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Twin Peaks Rewatch 30: Beyond Life and Death

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Twin Peaks Rewatch 30:

 

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Beyond Life and Death

Our rewatch of the full run of Twin Peaks has finished with our enthusiastic discussion of its stunning finale. But stay tuned for continuing Twin Peaks talk, including our take on the film Fire Walk With Me next week!

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Loved all of the stuff in the lodge.  Some of it was genuinely terrifying.  Had at least one nightmare inspired by this episode, and I remember being creeped out for a solid week.  When I'd see a window, I'd keep imagining Doppleganger Laura's face slowly sliding into view and silently screaming.

 

This episode was worth all of the junk parts of season two.

 

I can't say I was too thrilled with how it ended, though.  Nothing about Bob possessing Cooper worked for me.  I tried thinking of how things would play out and I had a hard time imagining any interesting scenarios.  

 

*downward snap* I'll see you again in twenty-five years.

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I love this one so much. It's my favorite episode of Twin Peaks, and probably of TV, period.

 

Really excited to read the responses, especially first-timer's. I'll have more to say later.

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Now that we are almost at the film, I've posted a bit of advice for first-time viewers. I moved it to the general thread since it's sort of off-topic but if you want to read it, and get a sense of (maybe) the best way to approach what can be a challenging "Twin Peaks movie" (that I think is the best part of the saga, personally) go here: https://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/topic/9887-general-twin-peaks-discussion/?p=359932.

 

Ok, back to the finale...

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This episode was worth all of the junk parts of season two.

It really was. I watched it (and Peaks) for the first time late last year, and even as a "modern" viewer who is used to unusual or downright wild stuff on television this was one of the weirdest things I'd seen. My roommate and I were genuinely freaked out by doppelganger Laura (the scariest thing ever to be on the show, in my opinion), the doppelgangers in general, and deranged Cooper at the end. Even the sound design in that scene is offputting; there's a little shrieky sound as Cooper smashes his head against the glass.

 

(LostIntheMovies, I'm assuming you're eventually going to drop some knowlege about how drastically the finale changed from script to filming? That's fascinating stuff, knowing how close it came to being more late-season garbage, and you surely know more than I!)

 

When I saw it I was very grateful to know that new Twin Peaks was coming because it's such a bummer of an ending. It felt like David Lynch was salting the earth so it was easier to handle knowing that the story would continue, even decades later. Now, however.... :deranged:

 

I can't say I was too thrilled with how it ended, though.  Nothing about Bob possessing Cooper worked for me.  I tried thinking of how things would play out and I had a hard time imagining any interesting scenarios.

My assumption was that Truman and Doc Hayward heard him being crazy in the bathroom, figured out something was up, and locked him in a psych ward a la Windom Earle. Which is one of the reasons I didn't like the extended epilogue in the deleted scenes of Fire Walk With Me as it

seemed to belie that reading without adding anything new.

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Fortunately Fire Walk With Me is still to come, and while it's a prequel as far as when it's set in chronology, it feels more, to me, like a device to close up Twin Peaks as a circle. As to whether or not Lynch "salted the earth," that's something I look forward to talking about over the next two weeks.

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I was so surprised how much non-black lodge stuff is in this episode because those scenes dominate my memory of it. 

The Nadine scene was so tragic to me. Having Ed and Norma happily dancing followed by Nadine's return was really devastating (although Mike apologizing was kinda hilarious to me). 

And the Haywards. Holy crap that is a brutal scene. I'm curious how these changed from their original script.

 

And man oh man I love that bank scene so much. Echos the first episode of season 2, and I just like how Lynch made the ending to this ridiculous plot thread basically something from Looney Tunes.

 

And agree with everyone else. The black lodge scenes are  unlike any episode of television I've ever seen.

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The beginning of the episode, namely the twelve rainbow trout / a circle of twelve sycamore trees connection, felt so rushed that it made me chuckle. First of all, there are only eleven trees in the cave painting. Second of all, god damned Truman, you really didn't make a connection with the map and the wildly unnatural circle of sycamores before? Also, did Cooper actually need the scorched engine oil for anything, or was he just confirming his suspicion and shocking poor Ronette in the process?

