S03.E08: The Return: Part 8

[PatternRec]

On 6/25/2017 at 7:07 PM, TexasGal said:

I thought nothing could be creepier than the soot men and then that thing crawled into her mouth.  [words that have probably never been typed before in that sequence]

Those words were typed once before, by David Lynch: "page 127, then when you think nothing could be creepier than the soot men, that thing crawls in her mouth." 

On 6/25/2017 at 7:14 PM, Giant Misfit said:

The sequence in Club Silencio (I think that's where ????? was floating with his lady friend) was so fucking beautiful and disturbing. I've never seen anything like it.

 

On 6/25/2017 at 7:27 PM, Penman61 said:

(Also, if we're positing a Lynch Cinematic Universe, we now have a second explanation for Sheryl Lee in the bubble at the end of Wild at Heart.)

Check out entry two in this article about Mulholland Dr, with screenshots showing Sheryl Lee and the actress who played Ronette Polaski sitting together in Club Silencio. 

On 6/25/2017 at 9:21 PM, Giant Misfit said:

I watched the opening scene again (I can't take watching the whole thing again right now). But when Evil Cooper wakes up, I don't think it's Evil Cooper anymore. I think it might be Dale. There was just ... something off. I am very open, however, to being very wrong.

Maybe it's DoppleCoop without BOB for the first time. It even got me wondering if when he looked in the mirror it was BOB saying to DoppleCoop "Good you're still with me" rather than the other way around. 

[PatternRec]

2 hours ago, Andromeda said:

Yeah, I realized it couldn't be the origin of the black and white lodges because there were maps to them in pictograph form -- presumably drawn by Native Americans. They're Native American legends. 

I have a theory that if the explosion in 1945 somehow bought beings that exist outside of traditional time, that once the explosion happens those beings have always existed. In other words since the Lodges aren't constrained by time there's a paradox - they enter our timeline linearly in 1945 by our measure, but once they enter that focal point, the Lodges now have existed since the Big Bang. 

[Ottis]

On 6/25/2017 at 11:51 PM, Penman61 said:

Maybe I'm alone in this, but Twin Peaks is starting to creep me the fuck out.

I am clearly emotionally dead, because Twin Peaks doesn't bother me at all. In the slightest. There is no momentum. Just when a scene starts to feel like it may be creepy (i.e., Ray driving alone on the barely lit road ahead of him after leaving EvilCoop), we leave the scene and go to a drawn out shot of something like leaves blowing, or people wandering around.  When charred man enters the radio station, the people he encounters just stop and stare at him as he slowly comes closer and squishes their heads, as I'm thinking, "Why don't you react?" Every other scene you are left to think, 'WTF?"" instead of be bothered on any level. Bug-in-the-mouth has been done 100 times, from Wrath of Khan to name your example.

BTW, when the "boy" and "girl" were walking together back to her house in a B&W palatte, anyone get a Michael Jackson "Thriller" video vibe? I sure did. 

There is scary imagery for sure. The way it is paced, though, removes pretty much any sense of tension for me. The one thing that felt emotional was when the "silent film woman" pulled the orb close and we saw it was Laura Palmer, the music kicked in and we realized that she was the "good" who would be sacrificed to stem the advance of evil and Bob. That was touching.

[Pete Martell]

15 minutes ago, Ottis said:

I am clearly emotionally dead, because Twin Peaks doesn't bother me at all. In the slightest. There is no momentum. Just when a scene starts to feel like it may be creepy (i.e., Ray driving alone on the barely lit road ahead of him after leaving EvilCoop), we leave the scene and go to a drawn out shot of something like leaves blowing, or people wandering around.  When charred man enters the radio station, the people he encounters just stop and stare at him as he slowly comes closer and squishes their heads, as I'm thinking, "Why don't you react?" Every other scene you are left to think, 'WTF?"" instead of be bothered on any level. Bug-in-the-mouth has been done 100 times, from Wrath of Khan to name your example.

I have to admit I turned away from the bug-in-mouth scene slightly (I decided not to as I realized not seeing it would probably make me imagine it as even worse than it was), but I agree it's not new. 

