I cheered when Cera showed up, mostly because I ended up being correct in guessing what role he would end up playing.
― MarkoP, Monday, 22 May 2017 05:44 (six years ago) link
also i was hoping to have no idea what's going on and that's exactly what's happening xp
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 05:45 (six years ago) link
so far is this is the whitest thing i've seen since the last australian thing i saw
That's not surprising. The reports did say that people were going to be outraged.
― MarkoP, Monday, 22 May 2017 05:48 (six years ago) link
I mean, that was pretty obvious from the cast list, and also everything else lynch has ever directed
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 05:51 (six years ago) link
true, and i'm not outraged, it's just way too obvious when set against every other contemporary show and also real life
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 05:54 (six years ago) link
Oh true, I'm just mildly joking about it.
I mean I also noticed that I'm 4 episodes in and there hasn't been a single scene that passes the Bechdel test either.
― MarkoP, Monday, 22 May 2017 05:56 (six years ago) link
the Denise scene..."I told them to change their hearts or die" was great but the rest...woof. that and the Chrysta Bell stuff make it very clear this is being made by two old dudes and does pull me out of the spell for a bit.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:00 (six years ago) link
I'd break this down as about 25% awe-inspiring, 50% engaging, 15% shrug-inducing and 10% groan-inducing. Which is honestly about the same batting avg as the original run
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:02 (six years ago) link
yeah, for all that this is avant garde as hell and will probably advance television 15 years overnight, traces of 70-year-old white man are indelibly all through this
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:05 (six years ago) link
I think it's gonna fall from popular discussion in record time, if anything the decline in viewership for this from now to the finale will be even more precipitous than the original run lol
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:08 (six years ago) link
definitely, this is not in any way mainstream
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:14 (six years ago) link
Chrysta is very beautiful but good god she cannot act
The only bad thing about this is the lack of badalamenti incidental music. It's absence is really felt
― akm, Monday, 22 May 2017 06:44 (six years ago) link
This is amazing
Hour four had the least horror or surreal imagery but I bet is the one that makes the most people check out, soooo much slow comedy & weird affected dialogue, interminable scenes of dougdale/Lucy/Andy being aliens, Chrysta bell, Gordon & Denise (man that was tough)
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:50 (six years ago) link
And yes peter deming is knocking it out of the park, this looks amazing
I predicted that there would be totally unreal-looking cgi effects and that I would love them btw, but on both counts I didn't predict just how much <3
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 06:53 (six years ago) link
No surprise that Lynch would pull a FNORD on expectations
This is for the fans for sure
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 22 May 2017 08:12 (six years ago) link
Feels like Lynch is taking the piss
― Carlotta's Portrait (Ross), Monday, 22 May 2017 08:24 (six years ago) link
EPISODE 4 TALK
interminable scenes of dougdale/Lucy/Andy being aliens
most of this stuff didn't work imo. dale getting stuck in the revolving door was fantastic, but the casino bit went on far too long (cooper's not mentally checked in, we know, really dave, we get it), and the whole bunny scene with hawk was a total misfire.
at least episode 4 ends with the feeling that the narrative strands are starting to come together. until the last 15 minutes it felt like several movies all playing at once.
also re the alan partridge discussion in the other thread: due to age, andy's face looks awfully like when alan is suddenly pissed off about something.
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 08:34 (six years ago) link
They seem to be doubling down on the scene in the missing pieces where everyone in the sheriffs station is really spaced out. I wasn't on board at first but horse & forster made it work for me & by the time cera showed up I was loving it - "except when it's cloudy, or at night". (There seems to be a slight suggestion that he has inherited some of the pretensions of his possible biological father)
I'm a little shell shocked tbh. I loved the look, sound & feel of this, felt properly extreme & nightmarish, but turning it over in my head it feels like something is lacking - it feels very vast and inhuman, like it was literally made by aliens. These two weirdos have both drifted quite far from where they were before, & ultra-frostian cosmic sci-fi, literalism & overabundance of story fits weirdly into ultra-lynchian incomprehensibility - or maybe I'm afraid that those things are replacing lynch's vaguenesses that evoke very specific emotions.
Idk I feel like frost actually used to be v good at writing for coopers guides, but MIKE in the red room being like "ok here's what's going on & what you need to do next - remember your doppelgänger? Well," when previously even outside the lodge he couldn't explain living above a convenience store without sounding uncanny; also bad coop explaining the black lodge to random goon.
Otoh the giant's dialogue was great, idk it could just be that I stayed up all night & am hollowed out a bit. Just not feeling much on an emotional level other than jaw-clamping tension. It actually reminds me of mulholland dr a bit, where for the whole 1st hr or so I'm just on edge the entire time. I'm hoping that in the next 14hrs (!) we get more of the emotional connection to characters that I get with that & all other lynch films
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 09:06 (six years ago) link
Relatively sparse music might be contributing to this too.
To be clear I adore this but also feel weird about it & like it's walking a tightrope & I may end up kinda hating it.
Real Dougie is best character tho
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 09:10 (six years ago) link
(There seems to be a slight suggestion that he has inherited some of the pretensions of his possible biological father)
i'd completely forgotten about that. i wasn't feeling that scene at all but in hindsight it makes sense.
turning it over in my head it feels like something is lacking - it feels very vast and inhuman, like it was literally made by aliens.
there's no warmth at all. the original series, for all its faults, was packed with rich and deep characters. here the same characters are largely going from point to point because the plot demands it. evil dale is cold and cruel, hawk is cold and analytical, gordon is cold and inquisitive, etc etc etc etc. even denise came across cold. lucy and andy are relatively warm but so far they're the comic relief and little more.
but MIKE in the red room being like "ok here's what's going on & what you need to do next - remember your doppelgänger? Well,"
yeah, it was all a bit obvious, with mike and laura explaining stuff in such detail that it felt like they were talking not to dale but to us. i don't expect lynch to come at me with the cliffs notes, especially when the rest of the show does the exact opposite.
also the brain tree (despite being a great set piece) felt a bit like someone said to lynch "you do you" and he did.
it sounds like i'm complaining a lot (and i am) but on the whole i enjoyed the hell out of this. it's nothing like anything, even twin peaks, and as long as it's doing something interesting and new i'm all in.
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 10:53 (six years ago) link
just quoting myself for a second:
i don't expect lynch to come at me with the cliffs notes
is it possible that we're seeing the lynch-frost seam here? i'm guessing frost has over-egged the dialogue and lynch has just gone with it.
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 10:56 (six years ago) link
also, dale drinking the coffee and snapping back into dale was perfect. i smiled so hard my face split open.
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 10:59 (six years ago) link
There's the log lady, bobby's tears and the roadhouse and I think we will get to an emotional centre at some point
But yeah who am I kidding this is dazzling. The thing in the David Blaine cage, the thing in the cell, woman's head on man's body, everything in buckhorn, bad dale using the dictaphone, the playing card, all the gnarly digital effects, that room with the eyeless woman - it's just too much
Btw did hawk see something out at Glastonbury grove? He doesn't mention anything to anyone
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 11:13 (six years ago) link
re: warmth, I feel like that's all gonna come from the original characters, most of whom we've still spent very little time with.
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 11:15 (six years ago) link
I like that they're actually giving Hawk stuff to do, he mostly just stands around in the original series
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 11:16 (six years ago) link
So yeah these episodes so far are fucking insane. I'm in awe.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m4xIy1rlJKs
Words I never thought I would say: the Michael Cera bit was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time!
― Fiddle Catstro (latebloomer), Monday, 22 May 2017 11:18 (six years ago) link
I can't decide if I hope we never see Wally again or if the entire rest of the show should be about him
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 11:36 (six years ago) link
The thing in the David Blaine cage
everything about that box was delicious. maybe i'm analysing too hard, but i thought lynch was either (a) telling the audience to persevere because something will happen soon or (b) taking the piss out of viewers who've been waiting for this show to start and having no idea what to expect.
