Jake

Twin Peaks Rewatch 38: The Return, Part 4

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Twin Peaks Rewatch 38:

Twin Peaks Rewatch 38


The Return, Part 4
After a wild and wide-reaching start to the season, Twin Peaks is finally starting to center itself. Or, at least we think it might be. Let's talk about the home life of Dougie Jones, the FBI's run-in with a very different man than they were expecting, the overwhelming delight of Agent Cooper's first sip of coffee in 25 years, and of course, Wally Brando.

If you have a question for us or thoughts to share on the new season of Twin Peaks, write us at twinpeaks@idlethumbs.net.

Looking for a place to discuss the season with fellow viewers? We recommend the Twin Peaks Rewatch forum.

 

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Well episodes 3 and 4 certainly up the comedy.

 

Cooper eating pancakes was one of the funniest and saddest things I've seen on Twin Peaks. His face when he drinks the coffee was pure joy/terror. It's a really impressive bit of acting.

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I haven't listened to episode one of the podcast yet, so sorry if this is retreading old territory.

 

I've loved the season so far - the strangeness has been pretty much just right for me - but the warmth of Twin Peaks has definitely been largely absent. You see it in some characters, most notably Andy and Lucy, and I enjoyed Hawk and the Log Lady's comfortable, albeit pause-laden, conversation. It's interesting that as the self-seriousness is abating a little and making a bit of room for more comedy beyond some amusing but also quite tortuous awkward character moments, music is also creeping into the season. The eerie ambience is great, often giving a kind of feeling of age and tiredness that feels appropriate (you can imagine that perhaps Twin Peaks never fully bounced back from the events surrounding Laura Palmer's death), but having some music inject a bit of life into the atmosphere is very welcome. The fact that they held off so much makes it all the more effective: Laura's theme playing when Bobby saw her portrait wouldn't have had the same resonance if it had been all over the previous three parts.

 

Michael Cera is so perfect for the Wally character. I guess he might be a one-off gag, but where other characters are simultaneously humorous and maddening in their awkwardness, he's just full on ridiculous and hilarious.

 

Speaking of Michael Cera, I'm getting a bit of an Arrested Development season four vibe, in that characters seem to be siloed off into very discrete groups, possibly because of scheduling difficulties. It's justified in fiction by having things a lot more geographically dispersed, but it leaves the show of the sense of community so crucial to the previous seasons. That might well be deliberate, but I do hope the boundaries are at least somewhat porous. I'd be disappointed if it ends up being a rigidly-defined set of mini-ensembles with just Kyle MacLachlan bouncing between them.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm loving it so far, and am very hopeful (and impatient) for what's yet to come.

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I lost my mind when Michael Cera came on. I knew who was going to be playing that character only moments before the reveal. Absolutely 1000000% perfect role for Cera. Instantly one of the most funny moments in the series.

 

Love Cole and Albert being on the case.

Love "Fix your heart or die."

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When I first saw Michael Cera I thought "nooo," because, unlike some of the other new people in this show, he just felt too big and well-known. It took me out of it for a second. But when I realized he was doing a kind of Brando impression it clicked and felt fucking perfect. Also hilarious.

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I gotta say, I'm really digging the bar outros. It feels like a nice breath of fresh air after the past several hours of constant pressure.

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4 hours ago, Mike Danger said:

I gotta say, I'm really digging the bar outros. It feels like a nice breath of fresh air after the past several hours of constant pressure.

 

While Michael Cera is taking a lot of people out of it, the musical outros are what have that effect on me. They feel like David Lynch appearing at the end of every episode and saying, "And BY THE WAY, here's a band I like, you should check them out after this." They feel like they could have all been filmed at Lynch's music festival that he put on last October, rather than acts that would be booked at the Bang Bang Bar in Twin Peaks.

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4 minutes ago, Gregalor said:

 

While Michael Cera is taking a lot of people out of it, the musical outros are what have that effect on me. They feel like David Lynch appearing at the end of every episode and saying, "And BY THE WAY, here's a band I like, you should check them out after this." They feel like they could have all been filmed at Lynch's music festival that he put on last October, rather than acts that would be booked at the Bang Bang Bar in Twin Peaks.

