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Twin Peaks Rewatch 14: Demons

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Twin Peaks Rewatch 14:

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Demons

Stories align, and plot threads clean themselves up, all while never quite crossing this week on Twin Peaks. David Lynch steps in front of the camera as FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, the Mill plot continues to simmer against all odds, and even characters who aren't teens can't help but act like them. Join us as we discuss Twin Peaks' 14th episode, "Demons."

Catching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

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GORDON!!!! I don't think it's a spoiler to mention that he gets more delightful with every appearance.

 

"I would like Agent Cooper to take me home." You and the rest of the world, sister.

 

Nadine's storyline is not beloved, but I think Wendy Robie does an excellent job. (And actually I did end up liking this storyline.)

 

Leo's homecoming party is one of my favorite scenes in the whole show. It strikes the perfect note of dark humor and comeuppance for Leo while pulling back enough that we aren't made too uncomfortable by Bobby and Shelley taking advantage of a helpless man, however heinous.

 

Mike's creepy spirit voice is great, and I love the just-hammy-enough look into the camera for his "Few can see it. The gifted...and THE DAMNED" part of the speech.

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After all that trouble, it is ridiculous to me that Donna still doesn't manage to get the damn diary away from Harold.

 

Also if you pay attention, it's kind of funny that when James bursts in to Harold's house, he grabs Maddy and runs out, leaving Donna to fend for herself. But then when it cuts to outside the house, James has run ahead of both girls. Oh James indeed...


From that shot of the Bookhouse, it looks like ALL the bikers in Twin Peaks are in the Bookhouse Boys. Also, why the hell does Cooper bring a near-overdosed Audrey to the Bookhouse rather than the hospital? All the same, it is a very sweet moment between Cooper and Audrey.


When Cooper tells Ben Horne that Audrey is recovering from a drug overdose, it seems to be the one moment in the coversation that actually gets through Ben's slimy veneer and causes him actual concern. That was the most awkward hug ever though between him and Cooper.


The health inspector tells Bobby and Shelly that everything seems to be in order. At the Johnson house, where half of it is unfinished plywood beams and plastic sheeting!


It's very strange how Donna tells Truman that she never really saw Laura's secret diary, when she clearly did! It's also dumb how Truman seems reluctant to follow up on this lead all of the sudden when this is something the police should definitely be interested in. And it's not like Donna's "investigations" haven't been legitimate leads, even if they have been pointlessly secretive and reckless. It annoys me the way they scripted that scene.


I would have loved to see a scene of the seethingly awkward car ride with Cooper, Audrey and Ben.


Well I guess Josie will even (as James would say) do it with her "cousin" Jonathan, as implied by the scene with them both putting their clothes back on.


It would have been hilarious if Donna had walked in just one more time to roll her eyes when Maddy has her hand on James' knee by the lake or when she kisses him on the cheek. It was pretty sweet of Maddy to condescend to this school boy's level though.


The snide pissing contest and banter between Josie and Ben is one of the few times I actually enjoy Josie's character on screen.


While I really enjoy the comedy, I don't understand the way Bobby delivers his lines about Leo in the 'welcome home' party scene. He sounds way too genuine in the way he tells Leo they are going to do everything they can to make him feel as safe and happy as possible. I can't tell if he's supposed to be saying that because he's afraid Leo might be aware or if he's supposed to come off as sarcastic. I think he needed better direction delivering those lines, or maybe I'm just missing something.


Some of the strange phrases Gordone Cole says to Cooper like "you remind me today of a small Mexican chihuahua" may seem like non sequiturs now but

In the film, we learn that Gordon Cole is actually quite fond of using code to transmit information to his agents in the field most memorably with a dancing girl in a bizarre outfit named Lil.

Cooper definitely displays some amount of recognition on his face in response to it.


WIth Ben and Leland's history together and the fact that even though Leland keeps screwing up, yet Ben keeps bringing him back in to work, you have to imagine that Leland must already be aware and have a history of helping out with Ben's shady business dealings, or why else would he give him so many chances? Makes you wonder if Leland got to enjoy any One-Eyed Jacks behind Sarah's back. I love how even when Ben is trying to talk business, Leland's mind starts to wander again to the white stuffed fox behind him. So much for being 110%.