 

The Bobby and Shelly scene felt weird to me at first, especially because I didn't remember Heidi at all from the earlier episodes. Turns out that she was in the first episode and moreover that the conversation between the three is identical to the one in the pilot! Is this a reference to a cyclical nature of bob-based evil or something?

 

The Black Lodge stuff and especially the doppelganger Laura were very well done in my opinion. I'm not a fan of Cooper being possessed by Bob, but I found the ending incredibly chilling as well.

 

I have never seen Fire Walk With Me. I'm really looking forward to it!

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Here is the original shooting script for episode 29.

http://www.lynchnet.com/tp/tp29.html

I would encourage everyone to read it because it's so revealing. Pay attention not just to what Lynch added/changed inside the Black Lodge but also to what he added/changed outside of it. It was his idea to bring back forgotten characters like Sylvia Horne, Heidi the waitress, Ronette, and Sarah Palmer - the first time we have seen a Palmer since Sarah's ironic line "I want to remember all of this" at Leland's wake, which cut her from the show. The entire diner scene with its feeling of both repetition and closer (in maybe Lynch's most beloved town location) is entirely Lynch's invention. Even Audrey's callback to her Cooper crush ("call the sheriff's station and ask for Agent Cooper") was not scripted. It's clear that in addition to taking Twin Peaks into new territory, Lynch really wanted to return to its roots as well.

Anyway, now that we've reached the end of the show I can share Part 3 of the video series I shared in previous threads (Part 4 is devoted entirely to the film). It covers episodes 18-30 (by the show's count) but half of its 8 chapters are devoted to series-wide subjects rather than specific episodes. To wit: the stories of the ensemble, the show in the media (including it's near-cancellation in season 2), the development of Agent Cooper - specifically the differing approaches of Lynch and Frost, and finally the sources of the Twin Peaks mythology. You can see all the videos in Part 3 (including a long Vimeo clip presenting the chapters together) here: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2014/12/journey-through-twin-peaks-part-3-whole.html

Or you can jump right into the first chapter of Part 3 and follow the links at the end of each video to continue:

Hope both first-timers and veterans find it informative and enjoyable. Despite it's many flaws, the second half of the show offers a lot to digest and even sets up the finale and film in interesting ways.

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Here is the original shooting script for episode 29.

http://www.lynchnet.com/tp/tp29.html

I would encourage everyone to read it because it's so revealing. Pay attention not just to what Lynch added/changed inside the Black Lodge but also to what he added/changed outside of it. It was his idea to bring back forgotten characters like Sylvia Horne, Heidi the waitress, Ronette, and Sarah Palmer - the first time we have seen a Palmer since Sarah's ironic line "I want to remember all of this" at Leland's wake, which cut her from the show. The entire diner scene with its feeling of both repetition and closer (in maybe Lynch's most beloved town location) is entirely Lynch's invention. Even Audrey's callback to her Cooper crush ("call the sheriff's station and ask for Agent Cooper") was not scripted. It's clear that in addition to taking Twin Peaks into new territory, Lynch really wanted to return to its roots as well.

 

Haven't rewatched the ep yet, but I remember really enjoying all the callbacks in it. Can't wait to see the finale again, especially since I've now seen FWWM.

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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!

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Lost in the Movies, I just watched your episode on the final episode of Twin Peaks.

Obviously, brilliant work and bravo. Your passion and love for the series is so abundantly clear and incredible.

Also, fuck it's 11,45pm and I choose to watch that. Twin Peaks is seriously the only show to make my going to sleep a nightmare.

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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?

It did! I know this because I could freak my roommate out very quickly by giving her a deadpan, "I need to brush my teeth".

 

I like that line a lot, actually, because the viewer probably has a hunch that he's not quite right, but it could also just be typical goofy Cooper concerned about his oral hygiene.

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I had to get up at 5am today and arrive over an hour early to work with no-one else here so I'm grabbing the time to watch this while I can.

 

The opening investigation is such garbage. Why would King Arthur matter at all? Let alone all the other contrived details they choose to tie together in the first five minutes. In general there were rushed bits of wrap up in this episode, but admittedly it is way better than dwelling on floundering plotlines anyway.


