Parts 1 & 2 - My log has a message for you & The stars turn and a time presents itself (SPOILERS)

[Jasper]

I'll say this. The MIKE "Face of God" monologue was really awesome stuff and one of my favorite scenes. MIKE/Strobel convinced me. If he's lying, he's doing a great job.

Strobel is arguably the best actor in the entire original run. It might be pointing out the obvious to say that Al Strobel was playing MIKE as MIKE was written in the "face of God" scene. The concept of the lodges wasn't even established at that point, as there had only been the Red Room dream sequence. The meaning of this was in flux, and the identity of MIKE, imo, seemed to be retconned in FWWM. In FWWM I saw MIKE as lawful evil, whereas BOB was chaotic evil. BOB was like the designated collector of garmonbozia who got out of control, "stole the corn", and in this way achieved more power than he should have had. Possessing Laura, a special soul, would have given BOB even more power, along with consuming all of the garmonbozia gathered from Leland.

Consider a few things:

• In the script for FWWM, MIKE (or "Gerard" as it's written) behaves in this manner outside the train car:

Gerard leans in to take a look and steps back laughing. he yells out for Bob to hear.
"THAT'S HIS OWN DAUGHTER YOU'RE KILLING."

He continues to laugh and runs away from the train car.

• In FWWM, the MFAP is seen gnashing his teeth and making nasty, feral expressions and gestures as Laura is killed. I always took this to be his thrill at the production of garmonbozia.

MFAP.jpg (177.54 KiB) Viewed 9861 times

• MIKE/Gerard does not attempt to rescue Laura or Ronette (although he and Ronette work together to open the door), he merely attempts to get the ring to Laura (thus perhaps dooming her to death, surely preventing BOB from possessing her, and probably securing any garmonbozia produced on the occasion).
• In the script, the MFAP's parts in the convenience store scene were originally attributed to "MIKE". A lot of people have taken the MFAP in that scene to represent MIKE, long before any arm-severing.
• MIKE/Gerard and the Arm unite at the end of FWWM, as one being (not permanently separated) that consumes garmonbozia.
• In the return, Strobel is again listed as playing Gerard (for some reason), and he and the Arm seem helpful (which is disorienting after FWWM) but we must remember that his ultimate goal is to get BOB back under control, and the best way to do that is surely to get good Cooper back out into the world. His helpfulness can perhaps be seen as entirely self-serving. Since BOB can be seen as more evil than MIKE/Gerard and the Arm, and since MIKE/Gerard and the Arm want BOB under control, the doppelganger of the Arm would likely be on the side of BOB.

Then again, maybe Lynch decided that the Arm and Gerard/MIKE are good or neutral in the return. He seems to take a lot of liberties where the lodge and the lodge denizens are concerned.

[AmyCringeneck]

This may have already been asked, so apologies if it has been: why do you think the shot from the pilot, the girl running through the high school courtyard, was put in there?

[Cholmes690]

Hi there
- Why wasn't MIKE in the convenience store meeting then?
- Familiar could just mean an associate in the act of killing people. A partner in crime, an enforcer, where the business is bewitching and killing? But then, BOB is said to be scared of MIKE, so maybe BOB truly is a mere servant of MIKE ...
- I'm totally convinced that MIKE saw God (how did it happen?) because MIKE's not really done anything to make me think he's a fraud. In Garmonbozia, he's not so much after the wages of sin, than the just payback for that sin, which is then laundered via his body and released back into the cosmos?[/quote]

-Well as I said, I believe Mike was in the convenience store, as his true form is the Man From Another Place

-Could be, but I am taking Familiar is being used by this definition (google Familiar definition) "a demon supposedly attending and obeying a witch, often said to assume the form of an animal."

