Episode 9

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Shloogorgh
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Shloogorgh »

Now that is fascinating. I love the Tremonds/Chalfonts, definitely one of my favorite elements that Lynch decided to expand upon for Fire Walk With Me. (I really hope they have some presence in the new series. Obviously missing the awesome Frances Bay, but anyone can take up the mantel of the grandson wearing the mask, whether he stays the same age or we get an adult version)

I love how the actions of the Tremonds not fully making sense just adds to their aura of being unknowable spirits. And the murder occurring in their trailer only adds to that. I love that there are still layers in FWWM to peel back.

I lament that there was never a scene that actually showed the Chalfonts interacting with Teresa Banks.
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David Locke
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Re: Episode 9

Post by David Locke »

This is such a fantastic episode. It doesn't have the burden of Episode 8's exposition-dump and is all the better for it. Some of the creepiest and best sequences of the series are here; Lynch makes so much out of so little. Just the way the red curtains of OEJ's are lit in the last scene with Audrey, plus the sinuous pan up the telephone cord, will suffice as an example; this all reminds me a lot of Lost Highway, for some reason. And of course the Just You sequence through to BOB's appearance is classic. I don't see how there could be any controversy over the former, as has been noted it's pure Lynch, both improbable and absurd and hypnotic and beautiful and eerie all at once. Just the way Donna's eyes look, never straying from James the entire time, is incredibly striking. The episode as a whole is surprisingly important, but important it is.
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LostInTheMovies
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Re: Episode 9

Post by LostInTheMovies »

John Thorne recently mentioned - and I think our own Audrey has highlighted this to with the call sheets - that ep. 8 & 9 were shot simultaneously. That's amazing to me as even the scenes in the same location seem to have such a different vibe. The ep. 9 ones just feel more purposeful (good as some of the ep. 8 ones are).
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Snailhead »

Episode 9 is definitely one of the strongest in the series, and my 3rd favourite of Season 2 after 14 and 29.

It's interesting how little music is used - there's lots of unsettling drones, but not much in the way of musical themes. The quiet, slow pace creates a wonderful atmosphere. I find Episode 9 to be a step up from Episode 8, which had a lot of amazing moments but was a bit patchy.
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mtwentz
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Re: Episode 9

Post by mtwentz »

LostInTheMovies wrote:John Thorne recently mentioned - and I think our own Audrey has highlighted this to with the call sheets - that ep. 8 & 9 were shot simultaneously. That's amazing to me as even the scenes in the same location seem to have such a different vibe. The ep. 9 ones just feel more purposeful (good as some of the ep. 8 ones are).
Episode 8 is my fave of the entire series.
F*&^ you Gene Kelly
Aerozhul
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Aerozhul »

I thought I knew everything there was to know about Twin Peaks, but on re-watching this episode and coming here afterwards, I learned something I hadn't known before - this episode was directed by Lynch!

Clearly my first time seeing this episode when it was broadcast can be excused since I was in seventh grade and knew next to nothing about the creators of the show, but the maybe 2-3 other times I've re-watched it in the years since - I really have no excuse.

You'd think at some point I would have seen the directing credit in the show's opening, but somehow I missed it on this re-watch, too. As the episode progressed, I thought to myself - this director may be the one closest to Lynch's style - almost to the "T". Then during the creamed corn scene, I thought to myself, "wait a minute...".

Confirmed coming here. Wow........

About the episode - I loved it. Wheras the season premiere was way too long, dreary with the hospital setting and exposition-y, this one was back to form. This is one of my favorite BOB appearances of the entire series - the couch jump scene with Maddy. Truly terrifying.
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Gabriel
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Gabriel »

Terrific episode. Like Aerozhul, I'd forgotten that this was a Lynch episode. I blinked during the opening and missed the directing credit, so I stopped at a commercial break and checked. It's perfectly paced with one of the most terrifying moments in a show that's well known for it's terrifying moments.

I'm waiting for a character (maybe 'Good' Cooper) in the new show to make a phone call that travels through time to Lucy in this episode.

