'Twin Peaks': 20 Easter Eggs, References and Callbacks あなた Might Have Missed 

This week, Showtime unveiled the first four episodes of David Lynch’s ambitious, 18-hour

revival. Given the cherished, cult status of both Lynch and the show itself, a lot of ink has been spilled over the past few weeks about what kind of show

is, really. The series came of age in the early 90s, long before Internet culture, obsessive Reddit threads, and even more obsessive recaps had changed the way we watch television. Though

is credited as being the mother of all crackpot theory shows, there are some critics who argue that’s actually

how the show should be digested. That to get caught up in the cryptic clues and esoteric callbacks is to miss the larger surrealistic beauty of what Lynch is trying to create.

coverage, I would argue there’s room for a single show to be both. And while Lynch may lead us down a rabbit (or chocolate bunny) hole or two that he never intends to explain, there

some references in this revival that I think have deeper meaning—particularly when it comes to the way

interacts with the mythology of the unfairly maligned 1992 feature film

obsessives refused either to re-visit or to watch the story of Laura Palmer’s final days in the first place. But the one major hint Lynch was willing to give fans in advance of this week’s

Allow us to point out a few references and callbacks you might have missed while not, to put it into

terms, losing the thematic forest for the trees. Showtime has made the first four episodes of the new season available on all streaming platforms and on demand, but in case you’re parceling the season out slowly for yourself, this article has been divided by episode. In other words, you’ll have ample warning when it comes to spoilers. So, pour yourself a hot cup of coffee, dish up some pie, and be prepared to follow every clue. It’s what Agent Dale Cooper would do.

For most of my thoughts on the first two episodes of the new season, you can go here. One Easter egg we didn’t hit yet:

Frère Jacques: There were a few familiar old faces in the show’s first trip back to the The Bang Bang Bar—but one might have escaped your notice. Just as Mädchen Amick’s Shelly Johnson was flirting with new-to-the-series Red (Balthazar Getty), some sharp-eyed viewers noticed Walter Olkewicz, who played creepy drug dealer and occasional Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) sex partner Jacques Renault, decked out in plaid and tending bar in the background. The only problem? Jacques died back in Season 1—smothered to death by Leland Palmer (Ray Wise). So, is this a ghost or just a fun cameo for Olkewicz? According to the credits, Olkewicz is playing someone called Jean-Michel Renault. A fourth Renault brother?

for Lynch novices is an understatement. The first 10 minutes or so really push your surrealistic-comfort boundaries. But while so much of this sequence—in which Cooper goes into a Purple Room, hangs out in space, pulls some switches, and disappears through a light socket—is strange and new, one element should actually be familiar. Phoebe Augustine, who played Laura Palmer’s friend and fellow assault victim Ronette Pulaski in the original series, appeared credited as American Girl in Episode 3. Though Ronette spent a lot of the original series in a coma and then a state of trauma, she gets a more fleshed-out backstory in

Falling Through Space: Coop’s long, jarring tumble through space may finally answer Donna Hayward (Moira Kelly) and Laura Palmer’s thought experiment from

we call his journey through the cosmos “faster and faster”? Considering he landed with such a terrifying splat? Yes.

Mother May I? David Lynch returns as Agent Gordon Cole, just in time to echo all of our reactions to that pale, terrifying monster from the first episode. “What the hell?” indeed. Though

tells the tale of that mysterious glass box out of order, it breaks down like this: Cooper had to pass through that glass box in order to escape the Black Lodge, where he has been a prisoner for the last 25 year. Did someone who did not want Cooper to get out of the Black Lodge set up the box—and its constant surveillance—as a trap for Cooper? And if the young guard hadn’t been derelict in his duty, would Cooper have remained inside the box when the pale monster appeared? In other words: is the monster some kind of gate keeper, meant to keep Cooper inside the Black Lodge? Or is it a terrifying consequence of the agent trying to leave the lodge early? And does that monster have anything to do with the “mother” figure who was banging on the outside of the Purple Room as Cooper was making his escape? I’m not trying to get too literal here with something that is obviously a symbol—but understanding the symbol is contingent on understanding the monster’s relationship to Cooper, right?

Garmonbozia: Apologies for the lack of trigger warning on that one. The weird,

ian concept of “Garmonbozia” is a Lynch-invented term that means “pain and sorrow”—two concepts given physical form in the world of

which feed the demons who live inside the Black Lodge. Most often, gulp, that form is creamed corn. The character known as Mr. C—who is currently wearing Dale Cooper’s face—is forced, via the

Cooper’s escape from the Lodge, to vomit up the Garmonbozia that was sustaining him. As we see in later episodes, without that corn inside him, Mr. C is not able to convincingly pull off his impersonation of Cooper. Does that clear things up? Yeah, probably not.

