Episode 5

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LostInTheMovies
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Episode 5

Post by LostInTheMovies »

I really like this episode - in some ways, it seems the quintessence of season 1 (second only, maybe, to episode 2). You've got all the subplots ratcheting up the tension/drama - Shelly shoots Leo, Audrey gets her job at Horne's, Catherine confronts Ben, Ben has his secret meeting with Josie, Maddy joins James & Donna's mystery team, Hank returns to the RR and confronts Leo. We're building up to the climax of the season, but the episode also stands on its own (whereas the following one feels very much like set-up).

And this episode has some of the best moments in the whole Laura mystery/mystique: the investigation of Jacques' apartment which keeps yielding clue after clue (amidst many donuts), the visit to the Log Lady, Jacoby confronting Bobby with Laura's dark side, Leland's breakdown on the Great Northern dance floor (with Audrey crying as she watches), and my personal favorite, the discovery of Jacques' cabin. I love the eerie sound of "Into the Night" playing through the woods (the only time we hear Julee Cruise on the show without Julee Cruise actually present) with Lesli Linka Glatter's memorable shots of the crow (raven? blackbird? what's the difference?) and the crew trekking through the woods beforehand.

The cabin itself feels like a kind of threshold for Cooper: as close as he can get, at present, to Laura's world. Although Frost obviously intended it to have a haunting echo of the Red Room (hence the red drapes, which Lynch pointedly removed in the film), for those of us who've seen Fire Walk With Me it has a different, haunting resonance. All the stuff that is spookily suggestive onscreen we've witnessed in more raw detail - I love scenes like this that feel like a "missing link" between the series and film.

Interesting too that this is one of only two episodes that Frost wrote solo, without Lynch directing. I feel like it gives us a more direct window into his sensibility in a way the more collaborative episodes can't. Most obvious point is that Cooper is more flawed/uncertain in this episode than we've seen him before - the Icelanders have him unusually ruffled and he doesn't quite know how to deal with the Log Lady. Of course he's still on-fire as an investigator, pulling clues seemingly out of thin air (or off the ceiling) in Jacques' apartment.

It's also worth noting that Frost goes out of his way to provide links to Cooper's dream: not only that the cabin has red drapes, but also Cooper's line "there's always music in the air" when he shuts off the record player, and something I only noticed on this viewing (or else didn't remember): Maddy tells James & Donna she didn't know Laura well but that "I feel like I knew her" an obvious callback to Laura/Little Man's cousin in the dream sequence. Arguably, even Leland dancing could be an attempted callback to the Little Man (since he's dancing alone this time, rather than with Laura's portrait, and even moving his hands in a somewhat similar way).

The episode also gives us a great sense of how the show could balance the community-wide storytelling with a sense of Laura's mystery lying at the center, something Frost willfully (and mistakenly) tried to move past in season 2 when he encouraged the subplots to sever from that core mystery.

I think if I had to pick a favorite stretch of episodes - "stretch" meaning like a grouping of 3-5 that are similar in style/story - it would be episode 4-7. Other stretches have greater heights but none feel as consistently entertaining/engrossing. This is also where the show works best as a TV show, rather than just a collection of great moments or a short-form near-movie. Maybe the best analogy would be a miniseries: you feel like you're definitely heading somewhere, but you don't quite know where; meanwhile the characters, moments, and sense of excitement keep you tuning in or, nowadays, popping in the next disc.
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Re: Episode 5

Post by Audrey Horne »

Is there anyone that doesn't love this episode?

I always thought directors of season two should always look at this one in terms of pacing, and the writers in terms of characters. It's a perfect example of what a non Lynch episode should be.

It's also impossible for me not to combine it with episode six. When they reran the series in the summer of 1990, they were combined. So that was the version on my tape. And it's quite a excellent duo to be coupled.

There are so many wonderful moments, and fun, fun moments. But there are two important scenes that are the very essence of what made this show so potentially good. One with Bobby, and one with Audrey.

Up to now we've been dealing with archetypes for our stable of characters. There's doubt amongst all of them for sure, and everyone is a suspect, but most are still in their soap tropes. Bobby and Audrey are the bad boy and girl conversely to James and Donna's good boy and good girl.

Bobby's breakdown in Jacoby's office has us reevaluating his entire character. Peeling the onion and enriching him, allowing us to empathize with him. It's the first time he's let his guard down.

