I mean, it had to take Leo awhile to wash all that cake off his face......Audrey Horne wrote:Shelly is therefore in the house with Leo for an hour before she makes a move of getting out?!
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I mean, it had to take Leo awhile to wash all that cake off his face......Audrey Horne wrote:Shelly is therefore in the house with Leo for an hour before she makes a move of getting out?!
Aerozhul wrote:There are several things in this episode that leave me scratching my head:
Yeah, I noticed the resemblance back watching it on the original run. Earle killing Coop lookalikes was tragically wasted.-The dead drifter's obvious resemblance to Coop (a lost opportunity to expose even more how twisted Earle is)
Methinks there was a lot of rewriting and reordering going on!-Dr. Jacoby is seen holding court over Ben's civil war battle but just a few scenes later he's in the Sheriff's office proclaiming that he's spent the last 24 hours with Lana.
Yeah, the 'siren' aspect could have been played up as something quite sinister.- Men falling all over Lana when there's women like Audrey, Shelly and Norma walking around. I mean, the actress is attractive, but not on that scale.
There's a reason I call this the Ballykissangel era of the show, but Ballykissangel wouldn't have gone to that level.- Coop not taking away the Mayor's gun before putting him in a room with his intended victim. Whaaat?!!
Just death on toast with lots of saccharine added on top!- The Little Nicky wrap up scene with Andy and Dick blubbering like babies is so terribly unfunny and cringeworthy. How embarrassing for everyone involved.
Except for the "Leo attacks Shelly" scene. This was by far the best sequence in an otherwise very bland episode, I really liked the way it was shot - very horror movie-esque and sufficiently creepy while also ratcheting up the tension. The first time I saw it, I wasn't sure if Shelly would survive or not. I mean, I suspected she would since she was a main character, but the atmosphere of it all gave me some doubt. Well done.David Locke wrote:I'd almost say that Edel's episode is one of the most anonymous, bland and blandly directed in the series! He has some nice touches, some distinctive touches, sure, but nothing very memorable at all...
Gabriel wrote:Aerozhul wrote:There are several things in this episode that leave me scratching my head:Yeah, I noticed the resemblance back watching it on the original run. Earle killing Coop lookalikes was tragically wasted.-The dead drifter's obvious resemblance to Coop (a lost opportunity to expose even more how twisted Earle is)
Wholeheartedly agree about the merits of the mentioned scene, except for the fact that the standoff at the Dead Dog Farm and Coop's later discovery of the murdered vagrant at the Sheriff Department are just as good and all three scenes manage to make this not-at-all-bad episode.Aerozhul wrote:
Except for the "Leo attacks Shelly" scene. This was by far the best sequence in an otherwise very bland episode, I really liked the way it was shot - very horror movie-esque and sufficiently creepy while also ratcheting up the tension. The first time I saw it, I wasn't sure if Shelly would survive or not. I mean, I suspected she would since she was a main character, but the atmosphere of it all gave me some doubt. Well done.
You're thinking of Episode 20.Agent Earle wrote:Wholeheartedly agree about the merits of the mentioned scene, except for the fact that the standoff at the Dead Dog Farm and Coop's later discovery of the murdered vagrant at the Sheriff Department are just as good and all three scenes manage to make this not-at-all-bad episode.
Yep, it's been mentioned multiple times in this thread. Doesn't make it any less jarring (and of course casual viewers WOULDN'T be aware of that).Agent Earle wrote:You guys do realize the dead vagrant is actually played by Kyle MacLachlan's real-life brother Craig, don't you?
You're right, my bad.Mr. Reindeer wrote:You're thinking of Episode 20.Agent Earle wrote:Wholeheartedly agree about the merits of the mentioned scene, except for the fact that the standoff at the Dead Dog Farm and Coop's later discovery of the murdered vagrant at the Sheriff Department are just as good and all three scenes manage to make this not-at-all-bad episode.
For what it's worth, I haven't noticed the resemblance during my first few viewings of the episode, so it flew completely by me.Mr. Reindeer wrote:Yep, it's been mentioned multiple times in this thread. Doesn't make it any less jarring (and of course casual viewers WOULDN'T be aware of that).Agent Earle wrote:You guys do realize the dead vagrant is actually played by Kyle MacLachlan's real-life brother Craig, don't you?
That's fair. I think that's probably true of many viewers, but on my first viewing the resemblance was glaringly obvious to me. I wondered whether Earle had killed Coop's brother, or deliberately killed a lookalike, and I was shocked when no one commented on it onscreen! I'm the sort of guy who scrutinizes cast lists for shows that I like, so I then noticed the tell-tale name in the end credits.Agent Earle wrote:For what it's worth, I haven't noticed the resemblance during my first few viewings of the episode, so it flew completely by me.
