Twin Peaks Return: The Profoundly Disappointed Support Group

[mtwentz]

For Gordon and Albert, this progression has continued on TP:TR -- while it's great seeing Ferrer and DKL back in these roles, Albert is grim and dedicated to work with his insults seeming far more resigned/half-hearted than in the old show, whereas Gordon alternates between also being grim/dedicated, and being a charming/joyful caricature of DKL (but lacking Gordon's distinctive wide-eyed goofiness from the old show). I'm still a tad mixed on Albert, probably moreso than any other returning character....while Ferrer did great work, and I can accept this interpretation as a run-down version of the character a quarter-century on, part of me wishes he were given more witty/biting dialogue, even if the delivery remained the same (Gordon's repeated apologies in advance feel like hyperbole because Albert is never particularly insulting).

Albert had already changed radically in character by the end of S2- he became a nice guy who hugged Sheriff Truman in the hallway. Actually, his character had changed before then, Episode 16, an episode where he was totally intense and serious and deferential to Truman.

His snarkiness is still there, it's just obviously something he has under better control. I thought that, 'What, no cheese and crackers?' line was perfect; shades of the old Albert, but more subtle.

Personally, I don't believe Lynch and Frost want to try and reconstruct characters exactly as they were in the original series. While Albert was a sure source of cynical humor in S1 and the early parts of S2, I think they felt his role was more to be the 'straight man' who keeps the investigation on track in The Return. (However, if Albert makes it back to Twin Peaks with Gordon and Tammy, I do hope to see some indication he still has not completely made his peace with the usual bumper crop of rural know nothings and drunken fly fisherman)

[Panapaok]

Yeah, Albert is different from the original series but I love him here as well. Many iconic lines and scenes with him so far ("He must have eaten locally", "What, no cheese and crackers?", "Fruitcake anyone?", "You heard me" are some of his highlights).

[BOB1]

In my family we're four people. Me, my wife, my 15yo teenager, and my 11yo (just turned 11). It is incredible to me to see how differently we react on many things that happen in the show.

I am the only TP fan, meaning that I am the only one that watched the originals back then (when I was 11). My wife watched the original series years ago when I told her about it; she doesn't like the original episodes that much, with few exceptions. One scene that actually "woke me up" (I point at myself, and say "Dougie Jones") is the one in which Candie hits the Mitchum with the remote. We had, literally, four different reactions. While Candie was chasing the fly, I was thinking, oh my Lynch is going to do it. When Candie hit Mitchum, I just grinned. My wife said "gosh she's stupid." My 15yo laughed for a few seconds, and my 11yo laughed so hard that he wanted to watch the scene again. That scene made me realize that no matter what, how we see this series (and probably not only this series) will be inevitably filtered by our own experiences, age, and external factors. I know it might sound obvious, but it also told me that there is no way that I can enjoy a TP as I enjoyed it when I was 11 (and that's why I am glad that Lynch/Frost went this way, as I explained in another post).
The original series also delivered differently. To prepare my kids to S3 I made them watch S1 and S2 in the past few months. The reactions:
-S1: I cry at Laura Palmer's theme as Bobby would do; it really brings out memories, and nostalgia is indeed powerful. Wife can't really understand the fascination, she watches it. My 15yo liked the pilot, really wasn't into it and watched it distractedly. My 11yo watched S1 religiously, learned all the names etc. (surprisingly he catches many references in S3).
- S2: I still cry at Laura's theme, but only in the Leland era; I usually fall asleep in the second part with the exception of the last episode. Wife, she can't stand the whole season, last episode is the exception. My 15yo surprisingly enjoyed the first half of second season more than the first season (pilot excluded), and he despises, hates, doesn't even want to watch the second half of the season. I basically had to force him. He enjoyed the last episode. My 11yo, loved the first half of the season to the point that for days he repeated "it is happening again." He despised the second half (post Leland), and as his brother I had to basically force him to watch it. He watched all the episodes but he was clearly distracted, and he loved the last episodes.
-S3: I like it, as it is known but I will reserve my final judgment until the end of episode 18. My wife likes it more than the originals, but she doesn't like the weird stuff; she doesn't like episode 8 for example. 15yo and 11yo love season 3. They beg me to watch the episodes, and they want to re watch some of the episodes (episode 8 left my 11yo quiet, and my 15yo said "I have no idea about what happened"). They keep making Dougie jokes, and they quote parts of the series. Often they actually talk about it between themselves, while this didn't happen in the originals.

