Twin Peaks Rewatch 22: Double Play

[Jake]

Twin Peaks Rewatch 22:

 

 

Checkmate

This is it. Twin Peaks is a different show now. In episode 22, amidst genius supervillains and melodrama aplenty, we have ventured further into the land of soap opera bombast than the series has previously dared. We discuss, bemused and baffled.

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[Elen]

I can forgive a lot of the dumb stuff that has happened on this show, but not that Leo-Shelly scene. So stupid it's offensive. I'd break down all the ways it fails (writing, directing, etc.) but I start seeing spots and have to take deep breaths.

 

Also really stupid is the further revelations in the Windom Earle backstory. So he murdered somebody, his wife saw him and was put into federal protection so she could be a witness, and her protection was...her murderer husband and his partner? What? STOP WRITING DUMB THINGS, WRITERS.

 

I'm glad the show eventually gets back on track because it would've been too depressing to have it go out with such a whimper.

[O.K. Bob]

Two more grueling hours ere the show starts to get back on track...

 

Meanwhile, this episode (which I haven' re-watched lately) has long stood out as one of the most poorly written.  While I enjoyed his "Autobiography of Dale Cooper" tie-in book, writer Scott Frost really disappoints here.  The monologue he gives his father (as Doc Haward) during the "climax" of the Little Nicky plot is supremely groan-worthy.  

 

But, viewers take heed:  As has previously been revealed, Little Nicky may be the Devil  His case worker is Judy Swain... Just plant that in your subconscious  ;-)

[LostInTheMovies]

Ah you guys had to drop the True Detective reference the morning before I get the final disc in the mail? And just to think it was supposed to have come yesterday too. Oh well...not a huge spoiler I guess. But I guess now I can say with certainty it's not

Det. Cohle. (not that I really though it was). Unless he counts as a hipster...

EDIT: On further listening, I think maybe you were just referring to the style of the killing, not necessarily the killer's identity? At least that's what I'm going to believe until I watch the last three...

DOUBLE EDIT: This was actually meant for the episode 21 thread.

[LostInTheMovies]

Ok then, episode 22. I think this and the next are probably the worst of the series. At this point on a rewatch, my train-wreck fascination with just how far off the rails the show has gone starts to dim. The novelty aspect that kept you guys watching in incredulity in ep. 20 has now faded. It's just thin gruel. The directors, first-timers Uli Edel and (is this a spoiler?)

Diane Keaton

, try to jazz things up with elaborate style to mixed effect. On the one hand, after the sitcom shenanigans it's a relief to see the show attempt visual interest. On the other, and this is especially true of the next one, some of the stylistic conceits just come off as so forced. I'm not sure what's worse: lame scripts with (relatively) plain presentation or lame scripts with baroque stylization. Either way, we've definitely reached the decadent stage of Twin Peaks. Ep. 24 will be an improvement but by that point my energy has flagged (and the Josie story is so frustratingly unengaging) so I consider ep. 25 the real beginning of the uptick (despite the

pine weasel and Billy Zane's singing

).

 

The ep. 25/26+ episodes are sort of a test case for what viewers are willing to accept/take from Twin Peaks. The execution is sooo much better than all the stuff we're discussing now, but the premise is lacking in comparison to "Who Killed Laura Palmer?". Whether or not you like the final stretch of season 2, I guess, depends on whether you hold up against the mid-season (which is far less enjoyable to watch) or season 1/early season 2 (which feels much more deeply-rooted). I think at that point it definitely becomes a fun show to watch again, but it's still kind of a weak imitation of the first half of the series. Until the finale of course.

 

For now, I'll re-post something I shared with spoiler tags in an earlier thread, since it's relevant:

 

Been re-watching the mid-season and...
Re: Cooper's approach to the one-armed man & general violation of FBI ethics one also has to consider that within a few episodes (really lame spoiler for ep. 22)

Cooper's approach to crisis aversion is to lock a gun-wielding old man into a room with the young woman he wants to murder, and let them work it out. And then when time's up they charge into the room, guns raised just in case (I mean if they are that concerned about his threat shouldn't they maybe NOT have sent him in there with her alone?)