It's a funny thing; I've never given this episode much thought before, but it, curiously enough, comes over as one of the most 'confident' episodes in the series. As is remarked elsewhere, it's not an 'event' episode, but all the featured characters, both in terms of writing and actorly portrayal seem to be in their element, the surrealism blends perfectly with the realistic storyline elements. Everything just... works. It's a show where, as in BOB's cameo, you expect the editor to cut to a different shot, but BOB keeps on coming towards the camera. It does what you expect, then pushes things a little further. Indeed, this is a template for how a perfect 'typical' episode of Twin Peaks ought to have been.

What Lynch does so brilliantly is something I've only seen a small number of other directors achieve, which is to twist what seems normal and build a sense of unease until it's suffocating. Kubrick did it in The Shining. Takeshi Shimizu does it in some of his films. Nori Tsuruta did it in Ring 0 with something as small as a petal dropping from a flower. It's something hard to do and scenes like the Mrs Tremond scene are a Lynch at his unsettling best. When Mrs Tremond says her grandson has been practising magic, you know she doesn't mean 'tricks,' but something far more ancient and disturbing.

I always found the Just You sequence quite creepy. Sheryl Lee (and Lynch) deserve plaudits for one of those glances Maddy gives James, because in that moment of a sly glance she's playing Laura, not Maddy. When Donna runs away, Maddy seems disorientated, as if she'd zoned out for a moment. Having watched Laura in FWWM, I feel even more that way: Laura briefly replaces Maddy in that scene, leading to BOB appearing in the Hayward house.

All round, a great episode.
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Jonah
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Jonah »

Best moment in this episode is the Bob sequence. It's just so terrifying, all the more when you think this is disembodied/out-of-host Bob. It's like he just slipped out of Leland to come by and do a little menacing. And it's even more scary when you realise Maddy is being attacked when there's people just in the very next room. It really has a dream feel to it, but also such a sinister air, really highlighting how this otherwordly aspect can just assault the characters even in a seemingly safe, populated space. It's truly a wonderful moment.

I also like the "Just You & I" sequence.

Those are always the two moments that stand out the most for me, followed by the Tremonds. That scene gets creepier on each rewatch, as you see how they seem to be setting in motion the whole Harold/Donna plot, and how the little kid seemingly knows what will happen Harold. That creepy otherworldly aspect is also strong here. Did Donna just step into the black lodge here? Into another dimension? When I was rewatching this episode, I kept thinking how these characters aren't really people at all - but otherworldly beings - and how we learn later they never lived there. So what exactly did Donna step into here? It reminds me also how close she comes to otherworldly/evil characters throughout the run, such as Bob in Episode 16. And I kept thinking of the scene in FWWM where they give Laura the painting.

Other things of note:

Cooper & Albert having breakfast, the barbershop quartet behind them, Coop's speech, Albert's joke - all great stuff.

And we get our first mention of Windom Earle in the series. On rewatching this, I found it's really surprising how early this character was foreshadowed.

The stool sequence is great.

As is the cheese pig and the ledgers.

Leland finding the poster of Bob and the backstory behind it is awesome and eerie.

I like the sequence with Shelley & Bobby in the car. Madchen Amick is gorgeous.

"The Owls Are Not What Seem"/UFO sequence is great.

And that creepy final shot of Audrey on the phone to Coop while standing in front of red curtains - how wonderful would this have been as foreshadowing had she (instead of Annie) been in Episode 29 as originally intended!

A great episode. I tend to think of Episode 8 more as one of my favourites and almost forget at times how great this one was.
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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David Locke
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Re: Episode 9

Post by David Locke »

Yeah, I somehow enjoyed this episode even more on this latest re-watch.

