Agent Earle wrote:
Yeah, right - one of the main guys of this universe changes the name of a character that went under another name before our very eyes and ears, and I'm the sloppy one (I think we can now safely drop the "alternative timeline" theory that some here have clinged on to when confronted with many many many inconsistencies in the book). True, that was the tie-in book, this is the series, but still - it came from the SAME creative team and if that devil-may-care attitude towards previously established facts will eventually prevail in the new series, well, sorry, but that's just S L O P P Y, moreover, it's L A Z Y in my book, I don't care how you justify it. Frankly, what baffles me is that you're apparently okay with that kind of poor work one would expect from some cheap fan fiction (or not even there). And don't give me "TP has always had a checkered history when it came to consistency" routine as an excuse - they had 25 friggin' years to get their act together. Well, or at least 3 or thereabouts years that reportedly took them to write the third season. Didn't watch the old series except for the Pilot and the Finale? Back to the old drawing board, say I.
Who's talking about exposition dump??? A name here and a reference to an event there would hurt no-one, except totally fresh viewers, and I stand by my previous statement that they shouldn't proceed with what's more than clearly marketed as continuation of a franchise without arming themselves with knowledge of what came before. And now that you mention it, I don't see a thing wrong with acknowledging Earle, in fact, I damn well expect it. This new season puts Cooper front and center - how credible can it be without doing justice to the man who was probably the single most important person in his life outside his parents? Or should we just forget he existed just because some fans don't like him? Again, SLOPPY and FAN SERVICE-Y.
You're talking about an exposition dump. You want characters to sit there talking in full specificity events we have already seen simply to get your name drops in. It's funny to see you complain about fan service, when you're begging for it (" I don't see a thing wrong with acknowledging Earle, in fact, I damn well expect it!" .. uh?). Hawk gave a reasonable explanation of the events that happened twenty-five years earlier, and didn't go into a 5 minute explanation of how everyone related to each other .. which feels *right* given that the events were 25 years ago!
It is a continuation, we've seen a pretty staggering amount of connections to the previous work. But, to complain about that it's not going far enough in an episode where we had Doc Hayward talk about the night Coop and Annie came out of the Lodge, Truman briefly talk about Harry, Hawk talk about Laura Palmer's missing diaries, subtle Josie referencing, Diane's role and more? At some point, there's really no pleasing a viewer like you, because unless they include *everything* then they'll always be missing someone's favourite character. And, I guess you're being intentionally hyperbolic, because there are references to far more in The Return than just the pilot and finale (like, seriously?)
And I don't hold anything against any creators for wanting to be given some creative leeway with the mythos of the show, especially since the general consensus is that the series had writing issues in the second season. The broad strokes are all there, and no one wants to be shackled to something they (or someone else on their behalf) wrote 25 years earlier in their career.
And again, I don't see how *this* is cheap "fan-fiction", when your complaint is that the show doesn't go *farther* into referencing it's own past.
I really think the new series might just not be for you, if this stuff is causing problems. And that's alright! We don't have to all like it! But to call them sloppy or lazy? Yikes. Or to have the expectation that every minutiae and character is going to be rolled out in a line-up and name dropped in a single scene, without any thought to how it affects the scene? I wouldn't want to watch that show. *That* is fan fiction writing, and I don't need Hawk to explain that Annie showed up x days after Laura Palmer disappeared, lived at a covenant, slit her wrist, was sisters with Norma, moved to Twin Peaks, knew the kind of bird Harry was talking about, is sisters with Norma, won Miss Twin Peaks blah blah blah. Get to the meat and move on.