Twin Peaks Rewatch 50: The Return, Part 15

[Ash_NR]

Another really good one. I can not imagine what it must have been like for Catherine Coulson to utter the words "I am dying" like that.

 

Ever since people here have talked about the some of the (white?) lodge's imagery feeling similar to Amanita Design's games, I couldn't help but see a little man standing on the base of the spout of the Jefferies' kettle.

 

I do wonder if Dougie's electrocution means he is going to receive the message from the Fireman from the very first scene of The Return. God, he felt like he was back!!

 

Edited August 21, 2017 by Ash_NR
Typos, my bad

[FRENDEN]

I didn't know how much I needed to witness a gardening glove swathed fist imbued with supernatural strength smashing nogoodnicks in the face until the moment it happened. The music skipping on contact and the forceful, incredibly blunt and direct way it was depicted was so satisfying.

 

 

[Gamebeast23456]

This episode was fantastic, and I'm glad we plowed through the midseason slump so quickly. 

So, from the top:

 

-I did not expect to need this much closure on Nadine. It almost feels like a grand karmic arc for Dr. Giacobbi to finally, inadvertently, help someone in a meaningful way. The scene with Nadine and Ed, and then Ed and Norma, were both so beautiful. I was crying by the end of the Roadhouse scene, cheesy non-diagetic Otis Redding and all. I was terrified when it felt like the show was about to nosedive into Norma and the weird businessman, but I realized pretty quickly there was no chance of that. I hope there are original Twin Peaks fans out there who were watching from the start twenty-five years ago who could really get some catharsis out of that. I did, even as someone who's only liked the show for three or four years. 

 

-The whole sequence of Mr. C visiting Phillip Jeffries The Tea Kettle was fantastic. The Bowie soundalike was totally passable, especially since the original Phillip Jeffries performance is already so outrageous and not great (but in a great way). I really wish I was watching a hard copy on a screen with better black levels, because so much of the dark shots in this show are not having their intended effect on me at all. 

 

-The brief Las Vegas FBI gag was hilarious. I also enjoy the more knowing treatment of information this scenario has. I think F&L really cleverly set up the whole reason that they probably won't find the right Dougie as just being unnecessary pride in their detective work, instead of just calling Gordon Cole for slightly more information. 

 

-I've been surprised every time we get any more Log Lady footage, but I think the buildup to her passing is very good. I loved her friendship with Hawk. It was really deftly handled. RIP Catherine Coulson.

[UnpopularTrousers]

4 hours ago, Demimonde said:

 

I think the answer to that, if we ever get it, will more accurately be what is Judy. We never hear Judy referred to as a "her" or "she," always by the name. Or it's Briggs, hence the lack of female signifiers. Lynch would enjoy a cheap Wizard of Oz joke, as well as the doubling.

Plus as much as I like to make fun of the blue monkey from FWWM, I think it is meant it remind us of the blue flying monkeys from The Wizard of Oz. So the fact that we have only heard the name Judy coming from Jefferies and a monkey member of the dream world is probably pretty significant. And Jefferies's voice coming from within the contraption this episode reminded me of the man behind the curtain at the end of The Wizard of Oz. It felt like there was some trickery afoot as to where his voice was actually coming from...

[FRENDEN]

Yeah. I'm not sure we're to assume that Jeffries IS the kettle, but rather is communicating THROUGH the kettle. Like an interdimensional walkie talkie.

[Nappi]

What a ride.

 

- I'm happy that the Nadine-Ed-Norma thing is finally (hopefully) sorted out, and I'm extremely happy that Jacoby's golden shit shovel was the key to this breakthrough.

- I hope they will start selling those (Amanita Design) Phillip Jeffries air humidifiers because I want one.

- That Log Lady scene was rough, but also felt very respectful. Hawk being silent throughout most of the telephone call felt a bit strange (probably because my default assumption is that people in that kind of a situation would want to hear someone's voice), but I guess that is how their dynamic was. I'm happy that he asked people to gather in the meeting room afterwards. Rest in peace, Catherine Coulson.

- The Roadhouse scene was amazingly oppressive.

- That rubber glove man needs his own spinoff series! I love him so much!

 

[The Great Went]

13 hours ago, Mentalgongfu said:

Didn't know that about the Hollywood Streets. So the movie clip that set Cooper off was from Sunset Blvd?

 

Did Steven kill Becky? There's an ominous shot of their trailer, with ominous sound, after the scene in the woods where he (presumably) kills himself.

 

Gretchen: Why?

Steven: There is no why. I did do it.

