WickedCestus

Like Chris and Jake, I was assuming/hoping that Sheryl Lee and Ray Wise would be more used in this season, especially Sheryl Lee. I thought she was phenomenal in FWWM, and she has such a distinct presence as Laura Palmer that completely made that film what it was. I'm hoping that she will show up more in the finale, when I assume things will go completely off the rails.

You know, I've never thought of it like this, but the idea that Cooper is intrinsically connected the the Other World, and not just stumbling into it via Laura Palmer/being in the FBI is very interesting. It seems that all his intuition comes to him from dreams or visions, which as we've seen, involve beings from the Other World. Even as Dougie, all his actions are being directed by Mike and (maybe) The Fireman via visions. In the scene from FWWM used in this week's ep, he's telling Cole about a dream he had about that day, and uses this intuition to predict what will happen on the security camera. Then Jeffries points to him and asks Cole, "Who do you think this is?" Is Cooper not what we think he is? Did he ever actually have any agency, or was he always just being directed around by beings from the Other World, just like Dougie is being? Or was he himself somehow created through the Other World? Is this how he became involved in Blue Rose anyway? I don't really know where I'm going with this; just some weird stuff to think about. I doubt any of this will be answered in the show! All this might be disproven by the autobiography that was published in the 90s, but I'm not sure if that's canon. I've never read it.

This makes me think that if Philip Jeffries does appear again in this season, it will be either as a disembodied voice, or as some sort of lodge spirit a la the Tree Guy. That would explain why they chose to redub this part to keep it consistent. I mean, it makes sense, considering that during the events of FWWM (now 26 years ago) he was already so completely jumbled by lodge nonsense, the idea that he would lose all vestiges of human form seems to track pretty well.

I thought the guy pounding his desk and screaming "This is what we DO in the FBI!" was the funniest thing to happen in this show yet. I absolutely lost my mind, especially because they immediately cut back to Cole and everyone in Buckhorn and just continued on as normal. I think it's great that Gordon Cole's dream included footage from FWWM. I've always loved that scene, and it's never been able to have anything to do with anything, so I was really happy to see it again here. The lighting and effects in Andy's Fireman scene were absolutely incredible. The way it emphasized the wrinkles on Andy's face and made his eyes sorta glow; it lent a sense of dignity to a character who has almost never had any. I was worried, when he first entered, that he was just going to goof around and ask the Fireman a bunch of inane questions, but I'm glad the scene ended up playing it straight. I wonder what he was showing Lucy in that clip he was shown? Maybe it has something to do with Wally Brando! (Let's hope.) Following that, the scene in the jail was just so spooky. I couldn't tell if the drunk guy was real or a Lodge vision. I got the feeling that somehow "Mom", the figure chasing after the blind woman and (maybe) Dougie/GoodCoop (she showed up in the glass box after he appeared), has something to do with Sarah Palmer. Now that we know for sure that Sarah contains something sinister, that was the first idea that popped into my head. I don't have much to say about that other than wild speculation and instinct. I don't know what to make of the Fireman glove guy. It's so unbelievable that this character exists, and the way they revealed him was to have him tell his lodge story to James, of all people. Like, this random British dude's now just gonna roll up and punch someone out in a pivotal scene now, right? Is he the only one who can destroy Bad Coop? How bizarre!

In the cafe scene in the latest episode, I figured that Dougie getting up to get pie and rubbing Antony's back were both caused by him seeing similar visions as he has been seeing all season, it was just that this time they weren't shown on screen for dramatic tension. That was my read at least. It seems that Mike is behind all of it.

From what I remember of my time on Reddit, there are quite a lot of people who do things like that. I think it started with users who would write huge, long stories that always ended with a meme. The oldest I remember had a name like "LOVES_RUBBER_DUCKS" and would always end his posts by talking about how much they love rubber ducks? And everyone would reply saying, "well, i should have expected that i guess!"

I thought while watching that it seemed like the cadence of the boxing announcer was eerily similar to the "this is the water" speech, but I never bothered to check. I figured just the feeling of closeness was enough to be unsettling.

I always thought of it as a Steve Gaynor thing. I'm not sure why. This too.

I don't understand how you think that fits into cultural appropriation? I'm curious. I don't know the song very well, but according to the article, it's a Puerto Rican guy singing in Spanish over a video shot in Puerto Rico. Is it the Justin Bieber association? Maybe I'm misunderstanding something here.

