The Unorthodox/Controversial TP Opinion Thread

[FrightNight]

The Harold Smith storyline is quintessential Twin Peaks. Easily surpasses most of what was done in S 1.

[Dining With Diane]

The Straight Story is about the Milford brothers.

even better

[jordanlake]

Harold's Theme is my favorite motif in the show. You can just sink into it. It instantly summons up a warm, melancholy feeling of sinking into a mystery: looking around the town's landscape on a rainy, misty day and wondering what secrets hover behind each door. It's romantic - maybe Romantic - in the broadest sense of the word.

That is beautiful. Still yet to read anything from you that I disagree with.

You need to listen to Xiu Xiu's interpretation of that track, they've transported it to a score from an unmade late '70s Stephen King adaptation:

[David Locke]

Some more opinions:
- Either Hank is a boring character or Mulkey is a bland actor, but I don't care for anything about Hank at all. I can't think of a scene where I've thought, you know Hank really made that special. He's too one-dimensional and undefined, with zero personality or reason to care. In fact, all the plots revolving around the RR are extremely weak (not counting Shelly's life outside of the workplace, of course). Plus, Mulkey looks more like a soap-opera heartthrob (or Bill Maher's long-lost cousin) than a hardened criminal.
- Donna and James are pivotal to the show and fascinating because of their close connection to Laura; I don't think there's anything wrong with either of their plots until they get separated in mid-S2
- I like the business with the key-containing mysterious box. Even aside from the tragic outcome, the scenes of Catherine and co. trying to crack it open and being increasingly befuddled are really compelling and feel closer to the "real" Peaks
- Not a big fan of Duchovny's character. Better than a lot of the material in that period, but I don't find Denise particularly compelling either.
- OK maybe this isn't so controversial anymore, but I just hate the way that Major Briggs brings in Senor Droolcup to the Roadhouse in Episode 16. What is it? "I saw this gentleman waving me down... he asked for a ride here!" I can't tell if it's supposed to be hilariously absurd or not. Of all the contrivances in this scene, in getting everyone in that room, this one is somehow the most objectionable to me. It's like it turns Droolcup into just another face, willing to lend a helping hand... it lessens his mystique.
- I agree with Lost about the Audrey at OEJ's plot being unsatisfying. It's too static, too predictable, to hold up very well on multiple viewings. Especially as Audrey is just lying around in a heroin stupor while the OEJ Bad Guys scheme around her like the impotent Bond-villain-esque baddies that they are. We all know where it's going to end up, with a valiant rescue by Coop.
- And on that note, I don't much like any of the post-Leland OEJ's material either. All the intrigue has been sucked out of the place and the Renault/Dead Dog Farm stuff is only good in comparison to the pap it's up against.
- The Josie/drawer-pull shot is a great, eerie mindfuck and an oddly apt way to end her convoluted story.
- With all the criticisms I have of Episodes 17-22, I still don't hate them. I wouldn't say they're "bad." Mediocre would be a more fitting term. And though I have to be in a very specific mood to do so, I do enjoy watching these episodes in a way, as a kind of bizarre daytime soap with occasional intimations of the uncanny. And above all, they're fascinating to analyze and contemplate, maybe even more than the episodes that are actually really good.
- Episode 17 is probably a smoother episode than the whole 18-22 stretch, but I have to rate it as my least favorite episode of all simply because of the magnitude of disappointment of the wake scene and the way it handles (or rather represses) the Palmer family's exit from the show.

[cowwithfivelegs]

.

[Snailhead]

I wholeheartedly adore the "Just You" scene. Deliciously awkward.

[LostInTheMovies]

Hank never really felt like a "belongs in Twin Peaks" character to me. Even though we first hear of him in the pilot and meet him pretty early on, I always sort of mentally slot him in with second-season interlopers (either literal out-of-towners or townspeople who feel like they wandered in from a different show, like Dick Tremayne).

