Part 5 - Case files (SPOILERS)

[Cooperscoffeecup]

Sooo, prediction time. How many more parts before Cooper rediscovers he true self. My bet is halfway through, around part 8.

Are we likely to see more coffee, some donuts and cherry pie soon?

[wxray]

This is just a crappy face replacement on the girl. I run into this all the time - I wouldn't read into it as a creative choice at all.

Face replacement?

Yeah. I'm a post producer and there are two very common things editors are doing during creative editorial. One is to do a split screen to mash two different takes together - this is widely used and happens on everything. When you can't get a clean split the next thing is to do a face replacement and grab a face from one take and paste it into the body from another. You can then use a fluid morph to seamlessly blend between the two takes. This is more expensive and it looks like they did the fluid morph but didn't roto Horne's hands fully. It's a complex shot and would cost some money eyes to do. It looks like it got 80% done and they called it a day.

I can buy that since Lynch said they did no reshoots or call-backs. However, the dude just has huge hands. His thumb webbing is large, even in the other shots. If he weren't smoking and acting, his body shape would be great as an elite swimmer. This may just be the real thing that comes off creepy due to the digital filming and lighting.

One thing is clear, he's an outstanding addition to the storyline. Creepy as hell, and well done.

[dugpa]

Just a heads up, a new rolling poll for the first half (pts 1-9) of the Return is stuck in the non-spoiler section and it can't get out:
http://www.dugpa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3604

Please don't make any spoiler-ish posts in that thread until it's no longer in the no-spoilers section.

It's not yet in the season 3 section due to a technical issue which maybe sort of could be resolved possibly kind of soon-ish.

Should be sorted now.

[Mairzy]

I have Mr. Strawberry on the brain! EvilCoop says "I don't think he's taking calls'. Such a sinister delivery, the cop looks physically sickened by this.

[wxray]

I loved that episode/part. The only thing that didn't work for me was Truman's wife. With her and Wally I think they're trying to establish him as sort of long-suffering/surrounded by fools type guy, but that particular scene just sort of annoyed me. Everything else though - I loved.

Everyone was cheating in the original. Wondering who new Truman is hooking up with in town? Here's his excuse...

[Sidgwick]

The Red Room has always mirrored the Roadhouse, but I thought the overtones in Part 5 were more apparent than ever. The use of strobe lights as Trouble performed (in front of red curtains, of course) might be a clue directed to Richard Horne's parentage. I would not be shocked if Cooper's doppel paid a visit to Audrey before he removed himself from the grid - especially when taking Mr. C's sexual nature into account.

[Jude]

I think the season is getting better and better!

- It was great to see Truman's wife, that scene was good IMO
- Evil Cooper's phone call scene was nicely done. Kyle looks so menacing when he is watching the cops through the surveillance camera! Also the light effects were nicely mixed together with the sound effects
- Dougie's scenes dragged at the beginning but I think it got better when he reached his workplace
- The scene with Robert Knepper and John Belushi was excellent, I knew that Knepper would be amazing villain/tough guy in the series.
- The laugh out loud -moment of this episode was definitely the scene with Dr. Jacoby. When his gold shovel ad was shown I couldn't help but just laugh so much Fabulous scene! So great to see Russ Tamblyn back acting.
- It was also nice to see Norma, Mike and Nadine back!
- The car scene with Amanda Seyfried was beautifully done both visually and musically.

I think the series is on a great path now. The mystery involving Evil Coop and his extraordinary powers is getting more interesting and it is fascinating to see what will happen to Good Coop. Will the Great Northern hotel key reach it's destination? Can't wait to see what happens next, it's a great feeling to have!!

[AgentEcho]

Well they went there with the CGI Bob.

I don't think it was CGI. Well, maybe CGI enhanced but I think they used the shot of Bob in the mirror in the season 2 scene where Leland is with Donna, and then they morphed that into Cooper's face. I think the grin looked quite the same.

I'm thinking morphing is still considered CGI. When Terminator 2 was released the morphing effects were considered pioneering CGI.

[Metamorphia]

Absolutely incredible episode. Lynch on top form.

[manalicream]

What's up with all the red balloons?

[Rami Airola]

What if the box itself is now Phillip Jeffries

I mean, Lynch turned the LMFAP into a braintree so maybe he turned Jeffries into a box.


By the way, I recall DoppelCoop had some kind of a device when calling Jeffries in one of the earlier episodes. Did it look anything like that box at Buenos Aires?



About Frank's wife, I think the only problem there was that the text just wasn't that funny.
I thought she played her role well but it was just what she said that fell flat. I even kinda liked the way she was saying her stuff, but it's just that the actual content of the speech dropped me out of it at some point.

[bastia]

I think mr strawberry is a pet of the warden. Or someone who he knows for sure. Leland/BoB did the same thing quoting "Pittsburgh" to Coop when Leland was arrested, if you remembered.

About dougy: it's seems clear to me that the good coop is doing a path of re-birth ( i think lynch too said something about that), maybe because he challenged the lodge with incomplete courage ( as hawk warns in season 2). Anyway i think we'll see very little more of dougy. Kyle in his interview said he only shot for two days in that "mood".

I enjoyed the episode very much, soundtrack was great. Pace too.