 

It is interesting to note that when reminded of his first interrogation by the police in Episode 4, where he denied recognizing Bob at all, even when they showed him his sketch, and asked why he lied, here Gerard fearfully tells them, "It wasn't me! Don't you understand, it wasn't me?!" Does this mean that when they first questioned him, "Mike" was actually in control and deliberately lied to get them off his trail?

 

Mike refers to Bob as his "familiar", implying Mike was originally in charge with Bob acting in a servant role. Also, Mike refuses to explain where Bob comes from, which shows that, while he is willing to help them them stop Bob's host, he is still holding back information concerning the whole picture, which makes me suspicious of this "spirit's" true agenda. It's a little chilling when Mike looks directly at us through the camera as he says, "and the damned."
 

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This is one of my favorite episodes of the series and Mike's speech at the end gives me goosebumps (three cheers for Al Strobel). Gordon Cole's comment about the "one-armer" probably answers the question in the last podcast about whether they are trying to be funny with the insensitivity of the whole "one-armed man" bit (in this moment at least, I'd say they succeed).

 

Boy, do they mistreat Phillip Gerard! Am I missing something here? Like is his drug illegal and therefore it's ok for the FBI to withhold it (though they seem just as ready to inject him if need be). You'd think he would slam them with a lawsuit when this whole experience is over...yikes.

 

I really love Maddy's scene with James at the lake. By all rights, it should just be ridiculously corny and nothing else...the dialogue is pretty cheesy, they pump up that theme music to the max, and it's lit in a sort of gauzy paperback romance fashion. But it really works for me, maybe just because Sheryl Lee is so likable as Maddy. She does an excellent job making her distinct from Laura.

 

Gordon Cole...yeah. What a great move on Lynch's part. What's that? Oh, I said WHAT A GREAT MOVE ON LYNCH'S PART!!! I love how Lara Flynn Boyle looks like she's going to burst out laughing any second when he pops in.

 

The Audrey-Ben scene is great: so creepy and unsettling and the moment where Cooper registers that something is a bit "off" is very well-played. Really sets up events in the next episode, in several subtle ways, though I won't say more than that! I like that Audrey's coming into play again as an active character after being sidelined so long in One Eyed Jack's.

 

I'm probably forgetting some other excellent scenes here because this episode is chock full of them. I love how there's a building sense of anticipation in the air and how, after a bit of a lull, the Laura investigation (or, at this point it almost feels like "the Bob investigation") is finally stepping up again.

 

Questions for first-time viewers:

 

- Harold's breakdown scene has a certain finality to it. Do you think his role in this story is finished? Or will we see him again? What role do you expect the diary (still in his possession) to play in the rest of the investigation?

 

- Donna and James seem committed to ending their junior investigations. Do you believe they're really done?

 

- Do you think Maddy is actually leaving town, or will they find a way to keep her around? What do you make of her character and her purpose in Twin Peaks?

 

- What's up with Mr. Tojamura?

 

- For that matter, what's up with Mike? Do you believe Mike is really a spirit, as he claims, or that he is one of Phillip Gerard's personalities? What's your take on the whole supernatural aura of Twin Peaks at this point?

 

- Did you know Gordon Cole was David Lynch when you saw him (or, for that matter, when you heard him over the radio way back in the first season)?

 

- What's going to happen with Shelly, Bobby, and Leo? Do you care?

 

- When Mike suggests Bob is at the Great Northern, what do you take this to mean? Is he staying there? Is he there at that moment? Is he present inside a host or inhabiting the hotel itself as a spirit? Where do you see this clue going?

 

- What role do you see Bob playing in revealing the killer - will he be a clue to the killer, the killer himself, or is something else going on entirely?

