Episode 22

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TwinPeaksFanatic
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Re: Episode 22

Post by TwinPeaksFanatic »

There is no way around Evelyn's awful dialogue. Nor can James' acting be called good, but I don't think this is the worst episode of the series. I wrote a recap of the episode here ---> http://twinpeaksfanatic.blogspot.com/20 ... de-22.html

:D
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Episode 22

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The only Keaton touch that really annoys me is the weird slowed-down post-production effect (e.g., Malcolm holding Evelyn down). Those moments feel like a student film, and look awful. There are a few other instances where her self-consciously artsy angles are distracting, but there aren't enough to pin the episode's failure on her. The real problem is that, unlike the prior few duds, this one doesn't even have one redeeming scene like Briggs's return or the Dead Dog stuff (or, for me, the moody Leo scenes that bookend Episode 21 -- YMMV). It's all just middling-to-low-grade midseason slog, and lots of it. That's not Keaton's fault. Lynch himself couldn't have done much to elevate this material, besides pulling an Episode 29. (I will admit that I find the "Hi, Frank" moment hysterically funny.)

The Earle stuff is the closest thing to a highlight, and certainly could have been executed better with a few simple tweaks, as others have noted. On this rewatch, I thought the tape Earle sends Coop in Episode 18 sounded eerily like Robert Blake in Lost Highway. If only Welsh had stuck with that delivery style, Earle could have been creepy as hell. (The script for Episode 18 provided the following direction for dialogue delivery: "Think of Orson Welles" -- the character ended up going a VERY different route!) It's funny how Coop in Episode 21 goes out of his way to tell Harry that Earle is a cold calculating genius and was feigning insanity -- but then we meet him and he's very obviously a complete loon! Still, even with a different execution, Earle is just way too much of a screenwriters' wet dream (as I believe LostInTheMovies delightfully termed him in his character writeup). Writers, even good ones, can fall a bit too in love with their own work (see Rod Serling, one of the best television writers of all time, who churned out some pretty stomach-churning purple prose at times). Earle feels like the writers, particularly Peyton, having way too much fun, and it's often not contagious.

It's worth noting that, until now in the series, even with Laura as a distant memory, the White Lodge mythology stuff has kept us tied to the Palmer family tragedy in a roundabout way. This is the first episode to mention neither Laura nor the spirits/Lodges (and perhaps is one of the only such episodes), and therefore feels a long ways from the mystery that was supposed to hold this world together.

(Ok, fine...Earle does give a shout-out to the Owls on the postcards.)
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Re: Episode 22

Post by Gabriel »

Given how this period of the show was loaded with really dull storylines like Evelyn and 'mad' Ben, I actually like quite a lot of this episode. I thought Diane Keaton's direction was mostly nicely done and I would have liked to have seen more episodes from her. I'll never knock a director for trying and falling down on some aspects. The post-production slo-mo shot of Evelyn blowing smoke rings reminds me of Wong-Kar Wai and Christopher Doyle's work in the mid 1990s. The best thing about this episode is that it clears out more dead wood like the above stories and after episode 23's elimination of Josie via BOB, we're pulling back to being with the show we started watching months earlier. In a sense, this whole run of episodes post-Leland's death has been the show's own 'Ben Horne Civil War.'

It is a sobering thought that poor Maddy had only been dead for under a fortnight when this episode is set, though. Looked at that way, everything seems a bit trivial.
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Jonah
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Re: Episode 22

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Audrey Horne wrote: The scene with Sarah is heartbreaking. When she goes to the town store, and those three women are gossiping and whispering about her behind her back. Leland and Laura might be gone, but their presence is still felt. Donna visiting her later was wonderful.
I don't remember this at all! Not quite on this episode yet in my rewatch, but I thought Sarah disappeared after 17 until the finale? I do remember Donna going to visit her in a much earlier episode and Sarah seeing Laura's face on Donna's, but I have no recollection of Sarah going to a store and people whispering about her!
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 22

Post by Audrey Horne »

It was a joke - i think it was commenting on what basically been the type of scenes we'd be seeing and picking apart if the show remained more true to itself. None of those scenes in my post exist - just the type of thing that should have.
God, I love this music. Isn't it too dreamy?
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Jonah
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Re: Episode 22

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Ah! Ok. Lol. I wish scenes like that had happened. Although the Sarah scene you describe sounds like something that could possibly take place in the new series.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 22

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The famous Diane Keaton episode. I think this episode gets a bad rap, but I don't think it's the worst of this stretch. It's not as bad as Episode 19 imo. It really is a mixed bag, though. Some pretty good scenes and some really awful ones, all mashed together with a lot of over-stylistic flourishes.

As I mentioned before, I do sort of like the opening shot of the close up zoom through the chess pieces.

I'm less fond of the cut to the Evelyn Marsh close up.

While I like the scene of the men in uniform turning in unison in Wallie's, I think it's weird how the three policemen march out of the Marsh house in sequence. It seems to be a sort of vibe they're going for. It's repeated later with the drum-carrying hotel staff.