And in one of the most brilliant snippets in the entire series, we get the same with Audrey when she cries in the corner. Up to now, Audrey's scenes have all been winners. Snappy, witty, the writers obviously enjoy writing for her. And yes, she's had moments of her ethereal lost in her own dreams reverie... The scenes always had an element of fun and mischief to them. When scheming Audrey is shown in her private hiding spot, spying on the world she doesn't fit into, it makes sense. But the juxtaposition of a grieving father (one foot stuck in madness, the other seeking human contact) with the circus of the Norwegians dancing and mimicking his movements spliced with Audrey's tears... Well, it's beyond brilliant. In a brilliant stroke of economy of writing, the character of Audrey has been elevated from fun mischievous minx to probably the most vulnerable and innocent of the town. She's the only one that see and understands Leland's pain. It is one of the best examples of the show's strength.
God, I love this music. Isn't it too dreamy?
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LostInTheMovies
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Re: Episode 5

Post by LostInTheMovies »

Great points. In some ways, I feel like this was Frost's finest moment. I just watched episode 7 again, and it feels a bit too plot-driven to me (I loved it the first time I saw it, ever since it hasn't quite been one of my favorites). But this episode just hits every note perfectly and as you say, it complicates our assumptions in intriguing ways.

Oddly enough, the second time I watched this episode and wrote up my episode guide I was pretty tough on it. I'm not sure why. Now it is in a neck-and-neck race with episode 4 as my favorite non-Lynch episode of s1.
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Re: Episode 5

Post by Audrey Horne »

Episode seven needed to be plot driven. It was just action, action, action after all the thread dangled before us for seven weeks. And at the time, it was the perfect way to whet the appetite for Fall 1990 to get here pronto.

Weird, I always felt episode four (it will always be the fifth episode to me) was the least memorable of the first season. Still obviously great.

I'm loving the episode discussion.
God, I love this music. Isn't it too dreamy?
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Re: Episode 5

Post by LostInTheMovies »

Audrey Horne wrote:Weird, I always felt episode four (it will always be the fifth episode to me) was the least memorable of the first season. Still obviously great.
You're definitely not alone in that, but it's always been a personal favorite for me. I was going to elaborate here, but as I found myself rhapsodizing about ep. 4, I decided to move it to its own thread!
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Re: Episode 5

Post by Leo K »

This is a wonderful discussion!
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Re: Episode 5

Post by TwinPeaksFanatic »

Mark Frost's hand is evident in the procedural layout of this episode, which personally I like. Maybe not as much as I like David's style, but Mark's clarity keeps the viewer entertained along with further developing the mystery. All in all, real good stuff!

Here's my recap for episode 5

http://twinpeaksfanatic.blogspot.com/20 ... ode-5.html

:D
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Twin Peaks Out of Order #9: Episode 5

Post by LostInTheMovies »

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

Previously: Episode 4 (http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=43961#p43961)

