Digger

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Posts posted by Digger

  1. Posted

    Part of me wonders if the folks in Twin Peaks (barring the Sheriff's dept.) will play much more of a role in this season.  It feels like it is setting up for season four.  I don't feel I've had much of a chance to connect to any of the characters outside the Dougie storyline because they have been given so little to do, and much of what they do do is hard to parse (What is up with Becky?  I know folks have described her as married, but did we know that before this episode?  Norma has barely said anything but "Shelly!" this season, James showed up once, Jacoby doesn't seem to be connected to anything).    

  2. Posted

    22 hours ago, Gamebeast23456 said:

     

    I think people overstate the merit of sticking it to 'traditional storytelling' in a medium. There's no inherent reason that F&L's approach to narrative in this season is inherently better or worse than 'standard' conventions. It's interesting, I want to see how it pans out/get a feel for why they chose to structure a story this way, but you don't get a prize just for eschewing conventionality, and you aren't inherently more or less worthy for it. I think back to like, David Foster Wallace describing his frustration with writing students who strive to make the overarching impression of their work their own cleverness, and how frustrating it can be, especially for someone who recognizes what you are doing but doesn't necessarily think your ability to make the choice justifies making it, or makes it inherently worthy. 

     

    I have to disagree.  I'm not sure standard and nonstandard are the most accurate terms. Have the creators said they chose the one hour once a week format to tell their story?  Critics (including Jake and Chris) have said the show is likean eighteen hour film, and that may be true, but if it is then should it really be parsed in random increments that fit scheduling and not story?  My big problem with the season is pacing  Audiences need something to hold on to and something t follow to keep them coming along.  I think I could forgive some of the horrible story-telling tactics (ignoring storylines, having characters act outside expectations without explanation,  the hit-n-run, the double murders, Gordon's magic, the revelation that Hastings was involved in supernatural stuff revealed in one big dump seven episodes later), if the audience was given some payoff in a timely manner.  If we have to wait until the end of the series for the series to make sense, and if that sense is not something we could have been able to make meaning of without the author parsing his personal interpretations of symbols then it isn't good storytelling.  If the series were presented Netflix style- every episode available from the start- that would be better, if the episodes were two hours long, or presented in blocks of four I think it better help the audience to keep a flow going.  If it wasn't Twin Peaks and it wasn't David Lynch I'm not sure anyone would be watching.

  3. Posted

    I have trouble believing Diane is being coerced or tricked.  Yes, it is bad storytelling to introduce a character we've heard referenced by our hero who seems to have a long lasting relationship with someone he trusts implicitly and turn her into current Diane.  We have no reference on who or what she was before.  But, Gordon and Albert seem to be the wisest, most resourceful, and most loyal to their duty- if anyone would be able to get Diane out of a jam it is they, and there would be no good reason not to inform them.  If she knew Coop was bad news or different she could have told them way before now, and after seeing more death should have informed them after the text message.  

     

    Diane does not seem to be a good person.

     

    The only explanation of the text outside the obvious- that she knows exactly who sent it and what it means- is that Coop texted Jefferies and Jeffries texted Diane, or maybe that Diane was pretending to be Jefferies, but again, I see no reason not to tell Gordon everything.

  5. Posted

    I'm surprised by Ben Horne's turnaround.  In season two we see even when he is trying to do "what feels right" or "is the right thing" (admitting he is Donna's biological father) it seems he can only bring pain or act selfishly.  This season he's a good man?  Bobby is in a similar state, but a little less so.  Do you think there will be a reversion to type, or is this alternate sides of a coin like Coop and his doppel on a less supernatural level?

     

    In The Secret History of Twin Peaks folks that inhabit the lodges were stated to know nothing about our morality or immorality.  yes, the Black Lodge feeds on suffering, or use it as a currency, but choosing to nourish oneself can hardly be seen as a moral choice.  We've seen characters like the arm and Mike feeding on this suffering and their purpose in thwarting BOB seemed based on getting their share.  The first season of Twin Peaks had characters full of flaws, Sheriff Truman while mostly a boy scout was sleeping with Josie, Laura was full of contradictions, only the very simple (Lucy, Andy, Johnny) seemed ignorant of corruption.  This season seems to be focusing on clear distinctions of good and evil, and redemption (more than the corruption we saw in previous seasons).  I'm having trouble gelling the seasons together into a larger narrative.  

  6. Posted

    How odd, especially after episode 8, that episode 9 felt like such a crime procedural. It seemed uncharacteristically obvious in how pieces were coming together and would meet up.  I don't trust it.  In contrast to this- did Andy ever go back to the truck-owner's place after the suspect skipped the meeting.  We got the eerie music and shot of his door ajar in episode 7 and now we see Andy picking a chair?  I can't tell how time is passing on this show.  How long has Jerry been in the woods?  Each time we see a band at the Bang Bang is that another day gone by?  Is Twin Peaks time synced with the rest of the action we've been seeing?