Coop gets away with murder on this show! (Figuratively speaking...) And boy, does season 2 get weird (not in a good way).

[Argobot]

Ah you guys had to drop the True Detective reference the morning before I get the final disc in the mail? And just to think it was supposed to have come yesterday too. Oh well...not a huge spoiler I guess. But I guess now I can say with certainty it's not

Det. Cohle. (not that I really though it was). Unless he counts as a hipster...

EDIT: On further listening, I think maybe you were just referring to the style of the killing, not necessarily the killer's identity? At least that's what I'm going to believe until I watch the last three...

DOUBLE EDIT: This was actually meant for the episode 21 thread.

 

I assume the True Detective mention was in reference to the antlers/general artistry of the dead body.

 

Flimsy excuse to post this great article on the relationship between Twin Peaks and True Detective (spoilers for the latter).

 

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/carcosa-or-bust-the-satisfyingly-weird-mysteries-of-true-detective/

[Ozzie]

Oh wow, the Shelly, Leo and Bobby scene is just pure trash, like out of a z grade movie that would be made fun of on Red Letter Media's "Best of the Worst". It reaches for shlock and manages to grab it. It doesn't even attempt more.

I thought last week's episode was the best since Arbitrary Law. Apparently that wasn't meant to be taken as a sign that the bad times are over now.

 

I like the cross-fade from Cooper's face to a shot of misty woods. Not so much the overlay of Caroline's face, though.

Now even the Civil War plotline stopped being enjoyable...

Was it really a good idea to play the arrival of Major Briggs in the Sheriff's Department for slapstick? I mean, did it serve a purpose? :/

 

Lana's storyline reaches a new low. She bewitches all the men to have the hots for her or what? Bleurgh...

Oh yes, Cooper's plan is absolutely insane.

 

Many of the directorial flourishes seem wacky to no great effect.

 

That headline in the newspaper...("Asian Man Killed!!")

The article itself is also a hoot.

 

So Jeffrey (Evelyn's (James' love interest) husband) really died...huh, that car crash sound effect sounded so impotent that it made me unsure.

[WickedCestus]

So, this is the episode I have stopped watching on 2 of the 4 times I've gone through Twin Peaks. Funny, because I think the next episode might actually be worse? Anyway, this time through I basically skipped through most of this one because I remembered it well enough to know that I just don't care. At least we're only two episodes away from when I think the show gets good again!

When Annie first appears.

Not "Season One" good, but "watchable TV" good at least. I fell way behind on the podcast for a few months, but recently caught up and have now flown way ahead and watched the ending and Fire Walk With Me, so it's becoming an agonizing wait for them to get to the better parts and discuss them .

 

In the meantime, I've been watching LostInTheMovie's great "Journey Through Twin Peaks" series. Be warned, it obviously has mad spoilers, but I definitely recommend it to anyone who's seen the show before or is ahead of the podcast!

 

Other than that, pretty much nothing to say about this episode! Just dumb! Ben Horne's storyline, one of the few that kept me interested during the last few episodes, completely falls off a cliff here, and everything else either maintains its low, low quality or somehow gets worse. Also, as they mentioned last episode, there continue to be bizarre attempts to use directorial flourishes that existed in the good episodes, but they keep falling absolutely flat.  

 

 

[Jake]

Ah you guys had to drop the True Detective reference the morning before I get the final disc in the mail? And just to think it was supposed to have come yesterday too. Oh well...not a huge spoiler I guess. But I guess now I can say with certainty it's not

Det. Cohle. (not that I really though it was). Unless he counts as a hipster...

EDIT: On further listening, I think maybe you were just referring to the style of the killing, not necessarily the killer's identity? At least that's what I'm going to believe until I watch the last three...

DOUBLE EDIT: This was actually meant for the episode 21 thread.

Yeah just referencing the aesthetic. Not the killer or resolution.

I think that we're maybe two episodes from when I dropped Twin Peaks on my first viewing. That will be interesting.