 

- Do you expect the killer to be revealed soon? At the time of this episode (click this tag only if you want to know what viewers knew back in 1990, when this episode aired):

It was already advertised that the killer would be revealed in the following week's episode: "Tune in on November 10, 1990 to find out who killed Laura Palmer. Really." The show's ratings had already declined heavily (though they would spike back up for the reveal episode) and many commentators had expressed doubts that the killer would ever be revealed. Some of them wrote about this announcement as if it was a response to the backlash. Of course, this is ridiculous. Twin Peaks was shooting 6-8 weeks ahead of airdate, and the killer's reveal had been shot back in September, before the season even premiered and written much earlier. In fact, very early in the season Frost had apparently stated that the mystery would be solved in November (which, not coincidentally, was sweeps month) although a lot of people seemingly didn't pick up on this fact as they complained that the show would never follow through.

 

- On that note, who killed Laura Palmer?

 

- And where does the show go if/when we find out?

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- What's up with Mr. Tojamura?

I think he's someone in disguise, probably a woman, but I'm not sure who she might be. 

I love how they used the same fantastic make-up used to age Cooper in the dream sequence!

- When Mike suggests Bob is at the Great Northern, what do you take this to mean? Is he staying there? Is he there at that moment? Is he present inside a host or inhabiting the hotel itself as a spirit? Where do you see this clue going?

I think he's "possessing" someone staying at the Great Northern

- What role do you see Bob playing in revealing the killer - will he be a clue to the killer, the killer himself, or is something else going on entirely?

I suppose they'll use Mike to find Bob's host

 

 

Leo's homecoming party is one of my favorite scenes in the whole show. It strikes the perfect note of dark humor and comeuppance for Leo while pulling back enough that we aren't made too uncomfortable by Bobby and Shelley taking advantage of a helpless man, however heinous.

 

I loved that scene, especially the little touches like Leo playing the kazoo just by breathing and Bobby pulling him up by the ponytail after faceplanting into the cake 

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The snide pissing contest and banter between Josie and Ben is one of the few times I actually enjoy Josie's character on screen.

Same here.

 

While I really enjoy the comedy, I don't understand the way Bobby delivers his lines about Leo in the 'welcome home' party scene. He sounds way too genuine in the way he tells Leo they are going to do everything they can to make him feel as safe and happy as possible. I can't tell if he's supposed to be saying that because he's afraid Leo might be aware or if he's supposed to come off as sarcastic. I think he needed better direction delivering those lines, or maybe I'm just missing something.

The way I read it, he was being sincere. I think that was to make the audience less uncomfortable with the situation and remind us that Bobby isn't 100% a bad egg. I would agree that the extent of his sincerity feels out of character, but the intention seemed to have been to play it straight.

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I agree that Bobby is being sincere when he talks about not wanting to exploit Leo. Remember, both Bobby and Shelly appear to be drinking heavily in that scene, so Bobby's guard is down. Bobby likes to put on a tough-guy facade, but I think we're meant to understand that it's mostly an act and he's really just a dumb teenager who is in over his head.

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Still haven't re-re-watched this episode, but my favorite film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum recently re-posted his reviews of the pilot and first proper episode of Twin Peaks as well as Fire Walk With Me.

 

Under the circumstances, it seems useful to point out that with a sheriff and a federal agent as its principal charismatic male buddies, a sentimentality about homecoming queens that borders on gush, a Reaganite preference for the wealthy over the poor (and for WASPS over everyone else), and a puritanical Peyton Place brand of sociology, Twin Peaks is ideologically no different from other prime-time serials; if it is supposed to be leading us to the promised land, it is still hauling the worst of our 80s and 90s baggage along with us.

 

He recently completed a re-watch of the series and film and it's interesting to read his 2015 reconsideration of the film:

 

I no longer agree with this review. I was obviously part of the backlash consensus that was still recovering from the gradual deterioration of the series during its often lamentable second season (only part of which I’d watched at the time), and though I still regard this prequel feature as uneven and at times uncertain ... it clearly deserved more respect and attention than it got from me and most other reviewers at the time.

