Twin Peaks: The Return, Part 9   First Watch 
July 9, 2017 7:09 PM - Season 3, Episode 9 - Subscribe

This is the chair. (description from Showtime)
posted by infinitewindow (138 comments total) 3 users marked this as a favorite
 


"I WANNA GO SCUBA DIVING!" will now be my primary wail of utter despair.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:11 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


can't get over how all three giggly cops have exactly the same face in spite of not looking like each other. did they cast brothers or is it pure ACTING

unsettling regardless
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:12 PM on July 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


Pure acting. Koechner is a genius.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:13 PM on July 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


Honestly compared to part 8...I kinda feel like this ep was even more WTF.

Johnny Horne what?
posted by elsietheeel at 7:15 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


was there ever a strongly held belief that Johnny Horne was Richard Horne's dad? because if not I claim it as my own right now.

- ugh every urban legend about horrible things laying their eggs inside you + itchy girl's armpit = dire manroach forbodings

- diane's got style for days

- if I ever need a warden killed I'm getting Tim Roth to do it because he was just so sweet when he said he would do it
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:17 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


Wow! So I feel like at one point in each episode, the video freezes for a millisecond, like a glitch. Is this happening for anyone else? I've thought it was just my cable/me, but tonight it happened in the police station.
posted by armacy at 7:20 PM on July 9, 2017


Maybe you didn't get fired from serving burgers for being high, but for the super gross armpit scratching.

The zebras/penguins talk in that scene (black and white) and the stuff with Jerry, Richard and Red are making me really think that those "designer drugs" plug people into the Black Lodge in some way.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:20 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Sky Ferreira is too beautiful to be completely grossified, but she was awfully convincing as the incredibly nasty juggalo girl or...whatever is happening with Ella. I wanted to reach into the screen and brush her poor teeth.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 7:20 PM on July 9, 2017


armacy: Okay that's the most Twin Peaks thing to ever happen.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:20 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


was there ever a strongly held belief that Johnny Horne was Richard Horne's dad?

I'm on record, but I was just being a smart ass.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:24 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


When Bobby was leaning against the window in the conference room (after opening it to air out stupid Chad's stupid food smell) and he walked over towards the table, he did this little boyish lurching move that was still exactly like teenage Bobby, just a tiny little gesture but so great.
posted by jason_steakums at 7:25 PM on July 9, 2017 [14 favorites]


Places I don't want to watch Twin Peaks: log cabins, lakes, in the forest, lumber mills, in proximity to French Canadians, police stations.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:26 PM on July 9, 2017


Was Chad eating creamed corn?
posted by infinitewindow at 7:27 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


I'm on record, but I was just being a smart ass.

oh but I believe it! right up until they explicitly say otherwise. tough aunt audrey could beat some decency into that boy or at least call the cops on him. failed mother audrey is just a horrible tragedy no matter what.

and dr. jacoby said johnny wasn't really brain damaged from his fall, he was just acting that way for unfathomable psychological reasons, right? so he could have gone out some time and met a woman and as soon as it went wrong, gone right back to his normal state, afterwards. in theory.

dr. jacoby being right on a matter of the mind would be the biggest twist of all
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:29 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Maybe Chad is a Lodge spirit but instead of killing he can generate enough pain and sorrow just by being a total asshole to everyone to keep him in garmonbozia for life
posted by jason_steakums at 7:30 PM on July 9, 2017 [14 favorites]


I am not your foot.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:39 PM on July 9, 2017 [6 favorites]


oh my god, the Heinlein links on the Hastings website. that is so cute but also whoever put that together is a mean person, I like them. and what happens when you click to read older entries is scaring me

can't tell if it's a repeating loop or if the static is increasing and something is going to happen so I am just going to panic anyway
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:41 PM on July 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


Chad.
posted by duffell at 7:44 PM on July 9, 2017 [3 favorites]


Oh God the smoking scene outside. David Lynch looked absolutely tickled by the entire thing. Tammy poses. Diane stares. Gordon has a puff.
posted by elsietheeel at 7:48 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


I have to say, I'm really enjoying Lynch introducing something and then not bringing it back for two or more episodes. I was really missing Bobby, but tonight was perfect. He got to be a little weepy again, he was a little punky, he forwarded the story. Perfect.

So now the Doppleganger and Major Briggs stories have come together, and the cop brothers have Coop's fingerprints and DNA. In the meanwhile, the Twin Peaks sheriffs know there are two Coops and know the date and coordinates that the Doppleganger wants. It's slowly coming together.
posted by maxsparber at 8:03 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Queenofbithynia, it just plays super-lo-res songs from the soundtrack... although I could have sworn I heard distorted voices.
posted by infinitewindow at 8:04 PM on July 9, 2017


so ok so Bobby's big special knowledge of how to open up the metal dingus was you whang it real hard on the ground, like REAL hard. and then if it don't break the first time you do it again. and then you can open it.

and the tuning fork noise it makes when you whang it is just super cool and he wanted them to listen to it because it was cool

also it is the sound in the Great Northern that nobody can figure where it comes from

got it. bobby is still bobby all over
posted by queenofbithynia at 8:06 PM on July 9, 2017 [9 favorites]


Somebody needs to whack the Great Nothern against the ground.
posted by maxsparber at 8:08 PM on July 9, 2017 [7 favorites]


