Yeah, it’s pretty weak compared to Season One. But the last episode – directed by Lynch himself, if I remember correctly – is great (although it leaves you begging for more).
Yes, it’s a joke. I remember being just appalled when James leaves Twin Peaks to have his soap opera noir dalliance. But then I realized that Twin Peaks was wildly overrated. Still a nice enough show, but diluted by idiotic writers.
I like Twin Peaks but it can wear thin thin very quickly. The territory they dragged the show into after the conclusion was reached for Laura Palmer’s murder was the nail in the coffin for me. But I think Twin Peaks was always less about the murder and more about the town itself. As someone who has spent years living in small run down mountain towns, I found myself identifying with Detective Cooper as he grew attached to the peculiar area and the even more peculiar people who inhabit it.
I think it’s pretty much of universal opinion that Season 2 is unfocused and weak (and formulaic), and I’d agree with that. Still though, that last episode … daym! Good stuff. I really liked Season 1 and Fire Walk with Me – vintage Lynch.
I still quote “How’s Annie?” all the time.
How’s Annie, indeed. It was the first time I laid eyes on Heather Graham. She went from girl next door to skanky whore in no time at all. It’s a strange world, isn’t it?
dp
Episode 16, man. Not sure the show got better than that.
Dude, Heather ain’t skanky, not with those beautiful, innocent eyes.
I think the show stayed pretty good through the Laura Palmer arc, but the Wyndam Earle/chess thing simply didn’t work. The beauty pageant, the civil war thing. It just got way too ridiculous.
It was always strongest when dealing with the supernatural and the Black Lodge stuff, that was the story, everything else was filler. All the Bob angles were the tightest.
Have the boxed set…Still haven’t gotten through all of season two.
(I think I saw Laura Palmer in a coffee shop the other day…)
Am I the only one who likes season 2? Anyone else willing to come out of the woodwork? The final minutes of episode 14 are the greatest thing Lynch has done. Period. He takes some of the same power of the Silencio sequence, but amplifies it to a communal level. Amazing.
I watched season one at home and loved it. The second season I put on while I was working at the video store, so I wasn’t able to pay full attention, but it seemed almost as good to me. The last episode was scary as hell
Lynch supposedly didn’t want the show to go on beyond Laura Palmer, but the networks wanted to try to boost ratings by revealing the killer around sweeps. This left him aimless, and scrambling to create a storyline which would still fit his aesthetic while making sense with much of the “clues” he left in earlier episodes (all of which were apparently going to allude to Lynch’s intended reveal of the killer). Lynch himself even says he’s not fond of the second season after the killer was revealed (he’s actually been quoted as saying “It sucked”).
Interesting side note: Apparently Lynch didn’t have the actual killer in mind when he conceptualized and started ‘Twin Peaks’. It was only around the second season when the networks told him that he needed to come up with a resolution that he took what he had made so far, and went with Leland as the killer. “Bob” wasn’t even supposed to be part of the story, but a grip ended up getting caught in a shot (the one where Laura’s mother sees “something” and freaks out in the pilot), and Lynch liked it, so he incorporated him into his story.
All these things said, it makes one question ‘Twin Peaks’ place among the great shows in history. Many view Lynch’s free form and hallucinatory asides as proof that he didn’t know what he was doing or where he was going, and was just pulling freaky scenes out of his ass. The latter half of the second season also drops the show significantly in rankings among other greats. However, the powerful imagery present in the first season (and the pilot especially) make it a show that can’t be ignored, no matter how frustrating or inane one might find it.
I’d say the first season and the first half of the second season easily rank the series among the best ever. No question at all.
As I understand it, Lynch pretty much gave up on the show after ABC forced Frost and him to resolve the mystery surrounding Laura Palmer and Frost pretty much adlibbed it from there. I kind of liked the incongruous nature of the remaining episodes, as it drifted ever more into the mysterious world of Windom Earle, and Josie Packard being trapped in the brass door knob. It maintained its eccentric quality, even if it lost its focus.
I was worried if the second season could possibly measure up to the first, but for me it didn’t disappoint. Sure, some of the subplots weren’t quite as interesting as the others (Lucy’s baby and Ben Horne’s Civil War were weaker for me) but I really didn’t mind and thought the series as a whole remained constantly riveting throughout.
I don’t think the second season ruins the first, though. The show’s appeal has nothing to do with the destination, it’s all about the characters, and more largely the interaction of Cooper with the town.
I didn’t know the network forced him to end the Laura Palmer arc prematurely, that explains why the Wyndam Earle arc got so stupid.
SPOILERS!!!!!