Teach Me How to Dougie: The other person vomiting corn in this episode is a

Cooper doppelgänger played by Kyle MacLachlan, a silly wig, and some pillows. This person, named Dougie Jones, is

a decoy facsimile of Cooper created by the evil Mr. C to ensure that should our intrepid Dale ever escape the Black Lodge, he’ll switch places with the decoy, not Mr. C. And it looks like that plan worked out just as Mr. C hoped it would—give or take a vomiting spell or two. A brain-damaged Cooper (more on

in a bit) is now stuck in Dougie’s life, and Mr. C has bought himself a little more time outside the Lodge. What may be less clear is the significance of the jade ring on Dougie’s hand. In

(regret not doing your homework yet?), that ring has mysterious mystical powers that either keep the wearer safe from harm, or marks him or her for death. Teresa Banks and Laura Palmer both wore the ring (and felt their arm go numb) just before their deaths. Laura put the ring on to protect herself from being possessed by BOB, while poor Dougie just evaporated inside the Lodge as soon as the ring came off his finger.

One-One-Nine: We could spend all day trying to crack the various numbers dropped in the first few episodes of

, but who has the time? It’s safe to assume that the recurring motifs of 3 and 15 (seen in many places, including the device Coop uses to leave the Purple Room) are a reference to Cooper’s famous room number at The Great Northern Hotel. (He still has his key!) It also doesn’t feel like a stretch to wonder if the woman (“Drugged-Up Mother,” played by Hailey Gates) intoning “one-one-nine” in the house across the street from Dougie’s love nest is perhaps another Lodge resident trapped in the real world and speaking backwards for some reason. Nine-One-One feels like a much more appropriate thing to say in that situation, no?

Hawk-Eyed: With Deputy Tommy “Hawk” Hill (Michael Horse) taking his instructions from Margaret the Log Lady (the late Catherine Coulson) very seriously, it looks like he’s the person likeliest to find the long-lost Agent Cooper. That’s a lovely callback to Season 2, Episode 10, when Cooper thought he was leaving town and gave his goodbyes to the Sheriff’s department. “Hawk, if I ever get lost,” he tells the deputy, “I hope you’re the man they send to find me.” Though some might consider Hawk being the ultimate tracker (rooted as it is, the revival reminds us, in his “heritage”) as something of a negative stereotype, Horse disagrees. In a recent interview he said: “It was an amazing character to play. It was one of the first times we saw a multi-dimensional Native character on television.”

Golden Shovels: Why is Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) spray-painting golden shovels in the woods, with such frequency that he’s even built a complicated contraption in order to expedite the process? I, for one, hope we never find out. Let this be just a weird little detail that hangs out there in space. It's worth remembering that Dr. Jacoby was

doing oddball things in the original series without any explanation.

It’s Not About the Bunny: I agree with Hawk: it’s not about the bunny. Still, it’s always nice to see something small from the pilot episode come back around. This scene

be David Lynch making fun of TV obsessives who go chasing the wrong clues, or it may just be an excuse to insert a bit of levity into a grim, abstract series. Either way, remember, it’s not about the bunny. Or is it?

Absurdism: We may not know why most of the residents of Twin Peaks say some of the weird things they say, but in the case of this line from Agent Albert Rosenfield (the late Miguel Ferrer), we do. That’s a reference to the alternate title of Lynch’s never-completed film

. “I’ve been writing it for 10 years,” Lynch said in the late 80s, “since I finished

. It's an absurd mystery of the strange forces of existence. It’s about electricity.” Electricity, you say? Something tells me some of

We should also note that the other character in this scene, Chrysta Bell’s Agent Tamara Preston, is the main character in Mark Frost’s 2016 novel

which seems to have as much to do with this revival series as

does. So, yes, there’s even more homework waiting for you.

Debrief and Debug Me: For all the cringe-worthy, outdated flaws (Piper Laurie in yellowface, anyone?) of the original

, it can probably pat itself on the back a little for the surprisingly progressive treatment of David Duchovny’s trans D.E.A. agent, Denise Bryson. I was expecting to wince my way through Denise’s scenes during a recent re-watch, but was pleasantly surprised. Lynch goes ahead and gives himself that pat on the back in this scene. O.K., buddy, we’ll give you this one.

wasn’t just a quirky and sometimes horrifying surreal show—it was also a melodramatic nighttime soap. Some of the acting in the original series is

over-the-top. And the worst offender, easily, was Dana Ashbrook as Bobby Briggs. In the revival, the rebellious teen has traded in his leather jacket for a deputy uniform and, for the most part, has

toned down his performance . . . except in this moment, when he sees Laura’s portrait. The music (“Laura’s Theme”) swells as Ashbrook pays homage to some classic Bobby scenery chewing.