[LostInTheMovies]

Yeah just referencing the aesthetic. Not the killer or resolution.

I think that we're maybe two episodes from when I dropped Twin Peaks on my first viewing. That will be interesting.

 

That is - suddenly Twin Peaks Rewatch will magically turn into an introcast! Can't wait to hear your reaction to the finale. Although you mentioned knowing the final image, right?

[Jake]

Just the dialogue.

[Jutranjo]

This season seems to be going downhill so fast in the last few episodes. I can't wait to see how next week is even worse.

 

All the dumb stuff with Cooper and the shotgun mayor, the widow, the Leo things. They introduce Eckhart as, Eckhart, Thomas Eckhart, cut into black sunglasses indoors, at night, so fire can be reflected off them. Is anything mill related to do with fire? Windome, Windome Earl introduction.

 

How is logging connected to Hong Kong? What fun could they have? With lumberjacks? Smuggling drugs in logs? Is lumber importing from the north west of the USA to Hong Kong this big of a deal that the two people in the know want to kill each other? For one of them to go into hiding for 5? 7? years?

 

I still really liked the Ben Horne stuff. It was the best scene of the episode.

[LostInTheMovies]

I assume the True Detective mention was in reference to the antlers/general artistry of the dead body.

Flimsy excuse to post this great article on the relationship between Twin Peaks and True Detective (spoilers for the latter).

http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/carcosa-or-bust-the-satisfyingly-weird-mysteries-of-true-detective/

Thanks for posting that. I just finished the show the other day so I read it...great stuff. I'd been hearing references to The King in Yellow but didn't actually know what it was about - what a cool concept. I'll have to get my hands on that book now. Funny the author (of the article) says

"in three episodes we'll know all there is to know." I thought so too but pretty early in ep. 8 I came to the conclusion that even though next season will have new characters, location, and mystery, it will continue to expand elements of this same mythology. At least I hope so. It felt to me like the finale pretty much dropped most of the extended-universe stuff to hone in just on this one killer. Which is fine if there's more to come, but really dopey IMO, if the rest of the True Detective anthology is completely unrelated. Plus the idea of having a show in which every season stands alone as it's own story but ALSO works as a component in a larger saga is really cool. I also don't believe that guy was the Yellow King (who may not even be a person at all, but a concept - either way, I want to learn more). Hope I'm right about that, but we'll see.

[LostInTheMovies]

Also since we're posting Grantland links here's a fantastic article on Fire Walk With Me, one of the best pieces of writing in this film: http://grantland.com/features/twenty-things-david-lynch-fire-walk-its-20th-anniversary. Spoilers, including for the finale - Jake, don't read!

[Nappi]

Oh wow.. Pretty much everything in this episode was atrocious.

 

Also really stupid is the further revelations in the Windom Earle backstory. So he murdered somebody, his wife saw him and was put into federal protection so she could be a witness, and her protection was...her murderer husband and his partner? What? STOP WRITING DUMB THINGS, WRITERS.

 

I had to watch that part again to check if I got it right. Yup, it was really that dumb. Is the witness protection shenanigans explained any better somewhere else, e.g. in the movie or the books?

[LostInTheMovies]

Oh wow.. Pretty much everything in this episode was atrocious.

 

 

I had to watch that part again to check if I got it right. Yup, it was really that dumb. Is the witness protection shenanigans explained any better somewhere else, e.g. in the movie or the books?

 

The book makes it nominally more plausible in that

it's more a case of her repressed memory (and, I guess, his mastery of disguise) that keeps her from realizing what happened. In fact the book makes an interesting case for Cooper's biggest blind spot having to do with spotting abuse and abusers. His mother is also the victim of a Bob-like spirit that haunts Cooper's and her dreams. It is revealed that the ring which is taken by the giant (and return only when Cooper realizes Laura's father killed her) was given to Cooper by his mother in a vision after she died.

 

Of all the spin-off material, Cooper's autobiography is probably considered the least canonical because it explicitly contradicts something seen in the film:

Cooper investigates Teresa Banks' murder, as he was supposed to in the movie before Kyle MacLachlan reduced his role.

