Part 6 - Don't die (SPOILERS)

[asquideatingdough]

Red: "Heads I win, tails you lose."

I didn't catch that on first watch.

I saw it coming, as this is a trick my dad used to play on me when I was little.

[twin-b]

I will say that I've never been so frustrated with an episode of television in my life. I'm still all in, but holy jumpin' george 20 minutes of Baby Cooper to open. Mike was all of us telling him to wake up.

+1

Even though I was more invested in these DougieCoop scenes, I couldn't help but check the time a couple of times. 20 minutes!! The 18 hour runtime is great but I agree that we need 2-hour parts for it to hold together better.

[Edited to add: Can't wait for next week!]

[N. Needleman]

To me it feels like all of the above, honestly - the Lynch who evolved into making FWWM to LH to MD/IE/etc., and the Lynch who made TP. It feels like it's all part of a continuum. It's the same world and the same people but they've changed and grown.

It does feel a lot like MD, I agree. But for me that works and does not interfere with or infringe upon the TP aspects.

I do think frontloading so much Dougie/Cooper for long stretches is intentional (and hilarious).

[asmahan]

Ok... I'm guessing that the "body" in next week's episode description is someone who has died in the past couple of episodes. Probably Lorraine or Phyllis.

[Jonah]

I will say that I've never been so frustrated with an episode of television in my life. I'm still all in, but holy jumpin' george 20 minutes of Baby Cooper to open. Mike was all of us telling him to wake up.

+1

Even though I was more invested in these DougieCoop scenes, I couldn't help but check the time a couple of times. 20 minutes!! The 18 hour runtime is great but I agree that we need 2-hour parts for it to hold together better.

[Edited to add: Can't wait for next week!]

Yep, I think a 9 week limited series of 2 episodes a week would have been the best balance all around - better than all at once which probably would have been too intense, but it would have been a shorter, more intense run, and still allowed them to have the slower narrative pace they wanted. I think it would have given people just a little bit more each week. Oh well. Will be interesting to see if Showtime starts releasing them that way or if they will stick to the full summer plan.

[Jasper]

I am even more convinced that Richard Horne is Audrey's child.

Aside from the supernatural aspects of the character (which points to a non-mundane parentage)

Huh?

The non-mundane parentage is a reference to my theory that he's also the Evil Cooper's child, Audrey is of course a normal person. I should have been more clear about that.

The kid is creepy, yes, but what are the supernatural aspects of the character? The dime trick that was done to him? The fact that he was at the MIKE intersection driving like a lunatic? Is your thinking that he was compelled to drive that way due to the #6 electric pole? To me it seemed like he was just very agitated from the drugs and the meeting, and he lost his patience, then the situation was taken advantage of by lodge spirits, or what have you.

Side note: The #6 electric pole showed up in Part 6.

[crash_and_burn]

DougieCoop is wearing his own suit today, so I'm guessing he's going to snap back in next week's episode.

Glad the green jacket is (for now) gone. I think it's wishful thinking that Coop becomes Coop next week, but he does seem to be "waking up" a bit more each episode.

I enjoy the Dougie stuff, but I also hope Coop is back to himself soon.

I don't see much progress/waking up. It's a very small bit each episode, if at all. Seems like we should be seeing more progress, unless he will snap out of it all of a sudden.

I think that the answer to Cooper's current slow awakening is to found in the question of, how would Dale deal with being in the Waiting Room for 25 years?

We know he is a gifted, rational man, influenced by Tibetan Buddhism.

I think it's safe to say Dale would have learned a level of patience and meditation that we can't completely comprehend.

Besides the Alzheimer's connection, I enjoy Cooper in his current state in light of Buddhist thought on consciousness.

He is still in a clear light, spotless mind, state. Which it is important to see that as more outside stimuli affect him he is becoming more in sync with the conditioned world around him. Perhaps there is even a part of him that does not want to return to this world of suffering, of Samsara.

http://www.lamayeshe.com/article/what-mind

[N. Needleman]

I can't imagine this being halved. It's so rich. It sure isn't as punishing a slog as, say, Jacques Rivette's Out 1 which I think is like 12 90-minute episodes, and in a year I've gotten through maybe three despite being a big fan.

[Elric99]

It's interesting that The Fat Trout park is now outside Twin Peaks. Deer Meadow seemed to be like Twin Peak's shadow-self. And feels to me like the two towns are super-imposed on each other, a bit like the theory that the Red Room is goth the White and Block lodge.

On my rewatch of this episode I noticed the trailer park sign now says "NEW" on top. So I think they moved the whole park closer to TP.

[Jonah]

To me it feels like all of the above, honestly - the Lynch who evolved into making FWWM to LH to MD/IE/etc., and the Lynch who made TP. It feels like it's all part of a continuum. It's the same world and the same people but they've changed and grown.

It does feel a lot like MD, I agree. But for me that works and does not interfere with or infringe upon the TP aspects.

I do think frontloading so much Dougie/Cooper for long stretches is intentional (and hilarious).

