Hold on. The one on Showtime is Series 3, and it follows the movie.
[automerge]1586380160[/automerge]
Season 3 (The Return) is VERY slow. Very, very slow. And it's beautiful. And remember, it's an 18-hour long movie, not really a TV series...
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Twin Peaks (TV Series by David Lynch)
- Thread starter yaxomoxay
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Hold on. The one on Showtime is Series 3, and it follows the movie.
[automerge]1586380160[/automerge]
Season 3 (The Return) is VERY slow. Very, very slow. And it's beautiful. And remember, it's an 18-hour long movie, not really a TV series...
... The Return Bah Humbug...
I mean... at this point you just want to be my mortal enemy!
No, online buddies.I mean... at this point you just want to be my mortal enemy!
Ebenezer Scrooge meets Agent Cooper.... The Return Bah Humbug...
I wish!
In all fairness, The Return is controversial. Many - if not most - people and critics say that it's the best thing ever. Rolling Stones, NYT, WSJ and many many others consider it far ahead of its time. Just to name one (I am not linking the articles as they contain several spoilers even in their images) Rolling Stones titled its review as "Twin Peaks: The Return is the most groundbreaking TV show ever". Many consider one specific episode, mid-series, as the best thing that has ever happened on TV; the day after it aired, the NYT began its review of that episode with "There's nothing to point to in the history of television that helps describe exactly what this episode attempts," just to conclude with "Just think that at any given time in the days ahead, we could flip past Showtime and this episode could be airing. That's like a miracle."
HOWEVER, it's a different show than the first two season, it's a different movie than Fire Walk With Me, and it's a different product than anything else on TV. It's "David Lynch on heroine" as Showtimes' CEO said. There is almost zero nostalgia service, and almost zero fan service. So, if you have any sort of expectation, it will be a brutal trip. The fact that it's an 18-hour long movie doesn't make watching it much easier for many people because of the structure, and the timing, and all the payoffs from the various plots won't happen in the span of a few episodes (or hours), that is if they happen. I watched it a few times in its entirety in one sitting, and let me tell you it's a weird experience. It really bends time; scenes that felt slow as heck when it aired, now feel rushed. Scenes that seemed humorless now make me laugh like an idiot. It's just strange.
This is to say that I also see my arch-enemy's and internet buddy @Huntn's point of view. This work created two camps, the "best thing ever" camp, and the "this sucks" camp. The thing is that both camps are truly legit.
^ Yeah, I always think of that when we discuss things like the way many TV series are released now, in bingeable chunks, instead of weekly episodes.
My prime example for liking the latter format is how we always used show up at work the next morning and say to people, "What the hell was that on Twin Peaks last night?!"
![josiepackard2.jpg]()
My prime example for liking the latter format is how we always used show up at work the next morning and say to people, "What the hell was that on Twin Peaks last night?!"
Oh my, the knob!!! One of the most cringe worthy moments in the history of TV, yet I always love watching this idiotic scene.
Oh lord. I got through eight DVR-ed episodes, and then starting with episode 9 the video stutters and is full of dropouts. I took a brief look at episodes 10-18, and they’re all more or less like that.
Episode 9 was really rough going. I mean, I could follow it, but it was like trying to listen to music while somebody’s jackhammering concrete in the next room.
They’re not running it again, and it’s not on their on-demand channel, so I’m stuck with this. ?
Episode 9 was really rough going. I mean, I could follow it, but it was like trying to listen to music while somebody’s jackhammering concrete in the next room.
They’re not running it again, and it’s not on their on-demand channel, so I’m stuck with this. ?
Okay, I've finally seen all 18 parts. Where the heck do I begin?
I think the safest thing I can say is that it was odd to watch. Not because of David Lynch's creepy acid-trip imagery, but because at times it felt like I was watching folks at a nursing home putting on an amateur Twin Peaks play. ?