It's a real testament to Lynch that Coop could have totally snapped out of his fugue due to the power of steely g-man patriotism as he looked at that flag and America the Beautiful swelled and it would have somehow absolutely worked instead of being the dumbest thing ever. I'm constantly in awe of how he can direct a scene to be incredibly stilted and cheesy but also straight and earnest enough that it just works, it happens all the time in this season and I always feel like he pulled one over on me somehow. Like those scenes in Buckhorn where they don't even try to give any mystique or style to the whole multiple dimensions conspiracy talk, and then Lillard starts blubbering in this really uncomfortable way, and then suddenly it's just super affecting somehow because they keep at it? Nobody else can pull that off.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:09 PM on July 9, 2017 [9 favorites]


Somebody posted a picture of Lillard blubbering and instead of saying I just want to go scuba diving he's saying I just want to go Scooby driving.

And that's what I wanted to share.
posted by maxsparber at 8:14 PM on July 9, 2017 [8 favorites]


Wow max wow.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:36 PM on July 9, 2017


Is it just me or did Doop seem less inhuman during his scene at the farm?
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:40 PM on July 9, 2017


I think that might have just been Tim Roth's humanizing influence.

God that's a weird sentence.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:42 PM on July 9, 2017 [8 favorites]


Okay, look, I draw the line at "Doop"
posted by kittens for breakfast at 8:43 PM on July 9, 2017 [5 favorites]


Cooplicate or bust
posted by jason_steakums at 8:47 PM on July 9, 2017 [2 favorites]


I'm still a fan of AC and DC.
posted by elsietheeel at 8:51 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Kyle calls him "Mr. C" but did enjoy when someone else called the character "Doppeldale."
posted by infinitewindow at 9:04 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


I really, really, really want to see Jerry Horne stumble into the Lodge. I'm picturing MIKE and the Evolution of the Arm trying to talk him down from his high because he's weirding them out.
posted by jason_steakums at 9:06 PM on July 9, 2017 [10 favorites]


Hey, Doop is a homonym of dupe, which is short for both duplicate and deceive and is also a contraction of doppleganger coop. And you can make this Simpsons reference:

Duplicate Coop / Coop Coop-a-Doooooooooop.

It works on so many levels.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:22 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


doop is also the democratic order of planets

wheels within wheels
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:27 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


Hudson Mohawke opening for Au Revoir Simone is the weirdest thing to happen this season and I very much wish we were ever going to meet whoever does the booking at the Bang Bang Bar.
posted by sparkletone at 10:00 PM on July 9, 2017 [5 favorites]


So at the bottom of that Search for the Zone site are coordinates (hard to see in dark text on a dark background) and now I really wish this episode did air last weekend, because I was within very easy driving distance of where they point to, just outside of Spearfish SD, and I want to know if there's something stashed there. Loving that the mysterious coordinates from the show are basically in my childhood backyard.
posted by jason_steakums at 10:05 PM on July 9, 2017 [4 favorites]


The coordinates on Google Maps.

Looking at it in 3d, it looks like it's near the place where evil Coop (insert your fave nickname here) ran off the road. It's also not far from a place called Jolly Dump, which will almost certainly be an important clue. At least in my own head canon.

I'm envious of the people who will get to go to that spot in the morning. Wonder if there's anyone there now.
posted by honestcoyote at 10:44 PM on July 9, 2017 [1 favorite]


Is it just me or did Doop seem less inhuman during his scene at the farm?

I got the same feeling, but it might be because I'm totally convinced we witnessed Bob die (or at least leave) in the last episode.
posted by destructive cactus at 2:31 AM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


Am I right in thinking the Twin Peaks bits and the South Dakota bits are happening about a week apart? October 1st is "two days from now" (so September 30th), and Hastings appears to date his signature on the 20th (and he even says "nine twenty"). I suppose all the other bits are contemporary with South Dakota because of all the texting and phone calls going on.

I expect all this has been covered extensively elsewhere, but I only just noticed it.
posted by Grangousier at 4:13 AM on July 10, 2017


Wait, that would be September 29th, wouldn't it? Anyway, point stands.
posted by Grangousier at 4:33 AM on July 10, 2017


Bobby is so sweet and likable now, but let's not forget that he killed a cop and is almost certainly continuing to keep that a secret. Kinda puts a damper on his heel-face turn.

so ok so Bobby's big special knowledge of how to open up the metal dingus was you whang it real hard on the ground, like REAL hard. and then if it don't break the first time you do it again. and then you can open it.

I thought the trick was that it would only open if you whanged it right after the sound stopped. It seemed like he was waiting for the sound to end before whanging it again.

Hastings appears to date his signature on the 20th (and he even says "nine twenty").

His script looks like a 20, but he says "nine twenty-nine" out loud. I'm pretty sure it's all simultaneous.
posted by painquale at 4:35 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


Bucket list: interdimensional travel, scuba diving, own a golden shovel
posted by armacy at 5:03 AM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


Bobby is so sweet and likable now, but let's not forget that he killed a cop and is almost certainly continuing to keep that a secret. Kinda puts a damper on his heel-face turn.

