Jake

Seemed very related to Bob flicking matches at Leland and Laura asking "do you want to play with fire?" and all of that stuff too.

Erases all humans

I realized after we recorded that I made classic slime as a kid, as well as corn starch goopy slime.

If that's true then the subtitle is incorrect - I'm pretty sure I went back and saw that it said "hi," to confirm this. (That said, Showtime has confirmed that the subtitle saying "Where's Bing" at the end of the latest episode was a typo and it was in fact supposed to say Billy, so maybe subtitles should be tossed out as a trustworthy source.)

(The things I don't like about the movie have next to nothing to do with fielty to the source material fwiw, just to be clear, since that's the angle most seemed to jump off of my original post. I don't think the movie needed to more literally adapt the comic to improve itself; though it could have as one possibility there are plenty of other means to that end.)

I like it but it doesn't seem genuine to me (in ways it seems to think it is). It feels to me like Edgar Wright making a movie about people about a generation younger than him but maybe he thinks he's on the inside more than he is? It feels emotionally less genuine and invested in than his other movies that are about people his age and written by him. I like watching it and love how immaculately staged it is, but it feels like it's full of millennial nerd culture signifiers that don't really feel earned but are loved just because they're there on screen in a major movie. I doubt I'm in the majority on this (and I like the movie very much!!) but those are why my feelings are mixed.

Twin Peaks Rewatch 39: The Return, Part 5 With the premiere event behind us, it's time for the first truly weekly installment of Twin Peaks season three. We're thrown headfirst into Dougie Jones' work life, we're given the identity of the John Doe in South Dakota (or are we?), we get our first glimpse at the next generation of Twin Peaks' troubled teens. And crucially, we finally learn why Dr. Jacoby wanted all those shovels. It's an episode full of setup, new characters, and new places. Where we're going from here is almost impossible to predict, and it feels great to be along for the ride. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Original post: We're about ten hours away from episode 5, so here is a thread! aby thoughts you have before, during, or after the episode, put them here! (And as usual you can also write to twinpeaks@idlethumbs.net too.)

My read which is probably wrong is somewhere in between - that she had a run in with Mr. C and thought it was Cooper, maybe she made that mistake because it was within super tight proximity of the end of Season Two (like, at the same time as the audience was confused about what Cooper was) - and whatever that encounter was shook her but didn't make her brain jump all the way to "this is actually a different person," and landed instead on "wow I didnt know that's what Cooper was like." Mr. C was meeting with Briggs and Albert and a couple others as "Dale Cooper," and we know he managed Albert for a while as well earlier on. We're told that Albert doesn't know him as well as Diane does and Diane won't be fooled, but 25 years ago maybe she was fooled along with the rest of them, and this meeting with him 25 years later was her realizing what happened in full? I think that my theory is as flimsy as anyone else's and I hope that you are correct that something far less stupid is going on. The show has just been so fast and loose with damaging people and declaring people damaged (eg: "do you even know why she is this way? her son committed suicide!") that my ability to extend the benefit of the doubt is unfortunately really weak right now. I guess I should take my own advice and stop speculating wildly!

A few not-quite-connected thoughts: That there's been no real attempt made to define who or what the Cooper doppelganger is has made it almost impossible for me to assess any of the rape/assault implications in the story. I don't mean that I would have trouble believing that the writers are writing it into the story (it seems like they are), or to imply that I would for some reason not believe the characters if they say that it happens or something dumb like that, but right now I have no sense at all of who Bad Coop/Mr. C actually is, or what he wants in any concrete way, so what it means for the story is just a mess for me right now. The show is being cagey with every single aspect of this story arc right now but seems like it may be trying to have it both ways, by also expecting us to contextualize and have emotional reactions to the fallout, even though it hasn't given us the tools to do so. The show this season seems to have few qualms with doing someone bodily/emotional harm or killing them or playing them as one note simply for plot reasons and, at its worst, seems like expects us to sort those encounters and moments into a different pile than the ones the show deems emotionally and thematically interesting. I don't like the unequal footing different events are getting. I fear that it may be a negative fallout from the somewhat disconnected writing/directing process. Last week we had a kid run over by a truck and a woman brutally stabbed, both in full on screen, and this week we learn through the margins (but still pretty clearly communicated) that two women were raped, and none of it feels actually connected to anything yet. It doesn't feel like it has a purpose, at least not one that anyone can divine at this point. I find it really frustrating. Maybe I'm meant to be frustrated? It's another reason I wish this wasn't weekly at this point. It's easy to take these incredibly shocking drops of content and extrapolate out from there in infinite directions (or even, if youre a dick, use them as tools to bludgeon people who are seeing the show differently than you) and that all feels moot given that each episode is adding onto what came before. In a lot of ways this show is structured backwards from most television, which sets up a premise and context and then marinates in it. I doubt Lynch was aiming for some sort of contextless shock culture content, because he himself has said e considers the season three a singular work that was cut up, but watching it weekly gives it that effect for me, regardless of its intentions. Twin Peaks is giving us a ton of detail without purpose, and slowly backing into the reasons. That doesn't forgive any of its choices for being bad once we get there, nor does it make it easy to watch haha. All of these thoughts co-exist with me very much enjoying the show. It's complicated.

