dex14

tboogie

There's a lot of hype on Twitter about this episode.

whotony

I watched first 4 eps and I lost interest more with each ep.

Still think it is style over story.

stvn1974

What the hell did I just watch? I don't even know how to go about discussing the show. I still love it though.

whotony

Why do you love it?

Crocker Jarmen

Nice appearance by "The Nine Inch Nails".

The long digital (I assume) images of the bomb going off was gorgeous. I want to go back and watch it again to look at all the detail in the smoke and the landscape. The 2001 homage started going on a little too long for me.

Jesus, I think this episode easily supplants The Sopranos dream episodes for most experimental episode of a TV series.

Not sure to make of what we saw with the Giant. Am I to interpret all this as the first nuclear bomb creating the evil that is Bob, so in response the aliens/inter-dimensional beings either create or select Laura Palmer to confront Bob in 40 some odd years time because somehow that will lead to his destruction?

The final twenty minutes were absolutely nightmarish. Hands down my favourite part of the series so far. Holy shit that was hypnotic and creepy and unsettling.

Bravo. I really loved this.

And yet, and yet, I still wish the other episodes had some of the charm and fun of the original series. I can only image how much more astonishing this episode would have been then.

Glad I'm saving these on the DVR. I thought I would wait until the whole series ran before going back to re-watch, but I'm already itching to look at the first couple of episodes again. So much has happened they feel like so long ago.

Crocker Jarmen

Agree, but if you like the style, that works out fine.

The movie Drive and Hateful Eight I'd consider "style over story", but since the experience of watching them was so enjoyable I'm not complaining.

stvn1974

Mark Frost: hey David, this is a really weird episode we got here.

David Lynch: yeah, let's throw Nine Inch Nails right in the middle to make it weirder.

rocket1312

So much for people being excited about the plot moving forward last week. This episode was absolutely gorgeous and unlike just about anything I've ever seen on television. I'm still not sure if I liked it though. I mean I enjoyed it on an intellectual level, but this is not really what I signed up for. I'm a bit concerned that when all is said and done, this new series is going to feel like just a random mishmash of stuff. Even though the story is there, and on a certain level fairly straightforward, I have bad feeling that the whole will end up being far less than the sum of the parts.

starseed1981

Some of the analysis and interpretations here are really ......interesting. I've been a huge Lynch fan for the better part of 20 years now and that was arguably the worst episode of TV that I've ever seen in my life. There was nothing enjoyable about that.

The Antipodean

I loved it. I love that Lynch obviously doesn't give a fuck and is totally unfettered and unleashing his id. I realise it's not for everybody (probably not for MOST actually) but I've never seen anything like this on TV and am loving it.

I didn't think I'd be telling people that they might want to ease into Lynch with a little Eraserhead before this new stuff, to be honest, though!

stvn1974

People wanted season one, I thought we would get Fire Walk With Me, who knew we would get Eraserhead/Mulholland Drive on acid.

philo

That was insanely awesome. I was engrossed by every second of it. I was hoping for more of the surreal we got in episode 3 with Coop's trip and this shattered every expectation. Just amazing stuff. This show continues to surprise and keep me on edge every week. Cannot wait to watch this one again.

The Antipodean

I watched the documentary David Lynch: Art of Life a few weeks back and it really aided my appreciation of the more surreal turn his work has taken post-TP. If this series turns out to be his swan song - considering he hasn't made a movie since 2006 and he's in his 70s - what a way to go. Uncompromising as hell and I for one salute that - the journey here is totally not what I or anyone expected but I'm willing to be a passenger the whole ride.

rocket1312

I will say that at this point I have absolutely no idea what to expect week to week, which is kind of thrilling. But again, my biggest fear is that none of this adds up to anything remotely satisfying in the end. And I'm not even talking about being satisfied in a traditional tv narrative sense. In fact I think when the show has gotten too plotty (like last week) it's suffered a bit. I guess I just want something a little more cohesive.

Mulholland Drive by virtue of being a recycled tv pilot had a lot of random diversions that really didn't lead anywhere, but it at least felt of a piece. Even if it didn't always make sense, it at least felt like it did. It was also only 2.5 hours. David Lynch completely unfettered for 18 hours is really exciting in an academic sense and has already delivered a handful of great moments, but what will it be when the journey's over?

I'm a pretty big Lynch fan but even I have a hard time mustering up the energy to revisit something like Inland Empire. Revising this will be like watching Inland Empire 6 times in a row. If anything I can see this being enjoyed selectively out of context, with last night's episode being a perfect candidate for that.

MysterioMan007

I have no idea what I watched last night. Visually, it was wonderful. I thought the bomb sequence went really long, as did the Nine Inch Nails performance. Other than that, I thought it was a gripping episode, even if I don't know what purpose it served.