The BOB-couch scene is absolutely incredible, though for some reason I've seen it countless times before and it only now strikes me as being as disturbing/scary as everyone says. I would say it's possibly the single most frightening BOB appearance in the series (Ep 14 is more disturbing than scary, and more about Leland than BOB anyway IMO). Sarah's infamous vision in Episode 1 is up there, but this one may beat it because there's (naturally) something far more menacing about BOB approaching the camera vs. just crouching behind a bed. Still, both are masterfully disquieting, conjuring up the feel of childhood nightmares (e.g. some "Boogeyman" under the bed/hiding in your room - by now evolved to coming right after you!)

There's just something about that simple, stark camera angle, and the way BOB so voraciously moves toward the viewer - a good encapsulation of his all-consuming evil. It's another Lynch scene that's effective in ways that are difficult to verbalize. But one thing that I thought recently is that there's something very The Shining-esque about the shot. I guess it's just the Kubrickian look of this symmetrical, static, perfectly composed wide shot - with an unexpected, horrifically evil presence disrupting the sterile homely scene just as chaos/madness/evil so often disrupted Kubrick's immaculately symmetrical compositions, in The Shining and elsewhere.

More generally re: the episode... I actually think part of what makes this hour superior to Episode 8 is that it's more consistently, well, Lynchian. I think there's more visual imagination and surreal touches applied throughout - whereas although Episode 8 is rightly remembered for its lengthy and very Lynchian Droolcup/Giant/traincar sequences, it's actually more formally plain throughout, especially all the hospital scenes. But naturally, those aforementioned big sequences are remembered fondly and it makes the entire episode seem more surreal than it actually is on a scene-by-scene basis.

By contrast, here in Episode 9 I feel like nearly every scene is shot in some intriguing way, and there are even small flourishes like that very eerie shot of BOB grinning against a background of pure blackness, and the BOB/owl thing. Even a small touch like this sticks out: when Leland becomes captured by the BOB poster in Ben's office, we get a great closing shot where Leland's haunted face in the foreground contrasts with Ben and Jerry, out of focus, in the background - with Jerry's dark shades giving an oddly eerie look. And then the way the Briggs/Cooper hotel room scene is shot is terrific - the low-angle shots of each man have an almost eerie glow to them. I've already mentioned the closing shot at OEJ's in a previous post, but that's another great scene, the pan down the telephone cord recalling the Pilot and that great atmospheric background of dark red drapes recalling the similar-looking ones in Lost Highway.

Albert/Coop at the beginning goes without saying, and I also like the tenderness of this exchange, with Albert's genuine concern for his friend's health. Same for the Tremonds, one of the most important scenes in terms of laying ground for future mythos.

I also love the Just You and I scene, and I'm certain the BOB vision that follows wouldn't be half as effective without that misleadingly innocent 50s teen-movie bookend. Great stuff, and great great episode.
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Re: Episode 9

Post by mtl »

great episode

Grandma and grandson, The Fireman, BOB
some lovely moment with the stool
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Re: Episode 9

Post by claaa7 »

in the interview with Jennifer Lynch on the Entire Mystery box set she is talking about Mrs. Tremond, saying she was someone older and wiser that could have a positive influence on Laura and wanted well for her.. something like that, right? obviously Lynch didn't go with that intention when directing episode 9 and subsequently using them in FWWM, but i also noticed when reading The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer that Mrs. Tremonds really don't make an apperance. on one of the last pages she meets Pierre Tremond and tells him something about BOB... so the pages where Jennifer wrote about Mrs. Tremonds and Laura's relationship are part of the torn pages.

was Jennifer writing the Diary at the same time as shooting the early parts of Season 2? i know it was published in the interim between Season 1 and 2.

beautiful episode btw.
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The Gazebo
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Re: Episode 9

Post by The Gazebo »

I just love the opening of this episode. If anyone wonders why people fell in love with the original show, this is one of the answers.
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

So far, I can buy the retcon of Albert being part of Blue Rose at this point. He's a little exasperated when Cooper is talking about Bob, but he isn't dismissive and clearly doesn't respect Cooper any less for following dreams/visions/the supernatural.

As LostInTheMovies said much earlier in this thread, the Tremonds are among the tougher characters to peg down, even moreso now that a Tremond woman figures prominently into what may end up being the final scene of TP ever. Even Mark himself, when asked by David Bushman, "Did you ever have any strong sense of who the Tremonds and Chalftonts were?" answered, "No. I have to say they seemed a little obscure to me." Their genesis is interesting. They're in the original script, and I assume they were a Frost/Peyton creation. The grandson also pops up briefly in TSDoLP, which of course was written off details the writers fed Jennifer in advance of S2 (TSDoLP is where he picked up the name Pierre, which doesn't appear in any scripts or credits and was presumably Jennifer's invention). However, in the script, Mrs. Tremond and her grandson seem to be regular, albeit slightly eccentric, mortal people (the grandson does magic tricks, but a card slips out of his sleeve at one point, implying that he's just a regular kid). Mrs. Tremond's aversion to creamed corn is in the script, but the grandson transporting it seems to be a Lynch innovation. It seems like Lynch added the more "otherwoldly"/creepy element to the pair in this episode, and Mark & co. took the ball and ran with it in E16, when the bungalow is inexplicably inhabited by a totally different Mrs. Tremond. Then Lynch in FWWM reveals them to be full-blown Lodge spirits. Although this episode portrays the Tremonds as part of Laura's Meals on Wheels route, IIRC, Laura doesn't appear to know them when they approach her in FWWM, a few days before she dies (when she is, notably, loading the station wagon for a Meals on Wheels run). So did they just insert themselves into this house to intercept Donna and point her towards Harold? If so, to what end? To expose the Secret Diary and get Bob caught? Whose side are they even on? They are seen cavorting above the convenience store with Bob, MfAP, the Woodsmen and the Jumping Man in FWWM, seemingly marking them as Black Lodge spirits, but then why does Mrs. Tremond have an aversion to creamed corn? Does she not eat garmonbozia? Or is she disgusted because "normal" creamed corn doesn't contain the pain and suffering of the real thing (like an alcoholic being offered nonalcoholic beer)? The only thing that seems certain about these characters is that they regularly seem to infiltrate and inhabit homes that don't belong to them, to some seemingly manipulative ends.

Harold's reclusiveness seems positively prophetic in these strange times we're currently living through. Pity he didn't survive; he'd be more comfortable with social distancing than any of us (except maybe David Lynch).

I've written before about my confusion regarding the Mill subplot, and the ledgers, so I'll link to that post if anyone has anything to add: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3496&p=75847&hilit=mill#p75847 In terms of this episode, my main question is: Why does Ben seem to imply he's considering selling the Mill, when the whole point in the first season is that he wanted to tear the Mill down to use the land for Ghostwood?

The Garland/Margaret scene is absolute perfection. No one but Don Davis could pull that scene off with such earnest sincerity in every line. Never consciously mining the material for laughs, always responding with complete honesty to whatever Margaret gives him. "You wear shiny objects on your chest." "Yes I do."

I had completely forgotten the scene of Lucy trying to swat a fly, which Lynch perhaps unknowingly ripped off with Candie all those years later. Obviously, there are certain things he just finds entertaining. He must have LOVED that "Fly" episode of Breaking Bad.

The bizarre scene where the caller refuses to give Lucy his/her name is not in the script, was presumably Lynch's invention, and never paid off anywhere. I know earlier in this thread it was speculated that maybe it was Leland, calling with an anonymous tip about Bob (although he shows up the next day and tells Harry all about meeting Bob at the Pearl Lakes, so I'm not so sure). This go-round, I imagined it was Harry's brother Frank calling, and that he knew Harry wouldn't pick up if he said who he was because they were estranged at the time (shades of The Straight Story). This is purely my head fan-fic, and certainly wasn't anyone's intent at the time, but it makes as much sense as anything, and is a fun way of inserting Frank into the original series narrative (and explaining why Harry never mentions him).