At the same time though, he did kill a no-good crooked Deer Meadow cop (the same deputy who got repeatedly pwned by Chet Desmond earlier in FWWM) who was dealing drugs to high school kids. It's altogether possible that Bobby might have inadvertently taken out one of the major suppliers to that part of the country.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:20 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


Right before the revival series kicked off, I ordered and read Mark Frost's "Secret History of Twin Peaks", which is interesting, because I feel like you can use it to isolate the elements of the show's mythology that come from Frost rather than Lynch. The blunt characterization of the Black Lodge as being "another dimension", like in a comic book, seems very much the Frost approach. And come to think of it, when they introduced Major Briggs' role as a higher up in the military's investigation of UFOs, during the original series, that also seems like it must have been Frost's influence.

Now, I myself don't buy the idea of UFOs being extraterrestrial visitors. And I don't really think of presences like those in the Black Lodge as being residents of "another dimension" or "alternate universe". It seems to me more fruitful to think of them as examples of the types of spirits occupying the realm of consciousness...something akin to the idea of a Jungian archetype, except autonomous.

And given Lynch's practice of Transcendental Meditation, it seems likely to me that he's got a similar framework to understand the nature of these things. So that's what's interesting about the Lynch/Frost partnership in this show...Lynch is good at depicting these non-rational, non-material spiritual experiences that have a (sometimes horrifically) disruptive influence on the mind. And Frost is fascinated with all the "rationalizations" we've created to explain those experiences: "It's a UFO! No, it's the psychedelic machine elves! No, it's a forest spirit! No, it's beings from another dimension!" And so on, ad infinitum.
posted by Ipsifendus at 6:26 AM on July 10, 2017 [3 favorites]


It works on so many levels

and then starts to float up

i've never seen anything like it
posted by flabdablet at 6:41 AM on July 10, 2017 [5 favorites]


And so on, ad infinitum

although to be fair it totally is machine elves
posted by flabdablet at 6:43 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


...hardest scene of my life...2 takes... true story....

--Matthew Lillard
posted by maxsparber at 7:29 AM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


The coordinates on Google Maps.

Looking at it in 3d, it looks like it's near the place where evil Coop (insert your fave nickname here) ran off the road. It's also not far from a place called Jolly Dump, which will almost certainly be an important clue. At least in my own head canon.


Looks like it lines up with the approximate location of the fictional Buckhorn, SD as shown on CoopelDanger's suitcase laptop in the first few episodes.
posted by Strange Interlude at 7:57 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


Buckhorn, SD

I DON'T APPRECIATE YOUR LANGUAGE
posted by maxsparber at 8:06 AM on July 10, 2017 [11 favorites]


I know, I know, "Buck you, Strange Interlude"...
*turns over in airplane seat, goes back to sleep*
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:24 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


...hardest scene of my life...2 takes... true story....

I believe it. That was a long scene to maintain that much constant sobbing - and he managed it without it feeling faked or forced.
posted by dnash at 8:25 AM on July 10, 2017


They should put Lillard and Dern into a scene together so they can have dueling cry-faces.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:30 AM on July 10, 2017 [4 favorites]


...hardest scene of my life...2 takes... true story....

Sheryl Lee would like to discuss how easy it is to scream for hours on end (can I make her scream my cell phone ring???)
posted by armacy at 8:31 AM on July 10, 2017


A child is killed in a hit and run, and Deputy Andy is on the case!
Step 1: Meet the prime suspect and agree to meet him later in a second location, on his own recognizance.
Step 2: Frown at watch when prime suspect doesn't show up as agreed.
Step 3: Job well done! Time to shop for furniture.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 8:37 AM on July 10, 2017 [17 favorites]


Why did Diane get a text from Doopelcoop? Is he harassing her or is she working with him?

I loved the scene with Mrs. Briggs. She was never going to tell them about her husband's message, not until they all came and asked her! Now how about that coffee?
posted by areaperson at 8:37 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


People on Reddit and elsewhere have noticed that Mr. C sends his text in proper case and Diane receives hers in all caps. So maybe she's not getting it directly.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 8:41 AM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


The Twin Peak Wikia describes Mr. C's text to Diane as "taunting," but I took it as them being in cahoots. I'll have to watch again to check her reaction.

I find that the TP Wikia descriptions usually manage to avoid that sort of subjective interpretation, but perhaps this one needs a little more editing still.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 8:46 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


She was expecting a text message from him (because she checked on the plane).

Dale was in the Black Lodge 25 years ago before he could have texted Diane in any capacity, so ????
posted by armacy at 8:54 AM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


David Lynch has been waiting years to say "Cooper has flown the coop," right? I mean, if you can ever write yourself into your show, of course you say goofy things and shout a lot.

(I'll overlook Lynch's inconsistent acting in this season, not constantly shouting or demanding that everyone shout at him, too, because he's still a decent actor/character.)
posted by filthy light thief at 8:56 AM on July 10, 2017 [3 favorites]


iirc, Albert used similar phrasing when Windam Earle escaped back in the original run. "Your former partner flew the coop, Coop."
posted by duffell at 8:59 AM on July 10, 2017 [4 favorites]


You are correct (auto-playing, looping video clip)
posted by filthy light thief at 10:02 AM on July 10, 2017


not constantly shouting or demanding that everyone shout at him, too

To be fair you'd expect 25 years to yield some improvement in hearing aids.
posted by flabdablet at 10:06 AM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


I wondered about the symbolism of the green light behind Diane when we first see her, similar to the green light that DougieCoop sees on the insurance documents and Tom Sizemore's face. Now it's clear: she's lying.
posted by speicus at 11:56 AM on July 10, 2017 [4 favorites]


not constantly shouting or demanding that everyone shout at him, too

To be fair you'd expect 25 years to yield some improvement in hearing aids.


He's FBI. I'd expect extra paranoia and thusly hold onto something analog when you need to be sure that no one can listen in on or hijack your hearing aids.

Also that scene with Albert and Gordon a couple weeks ago leads me to believe that Gordon isn't as hard of hearing as he seems to be. (Say please. Please?)

(Also that scene was adorable because Albert still calls Gordon "Chief".)
posted by elsietheeel at 12:31 PM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


Also Albert this week: What happens in season two?
posted by elsietheeel at 12:35 PM on July 10, 2017 [5 favorites]


So weird that I've just been introduced to the idea that Diane is an actual person and I'm already completely invested in her being a good person.

(also, the way Janey-E was playing with her red flats in the police station stood out to me. They must only sell ruby slippers in NV!)
posted by armacy at 12:36 PM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


I wondered about the symbolism of the green light behind Diane when we first see her, similar to the green light that DougieCoop sees on the insurance documents and Tom Sizemore's face. Now it's clear: she's lying.

When she gets the text from DC in the morgue waiting room she's wearing green pants, sitting on a green couch, and her phone case is green.

Also Diane AND Janey-E were wearing red flats in this episode.

Are we going to go in for costuming and color symbolism like Tom and Lorenzo do? It worked for Mad Men but I'm kinda not sure if I feel it here...
posted by elsietheeel at 12:38 PM on July 10, 2017


Sky Ferreira's armpit rash was rather red -- how does that fit in?
posted by paper chromatographologist at 12:42 PM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


Random thoughts:

I spent a lot of time thinking about Episode 8 over the intervening two weeks. I'm pretty sure that was the idea. A lot was made of the mushrom cloud photo in Cole's office, but he also has a portrait of a young Franz Kafka in his office. Lynch is pretty much obsessed with idea of fugue states, which is basically what Metamorphosis is about.

This is the first time since the premiere that I've watched an episode live. My audio and video were also a bit glitchy. More than that though, I was annoyed that I couldn't pause and rewind the show!

Lynch is really going all out with awkward, stilted dialogue, holding scenes too long, etc. I loved the effect in this episode, from the three keystone cops in vegas to the snoking scene to Lillard's SCUBA DIVING.

I never though young Bobby Bruggs was that hot but y'all, I am ALL IN for silver fox Bobby Briggs.

Also, right after episode 7 aired I went out and got myself a Diana-cure.
posted by Brittanie at 12:45 PM on July 10, 2017 [3 favorites]


Anyone else notice that Dougie had a blank electrical cover plate thing behind him in the waiting room? And that his view of the flag included a NORMAL plug-in on the wall?! Remember how Coop arrived...
posted by sylvanshine at 1:18 PM on July 10, 2017


he also has a portrait of a young Franz Kafka in his office.

I always thought that was mostly there as a basic style reference for his new agents. you knot your tie like THIS and you sink your eyes way back deep under your skull bones like THIS. MORE CHEEKBONES, DALE! LOOK AT FRANZ, LOOK HOW HE DOES IT
posted by queenofbithynia at 1:24 PM on July 10, 2017 [6 favorites]


Doop
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 2:54 PM on July 10, 2017 [2 favorites]


IT'S A FUCKING MORGUE!
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 3:02 PM on July 10, 2017 [5 favorites]


I have this really clear picture in my head of a scene I want to happen so, so badly.

The FBI agents, the Twin Peaks police department, and the Police from Buckhorn all converge on Agent Cooper at once. It's a chaotic scene and the focus is on Cooper's still half-catatonic face. He murmurs back phrases he hears from them: his own name, twin peaks, investigation, doppelgänger. Then someone says Laura Palmer, and his eyes light up, and he says "Laura Palmer," really intently, all the noisy questions cut out and Sheryl Lee comes in through the door and it's just the two of them, and they have an intimate, slow moment where he touches her face and then they embrace, and he says her name again, and then it's back to the chaotic questions and Cooper quiets them down and says all of their names.

I don't think it will happen quite that way. But it's in my head so clearly.
posted by Rinku at 4:03 PM on July 10, 2017 [9 favorites]


Okay, so Vanity Fair is tying the owl glyph to the playing card that Mr. C had, which makes sense to me, but when I look at the playing card I see a big black hole in between the peaks of two mountains, not an owl's "ears" or the Mother's antennae or whatever else has been mentioned...

So maybe that spot with ears on the playing card and on Major Briggs' note in the inanimate carbon rod represents the location of the Lodge(s)...through a black hole in Twin Peaks.
posted by elsietheeel at 5:52 PM on July 10, 2017


Or it's maybe the opposite and you need the sun to shine through the peaks at the right moment and then with a little luck and some fairy dust you get to go to the White Lodge!
posted by elsietheeel at 5:55 PM on July 10, 2017


I love you all, Mefites of Twin Peaks watching.

The "secret real-not-real website" has been done, but this iteration is very competent.

The sanguine cops - small details like this scream the all-around competency of everyone involved in the show. (Using competent in the UK meaning, rather than the watered down faint-praise US meaning.)

n-thing that Lynch/Cole not-being-all-that-hard-of-hearing has already been exposited by the show. The cigarette scene (first puff, after probably many years - and declining to kill the remainder) feels really true-to-life (for lack of a better term).

Armpit rash - very interested to see where that goes. iirc, it's her left armpit.

Old Bobby; damn he's boring and ... he feels (to me) like he never grew up. What happened to "Businessman Bobby"? Perhaps he's the kind of goodhearted bully (who didn't really wanted to cause hurt, just to rebel) who was traumatized by his dad's early passing. jason_steakums' observation of the teenage gawk kind of points to this. Do we have any indication that Bobby's actually good at being LE or is he just another follow-along authority-following deputy?

Casting Tim Roth is a Big Win. Getting Mathew Lillard is like drafting a star in the 5th round.

Tired of the Jerry Horne arc already.

Doop (no regrets) is increasingly inhuman; but his cronies don't seem fazed at all, so I'm reading it as something that he's already shared/revealed (his non-standard human) with his cronies. Like, they're at least somewhat in on the supernatural thing already?

Video/Audio "glitches" - the light level suddenly dropped on me during the cut between the agent asking him to circle, sign, and date the picture of "Maj. Briggs" and the 6 panel photo (and red pen) being offered.

Again, the sound production has been consistently top notch.
posted by porpoise at 6:23 PM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


Man, I really thought the text to Diane was taunting or at least not cahoots-y.

Okay, so Vanity Fair is tying the owl glyph to the playing card that Mr. C had, which makes sense to me, but when I look at the playing card I see a big black hole in between the peaks of two mountains, not an owl's "ears"

Totally a stylized owl, once you see it, though I wouldn't have seen it without prompting.
posted by kenko at 7:55 PM on July 10, 2017


Everyone seems to assume Diane knows who that text is from -- what if she's been misled, and Boop is playing her? What if she hired a private detective to find Cooper and she's never met him, or she's being blackmailed, or something, and is unaware who's on the other end of that unknown number? Also, if she's being taunted, why would it be encoded? Why not just, "See you soon, Diane," or something.
posted by Rinku at 10:20 PM on July 10, 2017 [1 favorite]


We're halfway through the season and there are still so many questions to be answered. Who is Richard Horne and who are his parents? Who is the mysterious billionaire, what is that box, and how did they figure out the technology to build it because that's some Blue Rose shit right there? Where did the guard go (so Tracey could go in)? Is Johnny Horne ok? Is Jerry Horne ok? What is that humming? What is the mothfrog and who is that girl? What does the Woodman's speech mean? What did the Woodsmen do with Bob? Who is the Giant? What's up with Laura being a mystical orb? Where is Ruth's body? How did Boop create Dougie and why did it take him 13 years to do so? Who is Becky's father? What's up with Diane? Where is Audrey?

I really, really, really want the humming to be Josie because it bugged me that her ending was never explained. I also think that there's something up with Diane and Boop (no shame) because of the frantic checking of the phone. I still think that Diane hit on Coop (or Boop) without reciprocation.

Earlier in the thread, someone mentioned that Mr. C seePrpmed more human, and I think that's absolutely because Bob was removed from him. He's still bad, but less cosmically so.

Props to the makeup department for making Sky Ferreira look like a face of meth. That is SO Twin Peaks, what with the teenage drug use and the otherworldly experience.
posted by Ruki at 11:25 PM on July 10, 2017


so ok so Bobby's big special knowledge of how to open up the metal dingus was you whang it real hard on the ground, like REAL hard. and then if it don't break the first time you do it again. and then you can open it.

Just like Pete opened the mysterious puzzle box by just dropping it on the floor.
posted by straight at 1:21 AM on July 11, 2017 [5 favorites]


Something about Tammy repeatedly trying and failing to strike a pose as cool as Diane looks just smoking her cigarette really warmed me to Tammy's character.
posted by straight at 1:22 AM on July 11, 2017 [10 favorites]


Something about Tammy repeatedly trying and failing to strike a pose as cool as Diane looks just smoking her cigarette really warmed me to Tammy's character.

Huh. I read that as a tic--that she'd quit smoking and was having a hard time around cigarettes.
posted by duffell at 3:25 AM on July 11, 2017


I read that as Chrysta Bell not being very comfortable with acting and covering it by slinking and posing every time she's on camera.
posted by doctornecessiter at 5:08 AM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


I don't know...Lynch could have cast any number of better-known actresses for this role.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:52 AM on July 11, 2017 [3 favorites]


I suspect that Chrysta Bell is both not a very experienced actor, and also being directed to slink and pose every time she is on camera.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 5:53 AM on July 11, 2017 [10 favorites]


I thought that scene was all about Agent Preston not feeling exactly comfortable on some intuitive level with Diane. I think Chrysta Bell is a fine actor and Lynch wanted a specific (exaggerated) response from her. I'd bet that when Diane's deception is revealed, it will be Preston who is anticipating it all along.
posted by Catblack at 6:32 AM on July 11, 2017 [4 favorites]



Just like Pete opened the mysterious puzzle box by just dropping it on the floor.


like the Gordian knot

GORDON'S NOT WHAT? I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE, ALBERT, DON'T TALK IN RIDDLES
posted by queenofbithynia at 7:11 AM on July 11, 2017 [19 favorites]


Chrysta Bell is somehow both a terrible actress and absolutely perfect for the role.
posted by maxsparber at 7:15 AM on July 11, 2017 [12 favorites]


I avoided these threads for a long while because I didn't want to spoil my personal reaction to the show with too many other people's opinions, but you guys are the best.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 7:25 AM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


Chrysta Bell is somehow both a terrible actress and absolutely perfect for the role.