That's actually one of the parts of this where I sort of have no real reaction - the debate over whether this is all shockingly original and daring, or whether it's a ripoff. I've heard people say that the atomic bomb = evil is old as the hills, and that he stole from Kubrick, etc. If he were going around passing this all off as his vision then I'd probably be bothered by it, but I mostly just take it as Lynch using various imagery he was influenced by and making it his own. I was watching a bit of Eraserhead - the scene where he walks to his girlfriend's house and meets her family - and for a moment, the music sounds just like the organ music in Carnival of Souls, a movie he was apparently greatly influenced by. I saw someone mention that movie again with this episode. And the scenes with the woodsmen in this episode reminded me of Zasu Pitts' husband in Greed who becomes increasingly dirty and decrepit before he sets off on his ugly path.  I look at it at his sort of tribute to various films and works. 

I think the people that were killed by him couldn't react, as something about him seems to paralyze (as the driver and his wife were distorted and numb until they finally regained sense and drove off).

I didn't have much of a reaction to those scenes either (other than cringing at hearing the man's skull cracking), but I was disturbed by all the charred woodsmen surrounding bad Coop/Bob and performing surgery on him as Ray looked on in horror. That was one of the more disturbing scenes in Twin Peaks history for me. Even looking at the publicity still they released of the main woodsman sends a chill down my spine. 

[Tara Ariano]

In case you missed it, here's the Previously.TV podcast on the episode!

 

Logs, Coffee, And Bob: Clone High Film Festival

This is the water. And this is the well.

[paigow]

Is Laura Palmer an alien? Is the Giant a supernatural version of Doc Brown / Marty McFly?

What if Leland hooked up with somebody else at the "Enchantment Under The Sea" dance?

What if Chuck Berry never answered the phone.......

[Penman61]

A few things after a rewatch:

- I'm unclear as to whether the Charred Men removed BOB from shot EvilCoop.  They may have, but it's not clear in the Men's post-operative frolicking, nor is it clear when EvilCoop sits up, not dead.  His eyes are still black, and his facial expression yielded nothing to me.  (I would think GoodCoop would be more expressive, but...)

- The young girl picked up a penny, which she exclaims was heads-up, and we then see it--Lincoln.  And then the main charred figure resembles Lincoln (and the actor playing him does gigs as a Lincoln impersonator).

- In Mother's vomit stream that births BOB, we also see eggs of the type that the cicada-frog later hatches out of.  

- The mechanic who passes out after hearing the poem on the radio looked a LOT like David Byrne.  That is all.

[Ottis]

3 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

but I was disturbed by all the charred woodsmen surrounding bad Coop/Bob and performing surgery on him as Ray looked on in horror. That was one of the more disturbing scenes in Twin Peaks history for me. Even looking at the publicity still they released of the main woodsman sends a chill down my spine. 

To that scene, here's the thing: I was watching with a visiting buddy, and we were squinting at that scene and saying, "Are they repairing him? Are they consuming him? What are they doing? Ray, why aren't you running?Will Evil Dale get up now? Nope, he disappeared. So he is gone? Does that mean Good Dale is back in Dougie?" When you are so unable to determine what exactly is happening, it takes away from any emotion, at least for us. And that's my struggle with David Lynch. You can debate whether what he shows is brilliant or just indulgent, but it isn't very clear, and if you don't know what is happening, the impact is minimized. There may be brilliant story telling going on. It's hard for me to tell. 

[Pete Martell]

2 minutes ago, Ottis said:

To that scene, here's the thing: I was watching with a visiting buddy, and we were squinting at that scene and saying, "Are they repairing him? Are they consuming him? What are they doing? Ray, why aren't you running?Will Evil Dale get up now? Nope, he disappeared. So he is gone? Does that mean Good Dale is back in Dougie?" When you are so unable to determine what exactly is happening, it takes away from any emotion, at least for us. And that's my struggle with David Lynch. You can debate whether what he shows is brilliant or just indulgent, but it isn't very clear, and if you don't know what is happening, the impact is minimized. There may be brilliant story telling going on. It's hard for me to tell. 