That said though...I always liked his character and particularly Mulkey's performance. In fact, what I like about his acting may be partly why he feels out of place to me (though David's point about his looks is well-taken); the character is malevolent without being over-the-top - he's *almost* convincing when he plays nice with Norma and I appreciate that subtlety even if it doesn't quite gibe with the larger-than-life quality of most of the Twin Peaks ensemble.

[FrightNight]

Hank Jennings definitely belongs amongst the juciest of human villains in TP. I totally buy him being the sort of bad-ass that could have (well, he kinda has) a scumbag like Leo Johnson for breakfast. I love him dabbling in all things and people bad, coming under the wing of Jean Renault and then degrading his former "boss", the then-already-beaten Ben Horne. What makes him even more intriguing's the fact that he was apparently one of the good guys way back when (too bad we didn't get to hear some more details regarding his backstory, as is the case with the whole Bookhouse Boys storyline - how they handle the secret society thing amounts to nothing more than a wasted opportunity; I do see a chance of picking it up and mending it, though, and not so much via the upcoming episodes but via Frost's book). Lost's description of the character who's "malevolent without being over-the-top" describes Mulkey's excellent performance to a T.
What I hate about his storyline, though, is his hasty, underwhelming exit - I really wish they would've kept him around for that last stretch of S 2 episodes and I'm sorry I won't be seeing him in the 3rd season.

[Snailhead]

I think Mulkey's Hank works very well in S1 - my visceral reaction is usually that I dislike him and just want him to go away, and it's a quality that serves the character's place in the story very well.
He comes across very fake in his attempts to sweet talk Norma & others - it reminds me of some people I have encountered in my life.

[AgentCoop]

There should've been more interaction between Hank and the Brothers Horne. Those were some of Hank's best scenes. I love the scene where Hank tells Ben he's been muscled out of OEJ's.

[Dining With Diane]

Hank Jennings definitely belongs amongst the juciest of human villains in TP. I totally buy him being the sort of bad-ass that could have (well, he kinda has) a scumbag like Leo Johnson for breakfast. I love him dabbling in all things and people bad, coming under the wing of Jean Renault and then degrading his former "boss", the then-already-beaten Ben Horne. What makes him even more intriguing's the fact that he was apparently one of the good guys way back when (too bad we didn't get to hear some more details regarding his backstory, as is the case with the whole Bookhouse Boys storyline - how they handle the secret society thing amounts to nothing more than a wasted opportunity; I do see a chance of picking it up and mending it, though, and not so much via the upcoming episodes but via Frost's book). Lost's description of the character who's "malevolent without being over-the-top" describes Mulkey's excellent performance to a T.
What I hate about his storyline, though, is his hasty, underwhelming exit - I really wish they would've kept him around for that last stretch of S 2 episodes and I'm sorry I won't be seeing him in the 3rd season.

I think Hank fits the pattern of doubles/dopplegangers/dark reflections we see in a lot of lynch. Hank is to Sheriff Truman (or maybe Ed Hurley) as Windom Earle is to Cooper.

[hopesfall]

I also love the Donna/James appearances in the show up until midway through S2. I was younger than them when the show was aired and I almost looked at their relationship with a jealous awe as what I hope will happen to me when I goto school. Retrospectively sad of me, but I'm fine with that! Kudos to Mark and David for capturing that authentic forbidden school romance, despite being Dad ages at the time.

I like Hank in that naughty boy sort of way. I also think Mulkey does a damn good job.

I really like Dick Tremayne. I don't know if it's because Ian Buchanan is just the nicest guy, or if it's because I really do warm to the character in some way. But I enjoy almost all of his scenes. The earlier the better mind you.

Despite its awful dialogue, I hold a place in my heart for when James meets Evelyn at Wallies. I too have had an incident whereupon I just upped and left my city for an evening and found a pretty much empty bar, having a couple of drinks and putting songs on the jukebox. The reasons are different; perhaps more justified actually. I didn't get lured into a faux-noir storyline with a woman who speaks in disjointed poem stanzas, but the scene resonates with me.

