Episode 2

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LostInTheMovies
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Re: Episode 2

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BOB1 wrote:in the Euro ending it was CRAP.
I wonder if this, plus the strangeness of it, is a reason Lynch kept returning to it, and bring its elements to play in the "real" Twin Peaks (even as late as Fire Walk With Me, when he references the forgotten convenience store). Like because it was such a non sequitur, he just HAD to incorporate it somehow in the series proper.

He seems to be obsessed with making fragments part of a cryptic whole (we're discussing this in another thread right now). See also: transforming the abandoned pilot of Mulholland Drive into a feature, tying together two separate projects (along with a bunch of inspirations and previous videos, like Rabbits) in Inland Empire, making the messy, uneven show feel like one whole story with the Log Lady intros in '93, and finally, most notably, what I am struggling with right now in my video series - the train car sequence in FWWM, in which he's stuck with the fact that his hero must be killed (you could say the same about the end of the show, when Cooper had to see Bob in the mirror even though he apparently didn't like this himself).

Rather than dispose of or avoid obstacles, he seems to want to include them - maybe part of his bigger belief in the "unified field," dunno. Hell, we've even seen him assemble deleted scenes into parallel semi-"movies" in several cases.
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Re: Episode 2

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BOB1 wrote:5. SCENES WHICH ARE THERE

- Bobby & Shelly, Pete & Catherine, Ed & Norma - they're ok but scenes like that are basically in every episode including the 20s and I don't see anything better in those just because Lynch directed them ;)
To me, though, these might be the best evidence of Lynch's prowess as a director, because he can take material that might be mediocre in other hands and find the perfect way to execute it. So, for example, the way the Ed/Norma scene is shot - the opening of the hands on the door is a nice "what is this" touch (and the sound design inside the house is great, Ed stepping on the runners, and Nadine crushing the exercise handle), the whispered tone of Bobby and Shelly (which reminds me of the audition scene in Mulholland Drive)...Pete & Catherine doesn't have anything as immediately memorable, stylistically speaking, but there's a nice warmth to the way the scene is lit, shot, and performed that still distinguishes it to my mind. I see the same things in episode 14 and episode 29 although each time it's more pronounced: Lynch steps in, and reminds us that there's much more to a scene than just the script. Well, that's my take on it anyway. ;)
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Re: Episode 2

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So who's the "nevermind" guy behind the tree?
Leo's bodyguard whose plot was later dropped and forgotten? Dr Jacoby following the man in the red corvette?
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Re: Episode 2

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I assume it's Leland since it seems to be the same guy from episode 7. Which is, of course, not to say it's Ray Wise!
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Re: Episode 2

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Leland? But what's Leland's business there? What does he care about Leo's drug deals or Bobby's financial problems?
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Re: Episode 2

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BOB1 wrote:So who's the "nevermind" guy behind the tree?
Leo's bodyguard whose plot was later dropped and forgotten? Dr Jacoby following the man in the red corvette?
I'm satisfied believing it was Jacoby. Though dressed more like Leland/BOB in Easter Park, it is known that Jacoby started tailing Leo after Laura's murder - an investigation he expected would be ongoing for the rest of his life...

Of the suspects I've heard others suggest, only Jacoby, Jacques and Leland lack alibis that I'm aware of ...and the figure was too slim to be Jacques. Leland makes little sense to me. Jacoby makes all sorts of sense.
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Recap of Episode 2

Post by TwinPeaksFanatic »

My recap of episode 2. Episode 2 is one of the best in the series, I think.

http://twinpeaksfanatic.blogspot.com/20 ... ode-2.html

Thank BOB it's Friday!
:D
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Re: Episode 2

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LostInTheMovies wrote:
FauxOwl wrote:Is it known that Lynch and Frost knew Leland was the killer as early as Season 1? I figured with Lynch saying the murderer was never intended to be revealed, they hadn't even decided who the killer was until they were writing season 2.
Frost has claimed many times that they knew early on who the killer was. And he gave an interview in 1990 during the first season when he said this too, so it wasn't just something he came up with after the fact. Although quite a few people thought he & Lynch were full of it! But I tend to believe them.

Here's the 1990 article which quotes him, and is worth a read:
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/08/arts/ ... blues.html.

"We started with this image of a body washing up on a lake," says Mr. Frost. "It took us a while to solve the murder. We had to know the town before we could make up a list of suspects. Only after we knew most of its people was the killer revealed to us."

I'd love to know precisely what he means by "took us a while"...as they were writing the pilot or over the months they were developing the first season? But I don't think he's stated a specific, unequivocal time. Not to mention the process of discovery - did they "suspect" other people, did one of them lead the way?

I'd also love to know the process behind the reveal. Frost and Lynch both say that Lynch was opposed, but obviously he went along with it to some extent since he co-owned the show with Frost and directed so much of the early first season. Did he realize right away how much this would kill his enthusiasm for the series? And did he ever publicly express dismay about this before FWWM, or only afterwards? I need to check out (and revisit) more of the promotional stuff he did for the film...
An update to this particular part of the conversation - recently I watched the USC retrospective Q&As and Frost says he and Lynch did NOT know who the killer would be when they made the pilot, but that they knew soon afterwards. I'm guessing this was the episode that clinched it, either in writing (dancing with the portrait) or shooting (the accidental blood). I like to think the latter, though that means Lynch & Frost didn't know the killer while mapping out the season or while ep. 1-6 were in production (since 2 was shot out of sequence just before 7).
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Re: Episode 2

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Something I've always noticed in this episode, but hadn't given much thought to until my most recent viewing, is the sound of a ticking clock as Cooper is getting ready for bed before the dream sequence. It really sets the tone for what we are about to see and I notice that this sound really draws me in to what is happening. But now, in light of the new series that will pick up again in present day, I think about how the ticking clock represents the passing of time and how in the dream we see Cooper twenty-five years later in the red room. Is it future, or it is past?.. Its a small detail, but it really stood out to me this time when I watched it.
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Twin Peaks Out of Order #3: Episode 2

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Re-watching Twin Peaks from my least favorite to favorite episode...

Previously: Episode 9 (http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=44273#p44273)

It is no exaggeration to say that this is THE episode of Twin Peaks. Episode 2 is iconic with a capital "I". The Red Room. The Hornes talking with their mouths full. The introduction of One-Eyed Jack's. Coop throwing rocks at bottles. Audrey dancing alone in the diner! Albert's grand entrance. The drug deal in the woods, lit only by flashlight. Leland dancing with, smashing, and rubbing blood all over Laura’s portrait (the first time we've seen him act crazy and, I like to imagine, possibly the moment when Lynch and Frost realized they had their killer). Nadine's silent drape runners. Coop toots the whistle. Pete's intonation of "I didn't want to get mink oil on my bedspread!” And did I mention the Red Room? In a way, it's easy to take this episode for granted. When I sorted out my rankings, I wondered if maybe I should bump up the distinguished pilot or eerie episode 9 but I'm so glad that I didn't. Episode 2 is just perfect. The only conceivable false note, for some, might be the James-Donna sequence but, me being me, I like that too. This teen couple might not be up to the standard of Jeffrey-Sandy in Blue Velvet but they serve a similar purpose. Their aw-shucks naivete offsets the more corrupt elements in the narrative (their doe-eyed sofa make-out session is brilliantly juxtaposed with Ben and Jerry leering at the new girl in their woodland whorehouse). And Lynch shoots it all so well, with that awkward wide-lensed "goodnight" at the start - it seems like Doc Hayward is waiting for James to take the hint and leave, but the dopey suitor never does. This is followed by the close-ups isolated in black, presenting the nighttime as warmth and comfort in this little corner of Twin Peaks’ dark world. Yup, everything is on point in 2 and the Lynch/Frost collaboration is firing on all cylinders. The wacky Tibet speech/"J" test were supposedly penned by Frost himself, and Lynch and the cast are clearly having a ball bringing it to life. My favorite non-dream sequence, however, wasn't in the script at all. Audrey and Donna's tense, teasing repartee at the counter, followed by Audrey's jazzy sway, is too cool for words. And then there’s that dream sequence. For some reason whenever I write about episode 2 (something I've done several times by now) I build up to this scene and then brush over it. Perhaps it doesn't feel right to talk about the magic? Well, let's take a moment to talk about the magic. The Red Room immediately carves out a space where anything is possible. The scenario is pretty simple compared to what comes (much) later but in context this is a staggeringly bold swerve - introducing a character who seems to have arrived from another universe entirely, bringing the dead girl back to life (or is it her cousin?), and creating "another place" that somehow complements but exists outside of Twin Peaks. The Red Room is the perfect way to expand upon the microcosm of the small town without losing its sense of contained definition. When I first heard about Twin Peaks, I think the only thing I knew was "there is a dwarf who talks backwards." I pictured a bearded gnome in a cave in the forest, delivering mysterious and medieval-sounding messages in code. Well, not quite, and when I finally saw this scene I knew I was going to love Twin Peaks and also that I would have absolutely no idea what to expect from it, which only made me love it more. As most people reading this will know, the scene was originally an alternate ending to the pilot, but it works so much better in episode 2's context. Not only because Lynch slices and dices the lengthy hospital sequence into a lean, efficient mindfucking machine but because - rather perversely - the strangeness of the Red Room somehow seems stranger when it isn't just dropped in out of nowhere like a goof-off non sequitur. That said, one advantage to seeing it as the end of the pilot is realizing how perfectly it serves as a zany parody of the whole mystery genre: questions posed, clues offered, a victim whose secret is revealed to the detective. But the premise - and the execution - of this “sleuthing” is so absurd that these tried-and-true conventions dissolve into pure surrealism. Had the show never gone forward, had the pilot ended on this note, this would have been the perfect Lynchian mockery of what we expect from a murder mystery but can never quite get in real life. Reconfigured into the existing series as a dream, the Red Room becomes something more concrete, something that can be analyzed and broken down and eventually made sensible. But it's also still pregnant with that original intention, to defy and skewer rational inquiry. The next two episodes on the list toy with the limits and rewards of that approach. One will take Lynch to a place where answers are a necessity, bringing out his best work to date by forcing him to confront the ugly reality of the beautifully-kept secret. The other will allow Lynch to combine that grave knowledge with this respect for the irrational, crafting a synthesis that will serve him for the rest of his career. Unlike every other Lynch episode of Twin Peaks, 2 feels more joyful than melancholy, more celebratory than mournful. It's an absolute classic, the quintessence of the show's appeal, and yet when looking at Lynch's work as a whole, or even just his work on the show, this is very much the outlier rather than the archetype.

