This must be one of the most slice-of-life Parts. Most of the scenes have little or no relation to the broader ongoing plot of the series. Even the Blue Rose scenes, which are the closest to having narrative momentum, do very little to advance the story and seem much more interested in character moments and rejoicing in weird asides like the French Woman.
Cooper is on screen for a meager 23 seconds in this Part. I have a feeling this might be his shortest screentime of the entire series, but Part 14 only has the shot of him from the neck down and then that footage of the stills of the two Coopers intersecting. So while his physical form might be onscreen for a few more seconds in Part 14 (I’ll let you know when I get there), there’s a definite asterisk there, as it’s barely a performance.
Drink like your favorite character: Gordon, Albert and Tammy have glasses of Chateau le Bergey Bourdeaux from Gordon’s own wine cellar (there are two more bottles on the tray besides the one Albert pours from! They're planning a hell of a Blue Rose induction celebration, apparently). Diane drinks Gvori vodka on the rocks. Sarah buys Smirnoff vodka and Mr. & Mrs. T Original Bloody Mary Mix. I had to do a lot of squinting, but it sure looks to me like the wine Gordon has in his hotel room with the lovely Berenice Marlohe is Grand Vin de Chateau Latour ("It's a good one!"). I’m certain the Gordon ones are Lynch’s personal picks.
I think this is the only Chet Desmond reference in TR.
For some reason I love Albert's line, "Some cash. Not much." Maybe it's the way Ferrer says it, but it sounds like a line from a Humphrey Bogart noir film.
Sarah's line "Men Are Coming" really makes me think of the Thought Gang track "Woodcutters from Fiery Ships."
Zabriskie is always interesting and is maybe the MVP of TR for me after Kyle, despite her limited screen time. I love how cool she is in the scene at the house. The defiant way she says "Hawk" when she opens the door makes me smile. I get the sense that she feels so betrayed by the community and the world at this point that any offer of help or concern this late in the game just pisses her off. It's interesting to compare this scene to Episode 17, and to see how cynical and hardened she's gotten over the last quarter century.
I forgot to pose this question the day I rewatched Part 10 (I think?). When Ben asks Beverly to have dinner, what's the consensus on whether she was actually there? I like to imagine that he was speaking to an empty desk, Beverly having long gone home, and is voicing his desires in a moment of weakness because he knows nothing will come of it. I'd like to think Ben stayed true to whatever moral code he feels he needs to honor (I guess not sleeping with married women who have disabled husbands, for one). Their interactions in this one still seem relatively formal/professional (albeit with the intimacy of that childhood story). Although at this point in the show, who even knows what order individual characters' scenes are happening, as we jump back and forth from day to night with no regard for days passing/not passing, the Blue Rose crew's outfits change from scene to scene and then change back, Cooper playing catch, etc. etc. Time almost seems to be folding in on itself, or maybe stretching to the point of snapping? I'm not really sure which feels more accurate.
In the original series there was sort of an acrimony between Ben and the law enforcement crew (particularly in Episode 14, obviously, when they arrest him kicking and screaming). Ben seems to have developed a real affection for Harry now. He asks if Frank thinks Harry will like the key at least three times. It's very sweet.
I love to imagine Harry receiving that key and getting a little misty-eyed. Maybe whispering "Coop" with a little smile.
I think Ben is the character who waxes nostalgic about his childhood more than any other: the "hook rug" dance flashback in Episode 15, the old family movies in Episode 18 which seemed to set him on his strange journey to rehabilitation, and the strangely acontextual bike rumination here. It's almost like in his most stressful moments (being jailed for murder, the crumbling of his business empire and sanity, and here learning about his grandson's crimes), he disassociates or something and flashes back to childhood. It really seems that childhood was the last time he was truly happy (although he does seem to really enjoy being evil and manipulative in season 1 and early season 2). I really love that L/F committed to the "good Ben" arc from season 2 and really brought a sense of pathos to the character.
It's not a "long take," but just for fun I timed out how long it is between Albert entering Gordon's room and Albert actually getting to speak his first line. It's a painful, wonderful full four minutes.
Still tough to truly know how to make sense of the Audrey scenes (which is maybe part of why I like them so much; I also just think they're really funny). If (and this is a big if) the "real" Audrey is in a medical unit, perhaps unconscious, maybe her "contract" with Charlie was for him to create a tulpa that could wander the Earth and be real, but had to be his wife? Or perhaps that she could mentally/spiritually exist in some other realm that mimics our own (along with other lost souls and its own version of the town, Roadhouse, etc.). I realize neither of these is an original thought; there's not really much to be said about it that hasn't been theorized. I'm just voicing aloud where my personal head canon may or may not be at the moment.
I love that Charlie specifically knows, and notes, that there is a New Moon. The original series loved its moon closeups and played so fast and loose with the phase of the moon from one episode to the next.
I like that Audrey has embraced dream logic ("Sometimes dreams harken a truth!"). Maybe some Cooper philosophy that stuck with her all these years? It's such a weirdly artificial line (as are several lines in this scene), but it feels like something Dale very well might have said during the era of the original series.
I can't make out most of the books in Audrey and Charlie's place, but one is a T. S. Eliot collection, and another appears to be a very random 1960s children's book called
Happy Times. Anyone have any information at all on this one? I can't even find a description.
Diane smokes Lynch's preferred cigarette brand, American Spirits. Note that they have a picture of a Native American on the pack.
God, there are SO many random farmers in this series. The Farm (which we eventually learn isn't actually a farm), the farmers who Chantal & Hutch kill (or maybe just drug) to use their place, the farmer whose truck Richard had for some reason. I'd completely forgotten Trick saying a farmer had to pull him out after he got run off the road. I wonder if there's anything to this? It seems SO specific that Trick says a farmer pulled him out, given all the other references.
The opposite of the Ella/Sky Ferreira beer can controversy: In this episode, Trick asks if the girls want another beer, and says Natalie "obviously" does: even though we just saw the waitress bring her a fresh Heineken and her bottle is clearly full!