Praise for the Second Season

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Diane
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Praise for the Second Season

Post by Diane »

I noticed that a lot of people (even on here) consider the second season a flop. I almost enjoy the second season more than the first one...but only after the subplot with James Hurley fixing the car is wrapped up. I think that those episodes were definitely the low-point.

In the last 10 episodes (I think) it really picks up, with Windom and the chess game, the search for the Lodge, etc. One of my favorite episodes is the one where Windom is dressed as the Log Lady and terrorizes the Miss Twin Peaks contest.

Does anyone know if the dialogue that was missing from the Season 2 box has been dubbed back in for the Gold Box?

Another great moment is Annie praying on the way to the Black Lodge with Windom...that is always very suspenseful each time I watch it.

And who can forget Annie's "mystic warriors" speech? That is great. Annie is one of my favorite characters.

I also think the cliffhanger ending works well as an end in itself...it gives the series a tragic feel, and makes seeing Dale and Laura and the Angel in the Lodge an emotional experience...the end of FWWM always makes me cry.

Does anyone else love Season 2?
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Coffee
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Post by Coffee »

I love the second season.

The Evelyn, Little Nicky plots etc. actually are a good thing in my opinion, they're lighter in tone, and give the feeling that now that the Laura Palmer mystery is over the show is becoming more comedic in nature, which makes those final three episodes all the more shocking and brilliant.

I also enjoy how basically every character from the first season does a complete 180 on themselves and become something... only for Lynch to either kill them off or hit the "reset" button in the superb finale.

On the one hand it's a shame that the killer was revealed and killed off early in the season, on the other hand, you have to wonder, would we have gotten the equally excellent Windom Earle and Black Lodge subplots? Probably not.
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Ross
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Post by Ross »

I LOVE the second season. Actually, I think the second season premiere through the end of the Laura storyline is easily the best run of episodes of the series. Certainly more enjoyable to me than the first season. It just seems more thought out, and more rewarding. While the first season (while of course still wonderful) is mostly red-herrings and dead-ends, this first stretch of episodes of the second season really seem like they are headed somewhere. And are even more rewarding to the viewer. Like Maddy's vision of the carpet where she will later lay dead. And after so much build up, I'm still amazed that the episode where the killer is revealed managed to live up to, and even surpass, expectations. That Lynch directed episode is easily the highlight of the whole series for me. The last fifteen minutes or so are simply amazing.

I guess its after that that most people seem to have a problem. And while the storyline as a whole may not be as strong as Laura's story, I still love the second half of the season. Personally, I think that virtually every character becomes more human, better developed, and more likable. Which makes the series itself that much more endearing. I'm sure there are people who think the characters were better off LESS human, and that this fact is actually a fault, but not me.

I even never minded the Evelyn story, which I feel gives some more insight and growth to both James and Donna. And in a round-a-bout way, gives some closure to their feelings about Laura.

The best part for me though was the character of Annie. I fell in love with her, and she's pretty much exactly who I would see Cooper falling for. It gave Cooper a vulnerability and kindness that made him even more special. All they're scenes together resonate in my memory. And her line from the 2nd to last episode "I can see half my life's history in your face, and I'm not sure that I want to." is simply one of the most beautiful yet tragic things I've ever heard.

And course there's Lynch's final episode, which is bliss. Sure I could have done with a little less Little Nicky and especially Nadine, but I find myself going back to the second season much more.
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Teopeaks
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Post by Teopeaks »

My favourite scene of the second season is the one when Gordon Cole realises he can hear Shelly Johnson perfectly. It's a really long scene, you have Coop and Truman sitting in Double R, then copp tells his Pinguin joke to Annie, then the thing of Gordon Cole who's interrupted by the log lady who loves Twin Peaks pies and in the end, Annie revealing she's seen the motif Coop drew at the Owl Cave. I think it's a fantastic scene, really funny and enigmatic.

I also love the scenes when Major Briggs' wife talks to Coop and Truman about her husband, and when Major Briggs reappears suddenly, I think it's great.

And of course, the whole Mrs. Tremond stuff I love.
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Post by The Magician »

I consider Twin Peaks a flawless set up, from a storytelling standpoint. The first season is really a prelude. It entices us and entraps us, and prepares us for what's to come. The second season, however, is a three part opera. Of course the middle episodes are the slowest. That is how the middle acts of any opera are like.

Essentially the second season IS the show. To consider it a flop is to consider Twin Peaks a flop. Annie Blackburn, John Justice Wheeler, Windom Earle, Thomas Eckhardt and Dick Trumane are all favorite characters of mine, and the show is stronger for them.

