of simply handing it to us on a plate.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Dougie Jones and wish I could’ve realised this sooner. It is reassuring that in such a cruel world, there is a man that will bring joy to everyone he encounters.