Gersten: No. No. She did it, she did it.

Steven: I can't. No. I did it

Gersten: No, no, Steven, Steven, you didn't do anything. You're fucking stoned. What the fuck did she give you? Give me the gun.

Steven: Are you gonna come up with me?

Gersten: No, and you're not going either.

Steven: Look at me. I'm a high school graduate. I''m a high school graduate …..

I didn't know what to make of this, but now that you mention it, I would tend to assume, if she's dead, Gersten's dialogue suggests she killed (or appeared to have killed) herself or that she overdosed. 

 

...but I sure hope none of the above and that she's alive and eating cherry pie.

 

He also has that thing when he's flipping out on her and threw the coffee cup out the window where he says something like "I know what you did!" ---Is this just boilerplate abusive guy stuff, like she didn't wash the dishes, or is there some bigger stuff they're involved with?

 

I thought this episode was great but would prefer if they were still doing the Roadhouse Playlist bit at the end when Charline Yi freaked out. That band was not-so-hot imo. 

[pokysharpy]

6 minutes ago, The Great Went said:

I thought this episode was great but would prefer if they were still doing the Roadhouse Playlist bit at the end when Charline Yi freaked out. That band was not-so-hot imo. 

 

Everyone has different taste. I had never heard of that band before but I loved the song, and am listening to the corresponding album right now!

 

The Veils - Total Depravity (2016)

[The Great Went]

2 minutes ago, pokysharpy said:

 

Everyone has different taste. I had never heard of that band before but I loved the song, and am listening to the corresponding album right now!

 

The Veils - Total Depravity (2016)

 

I totally respect your difference of opinion!

[pokysharpy]

Just now, The Great Went said:

I totally respect your difference of opinion!

 

Oh absolutely, just thought it was amusing that you had called out not liking it at the exact moment I was listening to it. =) 

[Ford]

During that long build up walking Mr. C to Philip Jefferies I was hoping against hope that Lynch had somehow gotten a few moments of the Goblin King.  

[Yuecake]

I cried so much at the scene with the Log Lady. She's always reminded me of my Grandmother a bit, who also passed a couple of years back from cancer.  This series has been incredibly cathartic for me.  Beautiful dedication to Catherine.

 

I fucking love British one punch man. There's a lot of face punching this episode.

 

Oh and, the convenience store is a non-static vehicle it seems! Maybe it can only travel in woods, or through electricity lines. When it began to vanish it just made me think of a tardis or UFOs I had seen in movies.  Especially when the room Kettle Jeffries resides in seems to be the same room Coop first meets Naido - which is a big floating craft in space.

[Woodfella]

"If Big Ed isnt in this episode im gonna kick off!" -me, a minute before the episode started. I nearly burst!

 

This just gets better and better. I loved this episode

 

During the latest installment of Dougie eats some cake, the person I watched it with was laughing but I couldnt stop thinking that Daisy Domergue was gonna burst in and shoot Janey in the head. Cant be alone there surely.  

 

And when I saw Sunset Blvd on the tv my thought process was "ahh nice, one of Lynch's favourite  films, where he got the name Gor... OH MY GOD ITS GONNA HAPPEN"

[BonusWavePilot]

7 hours ago, Gamebeast23456 said:

The whole sequence of Mr. C visiting Phillip Jeffries The Tea Kettle was fantastic. The Bowie soundalike was totally passable, especially since the original Phillip Jeffries performance is already so outrageous and not great (but in a great way). I really wish I was watching a hard copy on a screen with better black levels, because so much of the dark shots in this show are not having their intended effect on me at all. 

 

Yeah, my TV has somewhat crappy brightness and I had a lot of trouble making out the darker stuff until I turned off the lights in our lounge.  There was a lot of dimly lit stuff in this episode - I am also looking forward to getting a chance to rewatch with better screen options at some point.

The way Freddy's face-punching was handled was good I thought - the combination of the musical skip with the unornamented straight punch in the face gave it impact and a bit of comedy, but then the 'his eyes don't look right' response was played as midway between whacky eye-rolling cartoonish and horrific induced brain-injury territory.

I think the interaction James has with Renee that kicks off the fight with Chuck & co was very much a 'classic James' moment - we get to see that in some ways he still hasn't caught a clue.  He walks up and earnestly, nervously says hello to Renee - his being besotted with her written all over him, either not anticipating Chuck's reaction, or just not caring in the moment.  It seemed like something teenaged James would definitely have done too.

