Twin Peaks Rewatch 35: The Return, Part 1

[Vegas]

Entertainment Weekly just posted an interview with David Lynch that covers a theory put forth here:

 

Quote

My experience of the show, after four parts, is similar to the subplot in Part 1, where the young lovers grow a monstrous entity inside a giant glass box, then get killed by it. It’s fascinating watching it slowly take shape and form, and occasionally, it bursts through the glass and blows my mind away.
Well, that’s good!

Were you trying to give the audience an allegory for TV-watching or how to watch the show?
No. But that’s an interesting way to think about it.

 

[Gregalor]

Asking David Lynch his intentions, or even trying to lead him to it, is a fool's errand. I think he's the "all reactions are valid and interesting" type of artist.

[Mike Danger]

On 5/24/2017 at 0:04 AM, PinkCrayon said:

One hilarious little "Twin Peaks" thing I noticed this episode, when the Log Lady calls Hawk, the phone she is talking on is this comically small corded phone. Meanwhile, maintenance man Hank from the apartment building makes a call on an absolutely huge cell phone.

 

I wasn't going to comment on this because I felt silly for even noticing it/being bothered by it, but what the hell: SHE HAS TWO PHONES

 

Spoiler

 

That log must be seeing crap left and right

[Jake]

I noticed that too. She has a modern phone and seems to ignore it to call Hawk on that old corded brick phone. I love it. 

[Gregalor]

Maybe she has younger relatives who installed the newer cordless but she ignores it and just keeps using the old familiar thing. Tale as old as time.

[James]

I'm rewatching the first four episodes because my streaming service is going to remove 3 and 4 in a couple of days (but seemingly not 1 and 2, which it presents as one continuous thing). On second viewing, the black and white room looks kind of like a fire-damaged version of the Red Room, albeit with a different floor. And Cooper's angle is the reverse of what it always is in the Red Room. That could well just be to make it feel like somewhere else, of course. And the effect he disappears into is like some kind of super abstract digital fire. 

 

When shown separately from episode 2, do the credits just roll over black? What's the music?

 

Every other episode so far has played them over a band at the Bang Bang Bar.

 

The fact that episode 2 picks up with the same ominous drone as 1 ends with really makes it feel as though they're meant to be watched consecutively.

 

[Mike Danger]

On 5/27/2017 at 3:40 PM, James said:

I'm rewatching the first four episodes because my streaming service is going to remove 3 and 4 in a couple of days (but seemingly not 1 and 2, which it presents as one continuous thing). On second viewing, the black and white room looks kind of like a fire-damaged version of the Red Room, albeit with a different floor. And Cooper's angle is the reverse of what it always is in the Red Room. That could well just be to make it feel like somewhere else, of course. And the effect he disappears into is like some kind of super abstract digital fire. 

 

When shown separately from episode 2, do the credits just roll over black? What's the music?

  Hide contents

Every other episode so far has played them over a band at the Bang Bang Bar.

 

The fact that episode 2 picks up with the same ominous drone as 1 ends with really makes it feel as though they're meant to be watched consecutively.

 

 

I rewatched episodes 1-3 with a friend today (didn't have time for 4). I skipped past the credits for 1 to get to 2 due to time constraints, but it looked like it just cut back to the Giant's phonograph playing.

[suzyisbored]

has it been mentioned that the log lady says in her message to hawk that the answer has something to do with his heritage... the ruth davenport murder takes place at 1349 arrowhead rd

[MalcolmLittle]

About the slowed down version of American Woman in Episode One, there is a mix "genre" called Screwed & Chopped, where (mostly hiphop) music is slowed and pitched down (allegedly to not "harsh" listeners who are buzzed/baked), creating this weird affect. Two examples:

 

Beautiful Nightmare, mixed by Pollie Pop

 

Call Me Maybe, mixed by Party Trash

 

I thought it was funny as hell when I first discovered it, but I have really fallen for these mixtapes, often to the bewilderment of my work colleagues. The mix in the first episode captures how strange and unsettling it can be.

