Twin Peaks Rewatch 39: The Return, Part 5

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 39: The Return, Part 5]

Wild Palms looks like the worst/best thing ever. Of COURSE Austin Walker was the one who remembers this...

 

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 39: The Return, Part 5]

8 hours ago, LillyBaeum said:

 

Nagging wife? Whoa, what?

 

I for sure interpreted that as someone emotionally abusive, not just nagging.

 

If her character existed in isolation, I would agree with you. However, given the less than amazing portrayal of women in the show so far, something about the scene read to me as "Women, amiright?"

 

To be clear, I would never use words like 'nagging' or 'hysterical' to describe an actual person as they are disproportionately applied to women when men who display the same behavior usually aren't seen in as negative a light. In reality, the problems are almost certainly not one sided, her labour is probably not fully appreciated, and the lack of communication probably goes both ways. However, the way the scene was put together I got the impression that we were supposed to side entirely with Truman's quiet rationality and laugh at her broad ranting and raving. I could be wrong, though! We'll see as the show progresses. 

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 39: The Return, Part 5]

-This episode was great, but maaannnn New Sheriff Truman's nagging caricature of a wife bummed me the fuck out. C'mon guys. We can do better than this.

 

-I loved the melancholy ending with Cooper standing helplessly by the statue over the end credits; I also loved the scene with that absolutely terrifying dude smoking in the bar. However, it really felt like the band in the background was meant to close out the episode but then for whatever reason that didn't work out. Some might chalk this up to Lynch deliberately messing with our expectations, but I think it's more likely just an awkward side effect of them finding all the episodes in editing. I'm starting to question whether or not the weekly one hour format actually makes much sense for this show, or if it would have made more sense carved up into different sized chunks. Sometimes it feels like the internal 'chapters' don't always line up with where the hour begins or ends

 

-Can we all take a moment to appreciate Jacoby's incredible mixture of a century's worth of audio visual technology? 

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 38: The Return, Part 4]

I was thinking about what the guys on the podcast said about Lynch using Take Five when Badalamenti's score was so similar. I wonder if Lynch might have used some licensed jazz numbers in the original series if it had been an option? Did TV at the time ever use licensed music incidentally or was it only ever used during big event episodes? 

 

 

24 minutes ago, 510home said:

Great episode, guys. I assume Travis McElroy is the podcaster from My Brother, My Brother and Me? Their episode this week is filled with Twin Peaks jokes!

Seems likely given that both groups of podcasters work in the video game industry.

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 38: The Return, Part 4]

6 minutes ago, marblize said:

 

Andy looks like a cartoon character surrounded the Lynch cinema aesthetic. It makes me uncomfortable but I almost like it in a bizarre metatextual way? Will be interesting to see where it goes.

 

I guess Lucy and Andy representing quirkier aspects of the old series would make sense in terms of my theory that Wally Brando represents the follies of modern reboots. The old series literally giving birth to the new one, and the stunt-casted actor tortuously explaining the connections between the two. But even if this was intended (which I will admit is a bit of a stretch), I still think those Lucy scenes are terrible. Plus given how tonally diverse the series has been, I think it's more like that their goofy outdated characters are actually another part of Lynch's current aesthetics and not somehow the exceptions to them. 

Great stuff with the Sarah Palmer image comparisons, by the way! 

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 38: The Return, Part 4]

I too hated Lucy's dumb cellphone reaction. There was a scene in original Twin Peaks where she keeps talking to someone over the sheriff's department intercom after they have left the room and then when they run up front, she is scared and baffled by how they could be in two places at once. The updated scene really doesn't work though and is made all the more dumb by the fact that the twin peaks sheriff's department has always had mobile radios. 

Oh, and I really hate that Andy still has the same haircut. It feels like he's just dressing up as original series Andy and I just don't buy it.

[Twin Peaks Rewatch 38: The Return, Part 4]

Hey folks! I'm to the forum but look forward to participating in future discussions. Some thoughts:

 

-Episode 4's silly breakfast scene prominently featured Dave Brubeck's song "Take Five". Up until this point, all of comedy scenes had been pretty much score-less and then suddenly Lynch cranks up this super overused playful jazz number (it's in Pleasantville, Woody Allen's Mighty Aphrodite, and a billion other places) while high-jinx ensue. Not only that, but this scene is lit like a modern sit-com and looks nothing like the rest of the show. I think this is Lynch playing with TV genre tropes yet again. Mike said that Dougie is a manufactured character, and so are his giant colorful suits, ikea kitchen, and his absurdly unaware American sitcom family. Lynch took these elements and added a dark undercurrent by placing our beloved Cooper in the role of the impossibly dumb sitcom Dad.

 

-Frost and Lynch are really going out of their way to have Kyle Maclachlan play every character under the sun except the one we actually want to see: We've had Red Room Coop, Evil Coop, Dougie, and comatose Coop as Dougie.  What a tease!

 

-Also, Dougie Jones? We already have Dougie Milford and I don't think I've ever met a single Dougie in my life. Do they just think it's funny to have multiple unrelated characters with the same names, because (as previously established) no sane person would ever do that? 

-Michael Cera's monologue felt like it was making fun of other reboots as well as the audience's desire to have every loose end connecting the old show to the new one explained. Michael Cera as Wally Brando totally would be a main character in Twin Peaks 2017 if Frost and Lynch weren't involved. We don't need to know who Andy's/Lucy's/Dick's kid is or why Harry isn't on the show any more. But fans want these sorts of things, so they stunt-casted Michael Cera and had him explain things with the most straightforward exposition possible with lines like "As you know, your brother Harry S. Truman, is my godfather. I heard he is ill...." and "These fine people, my parents, who I love so dearly.." He keeps restating who everyone is and reminding us that he doesn't live in Twin Peaks and just happened to be in the area and has no real reason to be there. It's both the most explanatory scene and the most deliberately superfluous.  Super funny, whether or not this was intended. 

 

-One of the episodes ended with The Cactus Blossoms singing "Mississippi" from their album You're Dreaming. There is another song on this album called "Change Your Ways or Die" that contains the following verse:

Quote

A lover's life is like a dream
Sycamore trees, peaches and cream
And if I could show you what I see
You'd take a chance, run away with me
A sip of whiskey gets your toes wet
If you dive too deep, you'll get caught in a net
Love and fire, burn to the core
I thought as I walked by the corner store

I like to imagine that there is a poor intern whose job it was to find songs with Twin Peaks shit in them and after days of fruitless Google searches he heard this song, ran straight to David Lynch, and went "I've found the perfect song! It mentions sycamore trees, a convenience store, fire, and classic American diner food!" And then David Lynch listened to it and went "I like the album! I think the song about Mississippi would be perfect for the show! Thanks!"