Agreed. I've thought a lot about the Internet commentariat's reaction to Bell's performance in the show, and I've decided that regardless of what anyone thinks of her acting (taken as separate from her total performance) she's no less qualified to play an FBI agent than Chris Isaak, not exactly a naturalistic actor himself, was in FWWM.

(Lynch's version of the bureau has always been populated with two kinds of individuals: Eccentric quirksters and gorgeous rock stars. Gordon and Albert fall into the first camp, whereas Chet, Tammy, and Phillip Jeffries fall into the second camp. Note that Dale Cooper -- kooky dreamboat that he is -- falls into both camps.)
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:12 AM on July 11, 2017 [9 favorites]


Chrysta Bell is somehow both a terrible actress and absolutely perfect for the role.

I also really liked the way she came across in the interview with Hastings. She seemed calm and compassionate, focusing on responding earnestly to the information he was giving her--believing him, as he was pleading with her to do--rather than trying to manage his feelings.

Also her resignation/exasperation with Gordon, asking him to be quiet but knowing he won't be, half-heartedly admonishing him about the cigarette. I really kind of warmed to her character this episode.
posted by straight at 8:37 AM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


Being a dude, I'm maybe reading it wrong and don't really get it, but I was just reminded really strongly of all the times I've been uncomfortable in a social setting and didn't even know what to do with my hands or how to sit/stand. And that made me feel like all her slinky posing is just someone trying one of the various futile strategies for being a beautiful woman in a professional setting.
posted by straight at 8:50 AM on July 11, 2017 [3 favorites]


Yeah, I think the 'owl' design from the ring and owl cave, and this playing card/secret message black drawing are definitely one and the same. The (rather, my hypothesized) reason for the differences in design: the stylized diamond-looking one is a sort of reverent, passed-down-through-the-ages symbol, and the black hand-drawn one is something more immediately 'familiar' to the entity drawing it.
posted by destructive cactus at 8:55 AM on July 11, 2017


Eccentric quirksters and gorgeous rock stars. Gordon and Albert fall into the first camp

Albert is the most gorgeous rockstar of all
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:15 AM on July 11, 2017 [14 favorites]


GORDON'S NOT WHAT? I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE, ALBERT, DON'T TALK IN RIDDLES

Favorited a hundred times (in my head, if not in reality).
posted by elsietheeel at 9:17 AM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]



Being a dude, I'm maybe reading it wrong and don't really get it, but I was just reminded really strongly of all the times I've been uncomfortable in a social setting and didn't even know what to do with my hands or how to sit/stand


no, that's exactly what it was. Agent Preston doesn't know how to be still comfortably, but Diane has absolutely mastered the art. she just sat there without moving a hair on her head or any muscle but the nicotine extracting ones.

Preston is just basically very bad at people and being lovely lets her hide it a little bit but only some of the time. like she was great in the interrogation but also did not care about poor scooby-doo's magnificent suffering even a little. Cooper would have been equally single-minded but he would have had some philosophical sympathy to express afterwards, even if not to the man himself.
posted by queenofbithynia at 9:18 AM on July 11, 2017 [5 favorites]


Agent Preston doesn't know how to be still comfortably, but Diane has absolutely mastered the art. she just sat there without moving a hair on her head or any muscle but the nicotine extracting ones.

That's because Diane still has the glorious life preserver of the socially awkward, the cigarette. It's been almost four and a half years since I quit, but there are still so many times that I would kill to have one. It's a means of escaping a situation, it's something to do with your hands, it's both isolating and a special club, and it gives you a reason to BE when you'd really rather be doing anything but...

So I can definitely understand the point of those who read the scene as Tammy being an ex-smoker. But she seems too straitlaced to have been a smoker (and compare her actions to Gordon, who had more of a smoker's ease in the situation... although that's probably just Gordon being chill in general) so I'm kinda feeling like it was more just...awkwardness. And maybe Agent Preston just isn't used to being in awkward situations?

Had a point. Lost it. Need more caffeine.
posted by elsietheeel at 9:26 AM on July 11, 2017 [8 favorites]


Hah. I never knew I had social anxiety until I quit smoking. Arrrrgh.
posted by destructive cactus at 9:46 AM on July 11, 2017 [7 favorites]


But wow, I was disappointed by how straightforward and pedestrian all the lore dumping in this episode was. Hastings going on about searching for parallel universes and talking to Don Davis about getting coordinates to find portals to another dimension seemed more like an episode of Stargate SG-1 than the weird, mysterious, and creepy stuff Lynch has been showing us.

And all the tedious spelling out of details the show already implied. How many times have we been told that the Major's body looks 40-years-old...THE SAME AGE WHEN HE SUPPOSEDLY DIED!? Or that business of there being no record of Doogie's existence...SINCE 1997!? It's not like the characters had any interesting reactions to this information; it felt more like "we need to spell this out for the people who didn't get it yet."

On the other hand we have Tim Roth being amazing and the masterfully creepy bit where he says the farmers are sleeping out back and then we see the bodies in a horribly unnatural pile (at first it looks like maybe just two people sitting in a really weird way?) in the background as Roth and Doop walk by. And Roth's gross eagerness to see Jennifer Jason Leigh make out with Doop.
posted by straight at 10:22 AM on July 11, 2017


Who is the mysterious billionaire, what is that box, and how did they figure out the technology to build it because that's some Blue Rose shit right there?

