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Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:13 am**

Finch wrote:magnificent episode that manages the feat of making the season two finale look ordinary. feel sorry for those who decide to quit after this extraordinary piece of art.

I'm still shattered by it, drinking to try to calm my frayed nerves. Oh, and watching it again. This could have been the finale (of Twin Peaks or David Lynch career) and I would've been okay with it. Terrence Malick, fuck you.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:31 am**

jindianajonz wrote:
Spoiler
Somebody on Reddit pointed out that up until tonight, the only hits online for "The horse is the white of the eyes" was a website called commercialsihate.com, with posts going back until last december. The website is currently down, likely do to traffic, but a cache from earlier today shows that it seems to be a forum for discussing commericals that inexplicably had the full poem posted at the bottom of certain pages.

As if this episode wasn't bizarre enough on its own.

Oh just you wait, there's more.

Spoiler

If that Albert Pike quote one of the forum users has jumps out at you, go to Wikiquote, where it is sourced to ""1860. In *Lodge* of Sorrow at *Washington*: March 30.", p. 11. Wikiquote immediately compares the sentiment to a Giordano Bruno quote. Now go to the Youtube video for the Nine Inch Nails song that was performed in this episode and look at the top comment, and the name of the user.

Also interesting that the version of the poem at the bottom of the forum is subtly different from the one we here, what with "ascend" rather than "descend."

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:36 am**

This season is clearly the most astonishing ever put on television, and one of the most astonishing ever set to motion pictures.

I'm not even at all bothered by the extended 2001 "homage"; it's part of the cinematic language, and Lynch used it well. Note that the music for that sequence was Penderecki's (a composer used by Kubrick in The Shining, Friedkin in The Exorcist, and Resnais in Je T'aime Je T'aime) "Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima", and it of course starts at the exact moment the sequence begins. Lynch takes it in its own direction, and it was beautiful on its own terms.

I never cry in life or at movies, but I was essentially brought to tears by the image of

Spoiler

Laura in the bauble

, even though it was clear that was what would appear there when it emerged. Just incredibly moving.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 7:44 am**

The Narrator Returns wrote:
jindianajonz wrote:
Spoiler
Somebody on Reddit pointed out that up until tonight, the only hits online for "The horse is the white of the eyes" was a website called commercialsihate.com, with posts going back until last december. The website is currently down, likely do to traffic, but a cache from earlier today shows that it seems to be a forum for discussing commericals that inexplicably had the full poem posted at the bottom of certain pages.

As if this episode wasn't bizarre enough on its own.
Oh just you wait, there's more.

Spoiler
If that Albert Pike quote one of the forum users has jumps out at you, go to Wikiquote, where it is sourced to ""1860. In *Lodge* of Sorrow at *Washington*: March 30.", p. 11. Wikiquote immediately compares the sentiment to a Giordano Bruno quote. Now go to the Youtube video for the Nine Inch Nails song that was performed in this episode and look at the top comment, and the name of the user.

Also interesting that the version of the poem at the bottom of the forum is subtly different from the one we here, what with "ascend" rather than "descend."

Seems to be an ARG--possibly a collaboration between Trent Reznor (who designed one for Year Zero) and Mark Frost (who's likely responsible for bringing the western esotericism references to the table).

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 11:48 am**

mfunk9786 wrote:
Finch wrote:magnificent episode that manages the feat of making the season two finale look ordinary. feel sorry for those who decide to quit after this extraordinary piece of art.
I'm still shattered by it, drinking to try to calm my frayed nerves. Oh, and watching it again. This could have been the finale (Twin Peaks or David Lynch career) and I would've been okay with it. Terrence Malick, fuck you.

2001's finale seems to have inspired some of the finest work either has done. I think Kubrick's influence on Lynch's films has usually been felt in the atmosphere and the sound, with The Shining coming off as the most prominent source of inspiration, but what Lynch has done here with the first "flashback" sequence (reminiscent to Bowman's approach towards the monolith and entrance into the unknown) is just flat out stunning.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:54 pm**

hearthesilence wrote:...I think Kubrick's influence on Lynch's films has usually been felt in the atmosphere and the sound, with The Shining coming off as the most prominent source of inspiration...

Something to consider, however, is that Kubrick screened Eraserhead for his crew prior to shooting The Shining, ostensibly to try and get some of that unsettling Lynch weirdness into his own film.

Although it had been 11 years since the last Lynch dramatic feature, this third season of Twin Peaks could end up feeling like its comprised of five, six, or seven features worth of ideas that have been percolating in Lynch's brain over the past decade.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 2:41 pm**

Spoiler

Edward Hopper's "Office at night," 1940

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:24 pm**

Soderbergh tweeted: "If TWIN PEAKS didn't blow your mind tonight you don't have a mind."

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:28 pm**

Roger Ryan wrote:
hearthesilence wrote:...I think Kubrick's influence on Lynch's films has usually been felt in the atmosphere and the sound, with The Shining coming off as the most prominent source of inspiration...
Something to consider, however, is that Kubrick screened Eraserhead for his crew prior to shooting The Shining, ostensibly to try and get some of that unsettling Lynch weirdness into his own film.

Brilliant, had no idea Kubrick had done that.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 6:37 pm**

hearthesilence wrote:
Roger Ryan wrote:
hearthesilence wrote:...I think Kubrick's influence on Lynch's films has usually been felt in the atmosphere and the sound, with The Shining coming off as the most prominent source of inspiration...
Something to consider, however, is that Kubrick screened Eraserhead for his crew prior to shooting The Shining, ostensibly to try and get some of that unsettling Lynch weirdness into his own film.
Brilliant, had no idea Kubrick had done that.

I remember reading somewhere that Kubrick cited it as one of his favorite films and had his own print he would show visitors to his home when it was still largely unavailable.

...which, of course, is best imagined as unsuspecting dinner guests being shown into a back room with only Eraserhead playing on a loop and the restraint chair from A Clockwork Orange.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 8:22 pm**

My observations of the night:

Spoiler

The actor that played the Woodsman (good to finally confirm that they ARE woodsmen like Jürgen Prochnow in above the convenience store in FWWM, like many assumed) is a professional Lincoln impersonator. The young girl in the same segment finds a lucky penny on the ground (we've had a magic dime and a buffalo nickel... what's next?).

Also, a web reviewer mentioned that the Woodsman grabbed the "mike" [sic]. Freudian slip perhaps but given that Mike is (or is closely associated with) "the arm," and arms can be seen as a far-reaching tool of powerful (and in TP's case, evil) manipulation, I find it a very apt name for our one-armed man/LMFAP. To that point, there's the moment in FWWM where the Little Man is actually acting as Mike's arm, connected to him as they talk in unison (the mouthpiece/mic?). The shape of this reminded me of the way that the Woodsman held onto the disk jockey's head in one hand and held on to his mouthpiece, HIS MIKE [sic] in the other, remaining as a conduit.

One more general observation; the Woodsman had a definite personality. He started as a zombie and basically repeated the same stock phrase. Once he assumed his place as power transformer in the DJ booth, he really lit up and became alive, displaying an amount of relish in his chant.

Posted: **Mon Jun 26, 2017 11:11 pm**

I really have nothing to add, other than feeling in the ~24 hrs since that it's undoubtedly the greatest piece of abstract film art to ever grace American television.

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:21 am**

captveg wrote:I really have nothing to add, other than feeling in the ~24 hrs since that it's undoubtedly the greatest piece of art to ever grace American television.

Fixed

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 5:19 am**

Other than being mildly spoiled about it, the only thing that miffed in a way that still makes my eyebrows angle is

Spoiler

that the picture of Laura that goes in the ball is the same one used as a photo in the show. I mean, you are supposed to recognise her, but this is some time travelling photo.

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 2:49 pm**

Interesting to me is that the American catastrophe/nightmare is given an origin that coincides with what is ultimately a political event (or an event with political consequences). Here we have a Lynchian version of America's Original Sin.

The "convenience store" sequence was some of the absolute best experimental cinema Lynch has ever created.

Really floored by this season so far!

