LostInTheMovies

Just discovered this video online and I think people here will get a kick out of it. If you've seen the season 1 finale, you can watch it because it aired in May 1990, right after the season ended: It's a pretty amusing & informative look at how people responded to the show at the time. Lots of corny anchor jokes and early 90s hair. Also, the vice president comments on Gorbachev's interest in the series!

If by "murder mystery" you simply mean the particularity of the whodunit I guess I can see your point (though I still very much disagree), but if you mean the investigation into Laura's life and secrets, I would very strongly argue otherwise. The various subplots all feel like tangents of that central axis. Even the mill burning plot contains several possible suspects. We get the sense from James' speech to Donna in the woods that Laura was involved in something bigger than herself and we know that she was at least somewhat close to both Ben and Josie. Laura's our ticket into town, and not just in the typical "MacGuffin" way of giving the characters narrative purpose. The Laura mystery also underscores all the themes present in the show: the idea that there is a darkness under the surface, that beauty and ugliness co-exist, that people know but avoid hard truths. She is the link between all the different characters who otherwise would just disperse into their separate corners of town and she also encapsulates a quintessentially American myth about corrupted innocence. Not to pun, but Laura Palmer is definitely the linchpin of the show. Lynch called her mystery the goose that laid the golden eggs, and I would agree with that. That said, I disagree about whether or not it was better for Twin Peaks to reveal the killer or keep that initial question open, but that's another can of worms... As for season two, Just my 2 cents, obviously! Out of curiosity, though, what are the non-mystery parts of season 2 you find more interesting?

Finally got to listen to this episode. A few thoughts: 1. Good news for 2016: 2. 3. Re: the Gorbachev anecdote, check out the YouTube video I put up on the season finale thread - about 35 seconds in, Vice President Dan Quayle confirms a variation on that story. On whether or not Lynch and Frost had a killer in mind at this stage (this isn't really much of a plot spoiler but I'll conceal it anyway - proceed at your own risk) 4. Caleb Deschanel is not only Zooey's father, he is the husband of Mary Jo Deschanel, who plays Eileen Hayward (Donna's mom) in the show. 5. Good question about the Cooper thing. I'll concur with what Urthman says above, as devil's advocate if nothing else. 6. Catherine's great in this episode. I like your argument that she basically becomes the protagonist of the mill plot here. She's definitely becoming more sympathetic, as Josie becomes less so. 7. I really like this episode. I think I used to feel it was too much build-up for the finale but now I love it for the feeling of tension and excitement. Twin Peaks (and I don't think this is a spoiler especially since we're already seeing it in season one) has many different gears and some I like more than others. But this and the subsequent episode really feel like very energetic narrative machines. I'd guess this is Frost's influence. If there's any point where Twin Peaks feels like something other than either a fascinating avant-garde experiment on the one hand or a slightly quirky but conventional TV series on the other, it's here. The sense of dramatic momentum is very strong and it feels like something we could watch week-to-week as a serialized story without either wanting an immediate conclusion to wrap things up or losing interest since there's no end in sight. That's a hard sweet spot to hit. It's also why many critics at the time thought maybe it should contain itself as a miniseries rather than become a regular in the fall. 8. Glad to hear you got the Reflections book (or one of you did - was it Chris or Jake?). Really great read, and very informative. You may enjoy an interview I conducted with the author Brad Dukes this summer: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-story-both-wonderful-and-strange-my.html. The interview, and even the images used with the interview, contain spoilers so no one who hasn't seen series & Fire Walk With Me should follow this link!

Again, my memory of my first viewing is really hazy (even though it was only 6 years ago) but I'm pretty sure

For the life of me, I cannot remember having a suspect when I watched this the first time. I think I was pretty sure that the killer would never be revealed (and that this was why the show was cancelled).

Oddly enough I don't think anybody's explicitly asked it yet, so here's my question for first-time viewers... Who (do you think) killed Laura Palmer?

Oh yeah, definitely (not sure if this was just directed to newcomers, but I think it could be an open question for repeat viewers too). Nadine's such a sad character - the more I watch the series, the more I'm intrigued by her and by Wendy Robie's pretty damn dedicated performance. I can't necessarily say Nadine is a favorite character (the first time I watched the series I think I was cringing whenever she came on) but over time I have more and more respect for the writing and performance, and more pity for the character.

Apparently Jack Nance was completely fooled in real life!

