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LTTP Twin Peaks: Season 2 Sure Takes a Dive, Eh?

Heynongman!

Heynongman!

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,928
EDIT: please do not use this thread to shit on The Return/Season 3. I'm not there yet, nerds

Update 2: Season 3 has begun. I will be leaving UNMARKED SPOILERS in my future posts after viewing each episode, you have been warned.

Update: I've successfully completed Season 2 and Fire Walk With Me. Time for a little break because boy do I feel gross. Hopefully sometime this week I'll get moving on The Return. I will say that overall if I look past the 11-16 section of Season 2, I thoroughly enjoyed it. That finale was stellar.

Original Post:

I, like many of you, have found myself with a ton of fee time these days. I decided to finally dive into Twin Peaks, and boy has it been terrific. The show just oozes with style and the tone is all over the place in the best way possible.

I just finished up S2 E11 and 12 and holy shit did it take a dive. some of these subplots are just dog shit - anti christ child? James meeting a damsel in distress? Seriously what the shit happened?! I understand they went from 8 episodes to 22, and Lynch was basically forced to wrap up Palmer earlier than he wanted, and he and Frost ended up being really hands off, but this is the best the writing staff could come up with?

So, i type this as I half watch episode 13, just really trying to muscle through so I can watch FWWM and The Return. I know this isn't some groundbreaking discovery but I figured I'd open up a dialogue about how weird and wonderful this show is in case any of you other jabronis also decided to take the plunge during this hellscape of a year.

Edit: what the fuck is up with Teen Wolf Nadine and why the fuck is Donna a nothing character now?!
 
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Era Uma Vez

Era Uma Vez

Member
Feb 5, 2020
3,205
David always wanted Twin Peaks to be soap operish, and with no Laura Palmer mystery and with him gone, they went crazy on the Soap opera elements.
I still enjoyed it, obviously because by the time the shitstorm starts, you are in love with the characters, so you just go with it.
 
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Heynongman!

Heynongman!

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,928
Era Uma Vez said:
David always wanted Twin Peaks to be soap operish, and with no Laura Palmer mystery and with him gone, they went crazy on the Soap opera elements.
I still enjoyed it, obviously because by the time the shitstorm starts, you are in love with the characters, so you just go with it.
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There's definitely some interesting stuff going on, like Bobby's father getting abducted was fun. But yeah it definitely feels like they just started shoving weird for the sake of weird stuff in since Lynch wasn't around to put his own weird into the show
 
napkins

napkins

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Nov 18, 2017
1,918
it gets better with the last few episodes. and then fire walk with me and the return are incredible
 
PspLikeANut

PspLikeANut

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May 20, 2018
2,598
Anything involving James is super cringe in season 2... serves no purpose
 
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hydruxo

hydruxo

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Oct 25, 2017
20,409
pkqdoEW_d.webp
 
ElectricBlanketFire

ElectricBlanketFire

What year is this?
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Oct 25, 2017
31,833
Stick with it until the end. The season finale is one of the craziest and most amazing things I've ever seen (until season 3 of course).
 
AaronD

AaronD

Member
Dec 1, 2017
3,254
I love the return much more reflecting back on it than I did actually watching it for some reason.
 
Moogle

Moogle

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Oct 27, 2017
2,768
lol that pic, the way the fanbase still shits on LFB for "stopping" Cooper getting together with a barely legal Audrey Horne even tho decades later MacLaughlan has repeatedly stated he fought against it because it would be a) super weird and b) out of character. If she had anything to do with it, I'd thank her. Replace Annie with Audrey and it wouldn't fix the problems with season 2, it would just keep Audrey stuck in the irritating damsel in distress role she had in earlier episodes.

FWWM>>>>
 
Beefwheat

Beefwheat

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
175
Winkler, Manitoba
When the first two seasons are good they're amazing, and when they're bad, well, you get James wandering around in another show entirely. Even though I'm very iffy on David Lynch I was down for a lot of the show, but that finale...
So when they made the ending they knew they were cancelled but couldn't have known they'd ever be back for The Return, right? And they decide to go apeshit and make massive cliffhangers for everyone in what felt, retroactively, like the biggest middle finger to its audience ever. Or possibly I don't appreciate as it was intended. But either way I was frustrated. I wasn't expecting coherence or total closure but geez, this felt like the producers were just laughing at me. Killed most of my interest in continuing. Should I try The Return anyway?
 
a Master Ninja

a Master Ninja

Member
Dec 11, 2017
4,825
Beefwheat said:
When the first two seasons are good they're amazing, and when they're bad, well, you get James wandering around in another show entirely. Even though I'm very iffy on David Lynch I was down for a lot of the show, but that finale...
So when they made the ending they knew they were cancelled but couldn't have known they'd ever be back for The Return, right? And they decide to go apeshit and make massive cliffhangers for everyone in what felt, retroactively, like the biggest middle finger to its audience ever. Or possibly I don't appreciate as it was intended. But either way I was frustrated. I wasn't expecting coherence or total closure but geez, this felt like the producers were just laughing at me. Killed most of my interest in continuing. Should I try The Return anyway?
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Watch the movie "Fire Walk With Me". Let that determine if you watch Season 3 or not.
 
CannonFodder52

CannonFodder52

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,006
Canada
Just re-watched S1 & S2 earlier this year in preparation for a first time viewing of The Return.
Season 2 definitely falters a bit in the middle, but it picks up a bit near the end and has a wonderful final episode. Also, FWWM and The Return were astoundingly good.
 
s_mirage

s_mirage

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,770
Birmingham, UK
Heynongman! said:
This is truly the first I've seen any negative reactions on it. Most people I've talked to have nothing but glowing things to say, but this is the internet after all
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IMO it's also likely to be a large recipient of Emperor's New Clothes syndrome though, especially online, and possibly with critics. With its inscrutability, unconventional narrative, and general artsiness, some viewers who didn't enjoy it will still praise it to the rooftops for fear that they will be considered stupid if they express their true feelings. I know quite a lot of fans from the first run of the original series hated it, and understandably so.

