General Discussion on Season 3 (All Opinions Welcome)

[IcedOver]

I think it's constructive to look at the NIN performance in the larger context of the 18 hour film. Lynch was, I think, very methodically creating a sense of spaciousness in order to rhythmically build up to that explosion sequence. This sequence came on the tail of a very tight span of narrative, with quite a bit of expositional house-cleaning. From the last section of Part 6 through most of Part 7, a lot of pieces got moved into place and the story was really hopping along. Lynch knew things were about to take a turn.

So, we get the sweeping scene at the Roadhouse. He's prepping us here. Saying, "Okay, folks, let's take a breath." Then COOPER and Ray leave prison. Then another extended musical interlude at the RR. Another breath, emphasizing the tonal, non-narrative aspects of this piece. Then Ray shoots COOPER and the Woodsmen emerge. Then the NIN performance, which is long and discordant and simultaneously slows things WAY down and preps us for chaos.

Good post. The placement of the NIN performance was pretty interesting from a tonal perspective. For me, though, the performance and song itself could have been a bit better. I'd have to watch it again, though. I was hoping that NIN would be the best musical performance of the show, and assumed they'd be saved until later on.

[Snailhead]

I'm not a NIN fan or anything but I loved their performance - more than most of the Road House performances so far, it really seemed integral to the plot - it conveyed to me the spirit of the soot covered lodge men.

[N. Needleman]

I also loved The Nine Inch Nails.

[LateReg]

Yeah I can't imagine that Nine Inch Nails performance being any better. Reznor was a man possessed and it really fit.

I love and share Counterpaul's way of looking at it as part of the film, but I must admit that up until I saw Nine Inch Nails perform in the middle of Part 8 I wasn't yet sure that most of these performances were actually part of the film itself, rather that they might have been recorded specifically for episode breaks but might not be included in a seamless movie edit of the series. NIN makes it clear that these indeed are part of the vision of the 18 hour film,
a tonal and atmospheric element of the film that also includes lyrics that function as a kind of dialogue. 8 parts in and the series is still teaching me how to watch it.

[IcedOver]

I'll bet some people called friends and just said "This is the water, and this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes, and dark within."

[Hercousin]

I'll bet some people called friends and just said "This is the water, and this is the well. Drink full and descend. The horse is the white of the eyes, and dark within."

Hopefully with one of those serial killer voice scrambler things.

Watched it again, and since I knew we weren't getting any regular characters, NIN was a-ok. I hate only getting an hour at a time, it raises my damn blood pressure too much.

[baxter]

I enjoyed NiN, to my surprise actually. In the 90s, I found them very scary and too much to listen to, but now they sound great. Either they've softened, or the expansion of my music taste has finally caught up with a band that were years ahead of their time.

I also loved the fact that they were introduced as "The Nine Inch Nails". This to me really speaks of a small town venue owner/promoter introducing a band in a slightly naff way (something I've seen many times playing gigs in rural areas!).

[BigEd]

The only thing I'm really salty about is NIN. Like, we've got limited time to get this thing moving. I'm all for the interstellar cosmogony after the nuke blows, but all I could think was "did I just have to fucking watch 5 minutes of fucking Trent Reznor?" in the middle of my favorite thing ever? I'm solidly indifferent to the music itself but fucking COME ON. Maybe with captions the lyrics will be a revelation but right now I'm so mad.

This is very important to remember: There is no limited time here. The whole point of Lynch's walk-out was to ensure that he could make exactly what he wanted, shoot it all as a giant movie, and then sort out how many parts there would be for broadcast later. This was NOT made like a TV show, with a set number of hours to fill. The duration came later--after Lynch and Dunham had their final cut of the whole thing. Certainly, it's fair to say you didn't like the musical interludes for whatever aesthetic reason, but please note that cutting them would only make the whole 18-part project shorter, not free up more time for alternate material. They shot everything they wanted and included everything they wanted in the final cut.

My god, that was glorious.

Great point. If a lot of the scenes that people complain about were shortened, or cut out, we would have a 15 hour movie with rumors of hours of deleted scenes (which we would beg for years to have added back into a full uncut season release).

[counterpaul]

I love and share Counterpaul's way of looking at it as part of the film, but I must admit that up until I saw Nine Inch Nails perform in the middle of Part 8 I wasn't yet sure that most of these performances were actually part of the film itself, rather that they might have been recorded specifically for episode breaks but might not be included in a seamless movie edit of the series. NIN makes it clear that these indeed are part of the vision of the 18 hour film,
a tonal and atmospheric element of the film that also includes lyrics that function as a kind of dialogue. 8 parts in and the series is still teaching me how to watch it.

