dartmonkey

I think Kolzig is questioning why the Wii U version didn't have touchscreen stuff. I'm playing Lego Worlds at the moment, which is interesting, although the controls are a nightmare. It's screaming out for touchscreen controls and, after Zelda and Splatoon, gyro aiming feels like it's become essential too. Doom baby, yeah! Just need the Witness and some of that sweet sweet Firewatch.

The Judy/Jiāo Dài relation to 'explanation' recontextualises that frustrating bit earlier in the series when Hawk was showing Truman his map and said "You don't want to know what that is." "Err..., actually I really do!" "No you don't." "..............perhaps you're right. Coffee?"

Also, the lamppost outside the motel where Cooper wakes up in Ep18 looks very Evolution-of-the-Arm-like and there's noticeable wind in the scene that sounds like the blowy sound he made when he introduced himself. The shot lingers too long with the lamppost in the centre of the frame to be random. Is he somehow responsible for transporting Cooper into Richard's realm/time?

So I just rewatched 17. It's so great to rewatch after the podcasts and reading some theories, and after the I've gotten some stuff straight in my head. I noted a couple of things. Cooper's overlaid image after the BOB-omb fight fades briefly when he kisses Diane, then snaps back. Also, it was unclear to me where Cooper was taking Laura (other than away from Leo/Renault/Leland/Sarah/Judy), but this time I saw he was clearly taking her back to Jack Rabbit's thingy - 'home' to the Fireman's cinema from whence Laur-orb originated. This got me thinking about BOB (and perhaps Judy) watching over Laura in the Palmer House, and the difference between the cinema and the red room. BOB/Leland killed Laura only when he had 'no choice' when she wore the ring (thrown to her by Phillip Gerard). He knew she would end up in the red room, which didn't prevent him from killing her. So (and I am probably being a Dougie here), this clearly delineates the difference between the cinema (the White Lodge?) and the red room (the waiting area). Fuck knows where the Mauve Zone fits in. Is the convenience store a portal to the Black Lodge or is the dark staircase, the night motel and Phillip Jefferies' slippery black kettle room some other place?

I like the idea of Richard being Cooper's secret dream version of himself. Still unimpeachable but a little earthier. Less boyscout goody-two-shoes, more lone gunman - more Eastwood than Stewart or Cooper (Gary). It tracks that we see echoes of BadCoop in RichDreamCoop and whereas GoodCoop's idol was the community sheriff with shining badge and Grace Kelly in a bonnet (the kind of person he thought he could be in Twin Peaks), the influence of the dream world and the BadCoop in his psyche pushes him more towards a High Plains Drifter/Pale Rider.

People who say they've wasted 18 hours because they were pointless - did you really get no enjoyment from any of it? I just don't get that. The finale could have been 2 hours of a turd emoji on screen and the preceding episodes would still be 16 incredibly stimulating and though-provoking hours. I've spent the whole time eyes wide, leaning towards the TV. The Return has been almost all very good stuff, pregnant with meaning and commentary. Most of it probably won't even hit me until I've watched and rewatched it again, but there's space in the season for all sorts of interpretations and readings, many of which we've read here. The idea that Lynch is giving his audience the finger - it's just so petty. It screams of the need to have one's time and ideas validated in a very particular way, without being challenged or asked to question anything. Delayed gratification seems only to be tolerated if that eventual gratification conforms to extremely rigid conventional parameters. Would 18 hours of thumbs up and pie-noshing have pleased these people? Those moments were all there - there was so much fan service in the Return! I'm glad that they've also managed to include the genuine 'wtf'ness of TP and not the mid-late S2 brand of it. I am so excited to see this all again on a bluray. Some very dark scenes again in the finale - I need to rewatch it soon. I'm also gagging for the Final Dossier audiobook, although I think it will mainly concentrate on Twin Peaks characters between 1990 and 2015.

I'm confused at the confusion. It's 2017 Sheryl Lee in a wig. Lynch plays with the focus and uses the darkness/B&W as much as possible, but it's definitely Sheryl Lee playing teenage Laura Palmer.

I've got a lot of contemplation ahead of me, but I'm leaning towards awe that this finale was everything all at once, from tropiest trope to downer to crowdpleaser to troller to head-scratcher to fitting end to no-end-at-all. I don't get why anyone wouldn't want more. This whole series has been a fantastic experience. I also want to see what Albert would be turned into next series. I liked that Drunk peeled back his wound to reveal a band aid. Didn't see that coming.

Well, that's one for the grandkids.

@Invisible Strings I agree - it's still hugely problematic, but I think there's room to explore a much deeper scenario than 'BadCoop raped Audrey'. For instance, let's imagine that Ben Horne had something DoppelCoop needed/wanted but it was somehow time dependant and violence/intimidation simply wasn't the easiest way to achieve his goal. So BadCoop needed to stay in Twin Peaks for a few weeks and keep up a veil of normality. That doesn't preclude him from being awful but it opens up the possibility of a relationship of-sorts. I'm not suggesting it can be made 'right' or that there's any way BadCoop's behaviour isn't reprehensible, but I think there are ways to tell more interesting stories with the framework they've constructed.