I do really like the Wallie's scene - the music, the men at the bar, the mural on the wall. I think the atmosphere is very Lynchian and pretty great, even if the story itself isn't.

Overall this episode is very weighed down by all the overly stylistic touches, though I admire Keaton for trying to inject some interesting touches into the series. I just think she was trying too hard.

A highlight here - Albert returns! And I love his line to Bobby on his entrance.

There's a lot to like here - the Big Ed/Norma scene, close up on their faces as they talk about their lost love. Then Nadine climbing into bed with both of them. (The look on Norma's face is priceless.)

The Harry/Coop/Josie/Catherine/Pete scenes are only so-so, but glad to see Coop taking the fibres from the coat.

The Eckhardt stuff is pretty poor though.

The Windom/Leo stuff in the cabin is pretty good.

And I love seeing Johnny Horne with Ben in these scenes - almost makes Ben's descent into craziness worth it!

The scene with Evelyn and Donna here is pretty awful.

Bizarre close-up of a chess piece over trees before we cut to the Sheriff's Station after the Wallie's scene.

Big reveal here - Josie looks to be Cooper's shooter. I wonder how many people had forgotten Cooper was shot by this stage in the original run.

Is that Toad in the chess scene in the diner?

I really like the scene with Norma and Shelly.

And the scene with Harry and Norma.

Another bizarre shot - a close up of the moon (which we've seen before) over a shot of trees. Shots like these have been used before but using two at once seems a bit too much.

The Catherine/Eckhardt/Josie scene is very hammy.

Evelyn blowing smoke is hilariously bad.

The sequences with Evelyn, Malcolm, Donna, and James are pretty overblown - but at least this story is over.

The Civil War re-enactment isn't very good, but I bet the actors had fun playing it - and, again, at least this arc is over now too.

And the first of the really bad Windom Earle disguises!

I like the final scene with the mask though.

Overall, I think this episode is a really mixed bag, but I don't think it's the worst of this stretch. In my opinion, that still belongs to 19.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 22

Post by Poiuyt »

~
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Re: Episode 22

Post by kitty666cats »

Audrey Horne wrote:I loved this one when it came out, but in retrospect it really is just a filler episode. Loved when Audrey found out Ben was just faking his dementia and how she stole the tape from Bobby about the mill fire.

The scene with Sarah is heartbreaking. When she goes to the town store, and those three women are gossiping and whispering about her behind her back. Leland and Laura might be gone, but their presence is still felt. Donna visiting her later was wonderful.

Loved the brief throwaway comment from Audrey when he asks her if she should be in school, and she replies, "who can remember?" Very meta.

Earle is becoming really creepy, meeting and befriending Audrey in their first meeting is all the more terrifying when we see what he does with her in the finale.

The handling of James is shoddy though. His complete departure four episodes ago with no followup seems sloppy. Surely they could have come up with a brilliant plot line with him to some degree. But the character just literally disappeared.
Don't remember a scene with Sarah Palmer in this episode...?

EDIT:

ahhh, you were joking, haha
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Re: Episode 22

Post by Jonah »

Not sure I noticed this before (I probably did, but if so, I don't remember):

There's a close up of Josie stroking wood and a slight blurry or wavering effect. Not only is this reminiscent of Briggs stroking the wood in the previous episode, but clearly this is meant to foreshadow Josie becoming trapped in the wood in the next episode.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 22

Post by marchug »

Audrey Horne wrote:I loved this one when it came out, but in retrospect it really is just a filler episode. Loved when Audrey found out Ben was just faking his dementia and how she stole the tape from Bobby about the mill fire.

The scene with Sarah is heartbreaking. When she goes to the town store, and those three women are gossiping and whispering about her behind her back. Leland and Laura might be gone, but their presence is still felt. Donna visiting her later was wonderful.

Loved the brief throwaway comment from Audrey when he asks her if she should be in school, and she replies, "who can remember?" Very meta.

Earle is becoming really creepy, meeting and befriending Audrey in their first meeting is all the more terrifying when we see what he does with her in the finale.

The handling of James is shoddy though. His complete departure four episodes ago with no followup seems sloppy. Surely they could have come up with a brilliant plot line with him to some degree. But the character just literally disappeared.

Wow. If only! This would have been incredible.
-23-
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Re: Episode 22

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

Weird how the decor of Hideout Wallie's radically changes from the prior episodes. The jukebox and rustic forest painting behind the bar are replaced with cheesy-looking pastel-colored paintings of a couple. I guess Keaton had enough caché to change the set to her liking. It's kind of a tacky set to begin with, but these touches make it even worse.

The bartender at Wallie's is a real weirdo. In the prior episode, when Donna asks about James, the bartender immediately looks toward Evelyn and doesn't say a word. In this one, he knows Donna's last name even though she just went there for the first time the day before, and lurks like a creep. Is he on Evelyn/Malcolm's payroll?

James playing with a cocktail umbrella evokes happier times in Episode 7.

Just for the record, it's a Monday and no one is in school.

Bobby's obnoxiously dismissive behavior toward the sheriff's department, saying he can protect Shelly on his own, plays nicely when we realize he himself will one day become a deputy.

