Argobot

Baseless speculation on the teen horror sex scene! No spoilers for episode 3 and 4, but maybe a spoiler for episode 2? Edit: Both scenes with the glass box really terrified me. That was the most freaked out I've ever been watching an episode of Twin Peaks; from the second that box is introduced, you just know something awful is going to happen and I dreaded absolutely every second it was onscreen.

Well episodes 3 and 4 certainly up the comedy. Cooper eating pancakes was one of the funniest and saddest things I've seen on Twin Peaks. His face when he drinks the coffee was pure joy/terror. It's a really impressive bit of acting.

Might want to spoiler this stuff, I'm pretty sure a lot of it happens in the third and fourth episodes.

We else noticed Jacques Renault in the background at the Bang Bang Bar and got super confused?

I want that scene between Ben and Jerry (lol) to be only time we see the Horne brothers. It was so perfect and hilarious and I don't need to know anything else about what they're doing or what they've been up to. Seeing the two brothers together with a similar dynamic to their original show relationship, but with clear progression of their characters in the intervening 25 years, was a beautiful and comedic moment. These men have changed and grown up - at least Ben has - but they still have that old Horne brothers spark. It was such a human moment that was laced with a goofy pot joke. I loved it.

Well, I'm pretty sold on it. The tone of the first episode was what I was expecting; a continuation of Fire Walk With Me. I'm sure that was off-putting to a few people, but I'm glad to see quite a few of the people I follow on Twitter were really into it. Also, thank goodness David Lynch and co were brave enough to really, really limit the nostalgia in the first episode. That restraint alone gives me hope for the rest of the season. Twin Peaks is showing all the TV and movies that ripped off it's supernatural, weird aesthetic how to actually do a weird vibe and I'm 100 percent here for it.

Yeah, I suspect it'll either be Invitation to Love or nothing. This is one of the few revivals/sequels where I'm not too worried about the modern world creeping into dialogue. No one will talk about Uber or Twitter or Netflix. Someone may have a smart phone (hopefully not though) and that'll be the extent of it.

I don't think we'll get Windom Earle, which is a shame. That character had potential and in some cases was used really well. In some other cases...not so much. But I imagine most of the "lore" in the second season will get dropped or only very, very indirectly referenced. My biggest question is whether or not Invitation to Love comes back. I kind of hope it doesn't; the soap opera has fallen so far from the place it had in the early 90s, it doesn't make as much sense for a TV show made now to have such an obvious reference to a form of television that is no longer relevant.

I'm pretty hopeful for the show. I've seen a lot of people compare season 3 to the X-Files reboot but those shows are very different. The X-Files was Mulder and Scully (which is why the show flopped so badly when they tried to replace Mulder and Scully in season 9) and no reboot was ever going to recapture that former glory. As much as we think we want to see Mulder and Scully back at the FBI after decades away, there's something that's sad about these people doing essentially the same thing they were doing in the 90s, just now they look older. Twin Peaks won't have that same problem, because that show is a lot more than any one character. So the reboot nostalgia backfire shouldn't apply in this case. That said, maybe we're in for a Ridley Scott/Prometheus situation here.

Am I more excited for Twin Peaks Season 3 or for new eps of Twin Peaks Rewatch coming back? (Probably the former, but I'm pretty pumped for the latter as well, let's be real)

The Idle Book Club 24: The Handmaid's Tale With Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale soon to reach a larger audience than ever thanks to a television adaptation, we decided to take on the novel for the Idle Book Club—Chris for the first time, and Sarah for the second. It's a masterful imagining of a modern dystopia, and it remains just as relevant as ever. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Grab the book on Amazon or get it free with an Audible trial.

There's a line in the epilogue about how Gilead just borrowed ideas from other fascist/theocratic regimes and that nothing in Gilead was new. I wondered if that was Atwood commenting on how most of the tropes in here book were also borrowed from other dystopian novels.

Maaaaaan. This was very good.

Yessss!!! I've been looking forward to this for so long. Can't wait to listen to some classic Duncan Fyfe tales.

We recorded the ep last night, look for it soon!

The Idle Book Club 23: Silence Shusako Endo's Silence is a classic of modern Japanese literature, a reflection on faith and humanity that is sweeping and ambitious as well as intensely personal. Inspired to read it after watching Martin Scorsese's recent film adaptation, Sarah and Chris do their best to reckon with this complex novel. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Great look at the way religion is dealt with. Is it wrong to say that Silence has an individualist take on religion? A view that we are all responsible for our own religious feeling and adding an administrative structure - like the Catholic Church - just creates more problems.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/10/books/review/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-age-of-trump.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share Atwood writing about the book's recent relevance. (Spoilers for the end)

The Idle Book Club 22: Wuthering Heights If you've never read Wuthering Heights, it probably isn't what you expected. And if you haven't read it since high school, it's worth revisiting this unusual novel of obsession and revenge. Rereader Sarah and first-time reader Chris hash out their reactions to Emily Bronte's classic! Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Yes! The Blind Assassin is the only other Atwood book I've read and I had a very similar reaction to that book. It's like the power of her words have seeped into me and created an undefinable but very real change that even years later I cannot shake. I love that book.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is so amazing. My two favorite songs:

That's a really interesting point about the way the Japanese are depicted as the "good" Axis power. I wonder if the TV show holds onto that depiction, even if we generally are more aware of what was going on in Asia at the time. (Spoilers: turns out all humans have the capacity for evil, not just the Nazis)

Anyone else really amused that Jake's terminator fan theory is essentially the ending of Mass Effect 3? Advanced civilizations continue to be wiped out by their creations after the creations inevitably achieve sentience.

I've read Snow!! You're totally right that it also fits in.

I should make clear that I think Silence is a great book and I'm really happy I read it. I just wish I'd read it before the movie, haha. I'm trying to think of other literature that deals with religion in such an introspective way that still leaves room for someone to retain their faith. As a lapsed Catholic, this book really speaks to the struggles I faced when I ultimately decided to move away from religion, and honestly makes me feel a little nostalgic for it. The closest literary example I can think of is The Grand Inquisitor from Brothers Karamazov, but I'm sure there are many, many others.