One possibility that we haven't really considered is that Audrey wasn't attacked by BadCoop but that it was consensual. Huge question marks would still exist but it would be more interesting. I was going to make a big list of plot lines and what I think will be wrapped up and what I'd be happy to not see again...but that'd be a long ol' post. Summary: Big Ed, Norma, Nadine, Jacoby - I'm fine with these where they are now. Ruth Davenport, Briggs, Audrey, BadCoop, Coop&Cole, Sarah Palmer, Naido, Diane, Andy, Lucy, Billy, Red - all these characters/plots need some resolution. Jefferies, frog-moth, Bobby, Ben & Jerry, Beverly, Annie - I wouldn't be surprised if these things aren't mentioned, although it'd be great. Donna, Chet Desmond - fan service but no chance. Leo - season will fail without a snap cut to his decayed skeleton in the cabin.

The new amiibo look great, but like you guys, I'm just not that into it! The first playthrough was fine but I just haven't been inclined to return. But man, that King Knight amiibo looks amazing!

If BOB possesses Leland completely, and the real 'good' Leland is suppressed and unable to do anything about it, doesn't that mean the only time we ever see the real Leland is just before he dies? I don't buy that - not only because it's not as interesting, but doesn't Sarah see BOB in the house when Leland isn't there? Edit. Of course, Leland's abuse at the hands of Robertson/BOB plays into this, so one could argue that BOB is ultimately responsible. But the Lodge spirit BOB as metaphor is a much stronger idea for me than the bogeyman puppet master BOB who's been driving Leland since he was 12. Edit Edit. I agree that Leland's final scene strongly suggests his helplessness under BOB's control, but he's about to die. He's confessing, he's desperate, pathetic, pitiable and childlike. The catharsis of finally letting his secret out is powerful and it's tempting to see him as pure victim but for me it doesn't absolve him from his participation.

Some interesting theories. Is it possible that Philip Gerard (the actual shoe salesman) and the original Robertson that Leland knew as a child are tulpas of their respective Lodge beings?

I agree that perhaps BOB's influence has changed - the season 2 ending very explicitly highlighted his presence in the doppelgänger - but the 'good man like Leland' interpretation is something I disagree with. Chris and Jake have discussed it on the 'cast (and people on the forums too) and there's no evidence to say Leland is blameless and 'good'. If BOB is a manifestation of the 'evil that men do', it is (WO)MEN that must create conditions for him to exist in them. He's not a bogeyman who inhabits hapless innocents. He couldn't inhabit Laura, for example, although there are scenes where she appears to be succumbing to that evil (when she's on the stairway in FWWM) and at risk of letting him in. My immediate thought (and I guess that of many viewers) on watching the S2 finale was that BadCoop and BOB would begin a spree of devious, violent attacks, starting with Annie and probably moving through the entire Miss Twin Peaks lineup. I think FWWM and S3 introduced more subtle and complicated motivations for BadCoop and BOB, and it would be a shame if the audiences' assumptions were indulged rather than being subverted in any way.

Ah. Well, I suppose that makes sense. You're right, of course, but my stupid brain didn't connect Sheriff's Station with the Sheriff's Department building. Instead I went immediately to the Observation Station on Blue Pine Mountain. Which has nothing to do with the sheriff. I guess the word 'station' threw me off. All this talk of Diane has had me humming The Bachelors for days. I've been thinking hard about BadCoop and BOB's relationship and why the idea of him/them attacking women seemed so obvious and logical to me to begin with. My read on "How's Annie?!" wasn't that he was mocking Truman or Doc Hayward, but that he was mocking Cooper's altruism - the polar absolute opposite of his (BOB's) MO. It was hysterical to him to care about someone else's well-being and he was cackling at how easily he could fake it and fool everyone. It was mentioned that Leland wasn't putting letters under dead girls' fingers and, therefore, the assumption is that BOB was in control. However, Leland met with Teresa Banks multiple times and murdered her only when she threatened to blackmail him. And when Leland saw Laura waiting for him with Ronette Pulaski in the motel he ran away. Would BOB run away? As noted before, FWWM shifts the blame more towards Leland. Is BOB only dominant at night? If that's true, why did he appear during the day when BadCoop woke up with Truman and Hayward? Maybe it IS Leland leaving those letters in an effort to identify and exorcise the man who abused him as a child. My assumption was that BOB=fear and indiscriminate sexual violence, and therefore taking terrible advantage of the women in Cooper's life was a given. But now I think BOB had a very particular obsession with Laura Palmer - wanting to inhabit her, etc - and that the other attacks are all to do with fear alone. The sexual aspect seems incidental to him - it simply puts victims in a vulnerable state. Perhaps he encourages his hosts to indulge their darkest impulses before striking. Diane said BadCoop was weird, but composed and calm until he saw her fear. I suppose there is still a logic to him attacking and raping Cooper's friends, assuming he could elicit fear. Audrey being raped while in a coma makes zero sense for BOB. It might make sense for BadCoop (if he simply needed offspring with his DNA) but that would be unnecessarily gross and awful. My read, at present, is that BOB flares up in his host when the opportunity arises but that fear is his only objective. BadCoop's activities this season are not his doing, as Leland's were not.