A Bit of Bowie: Once again, if you didn’t do your homework assignment, all the references to Agent Phillip Jeffries may be flying over your head. Jeffries was a character played briefly by the late David Bowie in, you guessed it,

. According to Deputy Andy actor Harry Goaz, Bowie was supposed to return as Jeffries for the revival. It’s unclear yet how the show will handle his absence. Has he been written out? Or will he be recast, as some are guessing, with one of many new actors confirmed to appear on the series? (The most popular guess is British actor Tim Roth, despite the fact that Bowie played Jeffries with a southern accent.) Whether or not Jeffries actually shows, it might be helpful to know that like Agent Cooper, Jeffries was also an agent who had gone missing. In

, a loopy Jeffries returns to F.B.I. headquarters after a two-year absence, babbling about an encounter he had with some of the spirits of the Black Lodge before vanishing into thin air. The revival implies that Jeffries may now be another evil doppelgänger like Mr. C.

revival is why original series star Michael Ontkean is not joining in on the fun. Back in 2015, the actor who played beloved Twin Peaks sheriff Harry S. Truman (yes) was publicly looking for the old jacket he wore in the series—prompting most fans to assume he was ready to get back into both costume and character. But Ontkean isn’t coming back, and though there are plenty of rumors, there’s no concrete explanation, yet, for his absence. So the role of town sheriff is being filled by actor Robert Forster, Lynch’s original choice to play Harry S. Truman. Forster here is playing Harry’s brother: Frank Truman. But Lucy’s (Kimmy Robertson) surprise in seeing him

Wally Brando: Speaking of Lucy, in episode 4, we meet her son, Wally Brando, played with oddball perfection by Michael Cera. For those unfamiliar with the works of

Brando, it’s worth pointing out that Wally is in full Marlon drag from

. Cera is also doing a fun lisping impression of Brando while ponderously spouting off garbled nods to the actor’s filmography. It’s pop-culture-referencing Lynch at his finest.

Mr. Jackpots: The one thing on this planet that everyone—even those who haven’t seen a single second of

—knows is that Agent Dale Cooper loves a hot cup of coffee. So what should we call this weird, brain-damaged version of Cooper, who had such an odd reaction to his morning joe while cozily ensconced in suburbia with Dougie’s family: Janey-E Jones (Naomi Watts) and Sonny Jim Jones (Pierce Gagnon)? I vote for “Mr. Jackpots,” which is what the old woman in the casino called him. Who knows how long we’ll have to watch Coop wander around like an alien trapped in a human body, but one thing is clear: MacLachlan is

MacLachlan characters we’ve seen so far: Dougie Jones, Mr. C., and Mr. Jackpot. Fingers crossed for the swift return of the old Agent Dale Cooper we know and love.

without a murder mystery, and the fine investigators of Buckhorn, South Dakota, are trying to figure out whose decapitated body was in that bed alongside Ruth Davenport’s severed head. They came across a snag in Episode 4, when Constance Talbot (Jane Adams) discovers that the prints on their John Doe are highly classified. Military. According to Bobby Briggs, the last person to see his dad, Major Garland Briggs (the late Don Davis), alive was Mr. C. And though Major Briggs

burned up in a fire, I wouldn’t put anything past that evil Cooper Doppelgänger. Briggs was part of a military effort to uncover the truth behind the supernatural goings on in Twin Peaks, and is also a key figure in

novel. Did Major Briggs get too close to unmasking the secrets of the Black Lodge?

Blue Rose: Though the actor who played Major Briggs died in 2008, Don Davis nonetheless makes a cameo in Episode 3 as the disembodied head in space intoning “Blue Rose” to a baffled Cooper. This is yet another reference to

. In that strange movie’s strangest sequence, a woman named Lil (Kimberly Ann Cole) gives Agents Chester Desmond (Chris Isaak) and Sam Stanley (Kiefer Sutherland) intel via interpretive dance and mime. Desmond decodes every clue except for one: “Blue Rose.”

fans have since deduced that this is code for a supernatural case. Or, in other words, an X-file. It would make sense, then, for Agents Cole and Rosenfield to close out Episode 4 by referring to the mysterious reappearance of Agent Cooper as “Blue Rose.”