Just listened to the episode - great discussion. Glad you enjoyed my observations. By the way, the book with the Gorbachev/Bush anecdote is "Reflections," an oral history of Twin Peaks which came out earlier this year. It is compiled from numerous interviews conducted by the author, Brad Dukes, over several years. Although (somewhat unsurprisingly) he wasn't able to talk to Lynch and a few other participants, he spoke to almost everybody else, including Mark Frost. It is to date the only comprehensive history of the show I know of, and I can't recommend it highly enough. Great read, with lots of anecdotes and insight. Some more notes on the Lynch/Frost/Invitation to Love thing... As the Reflections book recounts, Frost got together with a bunch of his buddies (there was sort of a "Minnesota mafia" involved with the series, because Frost's dad - who plays Doc Hayward - had been an acting teacher there in the 60s and 70s) at a famous house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and Frost directed all the Invitation to Love scenes in one shoot. One of the actors says he heard Lynch didn't like the footage when he saw it. Harley Peyton also says, on the old season 1 DVD commentaries (which were left off the Gold Box & Entire Mystery boxsets), that as he recalls Lynch As for the anecdote I mentioned in the email, from the book The Passion of David Lynch (by Martha Nochimson): "For example, the soap opera watched by the citizens of Twin Peaks, Invitation to Love, was envisioned by Lynch, who is interested in the emotional tones and moods that characterize the soap-opera form, as a popular culture fictional universe parallel with that in the series town. As I understand Lynch's original thoughts about Invitation to Love (from him), it might have served a function similar to that of Glinda in Wild at Heart. Lynch thought that he and Frost were in agreement on this and was surprised to find that Frost had created a cliched mockery of the soap-opera form." Although the author is obviously much more sympathetic to Lynch's vision, her discussion of Twin Peaks is one of the few I've read that actually treats Frost as an equal co-creator, with his own distinct sensibility brought to bear on the material. She interviewed both Lynch and Frost for the book.

And here's a question for the newcomers here, who have not yet jumped to the next episode. What are you expecting to result from this week's cliffhanger?

I like that reading because I think Audrey is a pretty confused kid despite her seeming confidence. She may have thought this would be a fun prank and then been genuinely upset when she saw the results. Her crying as she watches Leland is probably one of my favorite character moments in the first season.

One of the things that fascinates me about Eraserhead, but which I haven't heard a lot of people address, is how the baby is both a spiritual symbol (of Henry's repression and anxiety, among other harder-to-pin-down qualities), which needs to be overcome, and an entity that seems to have a life and consciousness of its own - to suffer and experience pain though it's unable to communicate this. It's a disturbing and compelling ambiguity - the kind of complexity Lynch earns precisely because he doesn't allow himself to be completely cornered on what something "means." Spoiler for Twin Peaks:

LOL - I felt similarly after seeing the whole movie (and believe me, this scene is mild in comparison). I was like, wow, that was incredibly well-done, hypnotic, but I don't think I'll ever watch THAT again! I have, of course, seen it several times since, incorporated its grisliest scene into a video essay, and plan on buying the new blu-ray soon.

And here is Pete Martell & Mrs. Briggs (Bobby's mom) enjoying a chicken dinner (warning: do not watch before eating) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEF7eQdCWM4

Yes, and funny tidbit: the way Pete says "Caaatherine..." is kind of an inside joke. The actor who plays Pete, Jack Nance, was once married to the actress who plays the Log Lady, Catherine Coulson, and used to say her name the same way! They both worked on Lynch's debut film Eraserhead (where Nance plays the main character). He aged quite a bit in 15 or so years:

I always assumed it was just because she heard someone moving about in the house, but an interesting thought just occurred to me. Maybe it's her psychic abilities since at that moment he's basically having a breakdown at the Great Northern?

It's quite a story, that. EDIT: You can see it in the regular pilot too, but I think it might be a different take and is probably held for a shorter time.

Sounds great. As for being new to Lynch, I'm wondering if you'll get more out of watching his films as the series unfolds or waiting until it's over to watch his stuff (or maybe just watching the earlier films, like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet in the meantime). Dunno, but I'll be interested in your observations regardless. I enjoyed reading your take on the drama too...it sounds like you are describing a sense of conscious "distance" and I know what you mean. That's how I felt watching both the first season of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet. What's interesting about Lynch, as compared to a lot of other artists who achieve this same sense of distance/irony, is that it seems more to be a side effect of his approach rather than its aim. In other words, he likes to mix humor and seriousness in really off-kilter ways but not because he is satirizing the serious aspects, simply because he finds the mix of the two textures interesting. Furthermore, sometimes he doesn't even acknowledge the humor at all: a good example is the scene with Laura's mother crying in the pilot. In a recent interview with both Grace Zabriskie (the actress who played Mrs. Palmer) & Lynch, she claimed there was some dark humor to the scene and Lynch denied this vehemently! Twin Peaks is also unusual because Mark Frost is a much stronger co-creator than is typically recognized. It's a very complex collaboration especially since both are vague about who contributed what. But I've found that their divergences are pretty evident by observing who wrote/directed what, examining their other works, and reading some really sharp accounts/analyses of their contributions. Frost is a more self-aware writer than Lynch and he was the one responsible for the very arch, tongue-in-cheek tone of the Invitation to Love soap opera parodies (you'll notice that Lynch only presents the opening title and avoids showing any actual clips from Invitation to Love in the episode he directed). I would say to the extent that Twin Peaks is intentionally postmodern, that's more Frost's doing than Lynch's.