  7. Posted

    6 hours ago, Bjorn said:

     

    I think part of the beauty of Twin Peaks is the very humanity of the characters that allows for them to be contradictory and truthful and self-deceiving in very honestly presented ways.  Bobby can totally believe and feel pain that he feels manipulated into selling drugs because of Laura.  But the truth of his emotion doesn't mean that this isn't where he would have ended up anyways, or that his actions aren't also still self serving and he's offloading responsibility for his own decisions and actions onto his girlfriend.  Or that Laura could feel manipulated into having developed a drug habit because of her boyfriend introducing her to them, even while she's also responsible for her own decisions.  Humans are contradictory messes when it comes to contemplating the roles and responsibilities of their own actions and others in regards to their lives.

     

    But Laura is a character, because of her own fear and self-loathing, who tends to assign herself responsibility for things around her (even to blaming herself for her own abuse, something common with abuse victims) while other characters, in a very human way, try to offload the responsibility their actions.  Which might also be some fans want to do the same. 

    It seems weird that you seem to believe Laura is almost blameless, and Bobby and others are "off loading."  I don't see what in the text backs that up.  I can not a remember any time on the show where anyone had anything bad to say about Laura.  They all loved her and wanted to help her.  Donna has one moment of resentment, but I can't remember any other character that blamed their problems on her.  I don't see why we can't take Bobby at his word when it is obviously a moment of catharsis, we have moments with his dad where he reveals (and Briggs believes) he is a sensitive and loving person, and in the current day he is a police officer who breaks down at the sight of Laura's picture.  He was never my favorite character I find it strange I am defending him.  

  8. Posted

    11 minutes ago, LostInTheMovies said:

     

    But Laura defeated BOB, while Cooper lost to him.

    I'm not sure.  Cooper lost to the doppelganger, or did he?  He was trapped. certainly, but I'm not sure this is a win for BOB.  BOB now has closer scrutiny from the FBI, and maybe original Cooper who may have a better understanding of the lodge and its workings.  Cooper also has had communication with the giant, something we never saw Laura have.  In episode one of the return the giant again meets with Cooper and gives him some clues including an insect sound (the bug thing we saw at the end of episode 8?), so he may be able to recognize the evil no matter where it resides.  

     

    Laura did, in essence deny BOB her body, but it cost her her life, Cooper still exists albeit as Dougie.  

  9. Posted

    On 6/29/2017 at 1:10 PM, Gailbraithe said:

     

    I have to agree with Bjorn, this seems like a really unfair and skewed reading of the text.  Laura insults James behind his back, but at the same time she tries to protect him from the black hole consuming her.  Donna pushes her way into that dark part of Laura's world, and Laura freaks out and tries to protect Donna.  Bobby seems pretty intent on being his own undoing with or without Laura, as we can see from his interactions with Shelly and the Hornes -- I think it would be more fair to say that Laura is used and corrupted by Bobby then the other way around.  And I'm not sure who you are referring to when you say Laura recruited young women to be prostitutes.  Ronette?  I don't think the text supports that.  Seems more like Ronette was recruited into prostitution either by Emory Battis or Teresa Banks around the same time Laura was.    

    Bobby is not a great guy, but we do see that his tough guy facade is just that.  He really is sensitive and eager to please, Laura exploits that.  Laura is not hiding her "cheating" on Bobby from him, in fact, she plays on his insecurity.  At times she does try to protect James and Donna, but she doesn't do it consistently.  She often insults James, and sleeps with James, possibly partially because she knows Donna likes him.  

  10. Posted

    On 6/29/2017 at 0:20 PM, Bjorn said:

     

    This...this summary is really messed up?  It's off-loading a lot of responsibility onto Laura for other characters decisions and actions.

     

    My read of Bobby is that he was already dealing drugs, and that's why Laura started dating him, was to get free drugs.  It's crappy, but not evil and Bobby is doing an excellent job of making bad decisions all on his own (and him and Mike are both shown to have some pretty awful controlling and abusive behavior in regards to their girlfriends).  Bobby doesn't kill anyone for Laura.  He shoots a dirty cop dead when that cop tries to double cross him as part of a drug deal.  A drug deal he set up. 

     

    I assume the Donna thing you're referencing is coming from the FWWM other bar scene.  Laura argues with Donna about stepping foot into Laura's other world, tries to talk her out of it, finally allows it, and then has a total freakout when she realizes that Donna's too fucked up to be consenting to what's happening.  It's literally the opposite of what you described. 

