Monday, August 14, 2017

This is the Forest, Green is Its Colour

A very exciting new Twin Peaks last night answered a lot of questions and made a lot of connexions in a beautiful way. Things came to fruition that felt like they were carefully set up twenty five years ago and it was a delight to get lost in those trees.

Spoilers after the screenshot

One of the main reasons the new Twin Peaks feels like such a revelation is that it feels like David Lynch shot something drawn from his own experiences while even the best television nowadays tends to be impressions and clever reworkings of other works of fiction. When Andy (Harry Goaz)--who's great in this episode--vanishes from the other plane like a flickering lamp, it feels like Lynch's idea of someone or something actually vanishing rather than effects people sitting around wondering what would be a cool new version of something that's been done a million times before.

We're certainly benefiting from the creative control Lynch has on the show. It was nice to have those atmospheric shots of the woods leading up to the discovery of the eyeless woman, Naido (Nae Yuuki), who seems to have survived getting flung into the void after her encounter with Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan). One of the effective ways of making a monster scary is to give it injuries or impairments of some kind--there's something inherently frightening about vulnerability. Naido simultaneously provokes concern and fear--this episode seems to confirm that she's an agent for the forces of good, which seems to indicate she was not in on the plot to trick Cooper. Maybe she was trying to warn him with that strange, urgent, birdlike, unintelligible speech.

The unnamed drunk (Jay Aaseng), who might be the elusive Billy, also provokes alarm for the sight of his injuries. Imitating Naido in the cells, to the great irritation of the sleazy Chad (John Pirruccello), the two create a forest-like cacophony of monkeys and birds and I was reminded of Mike and Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) barking like dogs at the oddly vulnerable James (James Marshall) in those very same cells back in the pilot episode. Something about these cells turns people into animals.

And James features in the next scene where we see he's become a security guard at the Great Northern. We meet his co-worker from London, Freddie (Jake Wardle), and learn about the green glove bestowed upon him by the Fireman (Carel Struycken), who until now had been credited as simply ????????? in the new series.

The idea of him being a Fireman makes sense given the fact that he is in opposition to forces of the oft-referenced Fire. His job is to put out the fire. But as Hawk (Michael Horse) told us, Fire isn't necessarily bad. One of the fascinating things about this is that it undermines the idea that the Fireman is simply a force of good. The Arm, after all, had the "Fire Walk with Me" tattoo and seems to draw power by invoking this phrase. And we learn that the first sign of Freddie's new strength with his glove is when he accidentally hurts the "jobsworth" who resisted selling him the glove. Like the cops who don't believe the information from Dougie's fingerprints, this clerk in Freddie's story can't see beyond the common realities of his job to contemplate the possibility of the extraordinary.

Green seems to indicate power and danger. The glove is green, the ring is green, the formica table is green, Dougie wore an ugly green sport coat, and last night Diane (Laura Dern) was wearing green in a green chair.

Still a dragon, yet she seemed to be remarkably helpful. It seemed like Cooper in his life as Dougie was hopelessly cut off from all connexions to his former life and acquaintances, but now we know that Janey E is Diane's sister. The texted message to Diane about Las Vegas a few episodes back seems to indicate Diane knows all this already. Why has she held back and why doesn't she hesitate to divulge information now? A mysterious dame, this Diane.

I love the fact that Gordon (David Lynch) gets prophetic dreams from Monica Bellucci and I loved the flashback to Fire Walk with Me where David Bowie's lines make a lot more sense for the current story than they did in the context of that movie. Those who've seen the extended version of that scene in The Missing Pieces know the encounter ended with Jeffries anguished at realising he'd appeared in Gordon's office at the wrong date. It was nice Bowie ended up on this series in some capacity.

I would so love to see the TV show where David Lynch and David Bowie were FBI agents in the 70s. Though it's great just hearing Miguel Ferrer tell a story.

Finally, well, what can I say about Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie)? She does the same face trick as Laura did earlier in the season but inside is not blinding white light but rather darkness and mismatched human features. Another demon merrily disrupting nature though I doubt anyone's crying for the douchebag whose throat Sarah bit out. What happened to her? Whatever it is, I've loved the slow, sinister build to it all season with shots of her questionable television viewing preferences.

Twitter Sonnet #1023

In sums derived behind the boat we ate.
In tinkling tests the wind described the shells.
Inside the leaves of eyes the tigers wait.
Abnormal notice came through normal bells.
The tin approached inside the radio.
The shaded dreams of armies washed ashore.
The screws and dials turned the audio.
A writhing worm was glowing through the floor.
The leaves became the seeds between the spines.
To hover over lakes of minds they go.
In every cleat the pitcher moves the mines.
The honey takes the diamond very slow.
The hill of ancient stamps presents a face.
Above, the hardened clouds become the ace.

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