Wow. I think this might be related to the strange thumbnail I mentioned in my previous post. Looks like some incorrect buttons got pushed for non-US viewers.

During James' performance, I started thinking about Donna. Is it confirmed that she's not on the show? No one on this forum has talked about her at all. I mean, basically everyone else has shown up at this point, or has had their absences explained at the very least. I could totally see Donna just leaving the town of Twin Peaks and never associating with anyone, especially after the Ben Horne subplot at the end of season 2 (does anyone remember that?).

- I legit screamed when James Hurley started performing. I had a strange obsession with that song when I first heard it and it was absolutely insane that it came back. James was always cool!! This ep felt like the most fan-servicey so far. These scenes could've easily been cut, and I felt like the Norma one went on too long, but it's at least nice to get a glimpse into what they're up to. - The Dougie parts were fantastic, as usual. Still absolutely the best plot line in the show, astonishingly. - I guess it's confirmed that Diane is working with Ray and Philip Jeffries, not Bad Coop, since Ray had the coordinates she sent him. - Also, on Crave TV (the streaming service carrying the show in Canada) this episode's thumbnail was an image of Suited Cooper/Dougie in front of red room curtains. But that never showed up in the actual episode. Was that the same on Showtime or did Crave just screw up?

I re-watched this movie before the new series began to air, so about 2.5 months ago, and I have literally thought about it every day since. This is absolutely the most unsettling film I have ever seen. When I'm lying at wake at night, the evocation of any one of many images from this film will send a shiver down my spine. The kid with the papier mache nose who jumps around in the convenience store; the Tremond/Chalfonts; Annie appearing in Laura's bed; even something as simple as the glazed otherworldly look of Laura's face throughout the entire film. The images by themselves aren't anything, but something about the context of the film gives them this incredible power. I can't get over it. As I think more about it, I've come to the conclusion that, for me, Fire Walk With Me is the centre-piece around which Twin Peaks as a whole revolves. The first time I saw the show, I thought it was good but not great, and even re-watching it now, I only enjoy probably about 3/4 of the scenes, even in the good stretches. However, what sticks with me about the show is the intrusions from the Other Place. I suppose that's obvious to say, but within the context of the original series, these elements don't actually feel like they reach a satisfying pay-off at all. The series finale is fantastic, but even within that, it feels like there is so much left to explore with the Man From Another Place and his pals, and that's where I think Fire Walk With Me comes in. It's so simple, but just the expression of the concept of "garmonbozia", the collection of humanity's sorrow and despair, provides a framework for the original series to be placed into. Suddenly, the presence of all these elements in the original series actually feels totally appropriate; they have a reason to hold an interest in the murder of a young woman in a small town. They are so intrinsically tied to the story of Laura Palmer, to the point that their appearances in the show after her death feel almost like aftershocks, leftover fragments from when they were involved with Laura. Fire Walk With Me cements Laura Palmer as the pillar supporting the story of Twin Peaks, not just a narrative device to prompt a kooky investigator coming to town. I think this is why I've been enjoying the new season far more than the original series. Almost every storyline in the new season is connected to the Other Place in some way, which gives the whole season a more cohesive feel. Even if her presence is just as, if not more so, unseen than in the original series, it's clear that "Laura is the one." Although, perhaps this is just me unconsciously ignoring a bunch of the other lore-y stuff in order to focus on the details I like. Maybe none of this makes any sense. I honestly didn't mean to write this much. I just can't stop thinking about this movie.

I haven't listened to much of Ben's stuff, but from what I can tell, him and Nick Robinson appear to be the exact same person in terms of speech patterns.

I didn't know other people have been saying this, although I guess I'm not surprised. Like I said, I don't think it would happen right away, but we still have 5-6 episodes for this gradual shift towards Twin Peaks to... peak. Or not! I mean, I don't know, who knows. I do think it's almost undeniable that the show has become more about the town of Twin Peaks as it's gone on. All the new characters you mention are in Twin Peaks, and if this Billy Chase becomes anything, that's yet another thread contained within the town.

I thought this for about half a second last week, but then I remembered the three or four other times I've thought that this season, and immediately tampered my expectations. I wouldn't enjoy this show at all if I went into every episode just hoping for the Return of Coop.