As with the Giant/Coop scenes in E8, the Garland/Coop scene in this episode is the beginning of a relationship that will have vast repercussions for both men and for the mythology overall in TR. It's interesting how Dale tells Audrey in E6 that secrets are dangerous and that he doesn't have any, and yet he agrees with Garland here that, while secrets can lead to corruption, a pledge to keep a secret is sacred (a pretty complex moral code! And one that I imagine a lot of people in such jobs do struggle with).

Who do we think sent Briggs/Cooper that message? The Giant/Fireman conveyed the exact same message directly to Cooper at pretty much the same time. Was he merely trying to bring the two together by sending the same message to Briggs with Cooper's name attached? Or was it someone else with a more nefarious/manipulative intent?

Cooper's dream (cobbled together from bits and pieces of footage shot for other episodes/scenes) is not in the script, and is presumably something Lynch decided the episode needed during editing. Honestly, I don't think it contributes a whole lot (other than the superimposed owl-Bob), but it has some cool effects.

Finally, this episode in Dale's Diet:
— Breakfast at the Great Northern with Albert: Each has a plate of pancakes (with garnishes of some greens and what appears to be an orange slice), a cup of coffee, a glass of orange juice, and half a grapefruit; there is a pitcher of syrup for the table; additionally, there are table plates of bacon (which Cooper takes from and eats), scrambled eggs, sausages, a muffin (likely blueberry) with a slab of butter on the side, and two sweet rolls.
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AXX°N N.
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Re: Episode 9

Post by AXX°N N. »

Mr. Reindeer wrote:I've written before about my confusion regarding the Mill subplot, and the ledgers, so I'll link to that post if anyone has anything to add: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3496&p=75847&hilit=mill#p75847 In terms of this episode, my main question is: Why does Ben seem to imply he's considering selling the Mill, when the whole point in the first season is that he wanted to tear the Mill down to use the land for Ghostwood?
I've always found it funny that in a show so dense with mysticism and narrative experimentation, one of the more obscure points are the logistics of a rather mundane double-dealings plot. This became, weirdly enough, a thing me and my viewing partner set aside special conversation time for during a rewatch, because it was almost beguiling how hard it was to keep firm track of it. I'm still not sure I have it down. Something similar happened with my TR viewing regarding the coordinates subplot and much of the off-screen Hastings events.

Anyway, iirc, the Estates development that Ben wants to do isn't something he wants to bankroll, it involves a Norwegian (or Icelandic?) businessman at that point. So he's already been shown to be parcelling the land off.
Recipe not my own. In a coffee cup. 3 TBS flour, 2 TBS sugar, 1.5 TBS cocoa powder, .25 TSP baking powder, pinch of salt. 3 TBS milk, 1.5 TBS vegetable oil, 1 TBS peanut butter. Add and mix each set. Microwave 1 minute 10 seconds. The cup will be hot.
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Episode 9

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

AXX°N N. wrote:
Mr. Reindeer wrote:I've written before about my confusion regarding the Mill subplot, and the ledgers, so I'll link to that post if anyone has anything to add: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3496&p=75847&hilit=mill#p75847 In terms of this episode, my main question is: Why does Ben seem to imply he's considering selling the Mill, when the whole point in the first season is that he wanted to tear the Mill down to use the land for Ghostwood?
I've always found it funny that in a show so dense with mysticism and narrative experimentation, one of the more obscure points are the logistics of a rather mundane double-dealings plot. This became, weirdly enough, a thing me and my viewing partner set aside special conversation time for during a rewatch, because it was almost beguiling how hard it was to keep firm track of it. I'm still not sure I have it down. Something similar happened with my TR viewing regarding the coordinates subplot and much of the off-screen Hastings events.

Anyway, iirc, the Estates development that Ben wants to do isn't something he wants to bankroll, it involves a Norwegian (or Icelandic?) businessman at that point. So he's already been shown to be parcelling the land off.
My understanding is that the development would be under the umbrella of Ben’s empire, but the Icelanders are investors providing necessary capital to make it a reality. He repeatedly refers to it as an investment opportunity. I guess he never outright says it, but the only logical reason he wants the Packard land is to knock down the Mill and use the land as part of his development.
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