Twin Peaks S3

Finally got a copy of this on DVD and I’m 5 episodes in. To be honest, I’ve been a Twin Peaks addict from the first episode but I was concerned that all these years later, the new series would be a letdown and maybe that’s why I’ve been procrastinating about getting around to watching it. How wrong was I?

So far it’s been beautiful, brilliant, dark and funny. Lynch, like any decent director, has a good eye for framing a shot but I think that over the decades, he’s become like some sort of celluloid Rembrandt on acid. The sheer quality of his direction shines through in so many ways. Storywise, I’m now as hooked as I was way back in the old days. Revisiting these old characters really is like meeting old friends. As of the new characters, so far my absolute favourite is the son of Andy and Lucy. Brilliantly hilarious.

If this was a beverage, it would be a damn fine cup of coffee:)
 
Only five episodes in? Man, you have no idea what's in store for you. The best stuff is still to come. And the weirdest, and the mind-blowingest...
 
Do like me: I've watched it three times already. And I'm sensing another rewatch coming on.
 
Do like me: I've watched it three times already. And I'm sensing another rewatch coming on.
I’m already thinking of rewatching pretty soon after I’m done. I usually find Lynch needs to be watched multiple times to really appreciate his brilliance.

Is it just my imagination or is Lynch showcasing new bands at the end of almost every episode? Maybe they’re not new and I’ve just never heard them before but kudos to him if that’s what he’s doing.

Another favourite scene so far: Albert with his umbrella. Miserable in the rainy city at night, cursing Gene Kelly. It just made me laugh:)
 
Not all of the bands are new (you'll see -- there are a couple of sentimental favorites), but yeah.

Oh, and the Gene Kelly bit -- isn't that when we meet Diane for the first time? What did you think of her? :)
 
Not all of the bands are new (you'll see -- there are a couple of sentimental favorites), but yeah.

Oh, and the Gene Kelly bit -- isn't that when we meet Diane for the first time? What did you think of her? :)
I thought she was great, especially the fact that both Gordon and Albert were victims of her verbals :)
 
Well, I finally completed watching season 3 and, boy, does my head hurt. I enjoyed every minute of it but there’s just so much to think about. It definitely merits multiple watches but these are my initial thoughts on what the hell just happened.

Forget Judy for a moment. Forget the room, the one armed man, the fireman and the glass box for a while. Ultimately, beyond all the Lynchian symbolism and wierdness, what I saw was a town moving on from a horrific murder, able to detach itself from a terrible event. But in that town, a mother forever lost, forever mourning her daughter and husband, unable to move on and forever trapped like sisyphus pushing that boulder of regret and ‘if only’ up the hill just to see it roll back down again.

Maybe I’m way off base but that, for me, has always been the essence of Lynch’s work - beyond everything we see in his creation lies the fragility of our humanity as we struggle through a vast and often strange universe.

A final question. Where is Audrey? We see her but somehow she’s not there
 
A final question. Where is Audrey? We see her but somehow she’s not there
You have to realize that the part for which Lynch originally intended Audrey in S3 was that which he eventually gave to Mrs. Horn (Audrey's mom). She gets assaulted by Richard (Audrey's son) who steals her money, etc.

Supposedly Sherilyn Fenn refused to play that, so he wrote her a whole new set of scenes, late in the game, which don't mix at all with the other characters. It's... mysterious. She wakes up after her dance and she's in a hospital environment, maybe? A mental health clinic? The white lodge? Lynch pretty much left that to the viewers to decide. But her storyline really isn't "in-world" so to speak. It's disconnected, possibly symbolic... As you wish.
 
Ah! I didn't realise the background to this.

I also thought some kind of hospital environment. There is some evidence in the series that bad Dale visited her after the bank explosion and probably raped her (he refers to Richard as his son). I wondered if she'd just finally emerged from a 25 year coma after 'Audrey's Dance'.
 
If you care, there's more of her "story" in Mark Frost's TP books, but those have nothing to do with Lynch. So I consider them non-Lynch-canon, so to speak.
 
I’m probably going to buy The Final Dossier on kindle soon. Because Frost worked on the writing with Lynch on the final series, I‘m assuming the book will have some validity. Of course, that could be a pretty big assumption:)
 
Frost worked with Lynch on TP, then did the book all on his own. I don't think Lynch has even bothered to read it, and he certainly didn't read Frost's previous book before starting TP3. It's best read as at least half fanfic. FWIW, I found "The Final Dossier" pretty terrible fanfic, inasmuch as, by trying to explain, it made everything so much more pedestrian.
 
Been watching this for a second time and another viewing has really helped.

First, let me say that this is one of the best pieces of TV I've seen. It's dark, beguiling, enthralling and, at times, incredibly funny. I love it! Kyle MachLachlan is a simply superb in his roles and some good newcomers too. I think my favourite of the new characters was Naomi Watts as Dougie Jones' wife Janey-E 'take no crap' Jones. Her scene with the loan sharks was one of the best moments of the series.

But what the hell was it all about?

Well. Here's my view...and I stress...my view. It may not be the correct interpretation but it's all mine.

First, the Black and White lodges. To me, they are one and the same place/time. I think this is reinforced by the sycamore doppelganger interfering with Dale's return to our world. In essence, the lodges are symbolic of good and evil residing in the same place and may be a representation of ourselves, where the capacity for both good and evil resides in all of us.

Next, Judy. Could it be that, in episode 8, the bug/frog that crawls into the mouth of the sleeping girl is crawling into the mouth of Laura's mother? Could it be that Judy resides within her? This seems to be reinforced by the scene in the bar, where she removes her face to reveal something dark inside. Did she, as Judy, permit or encourage Leyland's abuse of Laura?

Gordon Cole likes young beautiful women but there appears nothing untoward in his behaviour towards them. Indeed, when challenged by Denise/Denis over the choice of Tammy, he is able to defend himself. It made me wonder if Lynch was poking a finger at the weinsteins of this world and saying, you can be in a position of power but don't have to abuse that power. Incidentally, I think Lynch as Cole was a fabulous and funny performance.

Episode 8. The birth of Bob? Can evil be born or does it always exist in some form? I tend to believe that it is ever-present (at least as a potential) so I prefer to see this as an awakening rather than a birth. The blackened hobos, to me, represent the fertile ground in which evil can grow. They help it along both by their very nature but also as kind of minions of Judy.

The last episode....Judy's final trick? Note that the previous owner of what was the Palmer residence was (if I recall correctly) the name of the old lady with the child that wore the strange mask. This episode, I'm still trying to get to grips with but, overall, I think the whole saga is typical Lynch as exemplified by the opening scene in Blue Velvet. At first glance, everything looks fine but, look closer, look deeper, and things are not what they appear to be......
 

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