Richard Horne terrorises his grandmother, Dougie passively engages in sex, and the Mitchum Brothers are encouraged to take the bumbling insurance salesman out of the picture.

Structurally, this episode feels more coherent, opening with Richard Horne (a feral Aemon Farren) attacking a witness to his car accident. He’s one of Lynch’s most evil characters in the show, and as we see when he visits his grandmother’s house, has no boundaries. This shocking scene is pure Lynch – a talking headless soft toy with a see-through bowl keeps repeating “Hello Johnny, how are you today?” It’s repetitive, unnerving and juxtaposes light Muzak on the soundtrack with the violence and vicious language of Richard.

Elsewhere, Dougie is examined by John Billingsley’s doctor (human this time rather than Denobulan) and Cooper’s buff body lights the fire in wife Janey-E (Naomi Watts) who then seduces him into a very bizarre sex scene. At least he seems to be enjoying himself.

There’s an emphasis on the Mitchum Brothers this week (Robert Knepper and James Belushi) as they focus on jackpot winner Dougie… and get flyswatted with a remote control! Their vacant, pink-dressed cocktail waitresses Sandie, Mandie and Candie, nonchalantly looking bored, are great comic value too.

But what of the Laura Palmer mystery? Cole gets a vision and the Log Lady (the late Catherine Coulson) delivers another enigmatic, lengthy phone message to Hawk. Will we ever get to solve it? Who knows!

Verdict: Less meandering and more engaging this week, when it’s tough it’s a hard watch, but there’s still some of that original humour to soften the blow. It looks gorgeous, but it still steadfastly refuses to reveal its secrets. 7/10

Nick Joy