Just finished the show and I’m really depressed. I definitely don’t need a happy ending, but shit this just sucked the life out of me. I was thinking Cooper would kill himself at the end to prevent his Bob from running free. I would have felt much better about that. But alas Lynch will do what Lynch will do. This show is a masterpiece and I’m so happy I stuck with it. And the last episode is absolutely incredible despite it making me sad.
Also, some interesting things that I think were clues for future plans of the show.
In an early season two episode, when Leland is being questioned: The episode starts with Leland drifting off staring into holes in the ceiling, and you hear the muffled words: “Annie? Annie…” Then you hear a beeping noise like a flatlining heart rate monitor before Leland comes around and focuses back on the interrogation.
In a late season two episode, at the beginning of the episode when Eckard’s assistant is about to try to murder Harry, you hear a screeching noise, then you see a person who looks a little bit like Cooper passed out on the floor with a bloody nose. Yeah, could be a murdered guard or deputy or something, but that screeching noise is also associated with entry from other worlds. Could this be hint of a possible time travel plotline?
yeah, there was some silliness that i didn’t care for and james’ standard soap opera plot line bugged, but the core of the show still worked and the ending was magnificent. I still quote “How’s Annie?” all the time.
I didn’t know the network forced him to end the Laura Palmer arc prematurely, that explains why the Wyndam Earle arc got so stupid.
They forced him to end it, period. Lynch never wanted to resolve the murder while Frost wanted a solution. Eventually CBS said “do it, and do it now”. As creepy as Ray Wise was I do wonder how much better the show could have been if the final in this case had gone to Lynch.
And the last episode is absolutely incredible despite it making me sad.
Well, I always felt Twin Peaks’ final episode should have been titled “Fuck you, CBS”. It’s amazing that a network not only financed that but decided to air it as well. Fire Walk With Me, despite being an abrasive, draining experience, has a somewhat happier ending as far as Laura is concerned.
yeah, there was some silliness that i didn’t care for and james’ standard soap opera plot line bugged,
I never minded the soap opera stuff. The show was structured as one. It showed a lot of affection for the genre while also poking fun at it (the show-within-a-show segments were priceless).
I wish the show had stopped after the resolution of the Laura Palmer storyline — what came after could never hope to gather the same momentum.
My only question is,Where did Laura Palmer find the time to do all the shit she did?lol
meals on wheels,the perfume counter,the kinky meetings,amongst a whole bunch of other stuff.
oh!and she was also addicted to coke haha
Yes, all those extra activities made Laura a little unbelievable to me—so you tutor a disabled boy, feed the hungry, work at a department store and briefly at a brothel, have 2 boyfriends, have a bizarre relationship with a quack doctor and regularly visit a horticulturist recluse in addition to being homecoming queen, a secret drug addict, sometimes prostitute, and full-time student? I know they needed her to have many connections for the sake of the character web, but come on!
Season 2 up until the reveal of Laura’s killer I think is still perfection, and the ending of the whole thing is great as well. There are parts in between that are…regrettable.
Am I the only one that thinks FWWM is the best part of the whole series?
B-RAD, good to see people knowing EXACTLY what they’re talking about.
Dead on assessment. episodes 1 -16 perfect. Then Episode 29: the finale. and FWWM imo along with the PILOT are the absolute best. For the Record Episode 8 (Which is also feature length is incredible as well)
When people talk in general about season 2 they are speaking of Episode 17 onward.
In my opinion Ep 17 – 24 are really where the terribleness is concentrated. It got so bad for me, after my 5th or so time through the show I knew I could never do it again. So I literally recut (I am a profesional editor) those 8 episodes down into 3 episodes, keeping what little plot elements matter for the finale, and generally shaving off 70 percent of the garbage. No more Lana Milford, No more Nadine going to Highschool, No more James in TerribleTown, USA. No more Josie in a doorknob. No more Ben Civil War. No more of this bullshit randomness for randomness sake. This way I can get through the show without 8 hours of unbearable content. (If anyone wants to have them, send me a msg.)
It should be noted: I’ve never done this for anything else, and consider editing content of others very irreverent. The fact that a purist like myself would stoop to this level just shows you how terrible these episodes are. And I think they were actually hurting the overall good in the work Lynch had created.
I think that you are way off base. Did you watch the whole season? There are monumental episodes in this season. You are running with the party line.
Christopher
Finally sat down and started watching Twin Peaks. First season was pretty good, enjoyed many things about it.
Started to watch season 2 this evening – WHAT THE FUCK?
Firstly, let me say that I hate almost all television. I hate its formulaic structure and mostly everything about it. Season 1 had many unique aspects that allowed me to enjoy it. However it seems that the seconds season has lost everything that I enjoyed about the first season and is replaced with what feels like Twin Peaks revamped to be a prime time television show.
How did this happen? Did writers/directors/anything change to make it dramatically change so much?
The way the characters interact with each other is completely different – it feels like a different show.
weak.