Twin Peaks Rewatch 3: Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer

[SickNotes]

On the podcast, it was mentioned that this episode had a "Confident and intentional hand behind the camera" being directed by David Lynch. I really have to agree with that. If you look at a list of episodes:

 

POTENTIALLY SPOILERS. I can't say their aren't spoilers by following this link:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twin_Peaks_episodes

 

David Lynch seems to be "present" as either a writer or director for a whole bunch of the magical parts that happen. The writer might be credited as someone else, but I wonder if David Lynch didn't write all the weird magical stuff uncredited and just request a block of time in the episode to plug it in. My theory here is that all the other writers were trying to illuminate things while David Lynch was adding parts that mystified. My wife and I have watched forward to the third episode of the second season.

 

It's so odd watching these episodes years later and realizing that so little of the show was devoted to the Red Room or other happenings, yet those are the key sequences and seem fill my estimation of the series.

[salty-horse]

I'm not following the rewatch, but I have to mention this painting by Scott Campbell:

[BigJKO]

Oh, wow that is fantastic!

[syntheticgerbil]

That painting is making me hungry too.

[mattgrecocreative]

Just a note to Chris: Albert calls Lucy in his introductory scene "Curly" (as in her curly hair) not "Carly/Carlie."

[mattgrecocreative]

Scott's piece is incredible. He even has the right details on the chalkboard. His episode with Bagel, Peter Chan, Levi, Lee, etc. in the Broken Age documentary was amazing.

 

Anyway, this made me remember my favorite part of the rock-throwing scene: Andy determined to declare that getting hit in the head "didn't hurt at all", followed by Truman's sick burn on him.

[kickinthehead]

Loved the discussion in this episode, and went back to watch the episode again just to see the details I missed the first time that were mentioned. I remember laughing the first time I saw Cooper blow into his whistle and not even processing that he had been making it. Also, a sandwich with only brie and butter?

 

During the rock throwing scene I totally missed Cooper asking Hawk to put on the kitchen mitts, and just remember later on wondering: "Wait, why does he have oven mitts on?" I have no possible explanation for why they would be required unless the bucket was really cold. 

[BobbyBesar]

 "No, it can wait until tomorrow" is pretty good telephone writing.

(in the Bob Newhart sense).

 

Regarding the whistle, I'm pretty sure that he mentions his desire to take up whittling to Diane, and we do see him with some earlier stages of the whistle a couple of times.

[Argobot]

I think Hawk is wearing the oven mitts so that he is not directly touching the bucket which might interfere with Cooper's rocking throwing magic. Or because it's a great visual.

[BobbyBesar]

Also:

"Two assholes drive into the woods. You'll never guess what happens next."

 

This makes me want to start a twitter account that is purely devoted to buzzfeed-ing iconic movie scenes.

 

"This Sith Lord had a secret about Luke's father. I couldn't believe what he said next!"

"This cyborg assassin had to destroy the last piece of technology from the future. What happened next brought a tear to my eye!"

"You'll never guess which deadly sins this serial killer planned murders around  Number 4 blew me away!"

[Korax]

Also:

"Two assholes drive into the woods. You'll never guess what happens next."

 

This makes me want to start a twitter account that is purely devoted to buzzfeed-ing iconic movie scenes.

 

"This Sith Lord had a secret about Luke's father. I couldn't believe what he said next!"

"This cyborg assassin had to destroy the last piece of technology from the future. What happened next brought a tear to my eye!"

"You'll never guess which deadly sins this serial killer planned murders around  Number 4 blew me away!"

 

HOLY SHIT DO THAT

[DefaultHuman]

That's just god damned brilliant.

 

"They'd thought they were out of coffee. What this heroine did will inspire you!"

[Guest AGHHH]

THE TELEPHONE RINGING IS IN THE SONG PENSYLLVANIA 6-5000

IT'S NOT PART OF THE SCNEE

 

[Professor Video Games]

THE TELEPHONE RINGING IS IN THE SONG PENSYLLVANIA 6-5000

IT'S NOT PART OF THE SCNEE

 

I love this post in so many ways.

[Jake]

THE TELEPHONE RINGING IS IN THE SONG PENSYLLVANIA 6-5000

IT'S NOT PART OF THE SCNEE

I know...... There are things we say that we get a ton of write ins about. This is one of them this week. Sorry!

[BigJKO]

That scene with Bobby and Shelly, Chris mentioned thinking there was someone else in there? Did anyone check up on that? I definitely remember thinking there was something fishy with.. the camera angle at some point, I think?

[sclpls]

Hey I guess I'm way late to this, but finally got around to watching the episode, and listening to the cast.

 

I'm really glad you brought up the scene early on with the new girl. I also loved her acting in that scene with all the uncomfortable tics of anxiety on display. It reminds me of Monica Vitti's performance in Michelangelo Antonioni's Red Desert. Her acting for a scene that is depicting such a raw and emotionally disturbing event is such a striking contrast to the very next scene with James and Donna which is way overacted for such a cheesy, phony love scene.

[tberton]

I like that you guys mentioned the the coffee warm-up gag. To me, that felt like an add for some kid's snack food. Like, there's a bunch of kids at a sleepover and Mom comes down and gives them Gushers or something.