But I think it amplifies the themes of the finale in interesting ways - and that its use of Cooper's ring provides a resonant if coincidental precedent for a different ring in Fire Walk With Me.

 

That said, the Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (which I know Jake and/or Chris are not fans of) is a much stronger read and more important in the overall development of Twin Peaks, as it was the first time Laura Palmer was given her own voice. It was also a huge influence on Sheryl Lee's performance in the film.

[Nappi]

Thank you for taking the time to explain that!

 

It is still a pretty dumb setup in my opinion, but as you said, at least it is more plausible that way.

[mondryle]

This is the first episode where fidgety displeasure gave way to a lot of baffled, incredulous laughter. I'm very tempted to barrel through to the end now. Glad I have the podcast and the movie to look forward to. 

 

How about that "stretchy latex glove" foley?

[Argobot]

This episode felt like a transition from this show lightly lampooning soap opera tropes to just full on being a soap opera, horrible writing and all. Of course Wyndam Earl plays chess.

 

Was the implication that Dr. Jacoby slept with the teen witch widow? Even if it wasn't, what a garbage subplot. It's so painful to see everyone, including Cooper and Truman, succumb to it. M. T. Wentz, Thomas Eckhart, and Andrew Packard are all in the running for being the least interesting side characters. Pete's uninterested reaction to seeing his not-dead brother-in-law mirrors my own.

 

Best parts of this episode were Pete's distraught reaction to forgetting hot dogs (and the musical accompaniment) and the gif I made.

 

 

 

[Elen]

That gif is indeed excellent.

 

M. T. Wentz, Thomas Eckhart, and Andrew Packard are all in the running for being the least interesting side characters.

Your point holds for me as I forgot the latter two characters were two separate people for a few minutes.

[SuperBiasedMan]

We've had enough of Ben/Catherine/Josie facing off, now it's time for round 2: English white dude and English white dude (now with added sunglasses).

[mikemariano]

English white dude and English white dude (now with added sunglasses).

 

Dan O'Herlihy is Irish!  But, yeah, the Packard siblings of the Pacific Northwest sure have some stagey accents.

[Vistoff]

I gotta say, the moment Ben enters Jerry's office, I knew we were going to be in for a treat.  I was not disappointed.  Throwing Dr. Jacobi in there to cheer on Jerry was fantastic.  Then the industrial fan & flag to top it all off.  I really expected Jerry to jump up beside him to sing along.

 

The episode then goes full on "Twin Peaks Mode," At least until the next scene with James.

 

A couple of other observations.

 

What was with General Briggs' complete ham-bone "faint" and then subsequent utterly useless information he brings to the law?

 

The best laugh in this episode: The newspaper headline that came over the wire.  "ASIAN MAN KILLED"  Holy smokes I nearly fell off the couch.  Man, even in the 90's I don't think that would be the kind of thing you'd see as a newspaper headline.

[mikemariano]

I gotta say, the moment Ben enters Jerry's office, I knew we were going to be in for a treat.  I was not disappointed.  Throwing Dr. Jacobi in there to cheer on Jerry was fantastic.  Then the industrial fan & flag to top it all off.  I really expected Jerry to jump up beside him to sing along.

 

The best laugh in this episode: The newspaper headline that came over the wire.  "ASIAN MAN KILLED"  Holy smokes I nearly fell off the couch.  Man, even in the 90's I don't think that would be the kind of thing you'd see as a newspaper headline.

 

You already mentioned all the best moments to screenshot.  ASIAN MAN KILLED shows up again in the next episode, I think.  It's so ridiculous.

[Cleinhun]

I would just like to point out that after the scene with Donna in the bar there is a brief cut to James that everyone should go back and watch. He does a totally inexplicable slouch move where he springs off the pole with his neck and then sits down and puts his head in his hands and I don't understand how that take ended up in the show. As a bonus, the scene even has that terrible "just you..." song which cuts off awkwardly as it fades to commercial. It's ~24 min into the episode, go watch it.

 

EDIT: I mad it into  .gif: