I’ve finished a few series and will blog about each of
them in turn, so be patient. This entry
is about “Twin Peaks: The Return”, what is effectively season 3 of the famously
bizarre TV show, “Twin Peaks”.
First off, while I was aware of the series when it
originally aired, as noted in my prior blog on the topic I refused to watch it
expressly because of all the hype. I
generally don’t watch a whole lot of network TV, and I wasn’t a big TV head
back when this came on either. As of
today I rarely bother to turn on the TV, but I do like Netflix and watch much
programming after the fact. I don’t
binge-watch, though – my patience runs out after a single drama episode or a
few sit-com episodes. Anyhow.
In addition, my tolerance for bizarre and strange things
increased exponentially since the show originally aired, which is how and why I
was able to finally digest it decades later.
In the recent past I finally watched the first two seasons and the
movie. FYI, Kyle MacLachlan seems to
work well with David Lynch and has been with him in “Dune” and “Blue
Velvet”. I’ve already done blogs on both
Twin Peaks (3/24/17) and Kyle MacLachlan (4/14/17).
Season
1. 8 episodes.
Originally aired April 8, 1990 through May 23, 1990.
Season
2. 22 episodes.
Originally aired September 30,
1990 through June 10, 1991.
Movie: Fire Walk With Me. Released August 28, 1992. Featuring Chris Isaak as the FBI agent before
Cooper, whose disappearance Cooper was investigating. Likewise, this goes into much more detail
about why Cooper was investigating the town AND finally shows Laura Palmer’s
death. Either highly entertaining or
tedious depending on how badly you still like the show.
Season
3. This was on Showtime instead of network
TV. I started watching it there and
finished with it on DVD. 18 episodes Originally aired May 21, 2017 through
September 3, 2017.
Good
news. 90% of the major characters are here,
including Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan).
In fact, you get not one but TWO Coopers: a nasty, long-haired fully articulate but
dangerous lowlife version, and a clean guy in suit and tie who is borderline
catatonic: he merely repeats the last
word the last person said, which no one recognizes as mental illness and
everyone accepts immediately as tacit understanding of the conversation.
Diane, the recipient of Cooper’s tape recorded
instructions, finally shows up, played by Laura Dern. Log Lady is here, Andy and Lucy, Hawk,
etc. In fact, most of the original cast
is still here – though obviously somewhat older – and Bobby Briggs is now a
deputy with the sheriff’s office. His
father, Air Force Major Briggs, disappeared at the end of season 2. In this regard you can count on it being Twin
Peaks.
Bad
News. Weird to the point of being incoherent. Even the ending made no sense. As noted, my tolerance for
weird-for-the-sake-of-weird has gone up big time since 1990, but even now I
found much of it deliberately nonsensical.
If that’s what you want, knock yourself out with another 18 episodes of
the same weird incoherence you knew and loved from the first two seasons and
the movie. Don’t expect much in the way
of answers. Well, at least now you have
TWO Coopers AND Diane to be surly, petulant, and chainsmoking.
Bonus: RIVERDALE. Those of you who remember an older cartoon
from the 50s and later, plus the late 60s animated series, might recall the
mostly wholesome adventures of Archie Andrews, Jughead, Betty Cooper, Veronica
Lodge, Reggie Mantle, Moose & Midge, Dilton Doiley, etc. Well, take that, mix it into Twin Peaks, and
you have “Riverdale”. Season 2 just
began. FYI, the Veronica Lodge, Camilla
Mendes – not just a brasileira, but a carioca (see last week’s lesson) – is
super hot (gostosissima). Also Jughead is actually pretty cool and not a
glutton, nor does he swear off girls in favor of food – Cole Sprouse has grown
up since “Zack and Cody”. And not only
does Riverdale wind up looking like Twin Peaks, Madchen Amick is in both; in
“Riverdale” she plays Betty Cooper’s mom, Alice – get it? Check it out.
No comments:
Post a Comment