I'm sorry - I know I just said that those who haven't seen it should not let anyone tell you anything about it. But I just remembered this sequence, and couldn't resist writing about it.



I'm sure those of you who've seen it will remember this - the ending of episode 14, season 2. Everyone was talking about the big reveal - a five-minute scene that many found brutal and shocking - and it is. (It's a huge spoiler, and in this YouTube video, it begins at 4:18 and ends at 9:12). But that five-minute scene is sandwiched in the middle of this longer segment (the whole YouTube clip), and that's what haunts me still. That slow progression of mood: from normal, to expectant, to ominous, to a horrid sinking feeling....then that shocking five-minute scene...and then - a vast, soft, bruised, uncanny sadness. All of them feel it, though they don't know why.

And through it all runs another line: the music (and particularly Julee Cruise's singing). It starts out as just a normal part of the setting. And it's pretty, but rather incongruous. As the scene continues however, the music slowly becomes more central. And those two trajectories - the music and the mood - each oblivious of the other, slowly unwind, and finally, in the last thirty seconds they merge together.

That kind of directorial control - to set up such a complex twelve-minute sequence that's really built of slowly shifting emotions - and with clockwork precision to bring it all to a single point at the end - that's very rare indeed.



Edit: spelling.

Animavore wrote:I've never seen Twin Peaks.

Nope. Me neither. I saw Firewalk with Me (And have the soundtrack - The Pink Room is ) but never really got it. Funny because I think Blue Velvet is genius.

I do have to say that, while I agree at its best Twin Peaks was as good as anything I've seen on TV (with the possible exception of Adventure Time, and speaking as someone who has never seen a minute of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos), I don't think its brilliance was quite sustained thru the whole series, and it definitely tailed off towards the end when Lynch was not as directly involved.

I remember a friend pointing out a couple telling moments of comparison: In the first episode there is a scene when James Hurley is in jail and Bobby Briggs and Mike Nelson, who are in the cell right across from him, start taunting him and barking like dogs. It was a disturbing and frightening moment, and you were left thinking these guys were capable of doing anything.

Then, in the second season, there was another scene between Bobby and Mike, when Mike had started dating Nadine Hurley and they were whispering and joking, apparently about how her superhuman strength affected her sexual performance. My friend commented how they were now just a couple of goofy kids who were about as frightening as Archie and Jughead. The other directors were not able to match Lynch's ability to maintain a sense of menace even when scenes were mainly marked by eccentricity and humour.

electricwhiteboy wrote:Season 2 has been out on DVD in the UK for years... I know I have it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Twin-Peaks-Seas ... skept01-21

Yeah, they brought it out eventually. Just not within about 5 years of me watching the first one.

Shrunk wrote:I do have to say that, while I agree at its best Twin Peaks was as good as anything I've seen on TV (with the possible exception of Adventure Time, and speaking as someone who has never seen a minute of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos), I don't think its brilliance was quite sustained thru the whole series, and it definitely tailed off towards the end when Lynch was not as directly involved.

I remember a friend pointing out a couple telling moments of comparison: In the first episode there is a scene when James Hurley is in jail and Bobby Briggs and Mike Nelson, who are in the cell right across from him, start taunting him and barking like dogs. It was a disturbing and frightening moment, and you were left thinking these guys were capable of doing anything.

Then, in the second season, there was another scene between Bobby and Mike, when Mike had started dating Nadine Hurley and they were whispering and joking, apparently about how her superhuman strength affected her sexual performance. My friend commented how they were now just a couple of goofy kids who were about as frightening as Archie and Jughead. The other directors were not able to match Lynch's ability to maintain a sense of menace even when scenes were mainly marked by eccentricity and humour.

I have to agree that the episodes Lynch directed are significantly better than the others. Even at its worst, however, "Twin Peaks" beat the hell out of any other show at the time. It still is one of the tops, IMO. "Breaking Bad" gives it a run for its money, but they're apples and oranges. Another thing, though, is that so many shows are indebted to "Twin Peaks". It really ushered in a whole new period of creative work for television.

That thing of menace that Lynch gets: yes, absolutely. (There's one scene of Cooper and Annie in the diner that I wish I could find... it's very brief but a wonderful example of this. No time to describe it now; I'll post again later.) And what's even more remarkable is that he can do that with a range of moods or feeling-tones. And he can shift gears between them (as in the YouTube clip I posted above).

BlackBart wrote:

Animavore wrote:I've never seen Twin Peaks.

Nope. Me neither. I saw Firewalk with Me (And have the soundtrack - The Pink Room is ) but never really got it. Funny because I think Blue Velvet is genius.

Others here may disagree - but I'd say don't judge "Twin Peaks" by "Fire Walk With Me". Whether or not one likes it (I didn't), it's a significantly different animal.