Thanks for responding! I was worried no newcomers would take the bait, haha. As noted elsewhere I have a near-sociological fascination with how viewers react to this show as it unfolds. I really wish I'd kept a journal of my own initial responses, as most are lost to me now. Hope you'll continue to share your reactions. Out of curiosity, what's your take on Lynch's other work? Do you see this as being more a lark for him in his larger career or consistent with the tone/sensibility of his movies? One of the interesting things about the Twin Peaks critiques in '90 (Jonathan Rosenbaum's in particular) is that they view Lynch's work as a whole as lacking "serious" purpose (while being great at mood). I watched Twin Peaks for the first time in 2008, yet I still have trouble remembering that first experience, re-watches having obscured my view somewhat. That said, to the best of my recollection, my take on season one was pretty similar to yours. I enjoyed it and felt it was a blast but considered it primarily fun entertainment (compared to something like, say, Mulholland Drive - at least the final third). The murder mystery was enjoyable to untangle but I would say I saw it as a MacGuffin primarily. My impression was that the show had been cancelled because viewers grew impatient with the delayed reveal, so I expected we would never find out who killed Laura and I'm pretty sure I was ok with that. That said, I don't know if I would have said at the time that it was more like a B movie than a good piece of art, simply because the Lynch-directed episodes (particularly #2) were among the best pieces of filmmaking I'd ever seen on television, in pure aesthetic terms (pacing, blocking, camera movement, cutting, composition, etc). I definitely noticed the difference between Lynch and the other directors, especially the VERY first time I attempted to start the series, before the Gold Box DVDs came out. At this point, Netflix did not have the pilot available so I had to start with episode "1" (the Duwayne Dunham-directed one with the fish in the percolator). Like you, I saw it as very soapy and 90s and hard to take at face value and was a bit disappointed. I wondered if Lynch had a role in the series beyond executive-producing. But then came the scene with Sarah's vision of the long-haired man crouching in the corner, and I jumped out of my seat. I realized then Twin Peaks would be worth investing in. Then came episode "2" - the one with the Red Room dream sequence - and I was hooked from the first shot, that extremely long, bizarre Horne family dinner. This seemed to come from a different universe than the previous episode. And then of course the Red Room dream and I realized what I was in for. But I stopped for a couple years, waiting for the pilot to come out so I could begin properly. I don't think this counts as a spoiler, but as I recall I was much more impressed with season two, at least initially, than season one (although in retrospect and repeat viewings, I consider season one more consistent).

Re: Audrey's picture - I like Chris' and Jake's hypothesis that maybe they were just together because their dads were friends, and they kind of palled around on the trip but didn't have deeper connection that went beyond that. Seems very human and natural - and also part of Audrey looking up to/being jealous of Laura. I imagine that would have been an interesting experience for Audrey: the girl she usually sees as a rival for her father's attention reaches out to her (why not, they're stuck together and Laura knew how to lay on the charm when necessary). She might be flattered and let down her guard a bit (we know in these early episode that Audrey's in-control vibe is, in part, an act) and then later felt even more resentful when Laura became more distant again. Trying to remember if there's anything in the diary that fleshes this out...anyway we can make up our own story for it, I guess (and I'm sure that's been done: somewhere out there is a "Horne/Palmer Family Ski Trip" fanfic haha). I like anything that gives a sense of an offscreen world unfolding. One of the nice things about Twin Peaks is that it has that texture and detail so that the world feels truly lived-in.

I like him too but I think it was the pacing that did it (well, that and the fact that people didn't like it becoming too explicitly supernatural when they'd tuned in for a police procedural or soap opera). I showed that scene to someone recently on YouTube and he lost patience after about 6 minutes as the character spoke so slowly. And this was just a clip on the internet! And I agree that the ongoing nature of it created the potential for backlash and resentment. You can even see this as early season 1: a lot of the critics who were praising it to the hills were ambivalent that it had been picked up for a second season. There was a significant sentiment that it have been better off as a miniseries so as not to overstay its welcome or run the risk of becoming run-of-the-mill. So while I won't be surprised if there is is negativity in 2016 I don't think the same phenemonen will occur because there's an endgoal in sight. With Twin Peaks as a potentially years-long endeavor, the frustration of not knowing if/when its mystery would be resolved became too enormous. As for resisting deconstruction, also agreed. The first season lends itself more easily to postmodern appreciation: it wears its more satirical and playful elements on its sleeve and the viewer, at times, feels in on the joke, conspiratorially part of the winking game. You can tell reading the reviews of season 2 (and later Fire Walk With Me) that most critics honestly didn't have a CLUE what it was doing. Not just where the story was going but what emotion was expected of them: how they were supposed to relate to it. These were qualities that were praised in the pilot, ironically.

Another interesting thing about Twin Peaks' popularity in Japan is that it was one of the few places were Fire Walk With Me was a bona fide box office smash, a phenomenon even. Fans there even staged a mock funeral for Laura Palmer!

I know this info is probably readily available elsewhere so apologies but...what is the best email address to send feedback for this episode?