AXX°N N. wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:08 pm
@ Jonah:
That's a good point on if the Engels tidbits would have been used or how they could've been used--how many of the TP elements we know and love could be put in a single sentence and sound similarly lame?
I agree about seeing the cast in their prime and of course (and I was about to edit this in) how undeniably great it would have been to see those who have passed on. However, there's a similar point I can make there that you did about the Engels tidbits--who knows how much (or how badly) those we would've loved to see more of would have been utilized? Old TP made the extremely unpopular move to sideline Audrey, after all, and there's others (Donna comes to mind) who got shafted or downgraded to lesser storylines. That kind of thing might have continued.
The "renewed drive" is definitely the biggest thing I'm curious about when thinking about what could've been, because not only would the near-cancellation have lit a fire under them but the time-skip allows such a clean break from whatever narrative baggage they wanted to reorient.
The mythical quality is for sure alluring. But in a funny way (and it's a feeling I can't imagine a 90's S3 inspiring) the Return conjures those feelings in me within the narrative itself. When Cooper travels back to young Laura, and then we see Pete. I feel almost like my longing and Cooper's (and Lynch's, given how much he loves Laura as a character and how close he was to Nance) are one and the same in that moment.
Agent Earle wrote: ↑Thu Jul 08, 2021 12:52 pm
I've got news for you: Lynch & Frost have not only one-upped all those ridiculous ideas but put their preposterous invention to painful reality: a John Doe with a Cockney accent defeated Killer Bob in the form of a floating orb with the usage of a green glove. Blimey, it's like somethin' from the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers!
Haha, I've actually thought of that in those terms before! Actually, it's one of the reasons I disagree with people feeling like it doesn't fit their conception of TP, because I
immediately thought back to how I felt hearing about those Engels accounts, and everything from Freddy to bOrb feel exactly like what I would've expected out of a 90's continuation. The bOrb is totally in line with Josie's face in the knob, owls superimposed over Bob's face, the blood on the carpet Maddy sees (especially the Japanese version!) and other garish effects that, honestly, are deeply factored into why I find TP appealing and why I never had an issue with the weirdly flash-based/rudimentary stuff in the Return.
Oh yeah, it definitely could have slipped back in quality after a renewed drive, especially if it had continued into Season 4, 5, and beyond. And cast members would have been sidelined or even more might have left the show. It might have gotten better or worse or better then worse, but I think we'd probably already seen it get as bad as it could get in mid-Season 2. So even if it got bad again, it still would have been worth it to see how good it could have been before that.
With regards to underutilizing the cast, remember how sidelined they all were in The Return? Sherilyn Fenn even (quite rightly in my opinion though I know others don't share that view) campaigned to get her part improved - and it worked.
Lynch did pay loving wonderful tribute to all the characters/actors that had passed on - and I commend him for that. But he and Frost treated the ones who came back after 25 years quite deplorably in my view, to the point that I can't understand it at all. It almost seems like they hate or are disinterested in the characters. (Not all of them, I like the Big Ed/Norma stuff - but even then I would have liked to see their wedding not be told about it via a throwaway line or two in Frost's book.)
I mean, I just feel as a writer if you've got a chance to go back to characters you loved 25 years ago when your story was unfairly cut short by cancellation, why not give them more to do, rather than little cameos ? This also happened in FWWM. There, it was understandable as the movie was focused on Laura's backstory and not all of them were connected to her. But in The Return it's much less understandable to me. I know they were more focused on Cooper, but even then they were more focused on Dougie - and yes, I know he's part of Cooper's story, and an important one, but even then they seemed reluctant to give us much of the Cooper character, even a damaged less boyscout-like one. There just seemed an overall reluctance and disinterest to do much with the town (Frost kept talking about getting away from the sleepy hamlet - why? It's not like you've been trapped there for 10 seasons, you're going back to it after 25 years away) or the original characters in favour of expanding the story into a variety of new locations and almost 200 (!) new cast members. It just felt like a disservice to the original cast and setting and that, more than anything, is what I most dislike about The Return. I just find it difficult to comprehend. I mean, admittedly, I wrote a novel set in a small town and in its sequel I got rid of the town and expanded it to a new canvas, so maybe I can sort of understand that part a little - and I introduced a lot of new characters, but I still kept my main ones as main roles, so that part I don't understand. And the town in my first book wasn't all that important a setting as Twin Peaks (heck, it's the title!) was to the series. So, yeah, I understand some of it - but not really, I would have understood it more had they been fed up writing the same characters and location for multiple seasons and wanted to move it in new directions, but it seemed a bit bizarre to me given they got the chance to go back, particularly as Lynch claimed to love the world of Twin Peaks and a continuing story - it seemed to me he does love that but he also wanted to make a new show or another Mulholland Drive even more. I'm sure many will disagree with me on these points and make valid arguments for some of these creative decisions - but it's still how I feel overall.