Yes, this was slow. I'm normally pretty patient with slow stuff. But this wasn't slowness for the sake of a point, like building suspense. This was just one person speaking...and then thirty seconds of silence...and then the second person responding...and thirty seconds of silence...and so on. It was a bit much.
What I do appreciate is that overall Lynch did this well. Except for being exponentially weirder, this felt like Twin Peaks. It was like seeing an old friend. And not just because many of the same actors were available. The newer "Star Trek" movies have a completely different cast from the series, but they feel like the old series. That's not something I can say about the remakes of Lost in Space or The Prisoner.
Even though I didn't like the ending, I left feeling it was worth my time. And isn't that what it's all about?
I think the safest thing I can say is that it was odd to watch. Not because of David Lynch's creepy acid-trip imagery, but because at times it felt like I was watching folks at a nursing home putting on an amateur Twin Peaks play. ?
- The overall impression I'm left with after seeing the whole thing? It's this: You just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you, Cooper??
I mean, they resolved a lot of stuff in episode 17. Sure, there were some things left hanging. The girl with the frog-bug in her mouth. How Jeffries got turned into a giant teapot. Things like that. You expect that weirdness from Lynch. But by and large a lot of things got explained.
Unfortunately Cooper wasn't satisfied to just go riding into the sunset. He had to go back to the weirdness, something nobody in their right mind would do. (And didn't you wonder when Cooper shot those Odessa punks in the restaurant if we were actually looking at Evil Cooper again?) - The Dougie storyline was amusing, but it went on much too long. I was getting frustrated with seeing Cooper acting like he was mentally handicapped (and other people somehow barely noticing).
On the other hand, the second biggest laugh I got from the whole season was watching Cooper walk straight into a plate glass door. A gag that's been used a thousand times but never gets old.
Another amusing thing was watching Sonny Jim giggling because his dad is acting like a (politically incorrect term for a mentally challenged person). Kids do love that stuff. - Boy did they drag out that thing where "Dougie" kept responding to cues--pie, coffee, badges, etc.--without actually coming out of whatever state of shock he was in.
- It was done well, but the whole storyline about bumbling mobsters trying to kill the wrong guy and/or said mobsters failing over and over? It's been done many times before. One of the "Pink Panther" movies comes to mind.
- I'd been told by people about the giant glass box. What the heck did that have to do with anything?
- Or the murders at the radio station, for that matter.
- The musical numbers felt like filler. Maybe that's just me.
- Am I the only one who'd never heard of a tulpa before?
- It was great seeing Robert Forster as Sheriff Frank Truman. I've always liked that actor and felt he was underrated.
- What is it with Lynch and dwarfs? That guy Charlie whom I presume was Audrey's husband was hilarious, though. Loved his sarcasm and his withering stare.
- Speaking of sarcasm...once again Albert lights up any scene he's in.
- So...what? Is Cooper trapped in another time? An alternate Earth?
- Boy, the A-bomb gets blamed for a lot of things--this time for opening a portal between our world and that of the Black Lodge.
- Best laugh of the entire series was when Cooper leaves the casino for Twin Peaks...and the FBI rolls in a second later and just misses him.
- **** you, Diane.
Yes, this was slow. I'm normally pretty patient with slow stuff. But this wasn't slowness for the sake of a point, like building suspense. This was just one person speaking...and then thirty seconds of silence...and then the second person responding...and thirty seconds of silence...and so on. It was a bit much.
What I do appreciate is that overall Lynch did this well. Except for being exponentially weirder, this felt like Twin Peaks. It was like seeing an old friend. And not just because many of the same actors were available. The newer "Star Trek" movies have a completely different cast from the series, but they feel like the old series. That's not something I can say about the remakes of Lost in Space or The Prisoner.
Even though I didn't like the ending, I left feeling it was worth my time. And isn't that what it's all about?
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I am definitely in the "best thing ever" camp.