-In FWWM we see Cooper post entrapment in the Lodge where Mike (or Man From Another Place if you prefer) asks him, "Do you know who I am?" when Cooper admits he does not, he replies "I am the arm, and I sound like this-" and then he makes a stereotypical Indian whooping noise. Later in the film where Mike (in the body of Phillip Gerard) harrasses Laura and Leland in the car with the Ring, he hear the stereotypical Indian whooping noise play as he approaches.
He states that Bob stole the corn (garmonbozia) from the store. He then proceeds to shout out in a nonsensical way that it is Leland tormenting Laura. What happens? We see extreme pain and suffering (garmonbozia) from both Laura and Leland.
I believe Bob is hoarding the garmonbozia for himself and not sharing it with Mike as he is meant to as his familiar.

I believe Phillip Gerard is aware of Mike. We know he is because he takes Haliperodal to suppress him. I believe Phillip Gerard saw the face of God and cut off his arm in an attempt to sever his connection with Mike. Mike co-opted his story and tells it to Cooper to earn his trust (I acknowledge this part relies mostly on conjecture and interpretation)

The fact that the MFAP refers to himself as The Arm, and Phillip Gerad claims to have cut off the arm to stop killing, clearly reads to me as the MFAP is Mike. He is what Gerard tried to eliminate, but couldn't.

I believed Mike 100% on my first watchthrough 9 years ago. Then I got to FWWM and it was like and epiphany. Mike is a spirit of the Black Lodge, why should we believe anything he says.

[MoondogJR]

I don't want to complain, but I'm going to stop reading this thread because I've encountered to much episode 3 & 4 information. I thought that was not the initial idea for this thread.
Already read that

Spoiler:

Briggs apparantly died in a fire

? And read to much info about the Michael Cera character.

C'mon Sunday! Be here already so I can catch up with you guys that have already seen 3 & 4.

Also: the parts 3 & 4 thread is going to be a looooooong read, already 65 pages now

[Rodigy]

I preferred the first two episodes to the last two tbh.
I love how dark it is.
This show takes me to another place.
I've never experienced these feelings watching anything in my life, it's done something to my mind.

[Cholmes690]

On the subject of Phillip Jeffries...in Fire Walk With Me, we see David Bowie's character Phillip Jeffries appear in Philadelphia as if from nowhere and he points at Cooper "Who do you think that is there!?" And he recounts a meeting above the convenience store in the lodge he witnessed. From Cole we garner Jeffries disappeared and was obviously trapped inside the Lodge.

Now in the deleted scenes of Fire Walk With Me we see Jeffries calmly hanging out in a hotel in Buenos Aires before he appears in Philly and then he returns there in a very traumatic way.

Then in the new season we see Bob use his computer/phone and he initially presumes he is talking to Jeffries. So what if this is meant to show us that like Cooper the real Jeffries is trapped in the Lodge and his doppleganger is up to no good in Buenos Aires, but somehow his true self escaped the lodge for a moment to talk to Gordon and then he was sucked back into the lodge- but we've learned from the new season that the doppleganger body and the true self cannot exist in the physical world at the same time.

It would also suggest that Bob and whichever spirit (Jumping Man?) is inhabiting Jeffries doppleganger are working together in our world. Also maybe the fact that someone else answered Bob is suggesting Jeffries' doppleganger has been eliminated and that's why we don't see him (RIP David Bowie)

[chrisfil]

I'm still trying to take it all in I was very, very lucky to attend the premiere for 1 & 2 and found the whole thing so overwhelming I've not been able to completely process it all until now. My first reaction was that I loved large parts of it, and absolutely hated other more minor parts. It was a great experience, as we traveled from Ireland and had never seen any of the cast up close. Met some nice people, and hope some of them are on here.

The NYC, Doppleganger Coop and South Dakota stuff is utterly brilliant. This is exactly what I hoped for - a continuation of the story that would widen the canvas. So many fantastic shocking moments. More than I could have hoped for.

I loved the lodge stuff, but I thought on first viewing there was too much of it straight away. My partner (who hasn't seen all of the original) was totally confused and I thought he'd hate it, but he just said 'It's David Lynch' and shrugged his shoulders. I think he liked it. I was surprised so much of the show was in the lodge - I thought they might hold that back a bit to make it a bit acceptable to new viewers. Even though at the time I thought it would have been better to hold back some of this to later on, I loved the boldness of just carrying on with the story and taking the wierdness up a notch.