 

I don't know if I buy this when the only act we've seen there is Julee Cruise. I mean, I buy it because it's your opinion! But I don't feel that way about it. We have one real point of reference for the music that plays in that bar, and all the new bands fall in line very well behind it for me. (I found Michael Cera to be really funny. I was worried his presence would suck but that scene felt so legitimate Goofy Twin Peaks to me, including Andy and Lucy barely keeping their shit together.)

 

Also holyyyy shittt Cooper eating pancakes and drinking coffee. Fuck.

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8 minutes ago, Jake said:

 

I don't know if I buy this when the only act we've seen there is Julee Cruise. I mean, I buy it because it's your opinion! But I don't feel that way about it. (I found Michael Cera to be really funny. I was worried his presence would suck but that scene felt so legitimate Goofy Twin Peaks to me, including Andy and Lucy barely keeping their shit together.)

 

Also holyyyy shittt Cooper eating pancakes and drinking coffee. Fuck.

 

What I was getting at is, to me, it feels like each episode is ending with a commercial. In the original series, it was like they had one house band (played by Julee Cruise et al) that performed there every night, playing original music that was written for the show. That gels better with me.

 

Michael Cera is a national treasure and I hope to god he comes back. Hell, give me a Wally Brando spinoff, his wacky and dharmic adventures as he rides from town to town. I really wonder how much of that speech was improv'd. The multitude of cutaways to Truman make me suspect they just rolled camera and then edited around pauses and crackups.

 

I really really hope that Cooper's coffee spit-take was the violent awaking of Normal Coop, the coffee bringing him to his senses.

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I am in love with blank Cooper. The way he is like a baby is hilarious and terrifying at the same time. I laughed way too much every time he yelled "Helloooo!" with that weird intonation. It was such an excellent drawn-out buildup to that final, terrifying/hilarious spit take with the coffee.

 

I burned through all four episodes last night and I absolutely *love* this already. What a crazy tonal shift from Part 1&2 to Part 3&4 after Cooper gets out.

 

I can't help but think Jacoby's shovels are going to be one massive red-herring and he's just building some weird modern art installation that has nothing to do with the rest of the plot.

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I thought for a second that that might tie into the Vegas stuff by being some sort of "five of spades" thing, but that's probably too straightforward, and besides, those are shovels, not spades. 

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Also, Albert and Cole talking to Doppelgänger Dale was super intense and I could just.. feel.. they're intense dread throughout. Having Cole turn up his hearing apparatus and then react violently to the noise of Albert's shoes was a magnificent and scary moment. Like a mundane jump scare or something.

 

The woman they talk about at the end, is it Audrey?

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9 minutes ago, BigJKO said:

Also, Albert and Cole talking to Doppelgänger Dale was super intense and I could just.. feel.. they're intense dread throughout. Having Cole turn up his hearing apparatus and then react violently to the noise of Albert's shoes was a magnificent and scary moment. Like a mundane jump scare or something.

 

The woman they talk about at the end, is it Audrey?

Oh that was unnerving. Cooper's dialogue was modified in such a way that really made me feel like they were talking to a possessed man. And the bit with Cole's hearing aid was really good. They don't seem to playing it for laughs very much though.

 

I thought the woman that they were talking about was Sarah Palmer since she was connected to Dale in the Black Lodge in the finale.

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Oh right, that makes more sense, since Audrey had basically no Dale connection by the end of Season 2.

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2 hours ago, BigJKO said:

Having Cole turn up his hearing apparatus and then react violently to the noise of Albert's shoes was a magnificent and scary moment. Like a mundane jump scare or something.

Would interpreting the strange day-for-night-esque colour treatment of that scene as something to do with the significance of blue be a ridiculous reach? My brain wants to draw a line between that and the presence of Doppeldale, but I think that's probably silly and it's just blue to make it feel cold and ominous. Or they genuinely wanted it to be set in the evening in the most unconvincing way imaginable I guess. 

