Twin Peaks Rewatch 7: Realization Time

[Urthman]

I have an alternate possible interpretation of the spoiler question Jake raised about Agent Cooper:

 

In the second season, Agent Cooper is pretty candid in talking to anyone who asks about the fact that Windom Earle hates him because he was having an affair with Windom Earle's wife. And even in the first season, I don't think he says anything about his past that in retrospect was a lie.

I think it's possible that after that incident, which clearly was a secret that ended in tragedy, Cooper was completely open with everyone at the FBI about what had happened and was committed to living honestly without secrets. That doesn't mean he tells his entire life story to everyone he meets, but I think it's possible that Cooper is entirely genuine in telling Audrey he (no longer) has any secrets.

 

 

 

 

[LostInTheMovies]

Finally got to listen to this episode. A few thoughts:

 

1. Good news for 2016:

The dead characters will be back! Ray Wise has cryptically (or maybe not so cryptically) confirmed and Sheryl Lee is definitely also in. How? It's Twin Peaks, so we'll see. Sadly, not much can be done about the dead actors - RIP Frank Silva (Bob), Don S. Davis (Maj. Briggs), Jack Nance (Pete) most notably.

 

2.

Not only did Wise not know who the killer was, Caleb Deschanel and Harley Peyton did not either! There's so many weird Leland-did-it moments that make me wonder if Lynch and Frost planted them, or if they were just coincidence.

 

3. Re: the Gorbachev anecdote, check out the YouTube video I put up on the season finale thread - about 35 seconds in, Vice President Dan Quayle confirms a variation on that story. On whether or not Lynch and Frost had a killer in mind at this stage (this isn't really much of a plot spoiler but I'll conceal it anyway - proceed at your own risk)

it's interesting that most of the interviewees in the Reflections book seem to think they did not. But if that's the case than Frost was blatantly lying at the time, and has been ever since. He's on record the day of the series premiere stating that he and Lynch had to "get to know" the town before choosing a killer but that eventually it came to them. Then again...maybe they figured it out after shooting the first season but before it went on air? Even if so, that means they knew before the network made an issue out of it (the second season was not commissioned until the very end of the first). Since Frost and Lynch refused to share the info - Jennifer Lynch, writing the diary, may have been the first outsider to learn the killer - we only have their word for it.

 

4. Caleb Deschanel is not only Zooey's father, he is the husband of Mary Jo Deschanel, who plays Eileen Hayward (Donna's mom) in the show.

 

5. Good question about the Cooper thing. I'll concur with what Urthman says above, as devil's advocate if nothing else.

 

6. Catherine's great in this episode. I like your argument that she basically becomes the protagonist of the mill plot here. She's definitely becoming more sympathetic, as Josie becomes less so.

 

7. I really like this episode. I think I used to feel it was too much build-up for the finale but now I love it for the feeling of tension and excitement. Twin Peaks (and I don't think this is a spoiler especially since we're already seeing it in season one) has many different gears and some I like more than others. But this and the subsequent episode really feel like very energetic narrative machines. I'd guess this is Frost's influence. If there's any point where Twin Peaks feels like something other than either a fascinating avant-garde experiment on the one hand or a slightly quirky but conventional TV series on the other, it's here. The sense of dramatic momentum is very strong and it feels like something we could watch week-to-week as a serialized story without either wanting an immediate conclusion to wrap things up or losing interest since there's no end in sight. That's a hard sweet spot to hit. It's also why many critics at the time thought maybe it should contain itself as a miniseries rather than become a regular in the fall.

 

8. Glad to hear you got the Reflections book (or one of you did - was it Chris or Jake?). Really great read, and very informative. You may enjoy an interview I conducted with the author Brad Dukes this summer: http://thedancingimage.blogspot.com/2014/08/a-story-both-wonderful-and-strange-my.html. The interview, and even the images used with the interview, contain spoilers so no one who hasn't seen series & Fire Walk With Me should follow this link!

[mistercrayon]

The most striking thing to me in this episode was when cooper said something about his wants and needs in the context that (series 3 spoiler)

 

Spoiler

Bad cooper says he “doesn’t need he wants”  which is a nice parallel  

 

Josie bounces from sympathetic (last week) to suspect (this week) and somewhat sympathetic (pull out to Hank). 

 

I thought it was amusing there was an invitation to love cardboard cut out for the perfume stall. 

 

The cherry scene is an absolute classic one (it was featured on a do you remember 1989/90 show back in the day when talking about twin peaks). Also more red curtains. In a way black rose/blackies office looks more like the red room than the cabin in the woods. 

 

Coopers suitcase of moustaches are great. I like also how he has them all and then doesn’t use them. What he does use is FBI money to bet and bring back cash (albeit if he used his card counting trick regularly I think he wouldn’t be able to bring back his ten percent top up that often on account of being booted out). It feels like he goes full James Bond in this episode except he doesn’t go to bed with a naked woman in his bed who’s waiting for him. 

 

Ben and Jerry are eating ice cream that needs more pecan. 

 

Hank says he paid his debt to society but he’s actually on parole. 

 

I like how the characters in invitation to love become surrogates for anyone. Chet is Shelly this week!

 

Creepy Leland. 

 

It’s weird to think that Lucy might be having a baby here. And that baby is series 3s 

Spoiler

Michael Cera. 

 

Cooper’s trip to Canada seems ridiculous for a policeman! good thing he has a handy vigelante group to hand.