     

    Who does Laura recruit into prostitution?  It's the manager of Horne's Department Store who actively recruits young women who work in the store into being sex workers at One Eyed Jacks.  She did jobs with other sex workers, but all of those are women who are already doing that kind of work. 

     

    There seems to be this trend to want to take the sins of a bunch of other people around town and ascribe them to Laura (this thread isn't the only place I've seen it).  She wasn't evil.  She wasn't pure.  She was human, a broken, flawed human trying to find ways to cope and get by in the world.  She absolutely judged herself harshly, but that's such a reflection of the pain and shame she had around things that were wildly out of her control. 

     

    Edited to add:  Laura, like many young women, was very well aware that she was heavily idealized by many people in town, including people like Donna and James.  Part of separating herself from them wasn't about corrupting them, it was about fearing their disappointment if they ever found out too much about her. 

    I believe you are incorrect on a few points.  James says he was selling drugs to get Laura her fix, and to keep her.  In FWWM Laura sees the men drugging the drink and says, "Chug-a-lug, Donna."  Corruption isn't forcing people to make bad decisions, it is encouraging them to do them on their own.  The only characters on the show that are true evil are the ones from the black lodge.  Ben Horne, Leo, Josie, they hurt others, but it is not all they do.  Laura was struggling with her own corruption, and in the end, it seems, rejected that corruption, but it doesn't erase what she did.  

  11. Posted

    18 hours ago, Urthman said:

     

    People keep saying things about Laura being no angel, but what exactly did she do that was so bad?  Drugs?  Having sex?  Lying to her parents about what she'd been up to, I guess?  Did she ever do anything that hurt someone besides herself?

    We often saw Laura corrupting those around her, or in the case of James attempting to separate herself to not corrupt.  Bobby becomes a drug dealer and kills a man for her, she does things to purposefully hurt him, and says cruel things to him she knows will sting.  She recruits young women to be prostitutes, and drugs Donna so that she becomes more pliable and set for a gang rape.  

  12. Posted

    The pacing is horrible.  I don't know if it's Lynch or Showtime.  It's funny, things started happening last episode, but honestly, they were insignificant and could have (and probably should have) happened 6 episodes ago.  Then this episode throws the breaks on to that little bit of progress.  The murders have barely been referenced.  Coop is still speechless, and there are endless scenes of people not speaking and barely moving.  All the episodes should have been released at once, or at least multiple episodes at a time.  This episode was visually and sonically interesting, but not why I'm here.  I don't think they have given an audience enough to latch on to for this kind of episode to be thrust in this order.

  14. Posted

    Dougie might have been a lousy husband, but they look like they're living an OK life, and she hasn't even shown affection to her son, she's hiding money in "the usual place," and something is obviously wrong with him.   He cries and she has no response, he can't seem to dress himself, he hasn't spoken a full sentence- the brief glimpse of Dougie we had before this made him a bit more verbal, and Jade seemed to have some affection for him.  Maybe it's just bad writing, I can't care about any of them.  I thought maybe Bob was riding the more coherent Dougie, but that Dougie said his arm went numb (a sign Bob has left?), so it must be that Dougie was much more capable.  He's built relationships with people at work, held down a job, has a home, and kid.   

     

    I liked the scene with Sheriff Truman and his wife.  It felt very Twin Peaks-y to me.

     

    On a completely different note, did anyone else think the red velvet seat Becky was sitting on was evocative of the red curtains from the lodge?  I found myself hoping she'd be Laura Palmer because I'd like more murder mystery and less blank and extended stares into the distance.

  15. Posted

    My understanding of the difference between Bob in Evil Coop and Bob in Leland is this:  Leland says he invited Bob and he came inside him, and when Bob speaks for himself in Leland's final scene he mentions riding Leland and instructs Copperto watch what happens when he pulls the cord and Leland remembers- all of which leads me to believe there was only one Leland and he was not a doppelganger.  Evil Coop, given that he seems to have made a plan to stay, does not seem to be Bob, but Coops evil double with all of Coop's intelligence, memories, and wisdom which is why I think Evil Coop was able to come up with a plan (where Leland or Bob's other vessels wouldn't).  Bob seems to be a parasite who desires garmanbozia, as such I doubt he would care who gets it for him, and Evil Coop would do so for his own pleasure and need no goading from Bob, nor would Bob need to hide himself.    I don't think Bob is partial to his vessel- Leland seemed to be working out just fine when he was already making plans to enter Laura, so I don't see him much caring if Coop stayed in "the real world."  

     

    I'm really hoping Coop comes back to himself soon.  I don't think I can take much more of Dougie. and people's treatment of him.  What's up with his wife anyway?  Her only reaction is exasperation.