It's kind of funny, but I actually do think that most of the performances (the ones that come at the ends of hours without scenes attached to them) are just fairly random episode breaks. I think of them as bookmarks because they're placed at the point that we just happen to be stopping for the week. I think it's a cool, creative way to take care of the necessity of breaking it up into roughly hour-long chunks, each with its own credits sequence, but some of them (Part 6 especially) sit kind of awkwardly in the context of the whole film.

The performance at the end of Part 2, the Trouble performance in Part 5, and the NIN performance in Part 8 seem very different--rhythmically part of the whole. As do the Roadhouse sweeping scene and the interlude at the RR at the end of Part 7.

I very much like the idea of these occasional interludes, but the timing of the others (the ones in Part 3, Part 4, and Part 6) do not feel organic to me. I really wonder if Lynch will alter this at all for the blu-ray. I kind of hope he does, because I'd really love to see everything cut together without credits sequences interrupting the flow, until a giant one at the very end. Perhaps there would still be Roadhouse interludes dispersed throughout, but perhaps they would occasionally be at different places in the 18-hour-movie version, once the necessity of breaking it up into hours is lifted.

I'm just daydreaming.

[counterpaul]

This is very important to remember: There is no limited time here. The whole point of Lynch's walk-out was to ensure that he could make exactly what he wanted, shoot it all as a giant movie, and then sort out how many parts there would be for broadcast later. This was NOT made like a TV show, with a set number of hours to fill. The duration came later--after Lynch and Dunham had their final cut of the whole thing. Certainly, it's fair to say you didn't like the musical interludes for whatever aesthetic reason, but please note that cutting them would only make the whole 18-part project shorter, not free up more time for alternate material. They shot everything they wanted and included everything they wanted in the final cut.

Great point. If a lot of the scenes that people complain about were shortened, or cut out, we would have a 15 hour movie with rumors of hours of deleted scenes (which we would beg for years to have added back into a full uncut season release).

You know, knowing Lynch, there's a good chance that there are hours of deleted scenes. To be clear--this would be material Lynch chose to cut for artistic reasons, not because of time restrictions or any pressure from Showtime. The man over-shoots. We all know this. It's part of his process. Just look at More Things That Happened. Lynch had absolutely no contactual obligation to bring INLAND EMPIRE in at any particular running time. If he had wanted it to be 4-and-a-half hours, it would have been.

I can imagine a "Missing Pieces Vol. 2" on the TPTR blu-ray for sure.

[master468]

This looks pretty familiar

[Nikki Grace]

I rewatched the S2 finale and, without trying to dismiss the old show, it's amazing how "quaint" it seems in comparison to the lengths Lynch and Frost have extended the mythology now. I remember seeing that extended Red Room sequence and being utterly in awe that something like that could make it onto TV, and then if you compare it with E8's backstory it's just minuscule.

I'm talking aesthetically and in scope, not to dismiss the old show, which is obviously where my love comes from for Twin Peaks. But I'll be damned if people are still trying to push the idea that the old Red Room looks better than the new, or that the digital effects aren't any good, because I think what we just saw in E8 has blown away anything we've ever seen in Twin Peaks before on pretty much every level.

[Nikki Grace]

I'm not a NIN fan or anything but I loved their performance - more than most of the Road House performances so far, it really seemed integral to the plot - it conveyed to me the spirit of the soot covered lodge men.

Tonally, musically, even visually it worked, although it seemed a tad long. I was worried it would eat up into valuable time; thankfully I was more than wrong! When you know how great the rest of the episode is you can probably go back and enjoy moments like that even more.

[BOB1]

Filmmaking is like music in that it is organized time. Twin Peaks is not non-narrative filmmaking--everything happens in the larger context of story--but one of the many fantastic things that Lynch is doing here is employing some of the tools of non-narrative filmmaking. Because, this is storytelling in time using sounds and images. All these things are crucially important: story, time, sound, and image.

Great points!

[baxter]

Yeah I agree on the original red room scenes- they will now seem like nothing compared to where we've gone.

My enthusiasm for the NiN performance led me to check our their music yesterday, but I happened to watch the video for Happiness in Slavery which is the single most disturbing thing I've ever watched. I recoiled in horror to the safety of the The Beatles, and really wish I could unsee that video!