[Gamebeast23456]

It just occurred to me. While not essential, I hope you guys discuss Albert more when you get the chance. The punch scene gets a different weight when you understand better the strange and difficult path of Albert Rosenfeld

[Super Blizzard]

When Chris (at least I remember it as Chris) pointed out the thing with the whistle, I completely flipped my shit and fell in love with this show all over again. It's such a cool little story. I don't remember if it was delved further into (late night listen), but the stick-to-whistle transformation as a metaphor for Cooper using his human intellect to transform chaos into order has been stuck in my head all day. The moment he finally blows the whistle comes right as the case finally has its first real lead, and changes from something unordered (a random, seemingly meaningless act of great violence) into something ordered (a solvable crime, with a possible narrative and a suspect). Gaaaaah I love this show and I can't believe I get to hear two of my favorite Smart Podcast Dudes talk to me about it every week. Currently plowing through the entire show at light-speed just so I can listen to the full episodes without feeling guilty haha

[BigJKO]

When Chris (at least I remember it as Chris) pointed out the thing with the whistle, I completely flipped my shit and fell in love with this show all over again. It's such a cool little story. I don't remember if it was delved further into (late night listen), but the stick-to-whistle transformation as a metaphor for Cooper using his human intellect to transform chaos into order has been stuck in my head all day. The moment he finally blows the whistle comes right as the case finally has its first real lead, and changes from something unordered (a random, seemingly meaningless act of great violence) into something ordered (a solvable crime, with a possible narrative and a suspect). Gaaaaah I love this show and I can't believe I get to hear two of my favorite Smart Podcast Dudes talk to me about it every week. Currently plowing through the entire show at light-speed just so I can listen to the full episodes without feeling guilty haha

 

It was Jake. Who pointed out the whistle whittling arc, that is. Chris mentioned the whistle initially.

[tberton]

I was surprised that Chris didn't notice the whistle arc. It was one of my favourite little stories.

[BobbyBesar]

I like that you guys mentioned the the coffee warm-up gag. To me, that felt like an add for some kid's snack food. Like, there's a bunch of kids at a sleepover and Mom comes down and gives them Gushers or something.

Something occurred to me this week about the coffee thing with Cooper, which may be obvious but I don't think has been stated.

 

In a lot of ways, Cooper is simultaneously an homage / deconstruction of noir and 80's TV detective tropes. I feel like the archetypal noir relationship with coffee is not a pleasant one. You don't drink it because it's good, you drink it because you've been up all night chasing down leads for some dame and you're dead on your feet so you stumble into a diner, grit your teeth and choke down a cup of bitter garbage.

 

So, while Cooper does appear to be genuinely enthusiastic about everything, I feel like the coffee relationship is particularly highlighted for this reason, even aside from the overarching cops + donuts joke.

[SickNotes]

Something occurred to me this week about the coffee thing with Cooper, which may be obvious but I don't think has been stated.

 

In a lot of ways, Cooper is simultaneously an homage / deconstruction of noir and 80's TV detective tropes. I feel like the archetypal noir relationship with coffee is not a pleasant one. You don't drink it because it's good, you drink it because you've been up all night chasing down leads for some dame and you're dead on your feet so you stumble into a diner, grit your teeth and choke down a cup of bitter garbage.

 

So, while Cooper does appear to be genuinely enthusiastic about everything, I feel like the coffee relationship is particularly highlighted for this reason, even aside from the overarching cops + donuts joke.

 

I think this is a really interesting analysis of the trope. I'm with you. I think it was probably a comment on the "noir relationship" with coffee. Thanks for pointing it out.

 

I think furthermore that David Lynch himself has a special connection with coffee:

 

"I'd have coffee, sometimes six cups, along with the shake, and I'd have sugar in my coffee. By then I would be pretty jazzed up, and I'd start writing down ideas. Many, many things came out of Bob's."

 

"I like cappuccino, actually. But even a bad cup of coffee is better than no coffee at all. New York has great water for coffee. Water varies all around. We've got to drink something. Do you just drink water, sometimes? It's very good for you."

 

http://thecityofabsurdity.com/quotecollection/coffee.html

 

I think this is a comment also on the nature of Twin Peaks and that it is "special;" therefore, the coffee and the pie taste better than other places. This is explored a little in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in that...

 

The town where they find Teresa Banks isn't a very nice place. The sheriff is corrupt. The diner that Desmond visits with Keifer Sutherland's character is not a nice place. No comment is made about the coffee, but it is hinted at that the coffee isn't worth drinking. The only bright spot it seems is that the trailer park owner can brew good coffee. So, it isn't just the area, it is Twin Peaks itself.

 

I haven't come up with any firm conclusions about this, but I think it is a comment on the whole duality concept that keeps coming up. It would be hard to get into this at this early juncture, but suffice it to say, the price they pay for having it special is the nature of the darkness in the woods. This is classic Yin and Yang dualism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dualism#Ontological_dualism  In which every good force has a spot of concentrated bad within its boundaries. Lots of the characters have duality built into them. Laura has her Maddy. MIKE has his BOB. This list gets longer especially for supernatural characters as the episodes progress. I am almost through season two at this point.

[Chris]

All this coffee stuff is good fodder for twinpeaks@idlethumbs.net!