:-) All. So many great moments in this - and just two hours to wrap the season up?! It's going to be packed. One moment I loved that I haven't seen mentioned was when Diane said that Coop had kissed her once before. I love that little human callback to their prior relationship, something that the real Coop probably realised was a mistake. Also, perhaps I'm being a big dummy, but where has this Diane=Naido theory come from? Is it just from Naido backwards? Are people expecting Fleetwood Mac in the Roadhouse?

One aspect I have really enjoyed with the Return is how well absent actors/characters have been honoured in the show. We've only seen a disembodied floating head but Briggs feels very naturally integral to the plot. It doesn't feel like they're working around his absence but really using it and honouring Don S. Davis. Frank Silva too, and I think (as mentioned in the podcast) we're going to get some archival footage of him in the boiler room (which I believe we HAVE glimpsed before in the series proper - the 'death bag' speech in a vision? We've definitely seen the candles.) In fact, Harry is the only character so far whose references feel very forced. I THINK he MIGHT be sick, Jake. I've heard that. So, four hours left. Do you think we'll get some Josie/Judy? Donna is the only other character who seems conspicuously absent. Obviously I'm not expecting Lara Flynn Boyle, but most everyone else has been name-checked at least. Even Annie. And would Lynch be past reprising his Family Guy gag cut to Leo in the cabin? Just a skeleton, his hand comically falling off before getting back to Dougie and co.

Sonic Mania is excellent, guys. Carry on.

Loved the episode. So much great, sinister stuff. I loved that Andy was given something to do other than test my patience with Lucy. Maybe that's all the Bowie we'll get - it was cool to glimpse him again. I think Judy's identity will be revealed before long. Not even Freddie's 'Gor blimey guv'nor!' Dick Van Dyke accent could ruin the glove story. I too thought James was heading into the same furnace we saw Bob in in the pilot. In the international pilot it was shown to be in the hospital but the establishing shot here placed James and Freddie at the Great Northern. I guess in the real pilot it was just a vision. I definitely got the same vibe though. Only 3 weeks left! I hope they're all this good.

I've splurged on a few games in the last couple of weeks. Splatoon 2 is great, although I'm away from home for a month with a shocking internet connection so I can't actually play any matches! I also picked up Tumbleseed on sale - it's a stylish game that is going to need some more time to bed in. My instant reaction was 'where's the motion tilt control option?!' Having thought about it some more, you would need to map each side of the balance bar to a separate joycon in order to preserve the same precision, but I think I'd prefer that option (maybe it's there and I need to dig for it.) I also just downloaded Overcooked. Unfortunately, the friend I'm staying with (not a player of video games usually, although he's been taken with MK8) became almost belligerent after about 30 seconds of the tutorial, screaming "This is SHIT!" and refusing to continue. It was really weird! Perhaps he just wasn't up for the stress or the co-op or was struggling with the controls. He demanded we switch to MK8. And I haven't touched Overcooked since :/ I have another friend arriving next week who I hope will be up for it, then we can tempt belligerent friend back after he gets comfortable with the set-up (and jealous that he's not playing😉) Devious!

BCS spoilers!!!

The more I hear the name Phillip Jefferies, the more I'm expecting a Bowie appearance, Missing Pieces excerpt or otherwise. Damn, after watching Ray disappear with the ring, I think the chance of a Chris Issac cameo shot up 1000%. Not enough Chets in this season! As obtuse as this series has been, it really has supplied the fan service with references and cameos. Any theories as to how the Jefferies thing will pan out? Are there more missing pieces? All they'd need is 5 seconds of footage with Bowie chilling in the red room. I really think there'll be something, even if it's a photo on an orb. I don't know if that's something I really want, although I find the way they go about pulling off such things (both writing and and tech/FX work) fascinating. Something that occurred to me while Walter was spieling - Why was Windom Earle not included in the Blue Rose group list? Also, Earle must have a doppelgänger. :/

My mind jumped to the room above the convenience store when Ray mentioned the Dutchman.

I get the impression that Lynch would happily do a S4 given the opportunity because this broader canvas he and Frost have made for S3 (in all ways - geography, characters, multi-dimensional sheeznit, even 16:9 ) affords him the chance to use pretty much any idea he comes up with (in his interviews he's always discussing 'the idea' - following it, nurturing it, staying true to it, etc) and he gets to spend time with the repertory family he seems to enjoy working with.