tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363719549739491411.post6937365177710011451..comments2023-12-29T10:59:37.133-08:00Comments on 35 Years of David Lynch: TWIN PEAKS: DAYS 20-26Michael Adam Warrenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06823691097383358983noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363719549739491411.post-21611799642013464832015-10-09T22:27:04.028-07:002015-10-09T22:27:04.028-07:00First off, this is a great recap of those dark, da...First off, this is a great recap of those dark, dark days of Twin Peaks. Actually the aimless kitsch and wackiness of Episodes 18-23 (or 24, as I might argue, though it is an improvement) is still superior to the shattering awfulness of Episode 17 and how it doesn't even remotely address the horrors of what has just occurred. At least the other slump episodes don't even try to, but 17 has that awkward, embarrassing wake scene you so aptly sum up with those captions. It's like an alien with no knowledge of either humanity or Twin Peaks had suddenly taken over the show.<br /><br />Secondly, when are you going to post the next batch of episode recaps?? Not to be rude, but it's been a while! ;) Very interested on what you have to say on the decent-but-still-flawed Episodes 24-28, though I guess you already reviewed the masterpiece that is 29 (probably the best episode IMO).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363719549739491411.post-76033483680996351722014-06-06T08:53:41.870-07:002014-06-06T08:53:41.870-07:00Me too. He could've even brought Sheryl Lee ba...Me too. He could've even brought Sheryl Lee back as a red-haired "Judy" - an idea that occurred to me yesterday when I remembered that aside from Madeleine (whose name obviously inspired Maddy), Kim Novak's other character in Vertigo is named...Judy.<br /><br />I'd love to read more about the production history of the show. I've seen the "Secrets From Another Place" documentary, and heard the various details Lynch, Frost, and others let slip out in interviews and recollections (and read the famed abandoned script for the finale), but feel there's so much more there to explore. I know that Martha Nochimson's book The Passion of David Lynch, which I've only perused thus far, goes behind-the-scenes to a certain extent. Any other resources you'd recommend?<br /><br />I've actually been on a big Twin Peaks hunt for the past couple months, and the results - quotations from over 100 different sources, laid out chronologically on my blog, will be going up Monday. But my research was focused mostly on how critics, the public, and others reacted to the show & film over the years rather than how the sausage was made, so speak.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363719549739491411.post-2288037995986975892014-06-06T08:43:38.838-07:002014-06-06T08:43:38.838-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363719549739491411.post-61290377970310071632014-06-06T05:58:06.126-07:002014-06-06T05:58:06.126-07:00Thanks Joel. I appreciate your feedback and your r...Thanks Joel. I appreciate your feedback and your remarks are spot on. To be fair, it's easy for us after the fact to dissect the show's problems as armchair quarterbacks, but I imagine it would have been difficult to find ourselves in Peyton's and Engels's position in the trenches at that time.<br /><br />After all, arguably their best remaining subplot (Audrey/Cooper Romance) was taken off the table suddenly, which would have ruined a substantial amount of their outline for the remainder of the season. I imagine they had to scramble to recover and they ended up grasping at straws--very strange straws indeed.<br /><br />And you're right that even excellent episodes like 15 & 16 paled in comparison to David Lynch's masterpiece in 14, but I'd argue that 15 & 16 at least feel like they were part of the same TV series that ran before. It's a little harder to say the same for the episodes that came after.<br /><br />But yes, I fully support David Lynch taking the story back to Laura Palmer in the movie. From what I understand, Lynch was trying to develop a trilogy of films that would have started with the prequel, then gone on to explore more elements from the Twin Peaks TV series, one film following David Bowie's character and the other movie following Chris Isaak's. From what I heard, their storylines would have crisscrossed with the majority of the show's unresolved plots.<br /><br />His prequel/sequel in Fire Walk with Me was remarkably powerful and really helped bring the story back to home, as you say. At least we can rest assured that the Japanese apparently agree with us. I heard the movie was a huge sensation there. But I'm still completely fascinated by imagining what David Lynch would have done with all those dangling threads from the series finale had the opportunity to make those next two films. Surreal journeys of this nature don't come by too often in a major production like this.Michael Adam Warrenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06823691097383358983noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3363719549739491411.post-84024638429232952672014-05-24T18:06:23.980-07:002014-05-24T18:06:23.980-07:00Great article - your captions in particular often ...Great article - your captions in particular often had me laughing out loud.<br /><br />When I first watched the series, like every newbie I was absolutely shocked by the turn it took after episode 16. I really expected them to explore the mysteries of the woods; it seemed like the revelation of Laura's killer had only opened up more mysteries.<br /><br />I think what's so maddening about the show's dip is, as you note, how out-of-character it seems. Yes, Twin Peaks has always been a town (and a show) that mixed comedy, tragedy, melodrama, horror, and romance together but there's still just something so fundamentally WRONG about the way the characters act at that wake. Again, your captions just say it all so I won't add anything to that observation. Just that even had the comic subplots and random asides added up to more than they did, beginning the post-Laura stretch in this way is already a really tough mistake to rebound from.<br /><br />When I wrote up the series for my blog, I skipped this stretch of episodes, and indeed jumped all the way from Leland's death to the final episode. I finally watched the second half of season 2 again early this year and it was more tolerable than I remembered. That said, it still feel just as pointless.<br /><br />Sometimes it feels like Twin Peaks was born under a bad star. Everything that could go wrong did, from stuff out of the creators' control (the Gulf War, the Saturday night scheduling, ABC forcing them to resolve Laura Palmer), to stuff they should have had a better handle on (abandoning the series to work on other projects), to stuff they actually did right but got burned for anyway (making the show darker and less safely ironic, initially stretching out the reveal, exploring the real suffering involved in Laura's incest and Maddy's murder). They just could NOT catch a break.<br /><br />While I do feel the last few episodes are a comeback (well, barring the finale which is a hell of a lot more than a comeback - it may be the best episode of the entire series), really the true heir to Twin Peaks ep. 1 - 16 (maybe even just ep. 1 - 14) is Fire Walk With Me. The revelation of Laura's killer/murder of Maddy is, in my opinion, the most powerful thing Lynch had ever shot up to that point, including his feature films. It represents a real turning point in his career in which evil is located closer to home and becomes much harder for his characters to escape.<br /><br />To go from there to safe, wacky subplots simply isn't enough, and even the stuff in ep. 15 & 16 feels a little weak after the heights (or depths) we've explored under Lynch's hand. He really HAD to go back in time to unwrap Laura's corpse and discover what really went on there (despite what Frost and others thought about that decision).<br /><br />Not sure how often you check the site (hopefully you'll be back with the final stretch of episodes soon) but I was compelled to comment. You really nailed what's so, so wrong about this stretch of episodes. It isn't just the weakness of the plotting or humor - it's the disrespect it demonstrates for the show's characters and tone. Frankly, I would have expected more of Peyton, Engels & the like. I wonder what wrong.Joel Bockohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11238338958380683893noreply@blogger.com