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 4:39 pm**

Twenty-seven years ago when I first heard "Mike" the one-armed man babble on about "living above a convenience store", I understood it only to be a typical Lynchian joke (the combination of the unearthly with the commonplace - just like "do you see creamed corn on that plate?").The Return: Episode 8 has elevated that throwaway line to something more substantial: has the pursuit of "convenience" contributed to the manifestation of evil?

Also, while the Trinity atomic test was foreshadowed by the large photograph of the atomic explosion shown twice in Gordon Cole's office, the same (or similar) photo appears on the wall of Henry Spencer's apartment in Eraserhead, too.

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 6:22 pm**

mfunk9786 wrote:Fixed

Well, I split that particular hair because while it's certainly arguable to declare it the outright best episode of American TV, I would have a hard time doing so because there's such a different intent and purpose between it and the greatest episodes of other works like The Twilight Zone, Game of Thrones, I Love Lucy, Band of Brothers, and so on.

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 7:13 pm**

Oh, I was just having a bit of a laugh, I totally know what you meant. It's been growing in my esteem with each passing moment that I've thought about it, though. Going to have to start thinking about it in that pantheon for sure.

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:44 pm**

My top hours of TV are consistently the Twin Peaks and The Prisoner finales so, of course I loved this. I've loved every thing so much so far, but this was something else. There are still 10 hours to go and, despite it being a TV cliché: anything can happen.

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:55 pm**

The mind boggles at the possibilities that Part 18 has in store.

Is Lynch going to wrap it up, are have there even been discussions of a Season 4?

Posted: **Tue Jun 27, 2017 11:08 pm**

I was under the impression that this was going to wrap it up, but I may be mistaken. Even if it's correct in principle, can something as esoteric and loosely structured as Twin Peaks ever be fully wrapped up?

Posted: **Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:17 am**

My general impression is that Lynch is not terribly concerned about wrapping anything up ever. And, based on a couple of interviews that I've read, it seems like when he works on a long form project like this, he, to some degree, relishes making it up as he goes along and runs with ideas as they strike him - so whatever does or does not get wrapped up probably will depend a lot on where his process led him.

Posted: **Wed Jun 28, 2017 7:21 am**

I'll not be sure if I'm on the right track until I actually see the series(!) but from the little I've read about this episode, I like the idea that Lynch is expanding that 50s homage even further beyond small town Americana and James Dean teen rebels to tackle a bit of the sci-fi paranoia genre that was so prominent in that decade: Them! (atomically influenced insects), Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Invaders From Mars (pertinent for a show where your parents are not your parents!), The Blob and so on (or even something earlier like the 1945 "Communists invaded whilst I was away on a fishing trip!" Strange Holiday!). After all most of those films are about small towns under siege from outside entities (even concepts) of one form or another.

(And while I'm pretty certain I'll be the only one thinking of it on hearing about that final image the anime Doomed Megalopolis came to mind, a series set both in the present day but with flashbacks to a key historical event (in that case the 1923 Kanto Earthquake unleashing something horrible) and with another rather troubling sequence of insect/mouth interaction!)

Posted: **Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:41 am**

I'm still wondering if any of this is going anywhere at all.

Posted: **Wed Jun 28, 2017 9:15 am**

Max von Mayerling wrote:My general impression is that Lynch is not terribly concerned about wrapping anything up ever. And, based on a couple of interviews that I've read, it seems like when he works on a long form project like this, he, to some degree, relishes making it up as he goes along and runs with ideas as they strike him - so whatever does or does not get wrapped up probably will depend a lot on where his process led him.

While this is mostly true, his anecdote about the ending of Mulholland Drive has me hopeful that he would have been capable of wrapping it all up if he wanted to. And I think the level of bargaining power and stubborn creative control he's had on this project bodes well for that. Mulholland Drive was also supposed to be a TV show, but if he's telling the truth about how the entire last hour of that movie was given to him "like a string of pearls" in one Transcendental Meditation session, we may need to take an apparently superhuman ability to complete the uncompletable (not just sufficiently, but Best of Decade majestically) as another factor into our equations, here.

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