Lost in the Movies: *Link to Jacques Renault (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #64)

*Link to Jacques Renault (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #64)


Visit the TWIN PEAKS Character Series directory for all entries as they are published or re-introduced.

From Ernie Niles a couple days ago, we pivot to Jacques Renault. Both men are involved with the drug trade and get captured by Agent Cooper (who has little respect for either of them) although Jacques is a more devious and committed criminal. Like Ernie, Jacques' screentime is limited to the original series but unlike Ernie, he doesn't appear in The Final Dossier so there's no reason to update the entry I wrote before The Return in 2017. That piece, linked below, is one of the longer low-ranking studies, given Jacques' prodigious "offscreen" section. He's referenced in close to a dozen episodes that he himself does not appear in and in the handful of episodes that do feature him directly, he's also discussed by other characters. Jacques' deep involvement in Laura Palmer's life and the subsequent murder case offers a lot to cover here; I've also long been fascinated by the way Jacques belongs equally to both Lynch and Frost in a way few other characters do. Walter Olkewicz, as hinted at the end of this entry, did in fact return for the third season albeit playing a new Renault: cousin Jean-Michel (discussed in my runners-up post in January), who reveals that the Roadhouse has been in the family for generations. Olkewicz passed away in 2021 and did not otherwise act in the past couple decades, so this marked his final screen credit.


After three baddies in a row this week, Monday will shift gears for a guy so good he was recruited to take part in a cosmic battle against the dark spirits of Twin Peaks. Not much commonality with Jacques there although the two do speak with over-the-top non-American accents...



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