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Twin Peaks Virgin Diary – Still weird….

I'm really hoping all this weirdness pays off and becomes meaningful symbolism....

Season one, episodes 2-3

Far be it from me to not be deep about my television viewing, but I’ve got the pilot and two episodes down and I can’t help but think Twin Peaks is being weird just for the sake of being weird. That’s not okay with me. I want all this weirdness to be symbolic, I want every single bit of bizarreness to contribute to the greater mystery being solved.

I have a dreadful feeling I’m going to be disappointed….

“Traces to Nowhere”

Now, at the beginning of this episode, I embraced the weirdness because it was quirky and funny and cute. Agent Cooper hanging upside down, pondering the mysteries of life (Marilyn Monroe, who shot JFK….) while talking to “Diane.” Yeah, I’m still wondering about Diane. Then, everyone at the station is talking with their mouths full. It’s a fun bunch of characters they’ve dreamed up … like Barney Miller on some really heavy drugs. I like it.

I also enjoyed the questioning of the witnesses in this episode, along with the little glimpses into the different character interactions.

  • I think they’re setting up James and Donna to be the all-American couple … sweet.
  • Audrey and her Dad have a confrontational relationship — she’s passive-aggressive, he’s … not.
  • I’d be an asshole too if I had Bobby’s dad.
  • I nominate Grace Zabriskie (Laura’s mother) as best screamer ever. But still, WTF?

Other observations:

  • What’s with the fish in the percolator? See, that’s just weird for the sake of weirdness … that can’t be meaningful.
  • Audrey asking if Cooper’s palms itched … yeah, weird.
  • Now I’m getting the coffee and cherry pie references from the comments of my last Twin Peaks virgin diary post.
  • Ask the log….

Questions:

  • Why does Catherine Packard want the sawmill to go bankrupt? Did I miss something?
  • Who’s that guy Laura’s mother had a vision of?
  • Who’s the one-armed man?
  • Why does Dr. Jacoby have the other half of the heart necklace?

“Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer”

Now, the introduction to this episode wasn’t cute and quirky weird, it was completely FUBAR (brie on baguette — really?). So was the rest of the episode. I’m hoping there’s going to be some symbolism in the whacked dream Cooper had at the end, and I am a bit curious as to who he thinks killed Laura based on that dream.

Other bizarre things that I just can’t see as being connected:

  • The whorehouse you get to by boat … I get that the whorehouse itself is very connected, but the fact that you get to it by boat is weird for the sake of being weird.
  • Audrey in general. Kinda sick of watching her sway….
  • Nadine and her abusiveness toward Ed, and her silent drapery runner.

I enjoyed the scene where Cooper narrowed down the “J” suspects by throwing stones at a bottle and Leo is just mean and creepy, too two-dimensional (as of now). When we met Albert and his team, it was the first moment I actually believed that Cooper could possibly be a real federal agent.

I still want to know who the long-haired guy is, now that he’s shown up in Cooper’s dream, and:

Beware the dancing dwarf….

I’m not completely sold on this series yet. It’s terribly slow-moving and I want to enjoy the way things unfold, but right now I just need the weirdness to mean something. Then it would be cool. Weird for the sake of being weird is just David Lynch’s self-gratification and I’m not sure I want to watch that.

Photo Credit: Paramount

5 Responses to “Twin Peaks Virgin Diary – Still weird….”

June 14, 2010 at 6:17 PM

Keep going, Debbie …. just keep going …

June 14, 2010 at 6:44 PM

Seconded.

I think you may be in the same place that I was during my Veronica Mars VD. Get rid of your expectations. Sit back and enjoy — enjoy the fun and crazy (and yes, some are very one dimensional, that’s part of the charm) characters, enjoy the pie and donuts, enjoy the quietly swaying traffic lights.

And I think you may be seeing weird where there isn’t necessarily any weird. The boat to one-eyed jack’s never struck me as something odd or out of place.

I think Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer may be my favorite episode of the whole series (Directed by Lynch himself, if you didn’t notice, which is why it was a little high on the weird).

If you didn’t love every second of Cooper’s dream, which I still think is one of the greatest moments in TV history, then the show may not end up being your favorite. I mean, seriously, who wakes up and says: “Let’s film a scene, including dialogue, completely backwards and then play it back forward?” Genius! Still one of the most unsettling things that I have ever seen. LOVE. IT.

As for the mysteries, well… I don’t want to spoil anything, but you will get lots of answers. For the most part, though, the show will give you all the puzzle pieces, but you will have to put them together for yourself. And there are probably a few different pictures that the puzzle could make, depending on how you assemble it. Some may find that frustrating, I suppose…

The symbolism is heavy, but you’ve got to work a lot of it out for yourself. No lazy viewers allowed.

Enough with the pep talk — keep watching!

June 14, 2010 at 7:52 PM

Bob:

I don’t know about you, but the swaying lights were like brief interludes for me … places to catch my breath. It was eerily calming.

And Debbie: I’m with Bob up there. Don’t read so much into it; just sit back and enjoy it and let it come. Analyze it later after you’ve enjoyed an episode or three, whatever you’re watching at a stretch.

You’ll mentally kill yourself if you try and over-think (or out-think) what is happening or what is going to happen.

P.S. I envy you this first viewing. I may need to pull out mine and take a gander at them again!

June 14, 2010 at 8:43 PM

I would so be watching right now if someone didn’t steal my DVD set so that she could do a virgin diary….

June 14, 2010 at 9:32 PM

I know “people”, Bob.

Who was the culprit … ?!?

*snort*

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