Twin Peaks

[Vee]

I highly recommend the Vulture piece, too - Matt Zoller Seitz's companion to his pre-season essay (about how Twin Peaks was "not the show we remember").

[Vee]

Edited July 8, 2017 by Vee

[Vee]

[DRW50]

Thanks. I hadn't read that interview.

[Vee]

This fan trailer starts out great and then gets wildly overwrought and OTT at the end - the classic Aliens music, pace and graphic title cards are waaaayyy too much - but it's still a fun watch:

 

 

Twin Peaks - 'Pure Heroine' Trailer from :Danimation on Vimeo.

[Vee]

[Vee]

[DRW50]

The Dougie stuff felt a bit padded for me, although I did enjoy the Detectives Fusco, who seemed to be something out of an old '40s B-movie. I thought the scene of Dougie getting emotional staring at the flag was beautifully acted by Kyle Maclachlan, again proving he would have been a silent film star. That whole scene was really beautifully staged, and of course it was another fakeout, but the inversion of the original scenes tells me this must be near the end of the line. The whole Vegas universe is weird but I notice that the outside is what now seems weird while what was strange before (his workplace and his marriage) is becoming more normal. In some ways Janey-E, Sonny Jim and his boss are the wife, child and father he never had or no longer has.

 

Sad to say Cooper being moved by the power of the flag made me feel more patriotic than I am by most things at present time...

 

There were so many little character moments and quirky (naturally quirky, not the contrived quirkiness that makes me think of Lana Milford again...) that I really appreciated. I like the Tammy/Albert/Gordon/Diane quad a lot - just effortlessly weird and effortlessly cool all at once. They are pretty much exactly what they would be without good and pure and very straight Dale there to help them along - there's something slightly broken about them. The scene where Tammy/Gordon/Diane were standing around outside, awkward, until Gordon took a smoke from Diane ("bad" Diane winning out in influence over "good" Tammy) was just perfect - a tableau of weirdness and a reminder that we're all perpetually 13 sometimes. And so many good one-liners from Albert (God I miss Miguel Ferrer). I loved his meeting his own kind with the lady coroner and clearly being impressed by her getting his humor. And that sad little scene on the airplane where he and Diane were asleep and then you got the sense Albert wanted to talk with her, probably like the old days, but was too tired and wary, so instead just said "I know - '[!@#$%^&*] you, Albert.'" I didn't want to see Diane in person, I preferred her as a concept, but Laura Dern's proving me wrong so far. 

 

I keep hoping they will do more with Jennifer Jason Leigh as it feels like a waste of her talents. I did a double take when I saw people say the other guy was Tim Roth. I clearly haven't seen him in a long time. 

 

Lucy's sly manipulation of Andy reminded me a lot more of their old Twin Peaks vibe. Kimmy Robertson played that scene just right. 

 

I also loved that Hawk wouldn't help that shitbag Chad with the door. 

 

Bobby was always one of my favorite characters, so of course I was thrilled to get more of him again and him actually being helpful to the investigation, and more about him becoming the man his father knew he'd be (I'm hoping this won't be a feint to a reveal that he's still into drugs - I won't be surprised if that's what this is though). I've always loved what Dana Ashbrook does with the role but what I didn't know he'd be doing is still playing so much of the old Bobby even as he's matured. It does my heart good to still see Bobby making the odd faces, Bobby trying to look cool and together while deep down he is extremely dorky, and to still see the boyishness and purity in his face in vulnerable moments. Bobby and Laura are the two characters who are most special to me of any in Twin Peaks so I was very pleased with what they did with Bobby tonight. 

 

There were a few bits here and there that didn't do much for me but overall I felt like this was probably the most Twin Peaks-ish of all 9 episodes so far. It reminded me a lot of season 1, actually. A certain hardness mixed with kindness mixed with goofiness.

 

Oh and if you want to see Bill Hasting's website:

 

http://thesearchforthezone.com/

[Vee]

I think the red shoes on the passing woman were an Audrey nod. That was interesting.

 

So good to see Charlotte Stewart again. I had no idea she would have an important bit.

 

Are they suggesting Diane is in league with the Bad Dale? I didn't get what went down with the text.

 

Also nice: The music is back with a vengeance, and that's got to be deliberate.

 

We're on our third Johnny Horne, though he is barely seen. Jan D'Arcy was there as Sylvia, albeit just offscreen.

Edited July 10, 2017 by Vee

[Vee]

[Vee]

[Vee]

Eamon Farren (Richard Horne) talks to The Guardian.

[Vee]

Ray Wise talks to Consequence of Sound.

[Vee]

Part 9 was the show's highest rated since the premiere.

 

Meanwhile there's this, which is what really matters to Showtime vs. overnight live/linear ratings:

 

 

 

The rest of the article then veers into editorializing about how the fact that GOT will crush TP in overnight numbers heralds the death of good TV, but I don't really buy that. There is zero doubt GOT will overtake TP numbers-wise, but TP is not trying to compete with it. It's doing its own thing and apparently surprisingly well on streaming and even (for a time, anyway) linear numbers. So that's something.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Vee

[DRW50]

Thanks. The ratings part is interesting. I get the rest, but, even with how I feel about anything Game of Thrones after season 3 (season 4 at a push), I don't know if, "People don't understand that they're watching mediocre television, what will we do?" is the best argument. Most TV has always been mediocre and likely always will be.