Episode 5 breaks into two halves. The first is very well-executed, meticulously picking up story threads to advance them a little bit, coloring in some new details of the characters or their situations, offering the fun flourishes we expect from Twin Peaks at its best (Jerry wielding a thick leg of lamb, Bobby’s false bravado melting the moment someone knocks at the door, and of course an unhealthy heap of tantalizing donuts passed around a crime scene to be consumed by detectives wearing plastic gloves). This is good stuff, but I think the heart of the episode is in its second half. Twin Peaks’ first season is tightly knit around two possibly interlocked dramas: the unsolved murder of Laura Palmer, golden girl enmeshed in Twin Peaks’ shadowy underworld, and the plot to burn down the Packard sawmill, a more sophisticated intrigue involving everyone from international entrepreneurs to the local shitkickers who dealt drugs to Laura. The mill plot receives grand treatment in the episode’s big showpiece: a party for Icelandic investors at the Great Northern, where we discover new twists and watch the sprawling ensemble interact. The Laura investigation, meanwhile, is sprinkled throughout the episode but it really kicks into gear in Jacoby’s office. The doctor manipulates Bobby into tearful confessions, revealing Laura’s nuanced dark side. Before the Jacoby scene, watching the police trawl Jacques’ apartment for back issues of Flesh World, we are mostly curious about how Laura’s death implicates other members of the community and exposes the seedy underbelly of the town. After the Jacoby scene, trekking into the woods to trace Laura’s final night on earth (the Log Lady provides an aural account while Jacques’ cabin provides visual evidence), our curiosity focuses on Laura herself. What was she experiencing on her last night? What secrets led her into the woods, and what darkness consumed her there? The upcoming episodes on this rewatch will circle ever more closely around these questions. For now, watching Cooper, Truman, and Hawk poke around the moody red-curtained room, we have the distinct feeling that we are chasing a dream which definitely exists - a nightmare maybe, but an unforgettable one. I think the show is at its strongest when it harnesses two divergent approaches to one another: the televisual concept of a world too teeming to contain within two hours, and the cinematic hook of a journey with a destination. Maybe Mark Frost, who wrote this episode, said it best. Regarding the forthcoming return of the series, he remarked, “I think what we’ve learned is you’ve gotta have a very strong central path through the woods. It’s fine to have tributaries and streams, and little byways, but ultimately, that path through the woods has to be very dark, clear and dangerous. That’s the path we’re going to keep to. There’ll be, I hope, a healthy percentage of delightful sidelines or paths off to the side, but there aren’t any shortcuts. You’ve gotta follow that main path.” We are almost past the tributaries, streams, and byways, and we are definitely past the mistaken shortcuts, detours, and dead ends taken by the original series before Twin Peaks learned its lesson. Pretty soon on this rewatch, we will be out of the woods altogether, up on the mountain peak where you can look out over the whole landscape and marvel at the fact that all those isolated little thickets - where it seemed like there was nothing beyond the thick canopy of trees overhead - add up to something momentous after all.

Next: Episode 13 (http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=44054#p44054)
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Re: Episode 5

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Interesting to watch this episode again. More than ever, evil seems like a disease in this show. Leland has infected Ben, Laura has infected Bobby. Bobby's cathartic moment with Jacoby is important. After this episode, even allowing for his framing of James Hurley, he starts moving towards being a better person.

I knew a girl once who hated herself so much that she sought to destroy everyone around her, preying on their weaknesses, making them do out-of-character, bad things. Haven't had anything to do with her for a number of years but she remains a historical destructive force in my life and some of the damage she wrought on me will always be there. They're difficult people to turn your back on, if you're a caring person, but the more you hang around them and try to help them, the more they damage you. Laura is a tragic, damaged figure that you deeply care about, but it's at moments like Bobby's and Jacoby's confrontation that you remember she wasn't a particularly nice person. I actually connect very strongly with Bobby in this part of the show and it proves that one's perceptions of a piece of art alter down the years.

It's also interesting to see the other side of Josie. I have to admit that I don't remember Josie being as obvious when silhouetted at the end of this episode; I remember watching the show on a standard def 21-inch TV and not seeing that it was Josie until the light was switched on.

Oh, and I noticed the Blu-ray sync started to drift on my Blu-ray player in this episode.
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Re: Episode 5

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A couple of observations on Episode 5, having rewatched it:

Lot of outdoor scenes in this episode. All very sunny and very bright. Maybe Twin Peaks had a few amazing days of sunshine in the middle of winter? But of course it's really clear this is all done on location in LA. I think this episode is the most obvious example of this until Season 2.

In the opening of this episode, there's one of those bizarre, fake-looking shots of the moon. I think this occurs in the next episode too. What gives? Is there any deeper meaning/reasoning behind these?

I had remembered the great profile shot of Harry, Cooper, Hawk, and Doc Hayward in the woods outside the cabin - but had forgotten it's preceded here by a similar shot in Jacque's apartment too with Cooper, Harry, and Hawk when they're looking at a photo of the cabin with the red drapes.

The gazebo scene with Donna and James feels almost more like Season 2 to me for some reason.

I wonder did they mean to follow up on the scene with Hank overhearing James, Donna, and Maddy in the diner? Based on the way it plays out, it seems like they meant to do more with this.

Great to see our first proper scene with the Log Lady.

The cabin with the red drapes is really creepy.

Excellent scene with Bobby and Jacoby, really highlighting the duality of Laura's character - and maybe our first proper glimpse into her as a deeply layered and complex person.

I think this has been commented on before - the scene with Josie smoking is a goof. It appears twice, but should only appear once, as in between the two shots of her sitting in Ben's office, Ben and Catherine go to his office (and Audrey spies on them). So are we meant to think Josie sat there smoking mysteriously in the dark, then got up and hid, then when they had gone, went back to sitting there in the dark? Anyway, it's a great shot!