Fallible wrote:I've managed to watch Fire Walk With Me (what a great title by the way) about a dozen times and still come out the other end knowing next to nothing about what I just saw. I do love that club scene though. It's the music. And once I learned not to be pissed off by the obscured dialogue in that and a number of other scenes it began to go easier.

Just wanted to comment on your parenthetical bit, Fall. Absolutely, yes: "Fire walk with me" is a great title. As poetry, the first three lines of the quatrain are middling at best, but that final line is worth the price of admission.

Shrunk wrote:I do have to say that, while I agree at its best Twin Peaks was as good as anything I've seen on TV (with the possible exception of Adventure Time, and speaking as someone who has never seen a minute of Breaking Bad or The Sopranos), I don't think its brilliance was quite sustained thru the whole series, and it definitely tailed off towards the end when Lynch was not as directly involved.

Agreed. Once the initial story line is completed (the mystery "solved" due to being forced by TV execs and viewers who didn't get that the sustained mystery WAS the show), the show wallows for a REALLY long time. There's some good stuff in there, but I'm happy to press fast-forward every time Jame's face shows up on the screen. It doesn't really get back to that kind of greatness until the last few episodes when Lynch has the reigns once again, desperately trying to save his show from being cancelled.

I remember a friend pointing out a couple telling moments of comparison: In the first episode there is a scene when James Hurley is in jail and Bobby Briggs and Mike Nelson, who are in the cell right across from him, start taunting him and barking like dogs. It was a disturbing and frightening moment, and you were left thinking these guys were capable of doing anything.

Then, in the second season, there was another scene between Bobby and Mike, when Mike had started dating Nadine Hurley and they were whispering and joking, apparently about how her superhuman strength affected her sexual performance. My friend commented how they were now just a couple of goofy kids who were about as frightening as Archie and Jughead. The other directors were not able to match Lynch's ability to maintain a sense of menace even when scenes were mainly marked by eccentricity and humour.

I have to admit the sort of quirky humor and plain human warmness served as a fantastic contrast to the dark, inhuman terror the show would invoke. But there were times when it was well done, and then there were times (such as the Nadine storyline in season two) where it was unfortunately just plain goofy.

So David Lynch has pulled out. So much for that then. If he's not directing it, I'm not interested really.

My sister, a ladyfriend and I ate at the Black Lodge just the other day!

http://deadline.com/2015/04/david-lynch ... 201404765/

Orph to Showtime: Without David Lynch you will have — at best — an interesting and decent tv series. With Lynch you've a good chance of having one of the most extraordinary things on tv — ever. Please don't fuck this up. Give the man whatever he needs.


(Uncle Orph'sTM popcorn - "goes well with some damn fine coffee" )

orpheus wrote:Orph to Showtime: Without David Lynch you will have — at best — an interesting and decent tv series. With Lynch you've a good chance of having one of the most extraordinary things on tv — ever. Please don't fuck this up. Give the man whatever he needs.

I don't care how much money Lynch needs. Even if he wants a billion dollars, give it to him. With him on board, the series will be a guaranteed hit. Don't fuck this up!

This whole situation rang an unpleasant bell in my memory. Some of you may know that Mulholland Drive was originally supposed to be a tv show for ABC. The network executives wanted it for the right reasons: as one said, "Quite frankly, there is a plethora of sameness on TV. David Lynch's television stands out."

Then, as production went on, the execs started demanding changes to make it more conservative, ordinary, and — in their tiny, ant-brained, myopic view — "safe".

Ultimately, Lynch did make the changes, basically eviscerating his own work. And in the end — the fuckers passed on it anyway.

Here's a really good article from the New Yorker about the whole mess. It's rather long, but worth reading. Eye-opening and infuriating:

Creative Differences

The Giant's words are sadly ironic here: "It is happening again."

orpheus wrote:Here's a really good article from the New Yorker about the whole mess. It's rather long, but worth reading. Eye-opening and infuriating:

Creative Differences

Great quote from Lynch in that article:

They want things to move fast, but it's like water-skiing: when you go fast, you stay on top-you never get below the surface.

Kind of summarizes his approach to film making.

As it happens, I watched Blue Velvet last night for the first time in many years. It's still striking how ground breaking that was. I had forgotten how much it prefigures Twin Peaks as well (e.g. repeated shots of trucks hauling lumber.)

Watching the first episode.
It's intruiging, but the corny, repetitive soundtrack is giving me the giggles.

Many familiar actors.
I kept thinking, I know the FBI agent from somewhere:

Lynch is back in business! On top of that, it will consist of more than the initially-announced nine episodes.

#damnfinecoffee

He is back on the project? It might just be good then.

Still need to get my hands on Twin Peaks.

What is it?

I am a film\media geek, but never got the attraction when it was on, and tried recently to binge watch, to no avail.

Why is it so well liked?