Unfortunately it was the Twin Peaks set stuff I didn't like - Andy/Lucy, Ben/Jerry I just thought were *terribly* acted/shot. No disrespect to the actors, I guess this is the style they were asked to do, but it seems badly out of place. The other non-lodge stuff had a heightened/off-kilter reality, that you expect with a Lynch film, but these scenes were dreadful and seemed like something from a send-up. These feel like 'deleted scenes' that are interesting, but seem like they are just placed to pad out scenes set in Twin Peaks. Lynch made the right call in FWWM with cutting a lot of this kind of stuff.The stuff in the roadhouse was great though.

All in all I feel it's 90% FFWM, 10% the worst bits of season 2.

[ikerno]

The intro was great. Young Laura and Cooper in the Lodge, and old high school shots. And then, music and nature.

First scene in the Lodge too, going directly to the core of the story. Important conversation. The gramophone, the sounds, Richard and Linda, 430, someone is at home...

I think that despite he seems to be as good as always, is not exactly The Giant. In the credits is ??????? The scene is in b/w, he is wearing the Old Waiter shirt (for the first time?) and Cooper vanishes in an odd way. Too many differences.

I love how old Laura`s doppelganger moves, talks and even blinks. It`s so spectral. We don`t know what she whisper to Coop, but it must be significant and scary. And forbidden too, because I think that The Magician (the monkey who said “Judy”) punishes her right after.

The NY night shots are beautiful. Pure gold. Lynch moves the camera masterly. The glass box mystery is amazing. Someone in this forum have predicted that the unknown billionaire is Audrey Horne, searching for Coop. I would love that. The demon`s appearance is really fantastic. The so criticized FX and animations are very artistic, very lynchian. Awesome.

I like Cooper`s doppelganger. And I think Kyle MacLachlan`s performance is very good. Great work.

Sarah Palmer viewing that bloody scenes, very disturbing!

Log Lady`s message to Hawk is intriguing. I remember what Coop said to Hawk about search for him. Coulson`s work is as touching as priceless.

I don`t understand the South Dakota plot. Why bad Cooper (with Bob) possessed Bill Hastings (a mere high school director) to kill a librarian and an unknown man, and then kill his assistant wife? We will see.

The Evolution of The Arm is what it is. A lynchian artistic creation to replace Anderson. I can`t understand his decision. Fucking money! It`s a huge loss.

[mtwentz]

I'm still trying to take it all in I was very, very lucky to attend the premiere for 1 & 2 and found the whole thing so overwhelming I've not been able to completely process it all until now. My first reaction was that I loved large parts of it, and absolutely hated other more minor parts. It was a great experience, as we traveled from Ireland and had never seen any of the cast up close. Met some nice people, and hope some of them are on here.

The NYC, Doppleganger Coop and South Dakota stuff is utterly brilliant. This is exactly what I hoped for - a continuation of the story that would widen the canvas. So many fantastic shocking moments. More than I could have hoped for.

I loved the lodge stuff, but I thought on first viewing there was too much of it straight away. My partner (who hasn't seen all of the original) was totally confused and I thought he'd hate it, but he just said 'It's David Lynch' and shrugged his shoulders. I think he liked it. I was surprised so much of the show was in the lodge - I thought they might hold that back a bit to make it a bit acceptable to new viewers. Even though at the time I thought it would have been better to hold back some of this to later on, I loved the boldness of just carrying on with the story and taking the wierdness up a notch.

Unfortunately it was the Twin Peaks set stuff I didn't like - Andy/Lucy, Ben/Jerry I just thought were *terribly* acted/shot. No disrespect to the actors, I guess this is the style they were asked to do, but it seems badly out of place. The other non-lodge stuff had a heightened/off-kilter reality, that you expect with a Lynch film, but these scenes were dreadful and seemed like something from a send-up. These feel like 'deleted scenes' that are interesting, but seem like they are just placed to pad out scenes set in Twin Peaks. Lynch made the right call in FWWM with cutting a lot of this kind of stuff.The stuff in the roadhouse was great though.

All in all I feel it's 90% FFWM, 10% the worst bits of season 2.

