Agent Tammy and Diane join a secret task force, Sarah Palmer starts losing it, and a familiar face makes a return, raising far more questions.

If Episode 11 suggested that the show was charging ahead again, 12 doesn’t do much apply the brakes as take us onto a slightly different set of rails. It certainly doesn’t feel as inconsequential as some of the earlier parts and there’s also a sense that things are starting to converge on Twin Peaks the town.

Albert, Gordon, Tammy and Diane are a great ensemble and it’s tragic to think that we no longer have the great Miguel Ferrer with us any more. Lynch is having the time of his life, particularly in a painfully overlong sequence where Gordon’s red-shoe-wearing (a common motif) French companion very slowly bids her adieu from his hotel room. It’s one of those gags that starts being funny, stops being funny, and then starts again. Oh, and Cole reassures someone who works on a turnip farm that their missing daughter will turnip again. Really, Mr Lynch?!

There’s one solitary Dougie moment – playing catch with Sonny Jim – and I wondered if it’s there just to justify Kyle McLachlan’s name in the credits. Sarah Palmer (mother of Laura) freaks out in a grocery store and is very sheepish when Hawk comes to visit, with a focus on those rotating ceiling fans from the first season. This, in addition to Badalamenti’s original score, reminds us what show we’re watching, away from the other distractions.

A key character also turns up this week, long overdue. If you don’t know who it is, I’m not going to spoil that for you, suffice to say that boy they’ve really changed. Just what has happened in the intervening 25 years to make them so mean? There’s a bunch of Peaksplaining from them that introduces new characters and events, bringing in a whole new set of questions.

Verdict: The net is closing in on Richard Horne, and the evil that has lay dormant in Twin Peaks for 25 years is starting to awake again. There’s six more episodes to go, so let’s get Coop out of his funk, get the old team back together again finish this show in a grand style. 7/10

Nick Joy