OT: I can't wait for the book. I'm more looking forward to the history parts than the bridges between. Actually this could be controversial. Haha! It would just be great to be able to watch the first two seasons once again, but knowing certain details that could possibly make different people and places be viewed from an altered perspective. I hope that makes sense.

[David Locke]

Despite its awful dialogue, I hold a place in my heart for when James meets Evelyn at Wallies. I too have had an incident whereupon I just upped and left my city for an evening and found a pretty much empty bar, having a couple of drinks and putting songs on the jukebox. The reasons are different; perhaps more justified actually. I didn't get lured into a faux-noir storyline with a woman who speaks in disjointed poem stanzas, but the scene resonates with me.

I quite like that scene too. I just wish the last shot, (with "I'm Hurt Bad" I think?) of James bent over the kaleidoscopic jukebox, lasted longer. It was a semi-promising start to a storyline that went nowhere and wasted some nice locations.

[Clueless]

Hank never really felt like a "belongs in Twin Peaks" character to me. Even though we first hear of him in the pilot and meet him pretty early on, I always sort of mentally slot him in with second-season interlopers (either literal out-of-towners or townspeople who feel like they wandered in from a different show, like Dick Tremayne).

That said though...I always liked his character and particularly Mulkey's performance. In fact, what I like about his acting may be partly why he feels out of place to me (though David's point about his looks is well-taken); the character is malevolent without being over-the-top - he's *almost* convincing when he plays nice with Norma and I appreciate that subtlety even if it doesn't quite gibe with the larger-than-life quality of most of the Twin Peaks ensemble.

Pretty much this. I'd also add that in a show with cosmic horror villain's like BOB and WIndom Earl it's really important to have your run-of-the-mill scumbuckets to keep the evil of the imaginary world somewhat grounded in the banal. I don't think I would nearly enjoy TP without all the needlessly cruel, somewhat directionless assholes that make up the secondary antagonists and Hank, for a reason I can't get my finger on, is one of my favorites.

What I hate about his storyline, though, is his hasty, underwhelming exit - I really wish they would've kept him around for that last stretch of S 2 episodes and I'm sorry I won't be seeing him in the 3rd season.

As much as I wish Hank's ex-bookhouse role and relationship with Harry* was delved into more latter-S2 I kind of like his arguably underwhelming exit, almost in the same way that I enjoy Earl's swift destruction. Hank had been seriously messing with fate and his second-chance for a season and a half and it kind of felt very right and just for me to see him unceremoniously abandoned by Norma.** It also ends Norma's slow but consistent story arc throughout the series, where she finally stops being an irrational people-pleaser.

*Surely we will get to read about this in Frost's book

**I do also have mixed feelings about that actual final scene between them though after reading that Mulkey actually grabbing Lipton through the prison bars was unscripted, sudden and actually shocked her.

[laughingpinecone]

As much as I wish Hank's ex-bookhouse role and relationship with Harry* was delved into more latter-S2 I kind of like his arguably underwhelming exit, almost in the same way that I enjoy Earl's swift destruction. Hank had been seriously messing with fate and his second-chance for a season and a half and it kind of felt very right and just for me to see him unceremoniously abandoned by Norma.** It also ends Norma's slow but consistent story arc throughout the series, where she finally stops being an irrational people-pleaser.

*Surely we will get to read about this in Frost's book

**I do also have mixed feelings about that actual final scene between them though after reading that Mulkey actually grabbing Lipton through the prison bars was unscripted, sudden and actually shocked her.

Yes!!
I appreciate the concept of his role. I appreciate Mulkey's face and acting - when people can't remember who Hank is, I tell them "picture the face you'd most like to punch... not Ben Horne the other one" and it works every time and if that's not the mark of a successful performance I don't know whatis I just feel they could've done a little more with him, instead of mostly using him as a connection between other characters. Mostly, I wish they'd explored the Harry/fallen Bookhouse Boy angle more.