Next: Episode 14 (http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=44338#p44338)
Last edited by LostInTheMovies on Fri Oct 30, 2015 8:06 pm, edited 14 times in total.
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Re: Episode 2

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Great analysis, and this episode's status as exception rather than the rule when it comes to Lynch's work is part of why it yields a certain appeal to me. Whereas there's a faintly tired air to some of Episodes 8 & 9 (especially the former, though both are still great), 2 just bursts with creativity and fun and energy. Just as Episode 14 was Lynch's summation of Season 2 (with 29 more of a weird accidental masterpiece that carves out its own path away from the preceding episodes), then 2 is his summation of the more lighthearted Season 1.
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Re: Episode 2

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It feels very Wild at Heart to me. It's Lynch like was burning through different creative phases at lightning speed in 1989-92. The pilot being sort of reserved & cool & aloof, WAH/ep. 2 being grandiose & wacky & flamboyant, then ep. 8 & 9 as experimental transitions leading into the finale & FWWM being much darker, more open and emotional in their approach.
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Re: Episode 2

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This episode is a thing of beauty. From Lucy sticking her tongue out at Albert after he calls her "Curley", to Coop pinching Harry's nose (and his genuine amused reaction) to Hawk's deadpan bewilderment when Coop misses hitting the bottle by a country mile during one of his rock tosses (the Shelley toss if memory serves) to Truman's total trust of Coop's unorthodox method, and of course Andy being plunked on the head, I think this is TP at it's zenith, maybe my favorite episode.
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Re: Episode 2

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Dead Dog wrote:This episode is a thing of beauty. From Lucy sticking her tongue out at Albert after he calls her "Curley", to Coop pinching Harry's nose (and his genuine amused reaction) to Hawk's deadpan bewilderment when Coop misses hitting the bottle by a country mile during one of his rock tosses (the Shelley toss if memory serves) to Truman's total trust of Coop's unorthodox method, and of course Andy being plunked on the head, I think this is TP at it's zenith, maybe my favorite episode.
Agreed. The quintessential Twin Peaks episode. One can just sense both Lynch and the cast having tremendous fun with equally great results that just burst with creativity. Hopefully the new season will have something as good as this up its sleeve.
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RE: Episode 2

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I've always wondered who was hiding behind Leo during the drug money transaction between he and Mike/Bobby. You know, the guy hiding behind the tree..Anyways, who do you guys think it is?
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