As with the first viewing I do really love the red room sequence. And from chatter on here/being older I feel like I follow what's going on in it a lot better this time round. On that note, this time round I found myself wondering if there might be something more particular to the 'How's Annie?" line. On my first viewing I presumed it was just to show Cooper's state but I now find myself wondering if there's supposed to be a hint towards Annie's condition too.

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RE: FWWM

The movie actually shows her being rushed to hospital, if I remember correctly. Apparently the missing pieces shows a little more post-S2 stuff, but I've not seen it! Lost in the Movies will know. :)

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Here is the original shooting script for episode 29.

http://www.lynchnet.com/tp/tp29.html

I would encourage everyone to read it because it's so revealing. Pay attention not just to what Lynch added/changed inside the Black Lodge but also to what he added/changed outside of it. It was his idea to bring back forgotten characters like Sylvia Horne, Heidi the waitress, Ronette, and Sarah Palmer - the first time we have seen a Palmer since Sarah's ironic line "I want to remember all of this" at Leland's wake, which cut her from the show. The entire diner scene with its feeling of both repetition and closer (in maybe Lynch's most beloved town location) is entirely Lynch's invention. Even Audrey's callback to her Cooper crush ("call the sheriff's station and ask for Agent Cooper") was not scripted. It's clear that in addition to taking Twin Peaks into new territory, Lynch really wanted to return to its roots as well.

 

My god, reading through that script was a nightmare. Especially the black lodge scenes. What pure garbage. To think that we could have ended the series with Bob dressed as... a dentist? And sucking out Windom Earle's soul with a giant hypodermic needle? No, please jesus, no! I don't even want to think about it.

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To think that we could have ended the series with Bob dressed as... a dentist? And sucking out Windom Earle's soul with a giant hypodermic needle? No, please jesus, no! I don't even want to think about it.

Right? So bad. So, so bad.

 

I'd be okay with getting a little bit of the DoppelCooper in the new season of Twin Peaks. MacLachlan can play unnerving very well.

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RE: FWWM

The movie actually shows her being rushed to hospital, if I remember correctly. Apparently the missing pieces shows a little more post-S2 stuff, but I've not seen it! Lost in the Movies will know. :)

 

That scene is actually in the Missing Pieces, along with

a nurse taking the ring from her finger and an extra minute or two of evil Cooper in the bathroom. The only scene with Annie in FWWM is when she appears in Laura's dream and says "The Good Dale is in the Lodge. Write it in your Diary." Incidentally, she says the same thing (in a trancelike state) in the hospital bed in the deleted scenes, just before the nurse takes the ring.

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That scene is actually in the Missing Pieces, along with

a nurse taking the ring from her finger and an extra minute or two of evil Cooper in the bathroom. The only scene with Annie in FWWM is when she appears in Laura's dream and says "The Good Dale is in the Lodge. Write it in your Diary." Incidentally, she says the same thing (in a trancelike state) in the hospital bed in the deleted scenes, just before the nurse takes the ring.

 

I meant more that I was wondering what Annie's mental state might be. It seems odd to me to presume that no-one in the lodge might have done anything to Annie and just let her be. Couldn't she have a doppelganger too?

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I meant more that I was wondering what Annie's mental state might be. It seems odd to me to presume that no-one in the lodge might have done anything to Annie and just let her be. Couldn't she have a doppelganger too?

Well, there's only one Bob, so I assume not. Windom seemingly perished inside the black lodge - unless she is taken over by the little man or the giant. :P

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A bit disappointed more first-timers haven't showed up to share their response. I fear we lost most of them somewhere around the Diane Keaton or drawer pull episodes if not earlier...

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A bit disappointed more first-timers haven't showed up to share their response. I fear we lost most of them somewhere around the Diane Keaton or drawer pull episodes if not earlier...

 

I'm still here! I just didn't feel like I had anything to add to the table.

 

I loved everything inside the Black Lodge, when we first see Cooper's doppleganger I thought: "I hope Leland makes an appearance", and there he was, and it felt so good.

 

I'm looking forward to FWWM and Twin Peaks 2016 if they don't change their mind once again.

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Something I was thinking about during the Black Lodge sequence:

When Laura says, "I'll see you again in twenty-five years," is she referring to the first time we see her in the lodge during episode 3?  Cooper is significantly older during that scene.  And from FWWM, we have some understanding that time doesn't flow normally in the lodge.

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