I believe there are definitely a strong following of second season supporters. I just think they are maybe not as vocal as those who did not appreciate it.
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Post by Audrey Horne »

magician, I'll be nice -xoxo

what I love in the second season -

The two kickoff episodes from Lynch
Cooper shot and the waiter
Audrey diffusing her father
Ed's story about Nadine's eye
Audrey's prayer to Cooper
"not you, no offense" to Blackie
The barbershop quartet
Ben and Cooper's scenes
"Hiya Emory, you remember me? I'm going to tell you a nice bedtime story..."
Lelend's first incaration for Jaques
Catherine as Tajamora "slimey rat bastard!"
Shelly's quitting
Shelly's "what" huh to Cooper when he tells her everything is fine with Leo coming home when she's scammming insurance money
Audrey's late night call to Cooper, "I saw you in your tuxedo"
Albert's "concerns are global" speech to Truman
the sixth episode as a whole (perfect pacing for a non event episode)
Josie and Ben's scene (Chen's best work)
Cooper's "Notorious" inspired rescue of Audrey
Audrey meets Denise
anything with Pete
Ben and Jerry's childhood memory of Irene Dunbrowski
Audrey flirting with Bobby to get info for Cooper
episode seven as a whole -the world spins
Audrey and Cooper in Cooper's room before Maddy's body is found
Pete taking Audrey fishing
Ben asking Catherine to make a contribution to Stop Ghostwood
God, I love this music. Isn't it too dreamy?
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The Magician
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Post by The Magician »

That was very nice Audrey. Thank you. I feel good about myself. :D

My desktop on my computer is a big picture of Audrey Horne. It used to be Maddy, but I replaced it recently. xoxo
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silenttwn
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Post by silenttwn »

The first time I watched the second season I thought it was great. It's still great, minus the second third of it, but I can look past all of that. I love it. :)
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Post by mark84 »

Diane, its great to see a positive thread about S2, I totally agree with you. It s apity people always bad mouth it, and i suspect some of them do it just because Lynch didnt direct every second of it.
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Jonah
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Post by Jonah »

Just posted this also under topic "Celebrating Season 2". I've been away awhile (I'm back!! :D ) so I'm confused - there seems to be at least 2 fairly recent threads on celebrating Season 2? To which does one post?

"Hey guys, never posted a comment on this thread, hope you all don't mind be restarting it. I love Season 2, warts and all, always have. Yes, there are problems. Yes, there are cringe-worthy moments. But as a whole, when I think of TP ' my favourite scenes, the best moments ' they are in the pilot and Season 2.

Season 1 is great. But I do tend to skip over a lot of it in my memory of the show and the events. At times, S1 almost seems too perfect, a well-constructed and 'executed miniseries. I agree with what Red Room said
"As I've said before, there are weak spots in the series, but I felt that was true of Season 1 also, which at times bordered on being a little too much of a strait-laced soap opera Almost."

Like Jerry Horne, I feel Season 1 was great ' but I fell in love with the show in Season 2. The pilot rocks. The dream sequence in Episode 2 was amazing. But I think things got really weird, and really scary, and really interesting, with Season 2. More BOB. The reveal of the killer. Maddy's death. The intercutting of her disturbing death with the beautiful sequence at the roadhouse. Wonderfully scary and bizarre moments like Josie's death ' that was just killer tv. When BOB appeared and then Josie seemed to be trapped in the drawer knob, I just felt that that was so different, so bizarre and wonderful. And what about the final episode ' it's still shocking to watch and think "this was on regular TV?"I even love the Miss Twin Peaks contest leading up to it (even if it is hokey). I also loved the premiere, including the really slow scene with Coop and Droolcup. Awesome way of throwing the audience off track, after a summer of built up suspense, just go ahead and frustrate them some more!

S1 is almost perfect. S2 is not perfect but there's so much there, both good and bad, and it's three times the length, it's perfect for sinking your teeth into, and all these years later, to see people debating its merits is wonderful. Almost everyone agrees that S1 is wonderful. But the real conversations and debates come with discussing S2. "
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Post by Sugardrugged Fairy »

I'm watching the 2nd season these days, and the best part of it till now was SID. She's really something.. :roll:
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Post by Tonya J »

Not to be flip, but seeing David Duchovny in a dress, again, has been one of the highlights for me. The Denise character for me, is probably the best new character that was introduced (Windom Earl is not doing a whole for me, I have to admit). And I absolutely loved the Gordon Cole/Shelly is my goddess now flirtation. Unbelievably dear ("I can hear you! Say something else!"), although Lynch remembers thinking when he wrote that in A Slice of Lynch, "How sick is that?" But damn, it worked wonderfully.

Also (transplanting this from the other day in another thread):

"Daddy, I'm your man!" That scene cracked me up, as does the whole arc of Benjamin Horne trying to be good (could J.R Ewing ever really be good? Hell no.). His whole crackup/sendup of the Civil War was teetering right on the brink of bad satire (but the degree of realism that RB brought to those scenes saved it). I'll have more to say about Season 2 after I think about it for awhile. I don't think it's bad, it's just like sort of watching two different shows in a way.
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Post by amonitrate »

I have to add that I think the second season (even including the inferior 5 or so eps after Leland's death) were masterful at long term plotting and developing themes over time, which came to a head in the last episode, and this is what makes me sad that the story wasn't allowed to continue. That kind of thematic plotting wouldn't rear its head again in television until Joss Whedon's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in my memory, anyways).