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Still haven't re-re-watched this episode, but my favorite film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum recently re-posted his reviews of the pilot and first proper episode of Twin Peaks as well as Fire Walk With Me.  He recently completed a re-watch of the series and film and it's interesting to read his 2015 reconsideration of the film: 

Wow, thanks so much for posting this. Rosenbaum can be extremely frustrating (and rude!) at times but he is an excellent critic and, ultimately, fair in his approach: unafraid to criticize himsel as well as te work in question.

I was aware that he had reconsidered his generally cynical view of Lynch after Inland Empire, but did not know he had also reconsidered Fire Walk with Me. I really look forwar to reading this piece.

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Regarding last week's SPOILER letter 

regarding Twin Peaks portraying (on some level) the cycle of sexual abuse, I think it's worth noting that (on the same level - setting aside the layer of supernatural goings on) Laura's story is precisely about her decision to break that cycle of abuse, rather than perpetuate it. In Fire Walk With Me, she said "[bOB] wants to be me, or he'll kill me." In the film and in the series it is implied that she "allowed herself to be killed." Granted, it's a grim way to break the cycle...

There is a subtle motif in much of Lynch's work, including Twin Peaks, that seem to allude to the mythical Red String (or Thread) of Fate. And in Fire Walk With Me, MIKE warns Leland that "The thread will be torn, Mr. Palmer! The thread will be torn..."

While the Red String myth is typically associated with those destined for marriage, note that "with this ring I thee wed" is said of the "Owl Cave" ring worn by BOB's victims.

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Regarding last week's SPOILER letter 

regarding Twin Peaks portraying (on some level) the cycle of sexual abuse, I think it's worth noting that (on the same level - setting aside the layer of supernatural goings on) Laura's story is precisely about her decision to break that cycle of abuse, rather than perpetuate it. In Fire Walk With Me, she said "[bOB] wants to be me, or he'll kill me." In the film and in the series it is implied that she "allowed herself to be killed." Granted, it's a grim way to break the cycle...

 

On the show, and as originally scripted in the film, Laura's big decision is indeed to demand that her father kill her. Which is a pretty nihilistic viewpoint to hold on breaking the cycle of abuse.

 

But in the film, Laura's big decision is presented as taking the ring. We never see her ask Leland/Bob to kill her - her death becomes a byproduct of the big decision rather than the big decision itself. There's a lot going on here, but the upshot is that Laura's climactic action becomes positive rather than negative and implies that she dies because she does have options, rather than because she doesn't. Leland/Bob kills her when he realizes he can't control her anymore - note that he also kills Maddy when she is going to leave his house and Teresa when she gains power over him through blackmail.

 

(heavily EDITED for clarity a few minutes after posting)

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Hey everyone, just thought I'd take the chance to introduce myself. My name is Matt and I'm the host of "The Twin Peaks Podcast".

I shared this video tribute to Dick Tremayne that I made with Jake and Chris already and they found it amusing so I thought maybe you all would enjoy it as well!

 took Dick Tremayne's theme and added custom lyrics.

 

PS. Are we not allowed to make our own topics here? I only see ones created by Jake and I want to show everyone a cool video series I found on youtube.

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We coould probably open a general peaks discussion area, if people thought it'd be worth doing, but right now we just have threads per episode since the discussion hasn't been heavy enough to immediately warrant more.

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I'd be okay with a General Twin Peaks thread, just because I know I've been stumbling over errata in the Twin Peaks vein that I just want people to see but I'm also cool with dropping it in whatever thread people are reading, hah!

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Re: your podcast discussion of Lynch's involvement with season 2.

 

This post discusses the production context of the show (who wrote/directed what) and the pace at which Laura's mystery unfolds, without revealing any specific plot details.

 

The David Lynch-in-season 2 thing is a really tough nut to crack.

 

Lynch's version of it is that he was mostly hands-off in season 2, at least after Laura's mystery ended, because he was working on Wild at Heart.

 

But chronologically, this is impossible.

 

EDIT: I originally wrote a really long post, including a timeline, but I boiled it down to just the timeline to avoid redundancies. This is all from either the Reflections oral history, online searches, or extra materials on the DVDs (like production documents). The post is still really long. Sorry. The behind-the-scenes story of Twin Peaks is really fascinating (to me, anyway) and almost as dramatic as the show itself.