Would you believe that I forgot about the box?

Also, how many sets of coördinates are we dealing with here? Boop wants coordinates. But Briggs also does, right? And Briggs left some behind 25 years ago. I assume that the first and the third are the same, but presumably the second set of coördinates—the one Briggs wanted while he was hibernating or whatever—are different?
posted by kenko at 10:54 AM on July 11, 2017


Was Briggs going to return to Bobby et al. in two days (thanks to their dirt moving), but now is dead because of that meddling Matthew Lillard?
posted by armacy at 10:57 AM on July 11, 2017


Was Briggs going to return to Bobby et al. in two days (thanks to their dirt moving), but now is dead because of that meddling Matthew Lillard?

My hypothesis about that event is that Briggs didn't know his travel through the portal would be interrupted by "all the people" (my guess: a buncha those "got a light?" guys showed up), which sent his head into the other dimension, where Cooper sees it when he's atop that weird ship thing when he's about to return to the real world, and left his now-dead headless body in the real world. That'd kinda explain Dougie's ring in his stomach, too.
posted by destructive cactus at 11:51 AM on July 11, 2017 [1 favorite]


So like maybe the Major's body getting left behind is just another case of whatever happened to Coop that caused his shoes to get left behind?
posted by straight at 12:22 PM on July 11, 2017


People's heads just wander away in the other dimension. Hard to say way. It happened to the original Dougie too. One of the woodmen has his head float away in a cell.
posted by maxsparber at 12:26 PM on July 11, 2017


Well, Lillard said (I think) that his head had gone through the portal when all the people arrived; maybe they held onto him and delayed his ascension through the portal long enough for it to close, or something similar.
posted by destructive cactus at 12:27 PM on July 11, 2017


That'd kinda explain Dougie's ring in his stomach, too

I admit that you've lost me there.
posted by kenko at 1:26 PM on July 11, 2017 [2 favorites]


I presume that Major Briggs' brain has been hoarded for some nefarious purpose.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 2:41 PM on July 11, 2017


Argh, I hate how I keep losing stuff in other dimensions... socks, keys, rings, shoes, heads, bodies...
posted by speicus at 3:29 PM on July 11, 2017 [4 favorites]


Just checked: Dougie's head doesn't float away, it just pops out of existence.
posted by grumpybear69 at 4:18 PM on July 11, 2017


Also, how many sets of coördinates are we dealing with here? Boop wants coordinates. But Briggs also does, right? And Briggs left some behind 25 years ago. I assume that the first and the third are the same, but presumably the second set of coördinates—the one Briggs wanted while he was hibernating or whatever—are different?

The coordinates that Boop wants, Ray was going to get from Hastings' secretary. (I don't think they've specified how she fits in to the Hastings/Davenport "Search for the Zone." Ray just says that she knows what he knows. This is from the conversation between Coopleganger and Ray in the diner.)

I have to go back and listen to Hastings' speech again, because I'm not sure if they had coordinates that lead them to Briggs in the first place, or if they had time to acquire the coordinates that Briggs wanted after the encounter in "the Zone."
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 6:48 PM on July 11, 2017


The Twin Peaks Wiki reminds me that despite asking them to "acquire" coordinates, Briggs gives them coordinates which Ruth writes on her hand.
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 6:55 PM on July 11, 2017


Wait, that might be backwards. It might be that they had already gotten the coordinates and Ruth brought them to the meeting written on her hand. (Why?)
posted by He Is Only The Imposter at 6:57 PM on July 11, 2017


Mod note: Added "First Watch" tag to keep the "Previous" and "Next" Episode links synched in the series and the Show Page list intact. Please let me know if it was intentionally left off for any reason!
posted by taz (staff) at 1:16 AM on July 12, 2017


I keep losing stuff in other dimensions... socks

That's more like The Left Sock Thievers.
posted by hippybear at 2:07 AM on July 12, 2017


@Imposter: Briggs told them to find the coordinates in a 'secure military database.' Ruth wrote them on her hand and they brought them back to Briggs when the gotalights (presumably) appeared and started wreaking havoc.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:18 AM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm beginning to think that Jerry accidentally stumbled into one of the Lodges. It is entirely possible that his foot is not his foot, in the way that MIKE's arm was not his arm. And the way he interacts on the phone w/ Ben in S3E7, in retrospect, indicates that he may have encountered Ben's doppelganger. Re-watching that scene, what first scanned as "too high for the supermarket" now scans as genuine existential fear.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:06 AM on July 12, 2017 [4 favorites]


Who knows, maybe Jerry is actually in the spot that Briggs is directing the sheriffs to, just accidentally.
posted by kenko at 10:13 AM on July 12, 2017 [4 favorites]


Loved this ep. "LET'S THINK OUT LOUD" ahead of a totally transparent sequence of expositional dialogue was so very delicious. That David Lynch!
posted by freya_lamb at 11:44 AM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


I admit that you've lost me there.