That was hugely interesting for me! Thanks a lot for sharing. perhaps because we are also four people watching together, me, my wife, two daughters, aged 20 and 18. And we did watch the earlier seasons together as well, although not now, for the sake of S3 but when they were, respectively, 14-15 years old (like we were when we watched it back in 1991).
However, I have to say, when Candie hit the guy with the remote, all four of us laughed out loud as much as we could


ps. Gazebo, what was soon wrong with Part 5 for you? For me it was the best episode of all!

[Jasper]

About another character change from the original to this Season, I just thought about how evil-Coop was depicted in the last episode (e29) where he laughs and smiles in an evil crazy way all the time, also in the last scene where he smashes the mirror.
But in this season I don't think I have seen him smile once.
I wonder if it's for the best, or not. Hard to say, but it makes the evil-coop character less colorful.

It's interesting that in The Missing Pieces he goes from laughing maniacally and repeating "How's Annie?" to a totally flat affect, just like our Mr. C in The Return. The idea of this behavior on the part of doppelcooper is at least as old as FWWM. I wonder how he would have behaved in a 1990s season 3. I think an ongoing manic doppelcooper might have been a bit too cartoonish, and too much like Windom Earle.

EDIT: I didn't even realize I was posting in this thread, because sometimes I just open up a bunch of red (unread) thread titles all at once. I will now say something critical. I thought that the final Roadhouse scene of part 12 was perhaps the most mundane thing I'd ever seen in Twin Peaks. Those characters were so bland, they seemed like they'd been transplanted from some other show. Kind of reminded me of most of the extras in the Richard Horne hit-and-run scene who just didn't have anything Peaksy about them, and looked like they'd just walked out of a Starbucks.

[Rex]

Episode 13 - Lynch finally hit his stride.

[yaxomoxay]

(Wrong thread)

[sylvia_north]

(Wrong thread)

Nah, not if it's a disappointed person who is turning a corner in appreciation

[Candie]

Me: Wow the first half was unbearably boring but this is actually getting really soothing. I mean, the scenes still have nothing to do with one another and continue to refuse to drive the plot in any direction at all, but at least I can appreciate each scene as its own short film in and of itself.
Announcer: "And now, we proudly present: James Hurley!"
Me: Huh...? Wait-
James: *guitar riff*
Me: F#@!k!!!!!



Yeah Big Ed, I was hurt, too. We all were, I think.

[mtsi]

Pushing the story forward. Good.

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[Aqwell]

All in all, not a bad episode, according to the new Twin Peaks standards. Which means keep your expectations low and have an open mind to weird stuff.

I liked to see EvilCoop again, at last. The arm wrestling scene was rather cool, good tension.

Doogie scenes, same old stuff, not especially good, nor bad. That's certainly not Dale Cooper, but not a dislikeable character either. Just a little bit useless.

About Blacklodge stuff I'm a bit lost. One can enters it physically, others as disembodied spirits, like Laura, dead people. So, Ray landed there as a corpse? Even if his body is still in the wharehouse? Also Bob needs a human host to kill, rape etc. But his bearded friends not? What a mess.

Janey-E, arrh... Another stereotypical (but true) cliché from DKL: good sex and good money makes a happy housewife. Charming...

Anthony Saint Clair, after Bill Hastings, another man crying like a little girl, awkward...

Audrey Horne... the false note of this episode. Did she become bi polar or something like that? Dull.

Sarah Palmer watching violent stuff on TV again, the same boxing scene repeating itself in a loop. Strange.
I almost expected to see the mutant bug frog coming out of her mouth if she passes out. But she didn't.