From my personal perspective I thought season 3 was intriguing on first watch, but I feel no real desire to watch it again.
 
Moogle

Moogle

Top Mog
Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,768
Beefwheat said:
When the first two seasons are good they're amazing, and when they're bad, well, you get James wandering around in another show entirely. Even though I'm very iffy on David Lynch I was down for a lot of the show, but that finale...
So when they made the ending they knew they were cancelled but couldn't have known they'd ever be back for The Return, right? And they decide to go apeshit and make massive cliffhangers for everyone in what felt, retroactively, like the biggest middle finger to its audience ever. Or possibly I don't appreciate as it was intended. But either way I was frustrated. I wasn't expecting coherence or total closure but geez, this felt like the producers were just laughing at me. Killed most of my interest in continuing. Should I try The Return anyway?
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I personally loved it, because it opens the imagination for what happens next. Fire Walk with Me is vital viewing for The Return, imo it's peak Lynch and you should give the movie a fair shot and then decide from there. FWWM is much darker than S1+S2 and TR often is, too. People who are all about 'the answers' tend to have a worse time with FWWM because there's 'no point' to it, but I think that's approaching it from a closed mindset. The point is not mystery/lore stuff, but exploring Laura's trauma. Knowing what happens gives the audience the same sense of inevitability and dread she has, and it is one of the most vivid and empathetic portrayals of an abuse victim to boot. It makes for a good companion to The Elephant Man, this is what Lynch does best.
 
Zoso

Zoso

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Oct 27, 2017
249
Upon rewatch I actually enjoy some of the wacky plotlines in season 2, but it's really the SUDDEN drop in quality immediately after episode 9 that totally kills the momentum.. Wyndham Earle needed to be built up much earlier. Still one the best shows and it has aged quite well.
 
meowdi gras

meowdi gras

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Feb 24, 2018
12,619
As a big Lynch fan, I couldn't finish either S2 or S3. Things took such a rapid plunge into idiocy following ep. 9 of S2, after trying to tough through a few episodes, I just opted to skip ahead to the season finale, which was amazing. S3 perked up immensely for me after a terribly uneven first half-season with the amazing ep. 8, and then again dove so far down the inanity shitter, I quit on it altogether.

Love S1 and Fire Walk With Me, though.
 
fixurheartordie

fixurheartordie

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,852
Columbus, OH
It's wild how quickly in the season 2 finale you can feel Lynch's involvement. Almost justifies all of the weird, plodding season leading up to it save for one particular subplot that follows a character who was always cool on the road and doesn't feel at all like it's doing anything different with the soap opera formula. It's just a bad soap plot.

It's equally wild that every Twin Peaks thread has to turn into Star Wars-style discourse about season 3.
 
Chemo

Chemo

Member
Oct 28, 2017
852
The hate for The Return in here sure is... something. Fuckin wild, man. The Return is one of the best things ever.

Do yourself a favor, if you're having trouble in the rough part of season 2... don't give up, and really, don't skip anything, either. Push through it and just be glad when everything starts working itself out toward the end of season 2. Then you get Fire Walk with Me and The Return, two of my all-time favourite things ever. I hope you enjoy them~
 
Big Powder

Big Powder

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Oct 25, 2017
1,199
I personally love all of it, and will always advocate for first time viewers to watch all of it (in the proper order, 1 -> 2 -> FWWM -> Missing Pieces -> The Return) with an open mind.

I can't guarantee you'll enjoy Season 2's worst parts as much as I did, but to myself and many other fans of the series, it's an essential part of the wild ride. Some of the silliest, most entertaining (even if terrible), most off-the-wall plotlines that the show has to offer show up in those episodes. I genuinely can't and don't really want to imagine the series without them. If the series never got better, maybe I'd tell people they could stop watching at a certain point, but it ends up building into The Return, which for me was absolutely incredible.

It's just better if you see them the first time, because that gives you the chance to get the same full experience. You'll never know otherwise if you would have loved those parts just as much as I or many of my friends do. You can always skip them on a rewatch if you decide that you don't enjoy them whatsoever.

Truthfully also wish people would stop telling people that Season 2 is bad, because though it is important to let them know that a slog does happen but that the show also picks up afterwards so that they don't just give up on it, I've heard it get diluted through people playing Telephone to the point of people saying to skip Season 2 outright! To me, it's as bad as those who say to watch FWWM first because it's a prequel (DON'T DO THIS, it's the answer to the mystery), but I digress...
 
Fantastical

Fantastical

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Oct 27, 2017
5,365
Yeah it's very unfortunate. The turn after Laura's mystery is resolved is crazy. There's really almost nothing redeeming until the end for me.
 
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Heynongman!

Heynongman!

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Oct 25, 2017
8,928
Oh I'm definitely watching it. It ain't great but I know it's worth getting through. I wouldn't dream of skipping it or dropping the show at this point
 
collige

collige

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Oct 31, 2017
12,772
Yeah, it blows, but they get it back together for the finale so it ends on a high note. Then the movie and S3 are great, so just power through it. S2 is like Nier Automata Route B.
 
BareKnuckle

BareKnuckle

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Oct 26, 2017
633
i recently watched all 3 seasons and the movie again, like in the last couple of months and everytime I do season 2 gets worse and season 3 gets better.
 
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