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

[MasterMastermind]

Remember, it was Mark who came up with the Lodges, inhabiting spirits, dugpas, Windom Earle, the dweller on the threshold, etc. He might be less visually abstract or surreal than Lynch but his ideas can be just as bizarre.

Wow yes. As a relative TP amateur, l just blanket credit everything to Lynch but l do try to say "Lynch and Frost" because Frost, Engels, Peyton etc. figured large also, and as you pointed out, Frost was perhaps a greater contributor than Lynch.

Yeah, David Lynch is my all-time favorite filmmaker but Mark is quite brilliant in his own right. Pretty much everything in season one after the Red Room episode was Mark running the show solo because David was shooting Wild At Heart. A lot of people call that about the best run of the show!

[Elad Repooc]

What I really don't get is, with so much fuss and fanfare made in regards to it being "one long movie divided into 18 parts", why not having it drop all at once Netflix-like?

Because it would be too much in one go. Even with 24 hours break in between, Part 3 almost felt like a Lynch overdose after Parts 1 & 2.

Also, since I watched these episodes, I've been thinking about them nearly all the time. That's the beauty of a series, it gets to percolate in your mind during the week between each episode. In fact, that's where most of the magic happens, in your own mind, as you go over and over the crazy things you saw and wondering what might come next.

This is one reason why I've often preferred series to films. With a film, it's all over in one sitting. With a series, it's an experience that lasts several months.

Anyway, if I was to watch 18 hours straight of this mad shit, I think I'd need to check myself into a psych ward afterwards...

[Driftwood]

when those netflix marvel shows come out people talk about them for like 2 days and then nobody but the super marvel nerds care. people will be talking about twin peaks all summer.

[crossoverman]

when those netflix marvel shows come out people talk about them for like 2 days and then nobody but the super marvel nerds care. people will be talking about twin peaks all summer.

Yes, exactly. That's my biggest issue with binge-watching; sometimes I like to do it myself but I can never talk to people about it because we don't all binge at the same rate or at the same time. When my friends eventually catch up, we talk about the season as a whole, but never about individual episodes. That said, a lot of the Marvel shows probably aren't worth talking about on an episode by episode level - they are made to be binge-watched and not discussed between episodes.

After binge-watching the first four episodes of The Return, I'm even more glad we can't binge watch the rest because I don't think I would have coped very well after. It's enough that nearly a week later it's all I'm thinking about. If I'd watch 18 hours of Lynch over one weekend, I might not being coping at all right now.

Plus there are so many mysteries to contemplate and clues to put together and parts to just enjoy. I love, at least in this era of catch-up and streaming services, it's easier than ever to watch and rewatch. This show requires it.

[Jasper]

A while back some people didn't believe that it was written like an 18 hour film and that they'd be going in without concrete ideas of beginnings and endings of individual parts. I believed Lynch and Frost because I had no reason not to. Now it's abundantly clear that it was in fact shot as an 18 hour film and edited into parts after the fact.

Some people have asked why there are breaks. There are breaks for obvious business reasons, like to keep people subscribed and to have word of mouth grow the viewership over the summer, but there are also breaks because this work is very dense and both requires and rewards a lot of reflection. Lest anyone continue to be in anguish over the fact that it wasn't all released at once, I think we can think of it as a single film with a number of very long intermissions. Further, if we think long term, eventually most of the viewers will be people who didn't watch it as it aired. All 18 hours will be available to these people, and if they're crazy enough to want to watch it in one go, they'll be able to do so.

[wxray]

A while back some people didn't believe that it was written like an 18 hour film and that they'd be going in without concrete ideas of beginnings and endings of individual parts. I believed Lynch and Frost because I had no reason not to. Now it's abundantly clear that it was in fact shot as an 18 hour film and edited into parts after the fact.

Some people have asked why there are breaks. There are breaks for obvious business reasons, like to keep people subscribed and to have word of mouth grow the viewership over the summer, but there are also breaks because this work is very dense and both requires and rewards a lot of reflection. Lest anyone continue to be in anguish over the fact that it wasn't all released at once, I think we can think of it as a single film with a number of very long intermissions. Further, if we think long term, eventually most of the viewers will be people who didn't watch it as it aired. All 18 hours will be available to these people, and if they're crazy enough to want to watch it in one go, they'll be able to do so.

They better prepare themselves with a truckload of Valium.

[Elad Repooc]

They could have warnings like, "Are you absolutely SURE you want to watch another episode of this right now?"

Or they could actually restrict it so it's not possible to watch more than a few episodes in one sitting.

I actually believe Mark Frost when he said that it might actually be dangerous to binge watch this. I know he said it with a laugh, but it could be a serious point. Someone with a history of mental health issue could be tripped into a psychosis if they watched it all one go.

[BOB1]

That's my biggest issue with binge-watching

My biggest issue with binge-watching is that I hardly find time to watch a single episode of episode. For Monday night (2 hours of watching + at least two hours of discussing) I had to pay for the rest of the week... probably bad organisation of time or whatever but that's the fact. Some time ago I got Dexter's first season on DVD. These 12 episodes took me ca. 4 months and only the last two I watched one by one as I couldn't wait any longer.
Well, that's probably just me. Most people I know don't have this issue.

[droolcup]

Maybe this has already been discussed, but what do people make of the tiny skip in editing when Cooper is in the red room and tries to go through the drapes but finds they won't open. There is a split-second cut just before he finds the drapes to be closed and Cooper shifts a tiny bit where he is standing.

Is this where he was 'tricked'? I see it as a kind of bookmark placed by a spirit where times can be reversed to and started again. Maybe it was the Tree who did this so that Cooper couldn't leave to the correct place & time.

[Mr. Reindeer]

Leave it to DKL to create a TV "season" that is simultaneously the most AND least binge-able of all time! Processing IE's three hours was impossible for me upon a first viewing. While it's abundantly clear that this show was scripted and shot without regard for episode breaks, I also have a hard time imagining the experience of watching it back-to-back and getting anything out of it. Despite DKL's issues with "chapter breaks," this is a work meant to be digested bit by bit. There is a part of me, however, that wishes I had had the will power to hold off and watch the whole thing in one go. An experience none of us will ever know, now.

[Gordon]

When all is said and done and we have the whole thing (18 episodes) in our hands, most of us are gonna rewatch it over and over like we do with the previous stuff, so even if I obviously had preferred a Netflix-like thing and be able to watch EVERYTHING now on the other hand having it in a weekly basis is a unique experience, like when we saw the original for the first time (at least that was my case)... Conclusion: I have mixed feelings about how to watch it, but since I can't do anything about it for now I prefer not to give it more thought and enjoy the ride... So far I'm loving it...

[Mr. Reindeer]

Remember, it was Mark who came up with the Lodges, inhabiting spirits, dugpas, Windom Earle, the dweller on the threshold, etc. He might be less visually abstract or surreal than Lynch but his ideas can be just as bizarre.

Wow yes. As a relative TP amateur, l just blanket credit everything to Lynch but l do try to say "Lynch and Frost" because Frost, Engels, Peyton etc. figured large also, and as you pointed out, Frost was perhaps a greater contributor than Lynch.

Yeah, David Lynch is my all-time favorite filmmaker but Mark is quite brilliant in his own right. Pretty much everything in season one after the Red Room episode was Mark running the show solo because David was shooting Wild At Heart. A lot of people call that about the best run of the show!

To be technically accurate (per Duwayne Dunham's audio commentary on Episode 1), DKL shot W@H after the TP Pilot, and wrapped filming while Episode 1 was being shot. He then shot Episode 2, then went to work editing W@H -- in the same building where TP was being edited. So it's quite possible that he was fairly involved in season 1. Most sources say the two mapped the arc of season 1 out together. I do think season 1 is more Frost than DKL, but I certainly wouldn't say Mark was running the show solo.

[beyondthesea]

Did anyone notice anything slightly amusing about Ashley Judd's lines? I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned it yet if they did. The first time she says 'How did the skunk get in her room', it definitely sounds like 'How did this c**t get in her room'.

Well to me it did. I can't unhear it now.

[Jonatan Silva]

Well, in Brazil only Port 1 and 2 are available on Netflix.

I'm really in love with these two episodes. They're really conected with last episode of second season and the FWWM.

[BOB1]

BOB1, do you think evil Coop will marry Annie? BTW, how's Annie?

Sorry, only just found this post!

Speaking for myself, I dislike the idea of evil Coop. Not the performance, Kyle looks good in the role, very good introduction of the character, too (the scene with the slo-mo music) and even don't have any issue with his lines such as the need/want ones that bothered some.

However, the concept. There was no "evil Leland". Leland was a respected citizen who, from time to time, was turning Mr Hyde. Years of schizophrenia have corrupted him (there's a large hole where his conscience used to be...) so it's not like he's an angel/devil case. Even when he's Leland (not BOB), he's rather a dubious type (hence his meddlings with Teresa Banks). And that I find interesting and it could be moving, too.
A lunatic messing round town is not very interesting to me. I know you predicted that but so what. I still think it would be much much MUCH more interesting if Cooper went out of the Lodge with his soul taken over by BOB and for the next 25 years kept on leading a life of a seemingly respected citizen... who secretly does terrible things. And therefore I still believe that when Annie said "I saw the face of the man who killed me, it was my husband", she drew a parallel between Caroline/Windom and her/Dale (we can't even tell which one of them is speaking because it doesn't matter, at this moment they're both the same) but still it was Annie speaking about her and Coop. Any other explanation sucks