Episode 2
Posted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 3:27 pm
This thread can be used to discuss any random questions, observations, or other details about episode 2 (i.e. the second hour-long episode of season 1, directed by David Lynch, with the Red Room sequence). I'll kick it off...
I just read the script for the first time, on Lynchnet. Not sure if it was the final draft but there were some notable differences. A few thoughts spring to mind (and I'd love to hear other perspectives on the script/screen differences):
1) Though it's credited to both Lynch & Frost, I wonder how much Lynch actually contributed to it. It feels more like a Frost script (and I've heard that he was pretty much responsible for the Tibet rock-throwing scene, other than Lynch coming to him and saying, "we've got to put something in about the Dalai Lama!"). The stuff that was most Lynchian about the episode - the sandwiches in the beginning, Audrey's dance at the diner - aren't in the script at all. In fact, the Audrey-Donna scene is an interesting contrast (it takes place outside church instead of the RR). There's no real undertone of rivalry like you get in the diner sequence, and Audrey never mentions her father's affection for Laura or her own desire for Agent Cooper. A sweet, albeit kind of pointless scene as scripted; this seems to be the greatest single difference between what was written and what aired.
2) Ray Wise has mentioned that the blood on the portrait was an accident, and sure enough the scripted scene ends with him still spinning with the portrait. It's never been clear to me if Lynch/Frost knew that Leland would be the killer from the pilot or just from the early episodes of season one. It would be funny if the blood on the portrait sealed the deal for them (especially since that would mean Wise inadvertently made himself the killer, something he didn't want to be). That does seem unlikely though; among other reasons, this was the second-to-last s1 episode shot (scripted doesn't matter, since the blood wasn't in the script) and I have a feeling they knew before then. Also there are so many subtle clues in the pilot; though I suppose that could just be the logic of the material leading in a certain direction before the creators themselves knew.
3) It's often mentioned that the Pete/Catherine scene must have been moved from the beginning to the end of the episode, because it refers to the fish-in-the-percolator incident as "today." But I didn't realize how many other scenes shifted too. The drug deal was supposed to be one of the last scenes rather than one of the first, and Leland dancing with the portrait also took place on the first night. Interesting, because people have theorized that Cooper's dream of the dancing Little Man occurs simultaneously Leland's dancing, which obviously wasn't the original intention. This scene is also a much more effective segue into the dream than the drug deal. Wonder why the Pete/Catherine scene was switched with the drug deal though (especially since the latter seems to pay off the "earlier" scene with Shelly & Bobby).
4) I always assumed that the dream sequence was supposed to contain the whole European ending, since that's what Cooper describes in the following episode. But I never realized that, as scripted, the dream sequence would have played as reality (until Cooper wakes up in the end)! In other words, an audience watching it at the time would have thought these things were really happening...at least until we get into "25 Years Later" and the Red Room. And even then they probably would have thought "what's going on" rather than "he's dreaming." There are even little tricks, like Sarah telling Leland she's going downstairs (before we see her on the couch in Cooper's dream) or Cooper tossing and turning and waking up within the dream itself. So it could've been even more of a mindfuck than it already was! This seems to me like a really cool missed opportunity, but obviously it would have played way too long. Which is maybe why Lynch supposedly went to the network and asked for another 2-hour episode?
If anyone knows more details about how Episode 2 was shot and scripted, please share here. Along with any other random thoughts or observations about the episode.
I just read the script for the first time, on Lynchnet. Not sure if it was the final draft but there were some notable differences. A few thoughts spring to mind (and I'd love to hear other perspectives on the script/screen differences):
1) Though it's credited to both Lynch & Frost, I wonder how much Lynch actually contributed to it. It feels more like a Frost script (and I've heard that he was pretty much responsible for the Tibet rock-throwing scene, other than Lynch coming to him and saying, "we've got to put something in about the Dalai Lama!"). The stuff that was most Lynchian about the episode - the sandwiches in the beginning, Audrey's dance at the diner - aren't in the script at all. In fact, the Audrey-Donna scene is an interesting contrast (it takes place outside church instead of the RR). There's no real undertone of rivalry like you get in the diner sequence, and Audrey never mentions her father's affection for Laura or her own desire for Agent Cooper. A sweet, albeit kind of pointless scene as scripted; this seems to be the greatest single difference between what was written and what aired.
2) Ray Wise has mentioned that the blood on the portrait was an accident, and sure enough the scripted scene ends with him still spinning with the portrait. It's never been clear to me if Lynch/Frost knew that Leland would be the killer from the pilot or just from the early episodes of season one. It would be funny if the blood on the portrait sealed the deal for them (especially since that would mean Wise inadvertently made himself the killer, something he didn't want to be). That does seem unlikely though; among other reasons, this was the second-to-last s1 episode shot (scripted doesn't matter, since the blood wasn't in the script) and I have a feeling they knew before then. Also there are so many subtle clues in the pilot; though I suppose that could just be the logic of the material leading in a certain direction before the creators themselves knew.
3) It's often mentioned that the Pete/Catherine scene must have been moved from the beginning to the end of the episode, because it refers to the fish-in-the-percolator incident as "today." But I didn't realize how many other scenes shifted too. The drug deal was supposed to be one of the last scenes rather than one of the first, and Leland dancing with the portrait also took place on the first night. Interesting, because people have theorized that Cooper's dream of the dancing Little Man occurs simultaneously Leland's dancing, which obviously wasn't the original intention. This scene is also a much more effective segue into the dream than the drug deal. Wonder why the Pete/Catherine scene was switched with the drug deal though (especially since the latter seems to pay off the "earlier" scene with Shelly & Bobby).
4) I always assumed that the dream sequence was supposed to contain the whole European ending, since that's what Cooper describes in the following episode. But I never realized that, as scripted, the dream sequence would have played as reality (until Cooper wakes up in the end)! In other words, an audience watching it at the time would have thought these things were really happening...at least until we get into "25 Years Later" and the Red Room. And even then they probably would have thought "what's going on" rather than "he's dreaming." There are even little tricks, like Sarah telling Leland she's going downstairs (before we see her on the couch in Cooper's dream) or Cooper tossing and turning and waking up within the dream itself. So it could've been even more of a mindfuck than it already was! This seems to me like a really cool missed opportunity, but obviously it would have played way too long. Which is maybe why Lynch supposedly went to the network and asked for another 2-hour episode?
If anyone knows more details about how Episode 2 was shot and scripted, please share here. Along with any other random thoughts or observations about the episode.