[BonusWavePilot]

Also, I reckon we're due to get Goodcoop back next episode.  Dougie's reaction to Cole's name on TV was stronger than anything we've yet seen from him, and his fork-in-the-socket some of the most self-driven and purposeful action we have seen Dougie take.  (Though at this point, while I would love to see McLachlan get a chance to play some OG Cooper, I will be sanguine even if he never comes back.)

[axis1500]

I'd love to think that, but knowing Twin Peaks, we'll probably have GoodCoop unconscious in a hospital for a while...

[mostlystring]

I assume Face-punched Chuck is the same Chuck we are given to understand stole Billy's truck (although it feels like a somewhat risky assumption given the prevalence of duplicated names in Twin Peaks). 

[BonusWavePilot]

5 minutes ago, axis1500 said:

I'd love to think that, but knowing Twin Peaks, we'll probably have GoodCoop unconscious in a hospital for a while...

You may well be right, but if he's coming back at all, it'll have to be soon.  Only 3 episodes left!

[Owlsy]

I'm loving the season and enjoying the posts.  Much insight and many ideas on meanings.  Almost more entertaining than the show itself (?)
This episode is in the top 5 of the entire series for me.  Lots of thoughts on how the imagery and particular plot points connect dots from TP history.

I sometimes cringe at how much over-analysis goes on in the search for meaning.  As the years have passed (with many rewatches), I interpret the show to be telling a very simple story on the balance of good and bad in the world.  Twin Peaks is the microcosm of that, albeit with some highly exaggerated characters and bizarre plot propulsion techniques.  The inclusion of "Invitation To Love" is the only thing I need to understand about all the craziness in between the reveals.  Twin Peaks is nothing more than a weird kaleidoscope of the fight for balance.  Yin.  Yang.  Black.  White.  But then there is that pesky color Red (the curtains in the lodge, Audrey's shoes, the door to Dougie's house, the door to the hotel room that leads to Phillip Jeffries.).

Red expresses love, passion, desire.  It energizes our physical form.  It can also mean anger and aggression.  In the most ancient fashion, red stands for Fire.
I find it intentional that the scenes in The Return that have focused on the lodge (and the origins) have been in black AND white.  Mix of good and bad.  All the characters from the lodges have entered the world of Twin Peaks enter through a Red door (or curtain).

What does it mean?  God Damn it!  Judy (Garland) wore red shoes to get home in the Wizard of Oz.  Judy!

[jrisk]

20 hours ago, therealdougiejones said:

was thinking the girl in the Roadhouse at the end would be credited as Judy, but I'm not really sure what happened there.

 

i don't think anyone commented on this specifically but that was Charlyne Yi and she was credited as Ruby. She also plays Ruby on Steven Universe!

 

on that note, I'm definitely feeling like these end of episode Roadhouse scenes don't have much to do with the plot. I think that in hindsight there'll be small chunks that will make more sense. Mostly, I think that there's a lot of things that happen on that show that aren't intended to move the plot and trying to make them work that way isn't a good way to watch. So far all of the plot development has been pretty linear and hasn't really required much mental gymnastics.

[Joewintergreen]

I dunno if this was selectively edited together or actually syncs up from the beginning of each scene but 

 

[jharp]

The way Sykes' super punches interrupted the sound system at the roadhouse was pretty rad.

[UnpopularTrousers]

17 hours ago, Lacabra said:

I dunno if this was selectively edited together or actually syncs up from the beginning of each scene but 

 

I dunno if I buy into any of these synced-up scenes that people have started doing. To make a Lynch-appropriate comparison, it's a lot like syncing up The Wizard of Oz with Dark Side of the Moon and being dazzled by the bits where things happen to align. 

Don't get me wrong, the two scenes are almost certainty meant to be similar and the Roadhouse scene made me way more scared for Cooper than I was before. But I feel like that video just matched up the two endings and then let the viewer imagine whatever smaller alignments in timing that they want to see in the rest of the video.

[BonusWavePilot]

@UnpopularTrousers Yeah, I would tend to agree - I think there is just more commonality of pacing in any two scenes of a similar length than people realise.  (That, and we humans are very good at spotting patterns and correlations even where none were intended.)

 

 

[richardco]

Finally ended up watching Sunset Blvd. tonight.

I could swear someone on this forum mentioned it holding up very well and maybe naming children after it? Can't seem to find the post, but hats off to you fellow thumbs citizen. The movie does hold up very well. That's all I'll say about it because I think it benefits from going in without much prior knowledge. Can definitely see the little homages that Lynch pays to the film in Mulholland Dr.