Edited May 30, 2017 by MalcolmLittle
fixed error

[Jake]

1 minute ago, MalcolmLittle said:

About the slowed down version of American Woman in Episode One, there is a mix "genre" called Screwed & Chopped, where (mostly hiphop) music is slowed and pitched down (allegedly to not "harsh" listeners who are buzzed/baked), creating this weird affect. Two examples:

 

Beautiful Nightmare, mixed by Pollie Pop

 

Call Me Maybe, mixed by Power Trash

 

I thought it was funny as hell when I first discovered it, but I have really fallen for the mixtapes, often to the bewilderment of my work colleagues. The mix in the first episode captures how strange and unsettling it can be.

Lynch has always been into slowing down music, too. They talk about it a lot in Reflections. He apparently often asked badalamenti to drastically slow down most of the early music delivered and declared the sound beautiful. 

[Bjorn]

My daughter and her husband started watching S3 last night.  She watched a lot of TP a few years ago with me.  He's never seen a single episode of any of it.  But the cultural knowledge of some things had seeped in, the way it does. 

 

So he knew that the Log Lady was a character

 

He's a Navy guy.  His brain just filled in Log as, "she's the woman who keeps the (written) log" and when she showed up cradling her log and said "My log has a message for you", he lost his shit, mind blown.

 

I'm happy to have a little insight into what a weird fucking thing it is to try and start watching Season 3 with no frame of reference besides a few weird things that have seeped in.

[LostInTheMovies]

On May 22, 2017 at 4:38 PM, Jake said:

 

Id be genuinely curious to see someone try and take the season one/two/FWWM incidental music and apply it to episode one and two. I bet it wouldn't work but I'd love to see it all the same. 

Chris Holland has been playing with this idea on YouTube with interesting results: https://youtube.com/channel/UCfP8akTCA4m5z_4ctD3gMNw

[brkl]

On 2017-6-6 at 0:01 AM, Bjorn said:

My daughter and her husband started watching S3 last night.  She watched a lot of TP a few years ago with me.  He's never seen a single episode of any of it.  But the cultural knowledge of some things had seeped in, the way it does. 

 

So he knew that the Log Lady was a character

 

He's a Navy guy.  His brain just filled in Log as, "she's the woman who keeps the (written) log" and when she showed up cradling her log and said "My log has a message for you", he lost his shit, mind blown.

 

I'm happy to have a little insight into what a weird fucking thing it is to try and start watching Season 3 with no frame of reference besides a few weird things that have seeped in.

That's what the Finnish subtitles think the log is, even after several episodes. I guess the translator didn't even get to see the show. 

[Turgid]

On 6/7/2017 at 11:31 PM, brkl said:

That's what the Finnish subtitles think the log is, even after several episodes. I guess the translator didn't even get to see the show. 

What if he did see the whole show, and the log turns out to be a log of supernatural events that will happen?

 

Probably not, but that kind of log could be accurate too.

[plasticflesh]

The neighbor of Ruth's who doesn't know all the information up front and ends up having the key to the apartment is like a microcosm of the entire story telling style for this season, if not the series. Very poetic, I love it.

[Arianna]

Ok, so I just started rewatching season 3 and oh my god this season is incredible on rewatch. I don't know if I should post here or in the 'wrap up' thread though as I don't want to spoiler for people who just watching for the first time - opinions?

[pabosher]

Stick to the wrap up thread, just in case

[Mentalgongfu]

Yeah, wrap-up thread or finale thread. Either can serve as a catch-all for re-watch thoughts, I imgaine.

[James]

On 03/09/2017 at 1:08 AM, plasticflesh said:

The neighbor of Ruth's who doesn't know all the information up front and ends up having the key to the apartment is like a microcosm of the entire story telling style for this season, if not the series. Very poetic, I love it.

I suspect you could probably interpret many things in this season as microcosms of the show itself, or even of its production.

 

End of season spoiler:

 

That was an interpretation for the Audrey subplot settled on when trying to work out how on Earth it was supposed to relate to the rest of the show. My initial thought that the incomprehensible and outrageously frustrating back-and-forth corresponded to Frost and Lynch's efforts to get season 3 off the ground. Then a moment of beautiful and strange nostalgia, and then in a horrifying instant it's all gone with no apparent hint of resolution.

 

I guess it's a universal avenue of enquiry for viewers: regardless of other knowledge and experience, everyone can interpret the show in relation to itself. I lack the breadth and depth of cultural literacy to tease out all of the references, allusions, and other external connections in art, so I tend to resort to searching for reflexive connections.