James Hurley, I don't know what to think of his Road House scene. I was about to bitching about another stupid band scene, then here he is. But the song, it's the same old recording... It feeled like an emotionless rehash, more Twin Peaks fest with a guest star doing lip-synch and 2 brunettes to play Donna and Maddy than a real scene.

And poor Ed Hurley... what a sad end of an episode, so lonely, like the disappointed fans that we are.
25 years later and all magic has disappeared, no more 50's feeling, no more jazzy music, no more hero, no more romance (I don't count Nadine and Dr Amp weird one). Twin Peaks is now an ordinary faceless town like many others. Makes me sad and feel old.

[mlsstwrt]

All in all, not a bad episode, according to the new Twin Peaks standards. Which means keep your expectations low and have an open mind to weird stuff.

I liked to see EvilCoop again, at last. The arm wrestling scene was rather cool, good tension.

Doogie scenes, same old stuff, not especially good, nor bad. That's certainly not Dale Cooper, but not a dislikeable character either. Just a little bit useless.

About Blacklodge stuff I'm a bit lost. One can enters it physically, others as disembodied spirits, like Laura, dead people. So, Ray landed there as a corpse? Even if his body is still in the wharehouse? Also Bob needs a human host to kills, rape etc. But his bearded firends not? What a mess.

Janey-E, arrh... Another stereotypical (but true) cliché from DKL: good sex and good money makes a happy housewife. Charming...

Anthony Saint Clair, after Bill Hastings, another man crying like a little girl, awkward...

Audrey Horne... the false note of this episode. Is she become bi polar or something? Dull.

Sarah Palmer watching violent stuff on TV again, the same boxing scene repeating itself in a loop. Strange.
I almost expected to see the mutant bug frog coming out of her mouth if she passes out. But she didn't.

James Hurley, I don't know what to think of his Road House scene. I was about to bitching about another stupid band scene, then here he is. But the song, it's the same old recording... It feeled like an emotionless rehash, more Twin Peaks fest with a guest star doing lip-synch and 2 brunettes to play Donna and Maddy than a real scene.

And poor Ed Hurley... what a sad end of an episode, so lonely, like the disappointed fans that we are.
25 years later and all magic as disappeared, no more 50's feeling, no more jazzy music, no more hero, no more romance (I don't count Nadine and Dr Amp weird one). Twin Peaks is now an ordinary faceless town like many others. Makes me sad and feel old.

Aqwell - last para hit me right in the feels. Right there with you man

[Doppler]

It's weird how the titles are more interesting than the episodes themselves.

[yaxomoxay]

In my family we're four people. Me, my wife, my 15yo teenager, and my 11yo (just turned 11). It is incredible to me to see how differently we react on many things that happen in the show.

I am the only TP fan, meaning that I am the only one that watched the originals back then (when I was 11). My wife watched the original series years ago when I told her about it; she doesn't like the original episodes that much, with few exceptions. One scene that actually "woke me up" (I point at myself, and say "Dougie Jones") is the one in which Candie hits the Mitchum with the remote. We had, literally, four different reactions. While Candie was chasing the fly, I was thinking, oh my Lynch is going to do it. When Candie hit Mitchum, I just grinned. My wife said "gosh she's stupid." My 15yo laughed for a few seconds, and my 11yo laughed so hard that he wanted to watch the scene again. That scene made me realize that no matter what, how we see this series (and probably not only this series) will be inevitably filtered by our own experiences, age, and external factors. I know it might sound obvious, but it also told me that there is no way that I can enjoy a TP as I enjoyed it when I was 11 (and that's why I am glad that Lynch/Frost went this way, as I explained in another post).
The original series also delivered differently. To prepare my kids to S3 I made them watch S1 and S2 in the past few months. The reactions:
-S1: I cry at Laura Palmer's theme as Bobby would do; it really brings out memories, and nostalgia is indeed powerful. Wife can't really understand the fascination, she watches it. My 15yo liked the pilot, really wasn't into it and watched it distractedly. My 11yo watched S1 religiously, learned all the names etc. (surprisingly he catches many references in S3).
- S2: I still cry at Laura's theme, but only in the Leland era; I usually fall asleep in the second part with the exception of the last episode. Wife, she can't stand the whole season, last episode is the exception. My 15yo surprisingly enjoyed the first half of second season more than the first season (pilot excluded), and he despises, hates, doesn't even want to watch the second half of the season. I basically had to force him. He enjoyed the last episode. My 11yo, loved the first half of the season to the point that for days he repeated "it is happening again." He despised the second half (post Leland), and as his brother I had to basically force him to watch it. He watched all the episodes but he was clearly distracted, and he loved the last episodes.
-S3: I like it, as it is known but I will reserve my final judgment until the end of episode 18. My wife likes it more than the originals, but she doesn't like the weird stuff; she doesn't like episode 8 for example. 15yo and 11yo love season 3. They beg me to watch the episodes, and they want to re watch some of the episodes (episode 8 left my 11yo quiet, and my 15yo said "I have no idea about what happened"). They keep making Dougie jokes, and they quote parts of the series. Often they actually talk about it between themselves, while this didn't happen in the originals.

That was hugely interesting for me! Thanks a lot for sharing. perhaps because we are also four people watching together, me, my wife, two daughters, aged 20 and 18. And we did watch the earlier seasons together as well, although not now, for the sake of S3 but when they were, respectively, 14-15 years old (like we were when we watched it back in 1991).
However, I have to say, when Candie hit the guy with the remote, all four of us laughed out loud as much as we could


ps. Gazebo, what was soon wrong with Part 5 for you? For me it was the best episode of all!

Thanks for sharing. Is your household's reaction the series towards unanimity or is it more disjointed? I am really curious to know what your 20yo and 18yo think about it.


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[yaxomoxay]

25 years later and all magic has disappeared, no more 50's feeling, no more jazzy music, no more hero, no more romance (I don't count Nadine and Dr Amp weird one). Twin Peaks is now an ordinary faceless town like many others. Makes me sad and feel old.

Unfortunately that's life
Last time I visited Disneyworld (third time overall) was the first time as an adult. The difference in what I felt was striking. I still remember how magic it was as a kid (8yo), and by magic I don't mean heartwarming, I mean that it really felt like an impossible place to be in. I remember wondering how they created the Haunted Mansion, or many of the effects etc.
As an adult, with kids, was Disneyworld magic? Yes and no. First of all I certainly had more worries to think about ("where do we eat", "how much does it cost?", other than making sure not to lose our kids, etc.). The place was still magic, but on a different level. I admired the engineering feats, and the themes, and the creativity, but more on a "technical" level. Granted, it was heartwarming, and the fact that I was able to save up to let my kids have that opportunity once in their life is really priceless. However, going back for me was different.
Do you remember the movie Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman? That's the main topic of the movie, if you will. This retired dude goes back to the places of his youth. The magic is gone, but I won't spoil it for you furthermore. It's one of the most touching movies I have ever seen about the very theme you talk about. If you haven't seen it... go watch it.
Reading your post also reminded me of one of my favorite Italian songs, it's from 1965 and I used to listen to it when I lived in Italy. It's called "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" (The boy from Gluck Street) by Adriano Celentano. It's basically his story, growing up at the outskirts of Milan, in Gluck Street. One day his parents decide to move to the inner city, and he has to leave all his friends behind. He becomes successful in the city, but "he has never forgotten his friends and his old house in Gluck Street". So, as a successful man he goes back there, and all the magic is gone. The trees are now gone, to leave way to the roads. There's concrete everywhere, etc. and his friends are old or gone.
Sad, but that's life.


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[Aqwell]

Thank you for your touching answer.
I've been to EuroDisney (aka Disneyland Paris nowadays) in august 1992 with my father. I've just realized it was 25 years ago this year. But my special place was the town where I met my first love, long gone now. Once in a while I went back there, it was like going back in time, walking the familiar streets, seeing my former home. Today, some of my old landmarks remain but many shops and cinema theaters closed permanently, and sometimes nothing else reopened instead. Without the sparkle of love and youth, it's just a sad, old and ugly town.

Do you remember the movie Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman? If you haven't seen it... go watch it.

It's on my list, thanx!