Anyone watched Twin Peaks recently?

[Ron Maels Moustache]

What's happened to that "Wisteria" series? Is it still happening?

No-one has any clue, but the lack of updates suggests it's stalled. One article claims Netflix have scrapped it but I couldn't find any confirmation.

Just scanning the news articles there's been no mention of it since last November when Lynch's DP mentioned he thought it probably might happen...at some point.

The most that seems to've happened Lynch-wise is he brought a new shirt for his daily weather reports/number picks, which is a relief as the old one with the ripped sleeve was starting to look a bit troubling (he's also acting in Spielberg's next film it seems).

[mjwilson]

Some rumours online that there will be a Lynch film announced in the Cannes line-up. Doesn't seem like there's a lot of evidence behind it, but we shouldn't have to wait long to  find out.

[elliszeroed]

I was thinking earlier that there are maybe three scenes that I really, really wish weren't in there. The first is the Bob getting punched scene. I tried to get on with it. I may even have lied to myself at the time that I liked it, but nah. The second is the bum-ogling scene, and the third is the scene where they explain who Judy is. I was really surprised that they put such direct exposition in there, stuck out like a sore thumb.

I don't like the Bob scene, it's so tonally wrong.
The ass oggling scene made me groan.
And the Judy scene might have worked, if it was placed in a much earlier episode, rather than a last minute "Here's what this is about" scene that felt like an ass-pull, a writers "whoops, shoulda mentioned that!" scene.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

I don't like the Bob scene, it's so tonally wrong.
The ass oggling scene made me groan.
And the Judy scene might have worked, if it was placed in a much earlier episode, rather than a last minute "Here's what this is about" scene that felt like an ass-pull, a writers "whoops, shoulda mentioned that!" scene.

these scenes were all pisstakes though, no?

[PeasOnSticks]

Lynch gets the old 'but it was intentionally shit' pass again, I see.

[gotmilk]

Piss takes isn't the phrase I'd use, but I would agree that there's more complexity to those moments than some give them credit for.

The BOB scene is clearly meant to be too good to be true. A cockney with a magic green glove turns up in the final quarter of the season to destroy the physical manifestation of evil, allowing Cooper to never confront the darkness inside of him. This is right after Lucy shoots Mr C, and shortly before Cooper hubristically attempts to rewrite history by saving Laura Palmer. Any notion that we are watching a conventional climactic fight is immediately dispelled by the appearance of Cooper's faced superimposed on the happy reunion that follows, and the familiar words "We live inside a dream". Anyone who has seen Mulholland Drive or Lost Highway knows that Lynch loves the feeling of a naïve and desperate dream being punctured, and it's rather telling that when asked about Green Glove Freddie, Frost simply replied "Deus Ex Machina".

Cole's explanation of Judy comes in the same episode, and is similarly undermined by what follows. A famously elusive director gives astonishingly straightforward exposition as if to say "this is what you want, eh?", and shortly after we are plunged into another dimension in which any sense of clarity is immediately expunged. Judy, far from being a conventional big bad, is a far more nebulous "negative force" than BOB's demonic representation of "the evil that men do", and we are ultimately left with more questions than we had upon hearing her name way back in Fire Walk With Me. Perhaps the most pressing: if BOB was saying something about Leland, what does Judy say about Sarah?

As for the ogling, it is worth noting that a large part of Twin Peaks is about how men relate to and objectify women. We want to believe Director Cole is an avuncular and harmless sort, but Leland was once regarded in a similar light - if someone like him can be a rapist, the someone like Cole can certainly have a leery side to them. More concerning is what this knowledge means when we think about Agent Cooper, especially in light of the actions of his shadow self.

[QDRPHNC]

The BOB scene...
Cole's explanation of Judy...

And that's all fine, but they are choices that Lynch made that I found detrimental to the show. I'm fully willing to believe that Lynch is employing 4D chess / dream logic here, but that needs to be balanced with the show as it is experienced by the audience. I think it's fair to say that no matter how intentional these choices were, in these two instances he could have made better ones.

As for the ogling...

Yep, and Lynch has explored this very well throughout his work. But there is a difference between a character being lecherous to illustrate a point, and the camera itself being lecherous. At best, you could say Lynch is having his cake and eating it here.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

thought it was funny. feels like pouring cold water on reddit film dorks who make 4 hour TWIN PEAKS EXPLAINED!!!! wastes of garbage

[chutnut]

I really like the exposition scene, made me laugh
I always thought it would have been better if Judy had been the military/FBI codename for Jowday though rather than the name just 'becoming Judy' over time

[Mantle Retractor]

Julee Cruise gone at 65, terrible news:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/10/julee-cruise-singer-david-lynch-collaborator-dies-aged-65-b52s?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_gu&utm_medium&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1654848679

[Small Man Big Horse]

Ah fuck, that's very shitty news. I love "The Voice Of Love" and still play it to this day, I'm not sure why I've never checked out the rest of her material but I plan to remedy that today.

[Ascent]

Terrible news. Such a beautiful voice. This scene from Twin Peaks never fails to break me, even more so now.

[Thursday]

Feel like a Twin Peaks thread is constantly bumped for this, but this one upsets me a lot more than I expected. Al Strobel aka Phillip Gerard aka Mike aka The One-Armed Man has died

https://welcometotwinpeaks.com/news/al-strobel-1939-2022/

Just such a great performance from a largely unknown, his "change" into Mike as he delivers the fire walk with me lines chills me every time.

 Wish I could find the clip from the extras of him talking to Lynch about how he lost his arm, seems to have been removed from youtube.

[Terry Torpid]

"the gifted... and the DAMNED!"