I see what you mean - I guess the difference is I feel like that's sort of always been Twin Peaks (ponderous choose your own adventure meanings mixed with hyper-emotions and hyper-reality) so I can enjoy it if it doesn't seem forced to me. I sort of liked that it was a mystery and I was mostly involved with the visuals. 

[ChipBach]

1 hour ago, Ottis said:

To that scene, here's the thing: I was watching with a visiting buddy, and we were squinting at that scene and saying, "Are they repairing him? Are they consuming him? What are they doing? Ray, why aren't you running?Will Evil Dale get up now? Nope, he disappeared. So he is gone? Does that mean Good Dale is back in Dougie?" When you are so unable to determine what exactly is happening, it takes away from any emotion, at least for us. And that's my struggle with David Lynch. You can debate whether what he shows is brilliant or just indulgent, but it isn't very clear, and if you don't know what is happening, the impact is minimized. There may be brilliant story telling going on. It's hard for me to tell. 

I vote self indulgent for Lynch (and for the podcast too now that I think about it)...  Pacing kills me.  If I ain't gonna get the meaning of the translucent hovering figures in the first three minutes of their screen time, I ain't gonna get it in six...  I don't have the patience for the story.  (And I have two 17-year-olds)...  OTTIS my man, it isn't very clear.

[Cheezwiz]

Still having thoughts about this a couple of days later.

I'm thinking about Lynch's aesthetic, and how you can see he's always including imagery, styles and music that he would have grown up with, and perhaps what his parents grew up with too. He has always had a fetish for 50's style and music. The decor in the Giant's abode looked like something that would have been familiar to his parent's generation.

14 hours ago, Pete Martell said:

I was watching a bit of Eraserhead - the scene where he walks to his girlfriend's house and meets her family - and for a moment, the music sounds just like the organ music in Carnival of Souls, a movie he was apparently greatly influenced by. I saw someone mention that movie again with this episode.

YES to this! Carnival of Souls is something that floated to the surface of my mind yesterday after thinking about the episode. I didn't realize that film had influenced him, but I can totally see it in his work. All kinds of bits and pieces and fragments of other filmmakers and artists have been continually popping into my head, from surrealist painters to other slightly off-the-wall filmmakers such as Kubrick, Guy Maddin & German Expressionists of the 30's. As tedious and indulgent as Ep. 8 seemed at times, it sure has been a cultural head-trip!

[Pete Martell]

46 minutes ago, Cheezwiz said:

Still having thoughts about this a couple of days later.

I'm thinking about Lynch's aesthetic, and how you can see he's always including imagery, styles and music that he would have grown up with, and perhaps what his parents grew up with too. He has always had a fetish for 50's style and music. The decor in the Giant's abode looked like something that would have been familiar to his parent's generation.

YES to this! Carnival of Souls is something that floated to the surface of my mind yesterday after thinking about the episode. I didn't realize that film had influenced him, but I can totally see it in his work. All kinds of bits and pieces and fragments of other filmmakers and artists have been continually popping into my head, from surrealist painters to other slightly off-the-wall filmmakers such as Kubrick, Guy Maddin & German Expressionists of the 30's. As tedious and indulgent as Ep. 8 seemed at times, it sure has been a cultural head-trip!

The White Lodge (I assume) decor reminded me a lot of silent movie or early '30s era style, or a blend of both. The acting was very silent film - what silent films actually were, rather than the parody of them. I'd never seen the actress before (Joy Nash was her name) but she got that to a tee in the scene where she said goodbye to the image of Laura or whatever that was supposed to be. The sense of awe in her face and the emotions she barely held back. 

I first saw Carnival of Souls on Election Night 2016 (not a combination I would recommend) and I read that Lynch was inspired by it but not until lately have I started to see just how much - the "girl in trouble" motif (although that hasn't been in as much use on the new Twin Peaks), the lingering shots that many consider to be dead space, the use of music, the fast-motion that distorts time and perception, the stylized acting, the disturbing look of the dead/undead. 

The trailers don't include this much but the scenes where our heroine wanders around the abandoned carnival are superbly done. And in a twist that could come from Twin Peaks itself, the place burned to the ground a few years after filming. Then someone built it back up, and it was destroyed by storm waters several years later. 

Fire and water...

 

[Cheezwiz]

Carnival of Souls never fails to fascinate me. I first heard about it years and years ago when Siskel & Ebert did a segment on it on their TV show. At that time there were no DVD's or streaming, but the short clips I saw really grabbed my attention.

I finally saw the thing in full many years later on TV. Although parts of it are certainly very amateurish and clunky (particularly the acting), I still found it mesmerizing - especially the scenes shot in the abandoned dancehall on the pier - AMAZING location! The director managed to do a lot with very little, and I can see why it became a cult classic. It's an eerie and unsettling film more focused on sound & visuals and how they affect the audience's mental state, rather than a neatly plotted story. 

Highly recommended for Lynch fans who haven't seen it yet!

And yes, the look on "Senorita Dido's" face when she grasped the golden orb and saw Laura Palmer was one of my favourite parts as well - beautifully acted and very touching.

[Guest]

22 hours ago, Ottis said:

The one thing that felt emotional was when the "silent film woman" pulled the orb close and we saw it was Laura Palmer, the music kicked in and we realized that she was the "good" who would be sacrificed to stem the advance of evil and Bob. That was touching.

I wholeheartedly agree with everyone about this scene. Joy Nash nailed this -- especially when it could have been easily overacted. The subtly and nuance of her performance really moved me. 

17 hours ago, ChipBach said:

I vote self indulgent for Lynch (and for the podcast too now that I think about it)...  Pacing kills me.  If I ain't gonna get the meaning of the translucent hovering figures in the first three minutes of their screen time, I ain't gonna get it in six...  I don't have the patience for the story.

I understand this frustration, particularly considering this is an 18-hour movie cut up into one-hour pieces doled out over the course of seven (or 14, as is the case this week). It's maddening to me because I just want to keep seeing it through its conclusion. At the end of all Lynch's movies, most of which move me to tears, I can't ever articulate what I just saw in any intellectual way but I know on some level of consciousness that I have understood completely what he meant to convey. That, to me, is what art is intended to do even though I may have spent the better part of two hours saying to myself, "What the fuck was that?"

I couldn't shake episode 8 all day on Monday. I thought about it constantly. It was truly an aural and visual assault on my senses. For me, it wasn't really about putting the story together in my mind so much it was about pondering the mystery, not just of that individual hour of television, but of everything in life. I don't have any answers to either but it's a challenging exercise to thing about them. Which, again, is what art inspires me to do. 

But does art make for a good television show? I don't know. Art is deeply personal. American Gods is a beautiful, artistic television show -- something that looks as stunning as Twin Peaks but I literally have less idea of what's going on on that one. Matthew Barney also makes movies which I think are absolutely revolting and pretentious -- but there are others who feel moved by his work and find them transcendent. It's a crapshoot. We like what we like for whatever reasons we do.

[meep.meep]

On 6/26/2017 at 8:46 AM, clack said:

I can imagine Bryan Fuller and Noah Hawley watching this one and feeling like Bobby Darin, say, right after 'Sgt. Pepper' was released.

I can imagine them thinking "what a self indulgent waste of time."   And patting themselves on the back because they know how to edit.  They also know how to draw in people who might not have watched every single minute of every project they have ever worked on.  Lynch is making this for his fan boys.  

About 20 minutes of this hour could have been easily cut without changing anything.  Probably more.  9inch Nails were just stuffed in there for no reason.   Every CGI shot was 3x longer than it needed to be.  

[paigow]

On 6/27/2017 at 0:42 PM, Penman61 said:

A few things after a rewatch:

- The young girl picked up a penny, which she exclaims was heads-up, and we then see it--Lincoln.  And then the main charred figure resembles Lincoln (and the actor playing him does gigs as a Lincoln impersonator).

Not sure if you are simply stating an observation, or assigning plot significance to this. Unless the penny had 2 heads, this seems like coincidence.  

[clack]

56 minutes ago, meep.meep said:

I can imagine them thinking "what a self indulgent waste of time."   And patting themselves on the back because they know how to edit.  They also know how to draw in people who might not have watched every single minute of every project they have ever worked on.  Lynch is making this for his fan boys.  