I can see it feeling like an overall Lynchian experience - almost like a bit of everything from his career to date - which is why I continue to think of it almost like a variety show of his career, or his Greatest Hits - "The David Lynch Show" as I call it! I can see the FWWM elements too. But I can't see much of the original show in it, unless we count some of the weaker episodes of Season 2. I mean, all the Denise stuff, Truman's wife, etc., feels like those episodes. And Andy/Lucy feel almost like the weaker elements of Season 2 too. I mean, they do feel a bit like the deleted scene from the pilot (the European ending) as well, but mostly they seem very overblown this time. I don't know...it doesn't feel like the same world to me at all. Even factoring in how they've changed and grown. I may change my impression on that when we see more of the town and the characters. I think more of the Palmers, the hotel, and Laura will do that for me! Some of the scenes in the town itself, featuring the old characters, feel like the Norma/Shelly scene from FWWM. The one that was shot from a very high angle, disconnected somehow.

I just don't get the Lynch of 14/29 at all so far. Even the red room scenes are very...different. I hate the curtains for one thing, but the creepy otherworldly feel is gone for me. I don't dislike it but the vibe is different. This is not the same Lodge Cooper entered in 29. There's no jazz music, it's too bright, and there's no sense of mystery to it... it feels more like a video game world almost.

[opium]

I thought this Part was incredibly bad... and I've loved every previous Part.

The Dougie scene of him drawing was the only time I felt the pacing was unforgivable. I don't mind the overall nature of Dougie and I understand what they're getting at with him but this scene was just a waste. They showed the boss looking at the drawings anyway so watching Dougie actually draw it is nonsensical. Not to mention they reused the same jazz track about three times up to this point -- and it's not even a Badlamenti track (nor is it particularly exceptional).

The intersection scene felt like a parody. The excruciating, almost embarrassing acting by the extras that we get a full view of neutered what otherwise could have been an intense scene. The shot showing the truck driver put his face in his hand was just dumb. I'm not sure if this was supposed to be comedic. I couldn't even find it weird or surreal. It all just felt really dumb; a misfire.

The dwarf scene was shocking, but I also found relief in that this likely means we won't have to hear that bland 'hip-hop' instrumental beat again.

The developments with Richard Horne was disappointing. A great introduction to something sinister and evil in Part 5 knocked down to the atypical "Don't call me kid!" villain; the overall dull introduction to Red as something sinister and evil being a bad liver and goofy mannerisms that came across like Lynch going through the motions. The part with the dime was cool, but Getty lacks an intensity in appearance that Farren has almost by default. Getty looks like a deflated Henry Rollins here and has zero menace.

Lastly, Chad. This is the lamest, most asinine character. He is so out-of-place and so obviously unfit to be an officer, and even with the mention of the police force being on cruise control, I find it ridiculous that a guy this obvious would still be kept around. The connotation here isn't that the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department is resting on its laurels, it's that it's incompetent. And even if that's the intention, that doesn't forgive the lack of thought put into this character.

But I'm still going with this and looking forward to the next Parts. I was just really bummed on this one, and felt that the exceptional scenes of Twin Peaks in Part 5 were castrated in the follow-up.

[Snailhead]

I loved it! More than ever with the new episodes, I didn't want it to end. I'm tempted to say best episode yet?!

Some highlights...

- Laura Dern as Diane. I was worried that Diane was going to be annoyingly perky like Dougie's wife. Even though we've only seen a few seconds of her, I'm REALLY vibing the character - she has a distinct tone of melancholy that is promising.

- Naomi Watts delivering the money was amazing. I didn't really care for her character til then but that was simply great. Really gave a new dimension to her character!

- Hawk finding what are presumably the missing pages of Laura's diary. Chilling.

- I loved the exchange between the cops after the Doris visit.

- Fat Trout! Carl Rodd! The power lines!

- Richard Horne killing the child... the way he drove was eerily reminiscent of Mike's driving up to the Palmer car in FWWM - that must have been an intentional reference, do others agree? Either way, such powerful stuff.

- Sharon Van Etten ! The Roadhouse music in Eps 5 & 6 have been utterly superior to what preceded, in my humblest of opinions.

[N. Needleman]

I'm glad we're the two lunatics who think each episode is better than the last, Snailhead.

[Jasper]

When Coop runs his finger over the 7 on the Lucky 7 Insurance case files, it reminded me of the markings on the coffee cups that the Glass Box watchers were drinking from.

I thought of the red room floor. Then he drew a lot of stairs(?). which were also like zig-zags. Stairs and ladders. I haven't cracked the case, but I think the implication is that it's connected to the scams being pulled by the coworker. The coworker probably gets Lucky 7 to pay out when they shouldn't, then gets a kickback.

[Rudagger]

Yes, Sharon Van Etten! Tarifa is one of her greats (though I was sort of hoping for a new song). "I wish it was 7 all night", wonder if Lynch wanted it for the number.

So safe assumption that those pages are from Laura's Diary? Maybe? I wonder if they'll retcon it as Philip Gerard having somehow found and placed them in there when he was in the sheriffs station (when he had his freak out and had to take his injection)

Quite a slow burn episode, even by Twin Peaks standards.

I'm guessing next episode he snaps out of it (Episode 7). But who really knows at this point!