Game of Thrones is back and, yes, I’m watching. No, secret viewing shenanigans here. Batch joins me to talk about “Dragonstone”, the first episode of the show’s 7th season. We discuss some book stuff but not much since the show is beyond the books now. We also talk about how much we love The Hound, Ed “here, pass this” Sheeran and the infamous shit montage. It’s glorious and awful.
Well, that was a…season… Saul may have limped across the finish line, but don’t let that stop you from checking out our recap of the Season 3 finale “Lantern”. Download now, and remember to review us on iTunes for 100000 internet points!
Things are heating up (get it?) in episode 7 of Fargo. Varga seems like he’s moving some pieces and Gloria’s getting her shit together while Sy cries like a little bitch and Gooey McGregor’s ceased to be. What do we think about it? Download now.
I had been fading through this season of Fargo but my interest definitely piqued this episode, and especially during this commentary. Law and I discuss where the show falters and where it finally hits its stride. Lot of theories this episode of where the show can end up. We also go through the Fargo subreddit and discover a bunch of Law’s usernames. Listen and get drunk with us.
SYNOPSIS: 25 years after the final episode of Twin Peaks left viewers wondering what the show’s mysteries meant, David Lynch and Mark Frost return to the world of Twin Peaks for a third season. It is happening again…
The first two parts of The Return went in directions that no one could anticipate. Agent Cooper back in the Black/White lodge, the Man From Another Place is now a tree with an Eraserhead-like…thing…for a head, and Doctor Jacoby is living in the woods somewhere. Parts 3 and 4, however, somehow go to an even more insane place. Within the first ten seconds of the episode I knew we were in for something wholly unique, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
From the outset, Peaks began as an investigation-centric series but eventually became the journey of Special Agent Dale Cooper. Cooper, caught somewhere between the Lodge and reality, starts this episode traveling through space, encountering some classic Lynchian nightmarish characters and situations before eventually being squeezed out of a power outlet in a wall in reality somewhere. At the same time, a third Cooper is revealed to be a man named Dougie, whom swaps places with Agent Cooper in this moment, arrives at the lodge and disappears for…some reason. Concurrently, evil Coop almost crashes his car off the highway at what we assume is the same time Agent Coop arrives, but can continue doing what he is doing. If the description sounds vague, that’s because it is. Throughout these reviews I fully anticipate struggling to explain the plot, but that also qualifies this story as one you absolutely must experience yourself.
We get a bit more time with Hawk, Lucy and Andy, even getting an introduction to Sheriff Harry Truman’s brother Frank Truman (now acting sheriff of Twin Peaks) as well as our first look at Bobby, now an officer with the Sheriff’s department. While we get some of the classic Twin Peaks cheesy tragedy, I found myself oddly nostalgic for that schmaltzy garbage. Yeah, Bobby is clearly hamming it up when breaking down in tears at the mere look of a photo of Laura Palmer, but Peaks was always cheesier than it should have been, trading in a certain measure of the story’s menace for some of that “aww-shucksiness”. It works here and reminds us that the show still remembers all the pieces of what made it so tantalizing a quarter-century ago.
Without question, though, the funniest thing Twin Peaks has ever done has to be Michael Cera’s turn as Wally Brando, biker and son of Lucy and Andy Brennan. Cera, sporting an incredible lisp that must have been his attempt at mimicking Brando’s iconic speech pattern, is flat out hilarious. With lines like “My dharma is the road…”, you know you’re in for some comedic gold. I hope we see him again but if that is his one moment in the series then so be it, it was magical.
As far as Agent Cooper goes, things pick up with some woman. Coop is off his game, however. Simple tasks like responding using his words and putting his shoes on are clearly a struggle. As the episode progresses, Coop uses the few phrases he has banked in his memory (“Call for help”) to try and progress forward. Coop eventually ends up at a casino where, for some reason, he hits 30 jackpots in a row. Each slot machine he sees with a floating image of the Black Lodge above it he plays, and wins. There is no explanation given, so don’t ask. Eventually, Coop has a run-in with the Casino manager who tries to implore him to stick around and spend some money in Casino. Coop, still completely out of his mind, is given a limousine ride home. Home, it turns out, is behind a red door, from which Naomi Watts appears as Dougie’s wife. Somehow, Coop and Dougie have switched places. Did Evil Coop orchestrate this to happen, and if so, to what ends? I hope we get an answer, but your guess is as good as mine.
Agent Cooper then tries to live like a normal person, mimicking what Dougie’s son, named Sonny Jim, does during breakfast, but clearly has no idea what he is doing, being almost catatonically non-verbal. While all this is happening, the return of Albert and Cole, played by Miguel Ferrer and David Lynch, is simply awesome. These scenes, including Cole’s conversation with David Duchovny’s Denise Bryson, now in charge at the FBI, are pure entertainment in the Peaks-iverse. Seeing David Lynch screaming at people again due to his failed hearing is just the best. Eventually, Evil Coop is found in a prison in South Dakota. Cole, Albert and newcomer Agent Tamara Preston visit Evil Coop there. We get the indication that Coop has been gone or off the grid for a long time as both Cole and Albert seem eager to recover Coop from wherever he is. What ensues is a strange conversation, with Evil Coop behind bars speaking as if from a dark script, repeating some of his lines and making a slight mockery of the situation. Again, where this goes, is difficult to know, but the fact that these characters are back and progressing the situation forward is enough for me to be fully invested going forward.
