Contains spoilers for this episode and earlier episodes.
Major Briggs tries to describe his disappearance, recalling fire, a shape in the dark and a giant owl. He has new marks on his neck and connects his work to the search for the White Lodge. Military police arrive before he can finish explaining. Denise and Cooper prepare Ernie to contact Jean Renault, hoping a controlled drug purchase will expose the frame against Cooper. Truman deputises Cooper so he can participate despite his FBI suspension. The operation goes wrong when Ernie's recording equipment malfunctions, alerting Jean. Cooper offers himself in exchange for the other hostages and becomes the focus of another dangerous standoff at Dead Dog Farm.
Jean blames Cooper's arrival for the collapse of his brothers' lives and seems willing to die if he can take the detective with him. Denise approaches dressed as a waitress and brings a hidden gun within Cooper's reach. He uses it to kill Jean, ending the immediate hostage crisis. Elsewhere, Norma and Ed reunite, and Nadine stops Hank's attack on Ed. Ben remains lost in his Civil War fantasy while James continues his affair with Evelyn. Back at Shelly's house, the recovering Leo rises from his wheelchair as the power fails. At the sheriff's station, Cooper finds a murdered man seated before a chessboard, announcing Windom Earle's arrival in town.