What I mean is that, maybe when Brigg's neck hole (sorry) is right up against the portal that beheads him when it closes, maybe this is right around the time Dougie is on his way back through dimensions, and maybe his ring slips off and ... yeah. Or maybe if the times don't line up, maybe the ring was kinda floating around in that other place, and the portal created a bit of a vacuum and sucked it through into his stomach.
posted by destructive cactus at 3:42 PM on July 12, 2017


I mean, what seems likeliest to me is that Major Briggs just...swallowed Dougie's ring for some reason, but who can say. Maybe the entire Dougie storyline takes place in a tiny manufactured pocket universe that's been hidden in Major Briggs' stomach, and is now shuddering to an end as the gut flora that sustains it slowly dies on a mortuary slab, getting a little closer to the great beyond every time Adorable Improv Comic Coroner slides the drawer open.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:22 AM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


She is delightful, isn't she? I'm always pleased to see her.
posted by Grangousier at 4:23 AM on July 13, 2017 [8 favorites]


I somehow forgot that when Cooplicate was being sent on his way from Murder Farm while ordering a hit and making out with one of his underlings, he was given a little snack bag of Cheetos. And now the scene is stuck in my head, because that may be the weirdest and best thing this whole episode. I mean you don't throw that into a scene by accident, it's just intentionally poking a hole in the serious atmosphere by giving your big scary villain a tiny little bag of fucking Cheetos while he's in full Tarantino character mode, and I love it.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:33 PM on July 13, 2017 [10 favorites]


A snack bag of Cheetos that she was keeping in her back pocket. If someone offered me some crushed up ass Cheetos for a snack, I'd probably decline.
posted by codacorolla at 9:25 AM on July 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm glad (?) to see that product placement works even in Twin Peaks.
posted by hippybear at 10:37 AM on July 15, 2017 [1 favorite]


Mark Frost's comedy sensibilities: Dangerously Cheesy.
posted by codacorolla at 12:28 PM on July 15, 2017 [2 favorites]


David Lynch famously called product placement "total fucking bullshit" in 2007. But I don't think the show could have gotten made without it this decade. And there are bunch of product beauty shots and well-composed logos throughout the show so far. But Lynch and Frost have seemingly figured out a way to satisfy the letter of product placement agreements without making the show into an eighteen-hour series of commercials.

First, no one brand gets preferential treatment. Samsung. Dell, Apple, Microsoft—all these companies have their products and logos prominently featured, but it's not like the Hawaii Five-O revival where the heroes all drive shiny GMCs while the bad guys all drive cheap terrible cars like Janey-E's.

Second, in every scene with product placement, something else is happening that makes everyone forget about the product. Sure, Diane has an iPhone, but holy shit, did she just get Mr. C's "AROUND THE DINNER TABLE" text? Sure, Agent Preston uses a Samsung laptop, but holy shit, what's going on with Mr. C's voice, and did he just say something backwards? Sure, Sheriff Truman and Doc Hayward emphasize how useful and convenient Microsoft Skype is, but holy shit, how cool would it be to have a desk with a hideaway monitor like that? (If you can tell me the brand of the monitor in the desk without rewatching the scene, I'd be shocked.)

My favorite product placement in the series was most likely not paid—Heather D'Angelo from Au Revoir Simone was playing an Arturia Minibrute during their two on-screen performances. If I didn't already have one, I'd want to buy one.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:46 PM on July 15, 2017


But Lynch and Frost have seemingly figured out a way to satisfy the letter of product placement agreements without making the show into an eighteen-hour series of commercials.

I recently watched I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore, which is a great movie and I recommend it highly. But the Coors Light product placement was too aggressive.
posted by hippybear at 12:54 PM on July 15, 2017


Honestly, few things make me happier than the idea of some megacorporation paying like a million dollars to get their product in the show, and then the look on their faces when they see Jennifer Jason Leigh pull it out of her ass.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:20 PM on July 15, 2017 [5 favorites]


There's product placement, and there's product placement.
posted by straight at 10:44 PM on July 15, 2017 [3 favorites]


Has it been mentioned that the interview with Agent Preston and Hastings was actually Chrysta Bell's first acting scene ever? Lillard mentioned it in an interview somewhere (probably VF because I somehow fail to read anything else).
posted by elsietheeel at 2:53 PM on July 16, 2017


Was it? Looks like she had a few roles before this one, including one in the 1997 Once Upon a Time in China and America martial arts film.
posted by christopherious at 4:48 PM on July 16, 2017


Well then somebody is telling tales!
posted by elsietheeel at 8:10 PM on July 16, 2017


There's been so much killing in this series so far - my memories of the original seasons are distant and indistinct at best, but surely they weren't quite as murdery as this one.

I'm not sure every product shot is a product placement - we saw the brand of the dumbphone (was it Alcatel?) that bad Cooper used to compose his text message (the old fashioned way) while at the farm before it was shot to pieces: if any money changed hands to get that on-screen, it was too much.

Seeing as how Diane received bad Cooper's SMS, might she have also been the recipient of his prison phone-call?

The perfunctory update the South Dakota police gave the FBI glossed over some significant details: they think Bill shot Ruth in the eye and cut her head off; then their lawyer happened to shoot Phyllis... in the eye?
posted by misteraitch at 1:39 AM on October 28, 2019


Fucking Chad.
posted by ckape at 4:47 PM on December 7, 2019


Totally a stylized owl, once you see it, though I wouldn't have seen it without prompting.

The things that may or may not be stylized owls may in fact be exactly what they seem.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 12:00 PM on July 3, 2020


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