Parts 1 and 2 had a lot of great setup for the more sinister and surreal aspects of Twin Peaks. Parts 3 and 4 dove headfirst back into the sci-fi roots of the writing and, ultimately, brought back a thick layer of smalltown-cheese that had been absent in the beginning of this run. The show is still, consistently surprising me and I’m finding a lot to love, even if I don’t know the direction of where this is headed. Check back next episode for my thoughts and reactions.
With some clear indications of what the season’s endgame might be, Moreno and Jack Valley take a look at episode 7 of Better Saul Call’s third season. Come listen to our new segment, Open Mike, as well as our thoughts regarding bluetooth headset douchebags and how many seasons we want this thing to go. Download today.
SYNOPSIS: 25 years after the final episode of Twin Peaks left viewers wondering what the show’s mysteries meant, David Lynch and Mark Frost return to the world of Twin Peaks for a third season. It is happening again…
Twin Peaks has been, and likely always will be, a frustrating piece of art. On the one hand, it was an innovative and truly unique TV show made in a time when quite literally no one was filming anything like it. On the other, it was a bit of a mess, with a specific stretch of season 2 showing the problems that Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost had in executing their unique vision clashing with what the network wanted from them. Time has been good to Peaks as its popularity and the mysteries contained within the series have only intensified with time. It’s not only been 25 years since Twin Peaks was last on the air but also a solid decade since David Lynch directed a film. In that time, franchises have become more prevalent, streaming services have begun to erode Hollywood and stories heavy on nostalgia dominate the landscape. To someone who doesn’t know the show, Twin Peaks coming back would seem like a cash grab. To the fans, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. After all, Laura Palmer herself said she’d see Agent Cooper “in 25 years”, and here we are.
This all begs the question, is the series even good anymore? After watching the first two parts of the return, the answer is a resounding yes. Lynch is at his most Lynchian here, putting together a piece of work that feels utterly comprehensive. Those of you who watched Peaks for its quirky small-towniness will find a bit of that “aww shucks” demeanor, but it’s clear that Showtime let Lynch run rampant on the material. This is much more in line with Eraserhead or Lost Highway than it was previously, which is a great thing. The original series left so many questions unanswered that The Return feels like it was in the cards all along, even if it may not have been. Lynch himself has described his work as “dreamlike” in the past, and I think if you keep that in the back of your mind his films make much more sense.
We open on a black and white shot of the, coincidentally enough, Black/White Lodge where Special Agent Dale Cooper sits in conversation with the Giant, the first of many familiar faces we see throughout the episode. The Giant provides some cryptic clues to Cooper then Cooper departs. From there, we visit a young man sitting in a building in New York City monitoring a glass box with cameras fixed on it, clearly waiting for something to appear. One of the more surprising turns here, Kyle MacLachlan’s doppelganger from the end of the second season is out, playing by his own rules and sporting the cheesiest spray tan/mullet combination you can imagine. We get pieces of the citizens of Twin Peaks, including Dr Jacoby, Andy, Hawk, Log Lady, Shelly, James, and even the one-armed man. That’s not to even mention all three members of the Palmer family in various places/states of consciousness. None of these appearances are treated special, but rather the show doesn’t assume seeing any of these people is a big deal; they’ve always been here, they’re not special, and Lynch doesn’t want to waste the audience’s time reintroducing people to an audience who already knows who they are.
To call the first two parts of The Return confusing would be the very least of it, but you must expect that going in. Lynch, for me, has always been about the mood. Few filmmakers can create such a sinister and off-putting mixture of sound and image as David Lynch does. So many times, throughout his career, whether it be the man behind Winkies in Mulholland Drive or Robert Blake in Lost Highway, Lynch has gotten way under my skin and freaked me out. He does it here, with several moments of out-of-left-field fuckery that can’t be explained without having seen it. To me Lynch’s work is about the mood and atmosphere, and here he’s on top of his game. Even small, quiet scenes, such as the one of two characters staring at a glass box, carry a sense of dread and fear with them. Something about the camera in conjunction with the usually menacing score combine to make for an unsettling and disturbing experience for reasons I can’t quite describe.
Twin Peaks was never a favorite series of mine, but more one that just refuses to leave my brain. After a recent re-watch in anticipation of The Return, I think I appreciated the series for what Lynch tried to do with it. Look, it’s not perfect. Entire plotlines and stories in parts of season 2 are atrocious, but when Lynch’s influence is felt the show is amongst some of the best TV ever made. Having this new series on Showtime where there are no rating restrictions just feels right for this series, with Lynch taking full advantage of being able to go further than he had before. I find myself less concerned with answering questions and more intrigued by where this is going to lead. I think with Twin Peaks the interest was always meant to be on the tone, mood and feeling more than the overally “point” of it all. I’m happy Twin Peaks is not only back but looking even better than it did when it first aired and plan on keeping you updated as the season progresses here on Binge Media.
Things start to take shape in episode 6 of Better Call Saul’s 3rd season. Valley joins Moreno as the boys discuss their favorite, and least favorite, aspects of the show, where they’re going with the story and whether or not Don Hector’s accent is overdoing it. Download today.