I love the idea of the blackout lasting longer. Those scenes, both at the end of Episode 20 and the start of Episode 21, really ratchet up the suspense and moody atmosphere of the show - a lot of the first few post-Leland episodes had been dedicated to very jokey, light-hearted plots, so Dead Dog Farm and the following scenes of the murdered vagrant and Leo attacking Shelly during that blackout feel like a return to the darker, more sinister Peaks. (Recall how it was just an episode before the lights first go out when we were treated to the infamous Little Nicky 'devil' thought bubble!)Aerozhul wrote:Except for the "Leo attacks Shelly" scene. This was by far the best sequence in an otherwise very bland episode, I really liked the way it was shot - very horror movie-esque and sufficiently creepy while also ratcheting up the tension. The first time I saw it, I wasn't sure if Shelly would survive or not. I mean, I suspected she would since she was a main character, but the atmosphere of it all gave me some doubt. Well done.David Locke wrote:I'd almost say that Edel's episode is one of the most anonymous, bland and blandly directed in the series! He has some nice touches, some distinctive touches, sure, but nothing very memorable at all...
I also agree that the whole episode would have nicely benefitted from the blackout lasting longer.
Yes, but as pointed out earlier in this thread, the common slasher scene is disrupted a bit as Shelly is the one who saves the day, not Bobby. Had she not stabbed Leo, Bobby would have been choked out. I get your points, but I still liked the sequence a lot better than the rest of the episode.David Locke wrote:I love the idea of the blackout lasting longer. Those scenes, both at the end of Episode 20 and the start of Episode 21, really ratchet up the suspense and moody atmosphere of the show - a lot of the first few post-Leland episodes had been dedicated to very jokey, light-hearted plots, so Dead Dog Farm and the following scenes of the murdered vagrant and Leo attacking Shelly during that blackout feel like a return to the darker, more sinister Peaks. (Recall how it was just an episode before the lights first go out when we were treated to the infamous Little Nicky 'devil' thought bubble!)Aerozhul wrote:Except for the "Leo attacks Shelly" scene. This was by far the best sequence in an otherwise very bland episode, I really liked the way it was shot - very horror movie-esque and sufficiently creepy while also ratcheting up the tension. The first time I saw it, I wasn't sure if Shelly would survive or not. I mean, I suspected she would since she was a main character, but the atmosphere of it all gave me some doubt. Well done.David Locke wrote:I'd almost say that Edel's episode is one of the most anonymous, bland and blandly directed in the series! He has some nice touches, some distinctive touches, sure, but nothing very memorable at all...
I also agree that the whole episode would have nicely benefitted from the blackout lasting longer.
However, though I like the beginning (or rather, ending, of Episode 20), I just can't get on board with the Leo/Shelly scene as it's executed by Edel. I'd much rather follow Shelley around the dilapidated, darkness-enshrouded house as she calls out "Leo? Leo?" etc after that eerie burst of clown imagery and electrical failure, than actually get the stock-standard slasher-movie "narrowly-survives-death" scene Edel gives us. The whole thing's not only not scary, it just feels beamed in from a zillion other shows or movies, with the unstoppable killer waving the knife/axe/weapon of choice around as the helpless woman screams out for the Good Guy to save her -- all the while the killer both paradoxically shows almost super-human level powers and strength, and yet sub-human ability to just kill, or even strike, their victim. Oh, and of course Leo gives the typical slasher pun/stupid line just before The Final Attempt at killing her -- "goodbye, wife" or something idiotic like that. Plus Badalamenti contributes one of his most disposable works (if it is his?) to the scene, just a straight-to-video horror-synth thingy, less out of place and dated but basically equally objectionable as the weird electronic piece that plays in Episode 7 during the mill fire.
Pretty silly, somehow this generic slasher-flick stuff actually feels almost like more of a violation to the spirit of Twin Peaks than, say, Super-Nadine or other kooky happenings. Perhaps because it feels so common, not unique, whereas even the weaker Peaks stuff like Nadine is nothing if not unique and odd and intriguing on some level. I don't even think the blocking and directing of this Leo/Shelly scene is anything special, either; just another pretty bland effort from Edel. We do get a few quick shots that suggest so much more, like the long shot of the whole Johnson house, seemingly lit up in fiery orange-red hues (almost recalling the final shot of Episode 13, of the Great Northern). But on the whole, it's a tellingly humdrum start to a humdrum episode... and, just like that, we get back to the silliest schlock, like the Lana/Mayor scene - almost hard to believe that occurs at the same station where earlier that very morning the power was out and a dead man had been staged against a chess board... I do really like the opening bits in the station with Harry and Coop, just because it's so much more interesting than anything else going on in that episode.
I guess another way to sum up the problem with Episode 21 is it's kind of stuck between the mid-S2 kitsch and the darker parts of Peaks, residing in an awkward tonal spot. I'd rather watch either Episode 19, where everything is bright and silly and wacky, or Episode 23, where everything is very gloomy (that's not fair, though, I guess, because 23's so much better than basically any episode since 16). Even Keaton's episode has a more coherent tone and feel to it.
But of course all of this has a lot to do with the script, as well, maybe more than the director at hand.
Yes, that's why I said what did.Agent Earle wrote: You guys do realize the dead vagrant is actually played by Kyle MacLachlan's real-life brother Craig, don't you?