I am very conflicted about dougy reality. It doesn't seem fictional but... Too many hints. Like "dreamland" and "cow in the moon"

[sewhite2000]

Well, that's interesting if Machlachlan says he only shot two days in Dougie "mood". I was beginning to have this thought - what if we NEVER see Cooper as we remember him from the original series? Or not until the final seconds of the final episode? The first five episodes have been a nice acting tour de force for Machlachlan. We've seen him as Evil Coop. We've seen him as Dougie. And we've seen him as Trapped in the Black Lodge Coop, which is as close we've gotten to "Classic" Coop, but we really haven't seen him in the role that made us all love the show in the first place. Since much of the show up to this point has been about playing with and defying the expectations old school fans had going in and what's typically expected of a revival show in general, I wonder if the arc of the entire 18 episodes will be about Cooper getting back to Twin Peaks and if it will take the entirety of the season for him to do so. There could be double meaning in the title - it's not just our Return to Twin Peaks but Cooper's and the whole season could be about nothing but that.

[indyit]

The moment with Sonny Jim was both touching and fascinating - and featured one of the first new pieces of Angelo Badalamenti music in the show.

Candy Clark always cracks me up.

Really happy that music is slowly creeping into the show more and more. I instantly perked up when that music started playing when Coop was looking at Sonny Jim. Did anyone recognise that cue? It sounded original to me. What new Badalamenti have we heard so far? I'm thinking some Dougie moments with the drums (e.g. at the elevator) might be him (and new).

I felt like this episode was a really good vertical slice of everything this new show has to offer (minus the lodge, but it still had surreal weirdness). We got a lot of moving pieces, in several locations, and got a bit of everything genrewise, horror, comedy, mystery, drama etc.

I missed so many faces! Completely missed Heidi, didn't realise Amy Shiel was one of the girls, and didn't catch Sheryl Lee anywhere despite her being in the credits (was there a flashback or something I've forgotten?).

I like what Lynch is doing with the sound design, but conversations can be (realistically) difficult to hear at times (like when Norma was eavesdropping) and whilst I understand why it's like that it doesn't change that it's a little annoying!

[EwanM]

Things are really starting to fly now. There was much to like in the first half of this episode (Sizemore smoothly morphing from Dougie's 'buddy' to antagonist was a joy), but the second half was electrifying.

So many moments of Lynchian magic. I can almost understand how some people are disenchanted with this, at least as a continuation of the old TV show, but there is just so much to enjoy here: it's a gift that slowly unwraps itself. Mesmerising.

Loved the scene in the casino with Knepper and Belushi. Echoes of Mulholland Dr. Knepper is great as the dapper thug, with Belushi the laconic half of the double act. Belushi's unsettling opacity, contrasted with Knepper's savagery, reminded me of the Castiglianes in Mulholland Dr. with a hint of Mr Eddy from Lost Highway too.
The casino girls' presence was a classic Lynchian backdrop, mundane yet other-worldly: their ethereal detachment signifying Knepper's seemingly random thuggishness as 'business as usual', yet simultaneously highlighting its absurdity.

I have a feeling we'll see a lot more of Knepper and Belushi (Lynch rarely wastes a good villain), and my guess is that they'll follow Dale back to Twin Peaks. Rather like Ed Harris's character in Cronenberg's masterful A History of Violence, it's likely that these big city mobsters will find their reckoning in a small town.

Peggy Lipton still looks great, and Mädchen looks better than ever. Wow!

Loved the scene with Amanda Seyfried in the car, with the song on the radio. Reminded me a bit of the 'Falling in Space' scene from FWWM. Absolutely gorgeous, yet undeniably ominous.

Enjoyed Jacoby as a wacky but endearing conspiracy nut. Thought the clips of Jerry and Nadine tuning in were great. This is starting to warm up now: the colours are lusher, there is more music and the characters are starting to take shape.

I was momentarily worried, then absolutely elated, when I realised that the familiar shot of the puddle outside the Roadhouse wasn't signalling the end of the episode for once. I guess that's a testament to how much I was enjoying this. The band and music (the sax felt like a call back to Fred Madison) in the Roadhouse scene provided a great counterpoint to the action (almost as effective as the meshing of the band and action in the great ''blank as a fart' scene in FWWM). Kudos to Eamon Farren here - his work as Richard Horne was both magnetic and unsettling. Definite echoes of Dennis Hopper - Horne had something of Frank Booth's destabilising unpredictability, but a younger version. Can't wait to see more of him.

This feels like we're moving squarely into Twin Peaks 2017 territory now. I'm liking what I'm seeing of all the younger cast members so far - Farren and Seyfried particularly and Caleb Landry Jones too, and of course Nafessa Williams as the kind-hearted Jade, perhaps the most 'real' character we've seen so far. The younger characters seem more vivid and vibrant than the older cast members so far, possibly by design.

The DoppelCoop phone call scene in the prison: that was pure Lynch voodoo right there. 'Mr Strawberry', 'The cow jumped over the moon.' Amazing.

As for Chrysta Bell. I've met her, greatly enjoy her music, and she's both a lovely person and very talented ('Polish Poem' from Inland Empire is a truly entrancing song).I thought she did good work in her scene here. Time to cut her some slack IMO.

And then, that establishing shot of Buenos Aires and the tantalising prospect of Philip Jeffries. I dare to dream that Bowie might make a fleeting appearance, but regardless, the Jeffries dimension is just so intriguing.

And that poignant scene with Coop standing by the statue as the credits rolled. Lovely.

Yes, there were a few misfires here and there (sorry Candy Clark, wasn't really digging that scene, though Foster was immense as usual), but, on the whole, this is wonderful.