Gamebeast23456

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  1. Good episode guys. Man, the corrosive effect of shitty creators in pop culture really blows. Nick's endorsement of Too Funny To Fail sounds interesting, worth a watch, but now it's tainted, along with so much of alternative comedy for more than a decade, by the influence of Louis CK, forever changing how I view it after these revelations came to light.
  2. Important If True 36: Never Say Goodbye

    Chris Remo as populist demagogue, Ferris Bueller- lite is both haunting and revelatory. Everything falls into place.
  3. I really don't emotionally like the idea that Cooper isn't directly Cooper. I feel like it would be Lynch utterly wasting our time if the finale was about anyone other than the spirits of Cooper, Diane, and Laura. I think Richard is Cooper, Linda is Diane, etc. I think it is important that Lynch is retelling Cooper's hero's journey one last time, and obliterating, without a shadow of a doubt, the idea of his brand of heroism. It just doesn't work in the world of Twin Peaks. We love Dale, we want him to finally succeed, but it seems vitally important for us to understand that he just can't. How could you defeat the profiteers of pain and suffering? That's what I adore in the final scene of episode 18. The final realization for Dale Cooper's soul of what he's done, of what his singleminded pursuit of justice or 'goodness' has cost him. It feels like a very cathartic moment, even though it also hurts and is disorienting and scary. That moment of realization where Cooper's perfect posture just crumples and all he can ask is "what year is it" is perfect to me, and only matters if this is Dale Cooper. David Lynch didn't go soft where it counts.
  4. Can't wait for the equal length Twin Peaks: The Return: The Missing Pieces that includes all the footage that explains all the plot arcs that totally disappear.
  5. The more I think about the finale, the more I feel that this is a culmination of 25 years of Lynch's frustration with the idea that the death of Laura Palmer could be solved. This train of thought really became prominent after reading Film Crit Hulk's write-up of the finale at Vulture (http://www.vulture.com/2017/09/twin-peaks-the-return-finale-recap.html). A big meta-narrative problem in the original run of Twin Peaks was the ncultural demand for the end of the Laura Palmer investigation, for the production of a specific killer. The whole nation tuned in with the expectation that Dale Cooper would be able to work his way to the bottom of the mystery and bring closure to the death of Laura Palmer. However, as Dale delved deeper, he came to see that the specific abuse and death of Laura Palmer was also part of a broader pattern of behavior, and it's heavily implied that this behavior, though technically the result of BOB/Leland teaming up in this specific instance, is actually just another installment in age-old cycles of violence and abuse. America wants to find out who killed Laura Palmer, and Lynch is seemingly bored by the question because the answer, besides the very specifics of which body committed the act, are obvious from the first few episodes - we did. Our society did. We have enabled this to happen many times, and we seem no closer to stopping just because we make TV shows about it now. Part 17 gave a glimpse into what network executives would embrace in a conclusion, and our culture at large. All the good guys team up and they solve the case, they eliminate the bad guy. Dale Cooper's heroes journey comes to an end, and he is surrounded by his friends, new and old. After the action, he could visit the RR, hopefully before Norma puts in her last day, and eat his beloved cherry pie again. But, this just isn't Cooper's future - the superimposition of Dale Coopers face throughout the scene is inexplicable but it fills us with dread. As the buildup to this scene was happening, I thought we could be moving towards a surprisngly clean finale, but the second Cooper's face appeared I knew it wasn't so. If Lynch really cared about how the public views his work (which doesn't seem super plausible) he would probably reach peak annoyance at the fact that anybody expected this to go any other way. Or the hope that next season, Cooper is going to set everything right, he will be able to put together the shattered universe.. If that was the arc of this story, it would happen now. Lynch doesn't need five more years to figure out how to end the story on a happy note. Dale Cooper is smart, and charismatic, and kind, and determined, but he is one good man in the middle of an epidemic - and even he seems to hold elements of that social disease in him. Young women are going to keep being thrown into the maw of American life, and Dale Coopers will continue to try and put together the pieces of other people's lives, but it's just not going to work out, and it won't ever stop. We are on a track of infinity, as Phillip Jeffries shows us. Which leaves me here - what are we to make of Dale Cooper? Is he just a tragic hero trying to make sense of the senseless? Is he accountable for his world? Should we emulate his example? If enough people did emulate him, could it change things? Or would Bad Coop always exist in all of us? What are we to make of Laura Palmer? Who is she, really? Does she represent something bigger than her own tragic life? Is there hope for people like her, if people like her is a valid category of person to consider? This went on long, but I suppose it's fitting for the last ride.
  6. Failing this, because it would take a lot of time and might provide diminishing returns, I would like if you guys made some time to at least systematically go through some big moments throughout the season and discuss how the total work changed your perspective on them.
  7. I don't think you're far off at all. The Cooper who emerged from the cocoon of Dougie Jones seemed to be the purest incarnation of the goodness inside Cooper. I wasn't sure that guy was going to stick around when we first got him because he seemed a little too chipper, a little too unburdened by his life and history and time. The Richard incarnation of Cooper seems like the combination of all his experiences and proclivities into one human. That version seems very world-weary and much more willing to solve problems with his fists than the old Cooper. I feel really worn down by the fate of Dale Cooper's soul. Assuming this is it, beyond the upcoming Mark Frost book which I now have to read I guess, this impression of Dale as being eternally unable to find happiness or fulfillment, even as he does everything the world needs of him, is so depressing. It also reignites my old opinions of the spirits that inhabit realms like the Black Lodge, Red Room, room above the convenience store, etc. Their machinations really take on the old feeling of amorality and disinterest in human outcomes they had in the original series.
  8. Also, that whole Diane/Coop / Richard/Linda sex scene was absolutely terrifying. One of the most understated horror scenes I've ever seen. His eyes are just empty in that scene. I really agree with the previous comment about the destruction of our assumed dichotomies by part 18. I think the podcast guys were getting a little exasperated with the moral universe and perceived one-noteness of how The Return handled morality, but the finale totally wrecks that all, it seems to me.
  9. The Cooper face was such a brilliant way of making the triumphant scene feel portentous and perilous.
  10. I really hope this is it. I do not want anymore. The ending felt like the pure crushing sensation of the last third of Mulholland Drive. All the pain of reality, but also just another dream. I want this to be it.
  11. Thanks! You are great!
  12. Can someone capture a "I AM the FBI" gif pretty please? This episode, besides a few minor quibbles, was excellent and really nice payoff for the fans. I hesitate to label it fan-service-y, because I've always thought that term implied a level of unearned payoff, whereas we absolutely earned this one. Let's jot out some negatives before I barrel into breathless praise: - I thought the Diane revelation was pretty bad. The leadup to the actual Blue Rose confession was very disorienting and intense (it felt super Lost Highway with it's use of blaring non-diagetic music) but the actual content of it was just flat and not good. I think it was only more undercut by Diane being a Tulpa orb woman doppelganger thing. - I have an ongoing background process in my head where I cross-check what I've seen with any ideas at deeper meaning, or comment on "the human condition". I think a lot of Lynch's work does this. It's often about fairly simple conflicts being projected onto dream worlds full of deeper meaning. I haven't felt a deeper meaning in this season. I am impressed with the poignancy of some scenes, and the overall thrust of the season is fascinating and entertaining, but I hope I walk away with some feeling of learning something about Lynch's view of life or my own, because I think that is what he has usually given me. Of course, I like much more than I dislike. - Everything with Hutch and Chantell was weirdly poignant. There's a version of these characters that are just weird, silent hitmen (kind of like Ike The Spike) but instead we got these weirdly charming characters who just escape sociopathy by their own relationship. I love their undoing being a classic Lynch theme - the darker heart and twisted pathologies of suburbia. -The return of Cooper is just beautiful. The melding of the original wide-eyed, empathetic Cooper from the original run with this soul who has endured so much, but still seems fundementally good in his ultimate orientation and care for other humans, is truly that shit I show up for. -Mr. C's setup of Richard Horne is really crushing. Richard certainly is a fuckup, and his victims deserve far more sympathy than him, but the rippling effects of abuse and neglect (themes I have enjoyed and mulled over this season) really set him up for a tragic, outrageous fall. The utter deadness of Mr. C's "Goodbye my son" was terrifyingly. - I really enjoy the fact that Lynch seems to recognize the dulling effect the Roadhouse concerts have had on viewers. I was totally hoisted once everything went all topsy turvey on us. Poor, poor Audrey. I'm on the verge of true rambling, but I just have to concur with everyone who loved this episode. God it's good we have two episodes with Cooper left.
  13. This episode was fantastic, and I'm glad we plowed through the midseason slump so quickly. So, from the top: -I did not expect to need this much closure on Nadine. It almost feels like a grand karmic arc for Dr. Giacobbi to finally, inadvertently, help someone in a meaningful way. The scene with Nadine and Ed, and then Ed and Norma, were both so beautiful. I was crying by the end of the Roadhouse scene, cheesy non-diagetic Otis Redding and all. I was terrified when it felt like the show was about to nosedive into Norma and the weird businessman, but I realized pretty quickly there was no chance of that. I hope there are original Twin Peaks fans out there who were watching from the start twenty-five years ago who could really get some catharsis out of that. I did, even as someone who's only liked the show for three or four years. -The whole sequence of Mr. C visiting Phillip Jeffries The Tea Kettle was fantastic. The Bowie soundalike was totally passable, especially since the original Phillip Jeffries performance is already so outrageous and not great (but in a great way). I really wish I was watching a hard copy on a screen with better black levels, because so much of the dark shots in this show are not having their intended effect on me at all. -The brief Las Vegas FBI gag was hilarious. I also enjoy the more knowing treatment of information this scenario has. I think F&L really cleverly set up the whole reason that they probably won't find the right Dougie as just being unnecessary pride in their detective work, instead of just calling Gordon Cole for slightly more information. -I've been surprised every time we get any more Log Lady footage, but I think the buildup to her passing is very good. I loved her friendship with Hawk. It was really deftly handled. RIP Catherine Coulson.
  14. This is also what I assumed. I can barely imagine Janey and Diane in the same universe, let alone the same room, so I just assumed it meant she hadn't met Dougie, but the texts purps mentioned make me less inclined to put much stock in that assumption.
  15. I can't believe how much we are underselling Diane being related to Janey-E. I audibly screeched when that reveal hit, and then it was immediately washed away by everything else in this episode. It also raises a lot of questions about the origins of Dougie. I love that Andy gets the role of delivering information from the spirit realm this time, while all the competent Twin Peaks Sheriff Department can't even remember what happened. I did not expect Sarah Palmer to be a physical portal into hell, but the more I think about the more I know I now can't live any other way. Gordon Cole apparently has a known genre of portentious and lore-heavy Monica Bellucci dreams. That is hilarious. I also love the level of immediate respect Gordon Cole commands from the LV FBI guys. Also, the deliberateness of Gordon Cole not referring to Janey-E to the FBI guys will make it unnecessarily difficult to get these plot threads together in a way that is so classic Twin Peaks The Return.