The only thing I'd like to add to this thread, is that there are many moments in this series that are outright laugh-out-loud hilarious!
Big S3 spoiler
First time I watched Audrey's scene with Charlie, I hated it. (The scene in which he's calling on the phone to find out what happened to Billy, and she keeps freaking out). I truly hated it. For some reason, after the second time I watched it I find it one of the most comedic scenes ever, I always laugh like an idiot...
another honorable mention: Wally Brando.
another honorable mention: Wally Brando.
It’s that glare that he gives her. Guy’s built like a garden gnome, with a head like something out of a Scrubbing Bubbles commercial. ?
Plus, he keeps calm while she gets increasingly freaked out. It obviously annoys the **** out of her.
Plus, he keeps calm while she gets increasingly freaked out. It obviously annoys the **** out of her.
Thank you for your honest review. I am glad that in the end you liked it. I think it gets better with following viewings, once expectations and desires are all gone. It's a... different piece of work for sure.
As for what happened at the end, generically speaking,
I think we see different levels of consciousness, possibly between lives... it's hinted multiple times (is it future or is it past, the Monica Bellucci dream) and in multiple ways (Leland Palmer: same scene, two different, mirrored angles).
According to the Upanishads, a sacred text very fond to Lynch,
The human being has two states of consciousness: one in this world, the other in the next.
But there is a third state between them, not unlike the world of dreams, in which we are aware of both worlds, with their sorrows and joys.
When a person dies, it is only the physical body that dies; that person lives on in a nonphysical body, which carries the impressions of his past life.
It is these impressions that determine his next life.
In this intermediate state he makes and dissolves impressions by the light of the Self.
I think that the above text explains what TPTR is, a middle state in which the universe of Twin Peaks dies forever, to go in the "next world" whatever it is, by becoming what it was supposed to be in first place: a mystery in which the core question is never answered.
I believe that we witnessed the spiritual death of Twin Peaks.
According to the Upanishads, a sacred text very fond to Lynch,
The human being has two states of consciousness: one in this world, the other in the next.
But there is a third state between them, not unlike the world of dreams, in which we are aware of both worlds, with their sorrows and joys.
When a person dies, it is only the physical body that dies; that person lives on in a nonphysical body, which carries the impressions of his past life.
It is these impressions that determine his next life.
In this intermediate state he makes and dissolves impressions by the light of the Self.
I think that the above text explains what TPTR is, a middle state in which the universe of Twin Peaks dies forever, to go in the "next world" whatever it is, by becoming what it was supposed to be in first place: a mystery in which the core question is never answered.
I believe that we witnessed the spiritual death of Twin Peaks.
And if you think about it, it's like TP. The fans (Audrey) keep wondering what the heck is happening, and at the end (the call is over), the director (Charlie)… doesn't tell us
As for the Pink Panther reference you make, one of the most comedic situations ever! I also love when Closeau pretends to be the dentist, in the same film.
As for Closeau/Sellers
It is said that Dougie is heavily inspired (if not a direct reference) to Sellers' character in Being There
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While listening to the soundtracks the other night, it occurred to me that aside from the obvious supernatural aspects, a lot of Twin Peaks has to do with seamy crime and is set to Angelo Badalamenti's musical track, much of which is pretty jazzy.
Put those together and I think you could almost file this show under a new category: horror noir.
Put those together and I think you could almost file this show under a new category: horror noir.
I thought so while I was watching it. He's very much like Chauncey Gardner.
Yeah, why not?Supernatural noir?
I looked up the term horror noir and found that horror noire, with an e, is considered a class of horror films designed around black casts and culture.
But the term you used, supernatural noir, sounds a lot closer to home. I didn't even know this category already had a name, but it looks like it's broad enough to include everything from Twin Peaks to Deadman, John Constantine, The Spectre, etc.
I still think though the use of music gives TP a unique style. Kind of like Peter Gunn meets "Silent Hill".