The major theme of the season is Fear vs. Love. And in the first major events of the first ep of the season Cooper speaks of keeping fear from his mind.

The Fear/Love dichotomy comes up again and again, in different combinations, both obvious and subtle. Next time I re-watch the season I"ll have to make a list, but off hand here are some points I remember:

-Major Briggs's greatest fear is that love isn't enough.
-Annie attempts suicide because of a lover and returns to Twin Peaks to face herself (her fear).
-Cooper fears Earle, first his brilliant game playing, then his insane caprice.
-"Fear and Love open the doors"
-Ed and Norma fear to make the final break from their respective spouses so that they can be together and make complete their love.
-Josie's fear supposedly kills her - her love for Harry isn't enough to save her.
-BOB feeds on fear
-Lots of stuff in the final Black Lodge sequence: Coop is forced to face things he fears: that Annie will be harmed like Caroline was, for example; each time he runs in fear from something in the lodge things get worse, until he's running from himself and is overtaken.

I could probably go on and on. But for all its flaws while the writers struggled to establish a pace after the premature solution of Laura's murder; the second season is probably more thematically solid than the first, and that's what I love about it - it's brilliant.
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Post by amonitrate »

Tonya J wrote:Not to be flip, but seeing David Duchovny in a dress, again, has been one of the highlights for me.
After all that semi-serious stuff I just wrote I have to add that when Denis(e) came on, I couldn't stop laughing hysterically, because I haven't watched TP since before I was a big X-Files fan, and all I could think of was Mulder in drag. He was just so obviously having a blast with it.
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Post by Evenreven »

I feel like I have to make amends for all my post in the "let's talk changes" thread... :)

I actually like most of the second season, and even the bad bits are often better than most TV shows, even the ones that are supposed to be "quality shows" (for instance, I think most of the supernatural mumbo-jumbo/project Blue Book jazz still is better than X-Files ever was). I had a "Bad Twin Peaks" binge on Sunday and watched episodes 17 through 23 in one afternoon/evening. Most of it was really good, some was decent, and only a few scenes were genuinely terrible. The main problem was that it branched out and gave new characters a more prominent place and at times ran the risk of losing its soul; the fact that Donna, Sarah and Mike/Gerard are almost written out during these episodes was a big mistake. Donna doesn't have anything worthwhile to do for six episodes, that's a lot for a central character.

But there are plenty of good bits. Some things I love:

-Ed telling about the shooting accident
-Cooper's scenes in the hospital: "give me a few hours to get dressed"
-Lucy telling Cooper what's happened during the night
-All scenes involving Audrey up to at least episode 15.
-Audrey's stolen kiss (episode 18? 19?)
-All of episode 14 (except the bouncing ball convention; that's not really funny, in my opinion)
-Albert continues to be great. His "naysayer and hatchetman in the fight against violence" is hilarious. I also love it when he concludes that Harry "has a problem with his girlfriend"
-The writing for Cooper stays great, even in the worst episodes. The scene where he wonders if he can live up to being a deputy and is 100 percent sincere about it, is laughable on paper, but Kyle acts like being a deputy in a small town is somehow more noble than being an FBI agent. That's indeed looking at the world with love and to me it builds Cooper as a character. His love for the seemingly small (but still important) things isn't played for laughs, like his love of coffee, pie and ducks on the lake is.
-In the same league: the green butt skunk. I actually cried during this scene!
-Episode 25 is possibly the best romantic comedy I've ever seen, especially Cooper's joke. (It's a shame that it has the lamest cliffhanger ever; Oooh, Earle finds Owl Cave, big surprise)
-Episode 23 is mostly great, and the resolution of the Josie plot is amazing.
-Annie's speech (too bad the rest of that episode stinks)
-Ben going crazy after being confronted by Hank. That's some hilarious comic acting from Beymer. "'You're out Ben...' HAHAHAHAHAHA"
-Even if it doesn't really fit the series and should have been cut, I love that Briggs' disappearance "makes the cold war seem like a case of the sniffles".
-the hints of Twin Peaks losing its other-ness: Truman saying the world caught up to us; Jean and Josie blaming Cooper.
-Pete serving Andrew breakfast. "Goodbye you sweet, sweet Packards".
-Sternwood!
-and the clincher: Leland's first confession scene. Quite possibly the finest scene in the entire series. Yes, I know that's a bold statement (and it's not even directed by Lynch), but I've seen that 10 times or more and I still shiver when Ray Wise says "every cell screams" and "I killed him. Yes... yes... YES!" to the music of the Laura/love theme music.

Good post about the fear/love aspect, amonitrate. I agree.
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