I love the photo of Earle with a mustache, in a Panama hat, looking like he walked out of a 1940s film noir. I can envision that guy as partner to a fresh-faced eager-to-learn Dale. I like Earle so much conceptually when they tease these little tidbits; watching him actually onscreen, less so.

Similar to Wallies, Earle's cabin has had a complete overhaul overnight, with all the cobwebs and tattered cloths hanging from the ceiling having disappeared. (Admittedly, those hanging cloths would have made the set hell to shoot in.) Now he has a bunch of large rocks (or pieces of petrified wood?) in there for some reason. My recollection is that, like Earle's personality and dressing style, the cabin's decor shifts from episode to episode depending on individual directors' whims. For a character who was so important to the narrative at this point, it doesn't seem like Frost/Peyton ever took a particularly firm hand in making any aspect of the character consistent from episode to episode (other than the dialogue of course).

Josie nervously fingering the wood base of the table might be foreshadowing of her ultimate fate, similar to Briggs asking if the wood table is for his soul in Episode 20. I wonder how much of this stuff was planned vs. coincidence (especially given that the drawer-pull thing in Episode 23 was apparently a last-second decision of Lynch's and they were working pretty close to deadline at this point). It actually works pretty well, though, as a kind of cool through-line in the mythology. Also note that Pete says he and Jeanie Pombelek at the Clean and Save looked at each other "like [they] were made of wood."

Eckhardt's room at the Great Northern strangely has a painting of a Playboy bunny in front of a red curtain! Not a great fit for the hotel's family-friendly brand. A keepsake Ben took from One-Eyed Jack's?

I believe it was mentioned earlier in this thread, but for those who don't know, the little snippet of foreign dialogue between Eckhardt and Jones is Afrikaans according to the script: "She's become predictable." "I warned you not to trust her." It’s a random deep-dive aspect of Eckhardt/Jones’s backstory that they’re apparently from South Africa originally (also referenced in TSHoTP).

This episode provides a rare glimpse into Jerry's ambition and truly cutthroat nature (he seems happy to leave his beloved brother and partner-in-crime the way he is because Jerry has his own business ventures Ben apparently won't let him explore). By the time of TR/TFD, Jerry's marijuana business has become more successful than anything else in the Horne empire, so perhaps he has good instincts.

What a tremendous coincidence that Earle located a transient with the surname Powell right there in Twin Peaks! Did he check the Directory of Dislocated Persons? Did he just go around kidnapping random homeless people and asking their names? Is there a pile of dead hobos behind his cabin who were all rejected for having the wrong name?

In a seeming continuity error, TFD lists Caroline’s last name as Wickam.

Credit where credit is due: Keaton finds some nice new angles on the Double R set. Maybe a little showy, but it beats the same old over-the-counter reverse shot.

Eckhardt standing with his back to the door and turning into his closeup is so hammy. I love it.

That slo-mo shot of Evelyn blowing smoke rings is so goofy.

I have to say, Fenn is cute as hell in her Scarlett McLean costume. For those who don’t know, Jerry is playing Wilmer McLean, whose house was chosen for the site of Lee’s surrender to Grant: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilmer_McLean Clearly the writers were running low on ideas and had just watched Ken Burns’s then-brand-new Civil War documentary.

Aside from the Episode 6 deleted scene, I believe this is the first time we’ve seen Johnny since Laura’s funeral! It’s really crazy how little he and Sylvia figured into the original series.

The selection of Donna, Audrey and Shelly as Earle's "queens" makes absolutely no in-world sense. Obviously it's because they're the three young sexy female series leads who were on the cover of Rolling Stone, but neither Donna nor Shelly has any particular significance to Cooper in the context of the show. It's such a gimmicky, typical TV plot to put the leads in danger / bring them together with no real story logic to it. The town feels so small at this point, populated solely by leads and the occasional pop-in eccentric guest star.

This episode in Dale's Diet:
— He has coffee at Blue Pine Lodge while questioning Josie; tactfully leaving Harry and Josie alone, he leaves and pours a second cup (“Think I’ll get another cup a’ Joe”) (in a nice subtle reference to Episode 1, he opens the pot and sniffs to make sure it’s fish-free)
— Cooper has a cup of coffee in front of his chessboard at the Double R as Pete checkmates him (although it might be Pete's, as it's on his side of the board)
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Re: Episode 22

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Apparently Lynch liked ("was particularly fond of") this episode :shock: (though noted it was "very stylized" :lol: ):
He is particularly fond of an episode directed by actress Diane Keaton that aired Feb. 9. "I love that show!" he exclaimed. "It was very stylized but absolutely great! We have a lot of terrific directors working on episodes. They have a freedom with this they're not going to get anywhere else in television, and they run with it like crazy."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/ ... 398efa643/
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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Re: Episode 22

Post by Jonah »

Gabriel wrote: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:36 pm In a sense, this whole run of episodes post-Leland's death has been the show's own 'Ben Horne Civil War.'
I really love this comparison.
I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.
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