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 11:48 (six years ago) link
i mean not that i want to set an expectation on this but yeah, it seems we're coming into it from a real sharp angle
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 22 May 2017 12:08 (six years ago) link
Some of the quibbles here aren't incorrect upon thinking about it, but none of that really registered while watching these. First and foremost this is utterly hypnotizing. Totally sucked in.
― circa1916, Monday, 22 May 2017 12:20 (six years ago) link
And I'm not sure how alienating this is? I was watching this with a handful of people who had little or no connection to the show and they were glued to it too.
― circa1916, Monday, 22 May 2017 12:27 (six years ago) link
i don't know if this is precisely the case but i do appreciate that evil dale seems stuck between cooper's actual personality, believing that he is truly undercover, and being an unencumbered source of evil, basically just like leland
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 22 May 2017 12:30 (six years ago) link
I went back to remind myself of how it opened and from the moment I saw that slowed-down shot of the screaming girl from the pilot I was enthralled all over again & ended up rewatching all of parts 1-3 so yeah turns out I just love this
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 13:27 (six years ago) link
Part 3 with the pink planet, eyeless woman, ronette pulaski(! I think) on the sofa, the "mother" banging on the door, major briggs floating head, electrical sockets, rancid garmonbozia puke, dougie in the red room: a masterpiece
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 13:33 (six years ago) link
yeah, pretty much immediately in the pantheon of Great Lynch Sequences.
i loved Good Cooper materializing on the floor out of the smoke/socket and just kinda lying there smiling all dopey. hilarious.
― circa1916, Monday, 22 May 2017 13:46 (six years ago) link
ronette pulaski(! I think)
Yup, that was Phoebe Augustine, though she's mysteriously only credited as "American Girl"
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 13:52 (six years ago) link
carel struycken was credited as "?????????"
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 13:57 (six years ago) link
Yeah I saw that & was like wut - also Walter olkewicz is credited as jean-michel renault, al strobel as phillip gerard and carel struycken as ?????
Part 3 is so fat trout/above the convenience store that I forgot to include some of the incredibly weird bits in that sequence, like "119!"
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 13:57 (six years ago) link
Xp
snap
― early morning reverse rumplestiltskin rage (Autumn Almanac), Monday, 22 May 2017 13:58 (six years ago) link
I hope we only get brief shots of renault tending bar & it's never explained
btw how many other nerds thought of Richard & Linda Thompson during the opening sequence of the premiere?
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 14:00 (six years ago) link
meee
― a serious and fascinating fartist (Simon H.), Monday, 22 May 2017 14:11 (six years ago) link
a la senor droolcup, i hope it becomes canon to refer to reactive baby dougie cooper as "mr. jackpots"
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 22 May 2017 14:32 (six years ago) link
HELLLOOOOO
― ToddBonzalez (BradNelson), Monday, 22 May 2017 14:33 (six years ago) link
otm
― in a soylent whey (wins), Monday, 22 May 2017 14:40 (six years ago) link
Whatever assorted narrative ends it serves, it's also part of his ongoing meta-narrative about cinema and perception, who's watching whom, etc. I love how he first shows you the box, and then the room from every angle, and then finally the perfectly-lit shot of the guy sitting on the couch, which is what "the box" sees. He loves pulling back the curtain on himself, showing how the magic is done, and then still making you go "wow" when he does the trick.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 22 May 2017 14:58 (six years ago) link
(David Foster Wallace would have loved the box, it feels like something out of a James Incandenza movie.)
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 22 May 2017 15:01 (six years ago) link
Watched the first four episodes last night. Reminded me of when the X-Files moved from Vancouver to LA. Maybe it's good David Lynch, but it's not good Twin Peaks. Perhaps once everyone gets back to Twin Peaks and normal Agent Cooper returns... he anchored the show. When he's adrift, it's just too hard to watch.
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Monday, 22 May 2017 15:07 (six years ago) link
i'm glad it's not beholden to any idea of what Twin Peaks ~should be~, personally
― circa1916, Monday, 22 May 2017 15:15 (six years ago) link
Yeah there will be some split on all of this between "Twin Peaks fans" and "David Lynch fans."
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 22 May 2017 15:19 (six years ago) link