Persistence of 3

I quite like the author's observation of the 'meaning' of the traffic light. "Remember the traffic light? It’s in the pilot — a long, lingering shot of a light changing from red to green, a signal that this was going to be a show where the camera would linger for long periods of time on weird things a normal TV show’s camera would never linger on. And in the movie, we find out why, more or less. The night she dies, Laura goes to meet James, the sweet, dumb biker who thinks he can save her. They talk in clichés: “We have everything,” James says. “Everything but everything,” Laura replies. She’s messed up; she mocks James, slaps him. He laughs it off. James says her name, begging her to stay; she says, “What about this, James?” and gives him the finger. He tries to pull her to him. She says, “I think you wanna take me home now” — coldly. She gets on his bike, then jumps off at the next light. She screams, “I LOVE YOU, JAMES” and runs off into the woods, where — like monsters in a fairy tale — Jacques and a few of his lowlife pals are waiting just a few feet past the tree line, at the mouth of a forest access road, leaning on a red Corvette. Before the night is over she’ll be tied up on a dirty mattress at the conclusion of a really gross four-way log-cabin sex party, which is where her father finds her. In this moment, though, James could easily follow her; instead he stares at the traffic light, waits for it to change, guns it, and speeds off. So the traffic light is Laura’s last chance; the scene gives the shot in the pilot a retroactive dramatic resonance. In a way, it’s the most prequel-y thing in the movie."

ACK! Misremembered the line! For the record, it was Leland's. When he describes his neighbors at Pearl Lake he mentions the Chalberts --and points out that they lived in the other house. Sincere apologies for the false alarm. I should have verified before I posted. I realize now that the "other Chalfont" was something that Carl Rod of the trailer park had mentioned to Chet Desmond --he said there were two Chalfonts. Oh well.

The Chalfont/Tremond thing goes one step further! In the series, it's revealed by Leland Palmer that when he was a boy his family had a cabin/house on Pearl Lake. Leland identifies the police sketch of BOB as the one who lived in the white house next door. Upon investigation it's determined that the family that owns (owned?) the white house was named Chalfont. The police are looking for a Robertson, so the name at the name is meaningless to the investigation. Hawk pays a visit only to find "a pair of retired female school teachers" living there. He had to drink 3 pots of chamomile tea to find that out.

I'm guessing the 18 will be presented in two 9 episodes runs. I imagine somehow that was the Showtime stipulation --that the amount of money requested could be justified for a "two season" run but not a single season. I'm not especially concerned that the show will somehow be diluted but the pace of things may not be to everyone's expectations. Unless they're expecting a deliberately paced, Lynchian experience. In which case --that's exactly what the viewer could get. 18 hours of conventional television is a lot of production for one person to direct in one go. My hunch is that no more story will be written but the 9 scripts will be unpacked so that the same story unfolds over 18 episodes, giving David Lynch even more opportunity to be David Lynch.

Will Audrey appear in season 3? Sherilyn Fenn indicates that she will. That doesn't necessarily mean that Audrery survives the bank explosion. After all Leland and Laura Palmer appeared in the last episode and there we dead.

That script puts such a perverse emphasis on oral hygiene at the end --down to waking Cooper wanting to brush his teeth. I can't recall did that line make the final version or does Dale have another reason to go to the bathroom right before the show's final reveal? I will say this about all the dentist/dental imagery. I read that screenplay years ago and now every time I visit the dentist I associate it not only with a trip to the Black Lodge but also the opening of the episode where the camera worms it's way out of an acoustic ceiling tile. The tile holes being the primary view offered by the dentist's chair. Coincidence? I think not!

As soon as I heard the organ music while Peggy walked the empty hallways I thought "Carnival of Souls" and it's lead female character walking through the abandoned amusement park.

Speaking of LOST coming to Twin Peaks, I've always taken the black-light map discovered in the hatch to be a shout out to both the Twin Peaks chalk board map which is then replaced by Andy's version of the petroglyph from the cave. Every one of those maps seems to be designed as window dressing or narrative 'enhancements' for fans to deconstruct rather than actual maps which would play an explicit story role.

Not just any Heavy Metal Dude that was Ted Raimi, right?