Audrey crying in the corner gives a bit more depth and warmth to her character.

Great closing with Coop and Audrey in his bedroom.
Last edited by Jonah on Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 5

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Jonah wrote: I think this has been commented on before - the scene with Josie smoking is a goof.....
Just rewatched this again. I thought it had been discussed here before. I remember reading about it somewhere! But looking through this thread, I can't find it mentioned. Are we meant to think it's a goof? That Josie hid? That Ben and Catherine were somewhere other than the office when Audrey spied on them? This is annoying me now lol!

In this episode we see an image of Leo's truck in Fleshworld. Didn't we see something similar before with a figure standing beside the truck? Was this in the Pilot, FWWM, or even a later episode?
Last edited by Jonah on Sun Dec 20, 2020 7:33 am, edited 4 times in total.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 5

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We saw the truck in Fleshworld in the Pilot.
F*&^ you Gene Kelly
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Re: Episode 5

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I love that Hawk is so reverential toward Margaret. It anticipates their relationship in TR wonderfully. Hawk even rather angrily shushes Cooper when Dale is being dismissive toward Margaret (and Coop immediately shuts up!).

Cooper’s demeanor at the end of the breakfast scene with Audrey is almost Mr. C-esque. It’s going to be interesting trying to spot hints at that part of his personality during this rewatch. As we all know, part of Mr. C’s effect on the world was to let Cooper’s suppressed desire for Audrey turn physical in a tragic way. The moment when he asks Audrey her age, and then says, “Well, see you later, Audrey,” in a sort of flirtatious but oddly subdued/ominous way, really takes on an added layer. It’s almost like the doppel poking his head into the world for a second.

There’s a line about Jacques having been a lumberjack until his weight gain caused him to find new employment as a bartender at the Roadhouse. This doesn’t directly contradict the notion that the Renaults own the Roadhouse, but it certainly doesn’t help make the retcon anymore convincing.

I love the shot of Audrey crying during Leland’s dance. It really humanizes her. In this comedic scene, Audrey can see through to the tragedy and pain behind it, and feels sympathy rather than the amusement everyone else is feeling.

I’m sure I’ve complained about this before, but I’ve always hated the idea that Laura hid a full-size shoe box in her bedpost How did everyone on the production think that made sense? And we’ve seen Laura’s bed! It has a very thin frame!

This episode’s edition of Dale’s Diet:
— Coffee at the Great Northern (he brings his own FBI mug down to the dining room, presumably so he can take it with him when he leaves for Jacques’s apartment; Trudy tops him off again before she leaves); he does not have breakfast, as he is running late
— Coffee in a styrofoam cup, and a jelly donut at Jacques’s apartment (Dale takes one bite of the donut, then hands it back to Andy, who continues eating it)
— A bar-shaped donut at Jacques’s apartment (likely a maple bar, based on the color of the frosting)
— Tea and sugar cookies at Margaret’s (Margaret slaps Cooper’s hand when he tries to take a cookie before the tea is ready; he is never seen actually getting to eat a cookie)
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Re: Episode 5

Post by Henrys Hair »

Another good 'un! Josie's appearance/disappearance/reappearance in Ben's office has always bothered me - particularly as all they had to do was ditch the first cutaway to her. As Jonah says upthread, James & Donna by the gazebo has quite a season 2 feel - shame we never got to see the scene with James' mum.

The ad copy Cooper reads out from Fleshworld doesn't matched what's actually written by Laura's photo.

There's been a lot of talk about One Eyed Jacks in the last few episodes - so much so it's easy to forget we haven't seen OEJ (and Blackie) since episode 2.

Is this Betty Briggs' biggest scene this season? Betty's always great & I wish we saw more of her. There's a feeling at this point that the writers aren't really sure what to do with Doc Hayward - he's the only member of the main cast who doesn't really have his own story at this point and seems to get shoved into random scenes in a making-up-numbers fashion.

The Icelander standing next to Ben when Catherine pours her drink over his shoe looks like a cross between Howard Jones and Green Gartside from Scritti Politti.

The cracked mug that was on its side the last time Audrey spied on Ben's office has gone.

The whole scene with Leland dancing while Audrey cries is excellent - I'm not sure any other show has really captured this sort of existentialist slapstick so well. It's the sort of thing that shouldn't really work but works really well.
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