Twin Peaks Return: The Profoundly Disappointed Support Group

[mlsstwrt]

Lol EvilCoop performing Achey Breaky Heart to close out The Return. Will seal the deal for me.

[Mr. Reindeer]

Gene the Poolboy is going to be the central figure in the DKL mythological multiverse: the ultimate lodge spirit, finding pleasure and reaping misery wherever he goes.

[Saturn's child]

Gene the Poolboy is going to be the central figure in the DKL mythological multiverse: the ultimate lodge spirit, finding pleasure and reaping misery wherever he goes.

*cue Miley Cyrus's head floating in an orb in a stream of vomit*

[Rialto]

Just a couple of slightly off topic comments:

- Now that N Korea might be about to launch a nuclear war, maybe Lynch is actually bang up to date?

- With ref to deliberate 'shoddiness', anyone seen The Love Witch? Absolutely brilliant early 70s folksy horror pastiche - as if Dario Argento directed Bewitched.

[Twink Peaks]

anyone seen The Love Witch? Absolutely brilliant early 70s folksy horror pastiche - as if Dario Argento directed Bewitched.

couldnt finish. so boring

[LateReg]

Just a couple of slightly off topic comments:

- Now that N Korea might be about to launch a nuclear war, maybe Lynch is actually bang up to date?

- With ref to deliberate 'shoddiness', anyone seen The Love Witch? Absolutely brilliant early 70s folksy horror pastiche - as if Dario Argento directed Bewitched.

I've seen Love Witch three times. What an absolute, subversive joy.

[referendum]

*cue Miley Cyrus's head floating in an orb in a stream of vomit*

ok, this is the one thing on tv where that would not be a surprise

tp4? maybe

[Venus]

Great post Reindeer. For the record I'm male, not that you could tell from the username and not that it really matters in this thread, lol (cue paranoia that I have a 'feminine' writing style).

Eek, sorry! I'd always read the first four letters of your username as "miss"...just now realizing I was misreading it! This is what I get for reading the board on my f*cking phone! (Also possibly influenced by my latent hope to see more female members on this forum -- it seems like, insofar as users reference their genders, we are a predominantly male group). Editing my post to correct!

I'm female so that's a count of one for you!

[Venus]

One thing that stuck with me after FWWM came out, was the number of family sexual abuse survivors coming forward to say that finally here was the most realistic portrayal of what it feels like to be horribly abused by someone you love - for all its surrealism, Lynch had brought out painful truth.

Wow did that really happen? Hopefully it helped someone who had gone through it or was going through it and encouraged them to get help. The premise of Laura's story always troubled me slightly in how it might translate in reality to the audience watching it, as such. That in order to escape sexual abuse and reach some form of peace, you have to die.

[mtwentz]

I still do not understand why anyone has an issue with Laura being a spiritual/religious figure. It's like saying, 'Jesus was just a carpenter, I am so disappointed they built a religion on such an ordinary guy'

[Adolphus]

...Lynch and Frost are just doing what they want to do, which seems to be evoking various tones and atmosphere through a series of unconnected vignettes, exploring personal fixations with the atom bomb, 1950s Americana, or aliens, with no regard for audience, narrative or the original Twin Peaks.

NOT unconnected- why don't you wait until the whole series is over before making that kind of a judgment- you may find that the whole contains a multitude of parts.

Well, thanks for the telling off but, as I think I made clear in the bits of my post you didn't quote, I'm stating a personal opinion. Is that allowed? If we all waited till the end of the series before expressing any thoughts on it, this thread wouldn't exist.

I've read the whole thread; I've heard the argument that you have to watch the whole 18 hours first, or that you should watch each episode at least twice, and then it all becomes clear. I don't buy it.

But, I hope you're right, and I hope I'm wrong. Time will tell. If you can come back here at the end of the series and say 'See? I told you the connections would all become apparent, and it would be great', then I'll be thrilled.

Now, can I go and set up that other thread that was mentioned a while back? The 'Everybody who loves a heated debate, come argue your case for why TPTR Rocks/Sucks' thread?

I don't want to be on it. I just want to be glum in here, in peace.