Yes we're doing a Harry Potter podcast! What is it? ​We'll be re-reading and rewatching all of Harry Potter in order, alternating between book and film each episode. So for example: The first episode of the podcast will discuss Harry Potter and the Philosopher's/Sorcerer's Stone, then the second episode will discuss the first film. We're intending to do these twice monthly, so we'll be reading one book and watching one movie a month. Please read along with us! It's been a long time since any of us read any Harry Potter (especially the early books) and we're looking forward to coming back to the series fresh, with new perspectives as dusty old tired adults (who still love Harry Potter) and we'd love you to join! Who is hosting it? Sarah Argodale (of the Idle Book Club!) Olly Moss (of Firewatch, the Internet, and occasional guest on Idle Thumbs!) and Jake Rodkin (of Idle Thumbs and this forum post!) Can you contribute? Please do! Like all Idle Thumbs shows, we want listener mail to play a big part in every episode. If you have thoughts on Harry Potter, any questions, any observations (especially about the first book, for our first episode!), please write us at harrypotter@idlethumbs.net!

That was my thought as well. That's why I made the stupid reference to aviator attire, since that's what he was wearing when he blinked in and out during season two. It's weird that he wouldn't age but Cooper would, but there don't seem to be rules as to how any of this works - or more specifically, the rules seem very bespoke to each situation - so who can say.

I don't think that we are supposed to know much more about Cooper and the Warden than what was shown on screen. I drew the same implications you did -- Cooper has information on the warden and is aggressively blackmailing him to get out of jail, and it seems he had this plan laid out from before he was locked up. (If there's more to it than that and it sailed over my head please let me know.) I feel like I should watch this episode a second time immediately but I'm not sure if I'll have time to do so before we record. It was dense.

This makes me happy to hear.

This is the read that gives the "its multiple realities" theory credence to me, but I still don't like it (or at least don't like the version imagined in my head right now). Jade putting the key in the mailbox was just so nonchalant and human and disconnected from everything else that it has been hard to shake for me. (That and, for all the disconnected dream state madness that infuses Twin Peaks, it's always been pretty tight with its forensic evidence trails. I know it's been 25+ years and anything goes, but "tricking" the audience this way seems unlike Frost or Lynch to me.)

Agreed. It's easy to wave many links in the chain away as "there could be a mystical double" but the room key is pretty tangible. I believe that the forensic evidence, while flimsy, is starting to build a pretty tangible trail out of twin peaks, out into all of our story arcs, and back to twin peaks, which makes me dubious of the constructed reality theory. (But who knows with this show!) - Major Briggs was visited by Cooper the night before he dies which is super ominous. (Presumably that Cooper is the Cooper we saw yelling "How's Annie?" and is also Mr C/Bad Coop) - Major Briggs' body showed up in Buckhorn South Dakota (in a crime Bad Coop/Mr C is clearly wrapped up in). His head is missing. Inside his body is Dougie Jones' wedding ring. (From here connections get tenuous or their meanings cannot be divined but they seem very tangible all the same.) - Dougie Jones is the body/person Cooper replaced when he came out of the lodge (moments after seeing Briggs' floating head, but who knows if that connection is relevant). - Dougie is being chased down by an assassin who is also targeting a woman who is in contact with the same device in Argentina that Bad Coop/Mr C is in contact with, by some means. - When he swapped places with Dougie, Cooper kept the key in his pocket and lost his shoes, which feels like it all very tangibly like a physical location change and not some sort of ethereal transference. - Jade, who takes the key, exists wholly separately from Dougie/Cooper's POV, and puts the key in the mailbox sending it back to Twin Peaks. Not every connection is perfectly clean, but the deep underlying lines and places in the plot where characters cross paths feel solid and shared, to me, and not like one of the arcs is actually secretly in a shadow dream realm. But who knows!

Important If True 14: Your Worst Nightmare The world is full of minutiae so inconsequential and baffling that sorting through it all isn’t worth your time. Good thing we’re here to sort through it for you! This week: How does a factory farmed chicken cross the road? Do the ‘90s have the emotional capacity to love you back? And who will Luigi doorbell ditch next? These questions and more can be safely checked off your list after listening. Send us email at questions@importantiftrue.com. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Discussed: Being left alone in someone else’s house, Second Livestock, mobile phone app reviewing warehouse, scientists imaging your dreams, Batman Forever 60FPS HD footage (more), recurring inexplicable horrible imagery, the 1990s Nick's Endorsement: "When We Held Kings" by Eric Raskin Chris' Endorsement: Learning about the Jewish concept of the eruv Jake's Endorsement: 1. "Snatch" movie trailer, 2. "House" opening titles Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

☝️ More like David Flynch am I right?

Maybe someone will find three dollars in a weird place next week so $3.15 of plot-relevant currency is in play.

Yeah, we both wrote that down incorrectly. My review of this episode: Something about it caused Chris and I to flail around and make a lot of mistakes about what was happening.

My memory is that she was talking to them about Dougie's car still being parked there but I can't remember now.

That ones fine too I guess.

Gonna need more than that!

The zombie train beyond earth series is the other PnC that comes to mind. I welcome more! this is looking great!

Idle Thumbs 308: Duplicans and Duplicants There are only two kinds of people in the world, you tell yourself while looking out into the void of space, and well, maybe you'd rather be the other kind. The water ventilator broke down again, and no one's around to fix it. The whole base is going to flood with bile and fumes, and nobody cares. A guy teleported right into the middle of work the other day, just yelling at his wife or someone about a cup of water like she was there in the room, yelling about whether you could hear him, then he looked right at you and disappeared. No matter what you do, your fabricator just makes dart guns. Face it, you're not a duplican, you're a duplicant. Discussed: Prey, Oxygen Not Included, Star Trek Bridge Crew, A Dark Room, The Ensign Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

This is spot on I think. I keep worruing that Dougie will wear out his welcome but I find I'm liking everything they're doing with this scenario.