You don't get acting like any more. RIP

[Old Nehamkin]

The bit in the last(?) episode of Twin Peaks season 3 where Mike looms out of the darkness and recites the fire walk with me poem was one of the more memorable/chilling parts of the series for me. I remember being generally struck by how seamlessly he slipped right back into playing that character after all those years.

The scene in FWWM where he pulls up next to Leland's car in his campervan and just starts barely comprehensibly bellowing at him is also one of my very favourite bits in that movie. Profoundly unsettling. RIP

[Terry Torpid]

Found the bit I was talking about.

Cracking stuff.

[mjwilson]

When I was at sixth-form, there was a teacher who slagged off Twin Peaks, saying how unconvincing the one-armed man was and how we obviously just had his other arm tucked up his sleeve. What an arse.

[Phoenix Lazarus]

I've never seen a single episode of Twin Peaks.  Is it worth giving a try?

[Thursday]

No.

[Mister Six]

I've never seen a single episode of Twin Peaks.  Is it worth giving a try?

Yeah. Just be aware that it goes extremely wank in series 2. The whole thing is great though. Watch the film, Fire Walk With Me, between S2 and The Return.

[Terry Torpid]

That's a useful chart, but there's another thing a first time viewer needs to bear in mind: there are two pilot episodes, one of which you should watch, and an extended version (slapped together in case it didn't get picked up for a series, so they could release it as a standalone TV movie) which wraps up the mystery and sort of ruins the whole show.

Some DVDs and "streaming" sites have the wrong pilot, so you might end up watching it by mistake, then moving onto the second episode (which is confusingly called Episode 1) at which point you'll be wondering why the characters are still trying to work something out which they already discovered at the end of the previous episode. This happened to me.

Be prepared for dodgy yellowface in S2. Fast forward through every scene with James in S2 that takes place outside the town.

The film is partially a prequel, but don't be fooled into watching it first. The real-life release order is the right order.

If you watch The Return without having seen S1&2 and the film, you won't have a clue what's going on, but if you watch The Return after having seen S1&2 and the film, you really won't have a clue what's going on.

[Old Nehamkin]

Skipping is for cowards

[Mister Six]

Skipping is for sensible people who don't want to be worn down by dogshit writing, direction, cinematography and - in some cases - acting. The stuff with James outside Twin Peaks is the most obviously and easily skippable part.

Anyway, the correct/ideal viewing order is:

• Twin Peaks seasons 1 and 2
• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (the film)
• The Missing Pieces (basically deleted scenes, but loads of them, including a few that dribble through into The Return)
• Twin Peaks: The Return

[H-O-W-L]

I've always liked the "letdown" bits in Season 3 because I went in expecting absolutely nothing but Lynch going mental with a dense budget. Not to sound like a petulant above-it-all arse but after the reveal of the killer in S2 and the utterly terminal nature of the finale of S2 (I watched it before S3's announcement) all of S3 was just like, an extended dessert course for me. I was just watching it and taking it all at face value, as it came, and it was a great ride for that. I've only rewatched it in chunks since and I dunno if I'll ever fully rewatch it. It was one of the most outstanding televisual (and, overall, media) experiences I've ever had and genuinely inspirational on me, writing and art wise, but I also don't really think it's something that needs much analysis.

Lynch has always been much more of a guttural moodpiece creator than someone who creates intricate and wordsome plots and that's absolutely fine. Exceptional, even. I really liked his clear take that, in this era of incredibly serialized, character-driven, interpretive telly, he just proceeds to take a big fuckoff toffee hammer to it all and make something that's absolutely a rollercoaster and never really gives you any indication of where it's going. It's just an experience, and I was very grateful to be there for it.

Anyone going in expecting something of specific or narrative direction is going to be disappointed, and I guess that disappointment is valid, but I dunno -- it's never what I went into Twin Peaks for. I really wish I could elaborate what I mean in a concise way, but like... with Twin Peaks my guard's all down, I'm not really thinking about the meaning of anything, I'm not attached nor am I detached, I'm just kinda here for it and having a good time, you know? Kind of like going to a gig. I guess that's why I'm also a big fan of Godspeed You and how their gigs can meander and twist and contort in creative and unexpected ways.

[Mister Six]

I do hope to do a (probably ill-advised) marathon of the Return episodes over a weekend at some point, whenever Mrs Six is able to return to China to be with her family a bit.

But it was wonderful to be there in the moment, being baffled and entertained in equal parts, letting it percolate (like a fish) in my head over the course of a week, poring over what it might mean and where it was going, talking about it on here, then being absolutely blindsided again by the next episode. Helped that I was watching it with a Lynch-loving mate over a nearby bakery's damn fine coffee and cherry pie, hokey fucker that I am.

Actually, @Phoenix Lazarus, that's something - I'd suggest watching one Twin Peaks episode a week, at least while you're watching the good episodes. It's a lovely thing to let slosh around in your mind for a bit. Maybe cane the shite episodes two or three at a time to get them out of the way and avoid losing momentum. That's what me and my mate did in the run-up to The Return, and it worked out all right.

[Captain Z]

And don't forget to watch the final two episodes of The Return simultaneously.

[QDRPHNC]

If I was watching it for the first time I'd watch all of it, although I agree with that chart overall.

[Mister Six]

Definitely, but it's good to steel yourself for the immediate turn from amazing to shit occurs between episodes 9 and 10. They're even lit differently. Like two completely different shows that happen to share the same cast and characters.

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

gonna defend the 'weaker' season two episodes just for how much i enjoy the corniness of john justice wheeler, windham earle, lucy & andy & dick's love triangle with devilish little nicky.

it's a good ride for people that enjoy things.

[Terry Torpid]

I like the stuff about the PINE WEASEL