The scenes at the Great Northern seem to mostly take place late at night, and I bet Ben has less hands-on administrative duties at the Great Northern than he used to, especially now that Beverley seems to be handling things. Also, with no important characters staying there, and the plot mostly taking place outside of Twin Peaks, it makes sense that there's no real reason for the Great Northern to be the sort of hub it was in the original series. However, it does seem like everything is steadily moving towards Twin Peaks, especially with Diane and the FBI having co-ordinates that point right there. I wouldn't be surprised if the later episodes of this season take place exclusively within the town itself.

I might have to re-watch, but I got a completely different impression from this episode. This episode felt emblematic of the long, awkward conversations that I thought characterized a lot of the early episodes, and especially the interactions between Lucy and Andy so far. The scene with Audrey was almost entirely dead space, Gordon and Albert's "turnip" conversation had a ton of silent shot-reverse-shots, and even Frank and Ben's conversation felt stilted. I'm not saying I disliked it; I actually agree with you that it's strange so many people dislike the episode, but I thought the pacing was the most The Return-ish we've seen so far, and incredibly distant from Old Twin Peaks. I enjoyed it, but I can totally see how someone would feel that this episode dragged its feet a lot.

When "Starring Kyle McLachlan" popped up on screen, my thought was "Oh, that guy who got a baseball thrown at him?" I didn't dislike the episode as much as some, but it was almost an entire episode of very long drawn-out static conversations. I enjoyed some of the character moments but would've preferred a bit more dynamism, especially after last ep which was relatively action-packed.

I totally agree with this. With traditional TV, the there's usually suspense/anticipation about what's going to happen next, but it's usually assumed that what comes next will at least follow chronologically from what happened at the end of the previous episode. In The Return, it's not what's going to happen next, it's just what's going to happen at all: where/when will we be, who will be there, etc. Some of the plot lines themselves are fairly straightforward to the point where, if this was edited in a more traditional way, we could probably tell what's going to happen next fairly easily, but the bigger question of what plot lines we will even follow this week make it very exciting to tune in every Sunday.

This episode was a highlight for me. Absolutely my favourite of the season so far. Because of the convergence occurring over the course of the last 2 episodes (or so), we were able to fit every major plot line into a single episode for the first time this season. Having characters and story lines bounce off each other, instead of existing totally separately, provides so much more depth to the show. I think that this episode justifies the style of the previous 11 episodes. While it was sometimes frustrating to be unsure about whether anything would actually come together, now that we know they do, it becomes satisfying to think about how things slowly, slowly, slowly blended into each other until we reached an episode like this one, where having the knowledge of everyone's personal story up to this point increases our empathy and tension. A re-watch of this show, with the knowledge that the payoff looks like this, is starting to seem like a much more fun experience. It seems a lot of people on here will disagree with me about this, though It was also funny! The show has had its moments before, but this episode was by far the goofiest, from the Jim Belushi's dream, to hysterical car lady, to Gordon Cole's "He's Dead", to Carl playing a gosh darn flute to summon his van. These moments just felt so Twin Peaks, encouraging the kind of delayed "What the hell is this?" laughter that I associate strongly with my viewing of the first 2 seasons.

I'm really curious how this came about. This reminds me of when a friend and I watched both National Treasure movies on 1.5x speed. It's the perfect way to watch those films.

Dan's curiosity often comes across as a shtick to me. He feigns a desire to learn by asking a lot of questions on shows, but if he was actually interested he could just look any of this stuff up in his free time. He doesn't seem to want to learn as much as he wants to play his character, and it can often get a bit grating. I still like the Beastcast but I often find myself skipping around segments since it's so long.

I've actually owned a shirt for like three years that is just a black-and-white picture of Jeff Goldblum's face on a white shirt. It was a gift from a friend. I'm now starting to wonder if my friend is a shirt-making robot. Also, the refrain of "to me to me to me" is so terribly stuck in my head now. It's like when you guys were discussing Mouth Sounds a while ago on Idle Thumbs, and couldn't resist attaching All Star's iconic "someBODY" whenever the word "some" appeared. All my thoughts have ended in "to me to me to me" for the last twenty-four hours.

My reaction to this is simply "I don't want Albert to be bad", which is kind of dumb. But, also, I don't think it makes any sense for Albert, as we know him. He's a self-declared pacifist, with basically no reason to work with or for someone with as divergent an ideology as BadCoop, plus there doesn't seem to be anything for him to gain from betraying Cole and the FBI. Unless he's being blackmailed, which BadCoop certainly has the means to do. However, that would be pretty unsatisfying for me from a storytelling perspective, unless there's some damn good reasoning behind it.