Sarah Palmer: There are a lot of theories as to which unnamed woman Agent Cole is seeking out in order to get to the bottom of Mr. C’s mysterious behavior. Is it Cooper’s faithful secretary, Diane? Or his old acquaintance Audrey Horne (Sherilyn Fenn)? Maybe. But if Cole suspects that Agent Cooper has been possessed by (or swapped out for) an evil Lodge spirit like BOB, then the best person to consult would be the mildly psychic Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie). Sarah was one of the few residents of Twin Peaks who was able to spot BOB—which is why her husband kept her drugged. In the Season 2 finale, Sarah Palmer tells Major Briggs in a creepy, ominous voice: “I’m in the Black Lodge, with Dale Cooper.” If anyone can see through Mr. C, it would probably be Sarah Palmer—who, as we know from her brief TV-watching appearance in the revival, still has something of a drinking problem. Good thing Albert knows which bar to find her in.

Ah, the girl whose mysterious death started it all. She’ll probably forever be identified with the two roles she played for David Lynch—or perhaps, to some, as Katrina from

as Ellie Harp, among other roles, including a supporting part opposite Jennifer Lawrence in

and, more recently, the part of Karen Stern in

Photo: Left, by Lynch/Frost/Spelling/REX/Shutterstock; right, by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images.

In the years since he played Agent Dale Cooper, Kyle MacLachlan has had no shortage of interesting roles. He’s played ill-fated lovers Trey MacDougal and Orson Hodge on

Photo: Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images.

first aired, Lara Flynn Boyle went on to be one of the show’s biggest breakout stars. Her film repertoire includes credits in

Photo: Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; righ, by Ben Horton/WireImage.

left the airwaves, Amick—who played poor, unfortunate Shelly Johnson—has been one of its most prolific alumni, with memorable roles in

Gilmore Girls, ER, Gossip Girl, Witches of East End,

Photo: Left, Spelling Entertainment/ Courtesy: Everett Collection; righ, by Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock.

Kimmy Robertson doesn’t always fetch doughnuts. She’s also played a wide swath of roles, including the feather duster in Disney’s original

Photo: Left, Courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

You know what they say: one man’s insane ex-cop is another man’s foolish veep. At least, it seems that way with Kenneth Welsh, who played Windom Earle in

as well as the vice president who didn’t believe Dennis Quaid about global warming in

enjoyed a bit of a career high in the mid-aughts, which brought roles not only in the climate disaster film but also in films like

Photo: Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic.

Before David Lynch brought him on as a sketchy doctor with multi-colored specs, Russ Tamblyn—yes, father to Amber Tamblyn—co-starred with Richard Beymer in

Photo: Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Andrew Toth/Getty Images.

Left, by Lynch/Frost/Spelling/REX/Shutterstock; right, by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images.

Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images.

Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; righ, by Ben Horton/WireImage.

Left, Spelling Entertainment/ Courtesy: Everett Collection; righ, by Buchan/Variety/REX/Shutterstock.

fans’ hearts, but James Marshall also made a name for himself in film with roles alongside heavyweights like Tom Cruise and Cuba Gooding Jr. in

Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

The erstwhile teenaged temptress has lived a prolific life outside the town of Twin Peaks—including

Left, Courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Paul Warner/Getty Images.

Few things will give you nightmares more than Ray Wise’s Joker-like smile when his Leland Palmer is possessed in

’s second season. And the actor has put that face to exceptional use in countless films and series since then—including on

Left, Spelling Entertainment / Courtesy: Everett Collection; right, by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.

fans as pie baker extraordinaire Norma Jennings, Peggy Lipton also co-starred with fellow

Left, by Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock; right, by Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images.

play an obnoxious jock. He also played a straight-up criminal—Clyde Barrow in

as Rich Rinaldi. Oh, and he’s also played a kidnapper on

Left, Spelling Entertainment / Courtesy: Everett Collection; right, by Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage.

Like some of her co-stars, Piper Laurie had made a name for herself long before she stepped into the world of

in which she starred as Carrie’s mother, Margaret. But after

Laurie continued making stops on other series, including

in which she played Dorothy Rudd, an abusive foster grandmother.

Left, by ABC Photo Archives/ABC via Getty Images; right, by Greg Doherty/Getty Images.

Joan Chen proved she can do more than rock a pixie cut and a constant frown—the erstwhile

star moved on to series including, recently, Empress Chabi in Netflix’s

Left, Spelling Entertainment / Courtesy: Everett Collection; right, by Jim Spellman/WireImage.

Left, Courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images.

Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic.

Left, Spelling Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection; right, by Andrew Toth/Getty Images.

Joanna RobinsonJoanna Robinson is a Hollywood writer covering TV and film for VanityFair.com.

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