Great that you got to go to the premiere- that is awesome!

Have you watched it over again? I have found it only gets better on repeat viewings and some of the parts I did not like as much on the first viewing I end up liking much better on the second viewing.

And yes, everyone feels at first that some of the initial Twin Peaks stuff are going nowhere, that they could be deleted scenes. But almost certainly they are all set up scenes that appear earlier on in the movies/series than they normally would simply because we need to establish that Twin Peaks the town is the title of this show .

The scene that is most difficult to figure out where it might be headed is the Ben and Jerry scene. I did not notice the acting being any better or worse than the original series- it was remarkably the same. The negative reaction many have to that scene is that there is no 'payoff'. The only things going on in that scene is that we realize Jerry is a hippy and Ben may or may not be having sex with his assistant.

However, several posters noticed that there is a reference to a very rich woman from New York who has complained about a skunk in her room. Could this be connected to the glass box in New York created by an anonymous billionaire? I think that is a good possibility. If that is true, is Ashley Judd's character just an assistant, or is she potentially a spy or an FBI agent, or something like that?

As for Lucy and Andy, I think the absence of the Badalamenti music may be the biggest factor, along with the fact that Harry S. Truman does not appear with them. I think Hawk does a great job filling in for Harry though.

[Framed_Angel]

This may have already been asked, so apologies if it has been: why do you think the shot from the pilot, the girl running through the high school courtyard, was put in there?

I've been wondering about that, especially with emphasis at times on faces this season. Laura Palmer pulling the front of her face; creepy inmate shadow-guy who disappears while his face floats off... Keep watching into Ep.3 and see if you don't notice more (would have to post about that in the other thread)~

[wxray]

The scene that is most difficult to figure out where it might be headed is the Ben and Jerry scene. I did not notice the acting being any better or worse than the original series- it was remarkably the same. The negative reaction many have to that scene is that there is no 'payoff'. The only things going on in that scene is that we realize Jerry is a hippy and Ben may or may not be having sex with his assistant.
...
As for Lucy and Andy, I think the absence of the Badalamenti music may be the biggest factor, along with the fact that Harry S. Truman does not appear with them. I think Hawk does a great job filling in for Harry though.

The lack of music for these scenes definitely is putting us off kilter. The "harshness" and every-wart-seen of digital HD also throws us off, compared to our memories.

I think it will change, and since this is for 1 & 2 only, I'll preface a spoiler:

Spoiler:

The music in the Bobby/Laura scene in 3&4 rocks you to your soul. You'll cry.

[Moggerz]

Unsure if it this discussed before, but i guess Gordon is going to be eating donuts in Buckhorn!

[StrangerDanger]

The so criticized FX and animations are very artistic, very lynchian. Awesome.

... The Evolution of The Arm is what it is. A lynchian artistic creation to replace Anderson. I can`t understand his decision. Fucking money! It`s a huge loss.

I love how Lynch didn't try to be too clever with the CGI, it felt more like a professor drawing a diagram that is just good enough to explain a point.

As for TREE ... there's serious genius behind it, a lot is being said on the internet, e.g.
- TREE = Seedling on Julee Cruise's Voice of Love album
- LAURA said "Meanwhile ..... [tree sapling gesture]"
- TREE is electrified even though wood is considered an insulator, compare with Burning Bush, which burns even though it aint being consumed, it aint even dead (is it the doppelganger of Burning Bush?)
- TREE is like Forbidden Tree, with Serpent coiled around it, hence sibilant voice.

and so on.

[Soolsma]

Unsure if it this discussed before, but i guess Gordon is going to be eating donuts in Buckhorn!

Nice catch!

[wxray]

After rewatching 1 & 2 tonight, a few observations.

1) "Something's Wrong": This phrase is said many times, by multiple characters. Very prominently by Phillip Gerard. Even Shelley says it about her daughter, and Shelley's girlfriend says it about James.

2) What the HELL is James' "Dog's Bullocks" friend wearing on his right hand? It is some really weird misshapen green glove, or something.

greenglove.JPG (15.02 KiB) Viewed 9624 times