Like someone above, I'm starting to lose faith in this show making any sense at the end of the day and feel like the lack of focus on the actual town of Twin Peaks has been disappointing. Maybe he will pull it all together by the end, but I'm starting to feel like all the people who hated the end of LOST (which I liked).

That said, the "Got a light?" guy was creepy as hell, as was the Fake Cooper "death" scene. The Giant had an interesting moment. The Fake Cooper death scene was strange, as this never happened when Leland was killed, but I'll hang with it and see where it goes. I liked the time period imagery.

I still think this show could have benefited from a binge release and been available all at once. I'll stick with it in hopes that it gets back to its roots, but I have my doubts at this point. For some reason, we now have a two week break.

Josh-da-man

Quick analysis:

Ray shoots badCooper. When badCooper is killed/injured these beings called "Woodsmen" appear and seemingly heal badCooper.

In 1945, the first atomic bomb is detonated. This causes some kind of being to give birth to or eject BOB. This being looks similar to the monster from the first episode that killed the young lovers.

The giant and the woman, possibly in the White Lodge, witness BOB being born and in turn create Laura Palmer, presumably to counter BOB's evil.

Jump to 1956. The Woodsmen take over a convenience store. Recall that in the original run of Twin Peaks and FWWM that the Black Lodge people lived above a convenience store, and in FWWM when it was shown, there were two Woodsmen there. We've also seen the Woodsmen before in this series. One was in a jail cell, and another was with Major Garland's headless body.

Not sure who the two teenagers were... possibly Leland and Sarah Palmer. Also not sure what the Woodsmen were doing in the town, either. Or what that crawling bug thing that crawled in the girl's mouth was. Maybe BOB or Laura?

Josh-da-man

And, by the way, the Grey Alien-looking monster called the "Experiment" that was seen in this episode and the first episode is credited to "Erica Eynon," this actress:



Hmmm...

clckworang

This episode is not surprisingly pretty divisive. I loved it and am continuing to enjoy the ride. I was doing some dinner prep as the episode started, but as it got more visual, it drew me in and away from what I was doing.

While this might not be a ratings bonanza, I have such respect for Showtime for enabling this revival to happen. I have even more respect for Lynch for being so uncompromising with his vision. He gets extra points for continuing to push the envelope whether it be in form or concept. You can look at other successful filmmakers around his age and see how many have fallen into a rut or fail to continue to push themselves. This show doesn't feel like it's from an old filmmaker. Lynch still seems as vibrant and exploring as ever.

A lot of strong nightmarish imagery in this one, whether it be the healing of Cooper, got a light guy or that strange looking bug that thoroughly weirded me out. This one definitely needs to be seen again.

During the nuke sections, I kept thinking about the phrase fire walk with me as Bob came into existence. I do have confidence that eventually most things will come together. If not, I know I'll still enjoy the ride.

rocket1312

It also seemed like the woodsmen removed Bob from bad Cooper when they resurrected him.

I'll also add that the nuclear facility that produced the plutonium for the first atomic bomb was in Washington and built on Nez Perce (Hawk's tribe) land. This is both a true story and part of the Secret History book. If you've read that book and are really following a lot of the small details in these episodes, it's clear that there's a pretty elaborate mythology behind everything that's happening on screen even if it isn't explicit. Whether or not that's a good thing is something I'm still wrestling with. I don't know that I want all of the back story explained. The mystery is almost always more interesting than the reveal.

Supermallet

This episode was easily as momentous as Cooper's dream from season one. Absolutely brilliant, uncompromising television that revealed much of the show's hidden mythology. But because Lynch is a surrealist, he didn't make it obvious or easy to decipher. Best episode of the season so far.

BuckNaked2k

That was truly, Something from the Mind.....of David Lynch.

Shannon Nutt

Thank you. I agree completely. Love Lynch and Twin Peaks is my all time favorite series. Have loved "The Return" up until last night, but that was some pretentious BS right there. Of course, the Lynch defenders are out in force saying it's "high art." It's low art to me...as in Inland Empire low.

Luds

Very bizare episode, full of beautiful images and nightmare-like sequences. Maybe Lynch used some of the new drugs that's making its way in Twin Peaks makig this episode.

Shannon Nutt

What bothers me more than the episode itself (which, honestly, would have been more palpable in small doses over several episodes instead of all together) is that Showtime backed up the Brinks truck to get David on board. I kept wondering where all the production value was, since so many scenes are just characters sitting in rooms chatting. Now we know. There's probably more than one exec at Showtime who saw this episode and their head imploded.

I thought there might be a chance for a Season 4, but this week's episode was so alienating that there's no way they'll pay Lynch again to make another batch of these, and I don't think they can continue without his participation (nor, likely, would they want the public backlash to that).

Maybe TWIN PEAKS was better when it was Robert Engels and Harley Peyton running the show than it was Lynch and Frost. Kind of like Gene Coon being the real master behind the original Star Trek, as opposed to Gene Roddenberry.