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The day-for-night-esque scene made me think of this bit of dialogue in Mulholland Drive:

 

Spoiler

"but it's not day or night. It's kind of half-night, you know? But it looks just like this, except for the light"

 

Side note: every unconvincing day for night colour grade in any movie makes me think of that quote.

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This was probably my favourite episode so far. It seems appropriate that the description of this episode is "...brings back some memories" because I was so happy to see some of the returning faces. Albert and Gordon Cole were great, and the scene with Denise was so heartwarming. I was worried about how they would handle her character this many years later, but Gordon saying "change their hearts or die" was so, so good. It might be my favourite line from the series so far. 

 

I really liked seeing Bobby, too, and the scene in which he tears up at the sight of Laura Palmer felt very real. Throughout the old Twin Peaks show I think Bobby was consistently one of the few characters who expressed very human emotions in reaction to Laura's death. Then there was the whole Wally Brando scene which was completely ridiculous and amazing. Of course Michael Cera would be the child of Andy and Lucy. 

 

In regards to Cooper, I'm quite impressed at just how much range Kyle MacLachlan is demonstrating on the show. From the slimy doppleganger to the childlike, confused Cooper we see a lot of in this episode. The scenes with him at the casino and at Dougie's home have managed to be both hilarious and terribly sad. My hope, like a few others in this thread, is that the coffee managed to break Cooper out of this state. (and holy shit that scene) Though I've enjoyed it so far, I don't think I want to see this become a staple for many episodes to come. 

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1 hour ago, SunBroZak said:

I really liked seeing Bobby, too, and the scene in which he tears up at the sight of Laura Palmer felt very real. Throughout the old Twin Peaks show I think Bobby was consistently one of the few characters who expressed very human emotions in reaction to Laura's death. 

Yes. I am ready for an adult, mature Bobby.

 

Also, I wonder if it's going to come up, or has already come up in his life, that he murdered a guy. Shot in self-defense, sure, but still...

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The unfortunate serendipity of the fact that this finally got off the ground around 2015 is really apparent in the sorts of people you need for this show that you very soon don't have. This becomes extremely apparent when I think of Albert, who is already positioned as a major character in this season (which I'm so hyped for, as I love the cynical pacifist weirdo), but if this show got started just a little later Miguel Ferrer would've passed away in production. I'm loving the episodes so far, and I'm so glad that we get most of the cast for the show (with some glaring exceptions like Pete and Major Briggs). 

 

Also, on the subject of the musical endings, I really like them. I think it's fascinating to get a look more explicitly into what David Lynch is currently enjoying, pop-culture wise, which you otherwise only really get by observing what sorts of influences pervade his films (Lost Highway with it's weird grunge/industrial/electronic soundtrack, Inland Empire's obsession with digital photography, etc), whereas here you can just directly see Lynch saying "here's some new stuff I like". 

 

I also have to echo how impressive Kyle MacLachlan is in this season. I've always loved him as Dale Cooper, and mostly enjoy his other appearences in Lynch's canon, but I also always got the impression that some Lynch fans thought his reliance on Kyle wasn't really proportional to how good an actor he is, or that Lynch likes MacLachlan in part for aesthetic reasons outside of his acting skills (which I kind of see some merit to as an argument, as you guys notice on the episode Lynch is very interested in the 'look' of his characters and, if I was being charitable to his intent, the shorthand appearance can give the audience). 

 

 

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8 hours ago, BigJKO said:

Also, Albert and Cole talking to Doppelgänger Dale was super intense and I could just.. feel.. they're intense dread throughout. Having Cole turn up his hearing apparatus and then react violently to the noise of Albert's shoes was a magnificent and scary moment. Like a mundane jump scare or something.

 

The woman they talk about at the end, is it Audrey?

 

I'm betting Diane is the woman they're talking about, and Audrey is the mysterious millionaire who owns the NYC box-trap-thing.

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I feel like such a jerk for being worried that Michael Cera was cast in this show, because that scene was amazing. So hilarious and just spot on for all those actors. Damn.

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