You can be as glum as you want to be- and you don't have to watch the whole thing to make judgments ( I certainly don't ). I happen to think that the series will have a gestalt by the end- I also find that with quite a few of Lynch's films they deepen on multiple viewings ( I'm sure you know the ones ) and that TW:TR definitely falls into this camp- so holding off on the whole series seems like a wise idea until it's over.
But hey- I do find some of the points made in this thread are valid, and I do think that if you find the series disappointing you should have a place to vent- but at 80 pages + it seems like there might be something going on more than griping- and what's with all the people who gripe at the people who don't gripe? Anyway- personally I'm finding the new Twin Peaks series to be a richly rewarding experience- and I for one am treasuring that I got to experience it.

[Adolphus]

It's a really strange choice of the creators.

It's like if Peter Weir made a sequel to 'picnic at hanging rock' where Miranda appears on the planet Venus which is inhabited by singing otters. Hilarious, but not a serious resolution to the unsolved mystery.

I've just got to say, on that note. Whilst it can be fun to poke holes in director styles and it's fair game to say what you don't like about any popular culture,
I have probably been guilty of outright criticising the intentions of the creators at various points. Far be it for me to speak poorly of Lynch and Frost, who I still have tremendous respect for, and I wouldn't want to start a hateful movement in their direction.

I think we have to consider the possibility that neither Lynch nor Frost have deliberately made something which doesn't engage on many levels.

It's been engaging me in various levels since it began- but I can understand why it isn't everyone's cup of tea.

For me it's not so much as it's not my cup of tea.
It IS my cup of tea. I'm just wondering why they didn't filter out the tea leaves. As the leaves stick in my throat, I'm forced to ask myself--- "...maybe it's meant to be this way? Am I enjoying chocking on this delicious tea?"

I think you're choking because it's a cup of coffee that you're drinking NOT tea!

[N. Needleman]

Since it's come up in here I'll just say I've never had the problem others do with Laura as quasi-messianic figure. I think Lynch was building to her ascending in importance and totemic power since before FWWM, and especially in the film. He treats her like a Christ figure in that.

I think people expecting the mysticism surrounding Laura to be toned down going forward will be disappointed, frankly. I think Laura is both a human girl who struggled, suffered, died and ascended and a powerful force for good who was debased and misunderstood in life. Take Roberto Rossellini's portrait of Ingrid Bergman as a modern saint in Europa '51- similar idea.

I don't think either aspect of Laura cancels the other out or invalidates either. I think Lynch is going all in on elevating Laura to heroic myth beyond the abused girl/femme fatale, and I am all for it, transgressive or not. I love the audacity of it. He is breaking every 'rule' and saying Laura is the central cosmic savior of the series- but I think she always was. I think episode 29 and FWWM bear that out. I think all we saw a week ago was explicit onscreen evidence after 25 years.

[counterpaul]

So much is going on in this thread that I'd like to respond to!

@BlueRose - I'm working on another response to our ongoing, lengthy conversation.

@ referendum - Thanks for the kind words, and I'm glad to hear someone is getting something out of my ramblings.

Actually thinking about Between Two Worlds gives me some hope. It was entirely consistent with the Twin Peaks I know and love and had heart to spare. It wasn't that long ago right, so Lynch can't have become utterly disillusioned with TP and these characters since then!

Yes, exactly. In fact, all indications are that when they shot Between Two Worlds, DKL and MF were already pretty deep into writing The Return. I think Sarah and Laura both are primed to play very significant roles in TPTR and I do not think we have seen any indication at all that Lynch has become in any way disillusioned with the characters. I think he will honor them as he always has. I think he loves them as he always has.

"Bless your heart, Laura."

To me, the imagery of Laura in Part 8 has nothing to do with turning Laura into some star child or something. The point is to remember her. In the midst of chaos and confusion, there is still Laura. Laura is the heart, the center, of Twin Peaks no matter how sweeping it might become in scope and no matter how lost we might get on the road back to finding her.

I think one of many mistakes people are making when reading the imagery in Part 8 is to read it as if it has no context. I do not think the sequence is placed randomly. It follows COOPER's "death" for a reason. That bomb hits because something colossal has happened. Chaos and confusion and destruction, at this point in the story, reign.

And so the thing to do is to acknowledge this and then to pause and to remember Laura with love. And to bring her back into the story.

[N. Needleman]

Lynch is both literal and metaphoric at once. What he showed with Senorita Dido and the Laura orb happened- it's real, not figurative.

Yes we should remember her, but yes, she is also a cosmic force for good. She just happened to do that but living and then dying as an abused human girl.