 

1989

 

Winter: Twin Peaks pilot is shot, along with the Red Room dream footage which is originally part of an "alternate ending" to the pilot in case it isn't picked up.

 

Sometime in spring or summer: Seven more episodes are commissioned by ABC.

 

Late summer-fall 1989: Twin Peaks first season is shot, simultaneously with Wild at Heart. Frost is the showrunner and Lynch is mostly absent although he is credited as co-screenwriter for the first two episodes. He also directs one of the early episodes, but its shoot is postponed until the very end of production (right before the finale). Lynch is distracted by his work on the feature film and cannot work on it till then. Again, note, Wild at Heart is shot during the FIRST season, not the second despite what many (including Lynch himself!) have later claimed.

 

Around Christmas: First season of Twin Peaks is wrapped.

 

1990

 

April 8: Twin Peaks premieres on ABC.

 

Circa May 21: ABC commisions season 2 of Twin Peaks.

 

May 23: Final episode of Twin Peaks airs.

 

May 25: Wild at Heart premieres at Cannes.

 

May-July: Work begins on season 2. It is REALLY hard to pin down what Lynch's involvement was: did he attend story meetings, did he expect himself and Frost to work it out between them on another occasion? Due to network pressure and Frost's desire to keep the show from being overwhelmed by Laura Palmer, the decision is made to reveal the killer during sweeps month. Lynch and Frost have both later claimed that Lynch always disliked this idea and wanted to keep the mystery going as long as possible.

 

Summer: Lynch has a bit of post-production (to avoid an X rating) & promotional work to do on Wild at Heart but nothing that should prevent his involvement in planning season 2, as far as I can tell.

 

July-September: The first 7 episodes of season 2 are shot. Lynch directed 1/2 of the 8 hours so he's very heavily involved at this point.

 

August 17: Wild at Heart debuts in the U.S. With that film completed, Lynch is hard at work on season 2.

 

Late September: The killer's reveal is shot, directed by Lynch. This will be his last episode before the finale.

 

Circa September-December: A Lynch-Frost documentary show called American Chronicles airs on Fox. It receives very low ratings and is quickly cancelled.

 

September 30: Season 2 premieres. A backlash against the show quickly builds in the media.

 

October 6: The second episode airs. From now on the series will air on Saturdays. Ratings plummet.

 

November 10: The killer's reveal episode airs. Ratings spike but eventually go down even further. By now the crew must be deep into shooting season 2 and according to later reports, Lynch and Frost are no longer heavily involved and Harley Peyton is effectively the showrunner.

 

Circa December, or early in '91: MacLachlan and others convince Lynch and Frost to get a grip on their show again.

 

 

1991

 

February 19: The "drawer pull" episode airs, and after this the show goes on hiatus. I don't know when this decision was made or when Lynch-Frost were notified. By this point the finale had just been written (script is dated Feb. 14) so the other remaining episodes had probably been shot already.

 

February - March: Lynch and Frost launch a media campaign to get ABC to bring Twin Peaks back on the air. They hold a press conference, Lynch appears on Letterman, there are numerous articles and columns about the show (the first time Twin Peaks has really been in the news since the killer's reveal).

 

Circa March: Lynch shoots the final episode.

 

March 28: Twin Peaks starts airing again on Thursdays. But within a month, ABC will put it on hiatus again, with only two episodes unaired.

 

Circa spring: I think this is when Lynch and Frost shoot the pilot of their sitcom On the Air, although it will not premiere for a year. Frost is also heavily into preparing or maybe even shooting his directorial debut Storyville at this point. There are the first whispers of a possible Twin Peaks movie.

 

Late May: ABC announces its fall schedule and Twin Peaks is not on it.

 

June 10: ABC airs the final two episodes of Twin Peaks together as a Monday movie-of-the-week. A year earlier, the pilot was a huge smash (I believe it was the highest-rated TV movie of the season). This finale pulls fewer viewers than reruns of Northern Exposure on other channels.

