It was a solid part -- but after the disappointment that was Part 12, I was still expecting more.
Like Part 10, which in my eyes should have been Part 9, I think this part should have been Part 12. I know I would have liked it more if it has been the case. Even on a continuity level it would have been more logic, as Part 13's beginning, with the Mitchum brothers dancing with Dougie, seems like the direct continuation of Part 11. It's strange to know that Dougie, between the two, had the time to return home to play with Sonnie Jim (like we see it on Part 12). But still, there was a lot of good things here !
- First, it really felt like a disjointed part. We get to see a lot of the characters and of the different stories, but it was frustrating to never be able to focus on one of the narratives. It lacked some kind of an anchor. But that's what you get when you're watching a 18 hours movie cut in parts ! That's also the beauty of it...
And I have to say though that the theme of corruption and greed really dominates almost all of the scenes, which allows the part to still have an emotionnal center. Norma's boyfriend (who made me think of Michael Keaton's character in the clever "The Founder"), Anthony's poison, and obviously the always so materialistic and selfish Janey-E -- who, like I had foreseen after Part 11, was so happy of Sonny Jim's new gym set, and still don't give a shit about Dougie, letting him crashing into the door while she drives in her fancy new car -- : all of that was a good metaphor of what's evil this season. Not just modernity, guns or violence -- that's too easy -- but really desire itself. Expanding. Wanting more.
Remember what Mr. C was saying in Part 1 : "I don't need. I want". Good Janey-E is exactly like that. And honestly she should let Dougie go and get married with Norma's boyfriend, they are a match made in heaven. Or maybe she's just gonna wait Sonny Jim is old enough to rape him
Oh I know, while looking in awe at her new car (obviously her's, since Dougie isn't able to drive anymore, but who cares ?), she said to Dougie : "I love you". That must be sincere and romantic I'm sure !
- Esthetic was great in this part. Sonny Jim's gym set at night, the scene between Nadine and Jacoby with the drape going back and forth, Richard's arrival while Bad Coop is interrogating Ray... it was a joy to watch ! And the way, the arm wresting scene made me think of the bend rebar challenge between Chet Desmond and Sheriff Cable in Fire Walk With Me. Always the same absurdity about virility
- I loved the ending and I agree with LostintheMovies : it was better to have Ed scene after James's song, because the beauty of Ed looking at the road is precisely the deception and the melancholy. Personally, while watching the scene, I was sure Mr. C was going to show up at the gas station (maybe with Richard, and maybe, yeah, dressed up as Cooper) -- but it would have been a predictable and very traditionnal cliffhanger. Something that's NOT season 3. Instead, nothing happened. And that's the point, I guess. We are waiting for a twist, in the show, and in our life, that's never going to happen.
About James song, I was moved by it (even if at the beginning I laughed obviously) precisely because of all the "greed and corruption" theme of the part : it felt so naive and disarming in contrast....
So basically it was a good part, which I'm sure I'll be able to enjoy more when all of this will be over and I'll be rewatching the whole thing from the start. Because Part 12's disappointment was still a bit heavy on me...
Part 8 > Part 3 > Part 1 > Part 11 > Part 4 > Part 7 > Part 10 > Part 13 > Part 5 > Part 2 > Part 6 > Part 9 > Part 12
About Charlie, he makes me think less of the cowboy from Mulholland Drive than the psy from INLAND EMPIRE...