 

Circa July: The Twin Peaks movie is in limbo because Kyle MacLachlan does not want to be involved (later he said that he was really resentful of the way Lynch "abandoned" the show). Eventually he is coaxed back into it.

 

Circa August - October: The Twin Peaks movie, Fire Walk With Me, is shot. Frost is not involved with the production, because he is still working on Storyville, editing perhaps, and also (he has later said) because he did not like Lynch's conception for the film.

 

1992

 

Circa Spring: I believe this is when the other episodes of On the Air, Lynch-Frost's last collaboration, are shot. Lynch does not direct any of these (although he directed the pilot, probably a year earlier).

 

May: Lynch premires Fire Walk With Me at Cannes. It is booed at the press screening (there were some boos for Wild at Heart too, but it ended up winning the Palme d'Or at the festival, whereas the takeaway from FWWM is generally negative).

 

June-July: Lynch-Frost's final collaboration, the sitcom On the Air, is cancelled after just two weeks on ABC. Their partnership formally dissolves either around this time or within a year.

 

Circa August: Frost's film Storyville debuts to generally positive reviews but virtually no box office (I think it may only have been released in a few theaters). He does not direct another film and his future TV shows (Buddy Faro, which last less than a season in the late 90s, not sure if there were others) are not successful. But he writes several bestelling novels and nonfiction books.

 

August: New Line Cinemas dumps FWWM in theaters at the end of the summer without any advance screenings for critics. It receives terrible reviews (most famously, Vincent Canby wrote "it isn't the worst film of all time, it just seems to be") and makes about $4 million at the box office. It will take Lynch another 5 years to release a feature film.

 

1993

 

Circa August-December: Bravo re-airs Twin Peaks. Lynch has written and directed 30 Log Lady intros, one for each episode. Not sure when these were shot but presumably long after Fire Walk With Me had left theaters. Interestingly, the very first one has the Log Lady re-contextualizing Twin Peaks, pushing it more toward Lynch's own view: "It is the story of many, but it begins with one...the one who leads to the many is Laura Palmer. Laura is the one."

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With that info dump out of the way, a couple thoughts on the podcast:

 

Your discussion of aspect ratios made me laugh out loud (probably the only time I'll be able to type that sentence). So true. The zooming thing is bad enough, but the default for most viewers seems to be the Stretch Armstrong setting where everyone looks twice as wide as normal, just to fill the space. I've even seen this applied to shows that are ALREADY in 16:9, just because people make it their default standing! So much for HD improving home viewers' visual senses.

 

I agree that something about Mike/Phillip feels more like Frost than Lynch. The first few times I watched the series I figured Lynch was bringing in all the supernatural stuff, since it usually occurs in his episodes. But I don't think he likes to be as on-the-nose about "inhabiting spirits" and lore like that; Frost has a bit more of a genre sensibility in that sense. I would love to be a fly-on-the-wall for the discussions where stuff like this was hammered out.

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With that info dump out of the way, a couple thoughts on the podcast:

Your discussion of aspect ratios made me laugh out loud (probably the only time I'll be able to type that sentence). So true. The zooming thing is bad enough, but the default for most viewers seems to be the Stretch Armstrong setting where everyone looks twice as wide as normal, just to fill the space. I've even seen this applied to shows that are ALREADY in 16:9, just because people make it their default standing! So much for HD improving home viewers' visual senses.

I think an ever bigger problem is when studios just up and edit things with very little interest in contacting anyone involved with the show creatively.

From what I remember, since The Wire was mentioned, David Simon (one of the shows creators) basically was assumed by HBO to be too busy to make sure the conversion was properly done. Which is kind of absurd if you know about Simon, because OF COURSE he would want to supervise. He had to fight to get involved, and eventually only conceeded that the finished product was different but still worthwhile.

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Spoiler about the podcast's spoiler section

It's funny you said that Jake had a cold, because I was convinced Chris did when reading a quote from James, but I guess that was just cause he was emulating James.

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