About 20 minutes of this hour could have been easily cut without changing anything.  Probably more.  9inch Nails were just stuffed in there for no reason.   Every CGI shot was 3x longer than it needed to be.  

In Andy Greenwald's podcast (Greenwald was a producer on Hawley's 'Legion'), he mentioned that not only Hawley, but also Damon Lindelof ('Leftovers, 'Lost') and 'Mr. Robot's showrunner Sam Esmail are in awe of Lynch's work on 'the Return'.

[Penman61]

52 minutes ago, paigow said:

Not sure if you are simply stating an observation, or assigning plot significance to this. Unless the penny had 2 heads, this seems like coincidence.  

Perhaps.  We'll see. :)

[peachmangosteen]

3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

Lynch is making this for his fan boys.  

I think he's mostly making it for himself, but yea his fans are probably his second reason. Which is perfectly fine, but sucks for me sometimes since I don't know Lynch from any other film maker. Twin Peaks is the only project of his I've ever seen.

[Pete Martell]

3 hours ago, meep.meep said:

I can imagine them thinking "what a self indulgent waste of time."   And patting themselves on the back because they know how to edit.  They also know how to draw in people who might not have watched every single minute of every project they have ever worked on.  Lynch is making this for his fan boys.  

About 20 minutes of this hour could have been easily cut without changing anything.  Probably more.  9inch Nails were just stuffed in there for no reason.   Every CGI shot was 3x longer than it needed to be.  

The interesting part is I've seen a fair amount of praise from some reviewers/columnists who can't stand the revival or have mixed feelings about it. I guess it's seen as a standalone by them, some of them anyway. 

[Pete Martell]

23 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I think he's mostly making it for himself, but yea his fans are probably his second reason. Which is perfectly fine, but sucks for me sometimes since I don't know Lynch from any other film maker. Twin Peaks is the only project of his I've ever seen.

I saw an interview of his about FWWM that he did about ten years after it was released, talking about how now it had gotten more acceptance, but that and some change will get you a cup of coffee. He said this with more than a little forced merriment.

When your projects and your ideas are attacked in visceral terms (and a lot of the attacks against Lynch often seem to be visceral and personal, even professional movie reviews...some of the reviews for Blue Velvet were a doozy), you probably realize that working based on fans is going to just lead to a bigger kick in the backside when their idea of what you were supposed to be goes south. I've seen cult of personality fans turn against Bryan Fuller after pushing him as a big hero, turn against Joss Whedon, etc. in spite of their attempts to engage with or at times even pander to these fans. 

I think Lynch never had the idea of Twin Peaks that a lot of fans did so he's just doing it all on his own terms because it's something he never thought he'd get to do with Twin Peaks. And if the fans go along for the ride, they do, and if they don't, they don't. 

Edited June 28, 2017 by Pete Martell

[peachmangosteen]

Just now, Pete Martell said:

I think Lynch never had the idea of Twin Peaks that a lot of fans did so he's just doing it all on his own terms because it's something he never thought he'd get to do with Twin Peaks. And if the fans go along for the ride, they do, and if they don't, they don't.

I completely agree with this. It's all very self-indulgent imo, but I really don't have a problem with it. You do you, Lynch! 

[meep.meep]

2 hours ago, clack said:

In Andy Greenwald's podcast (Greenwald was a producer on Hawley's 'Legion'), he mentioned that not only Hawley, but also Damon Lindelof ('Leftovers, 'Lost') and 'Mr. Robot's showrunner Sam Esmail are in awe of Lynch's work on 'the Return'.

Nobody ever says bad things about someone else's work when they are being quoted.  If they are truly in "awe" it's because he's opened the door to them to pursue their own self indulgences.  Legion pretty much was that for Hawley, and the second season of Mr. Robot for Ismail as well.  But, now they could get 18 episodes instead of 8 or 10!

[Pete Martell]

Just now, peachmangosteen said:

I completely agree with this. It's all very self-indulgent imo, but I really don't have a problem with it. You do you, Lynch! 

I can see where it would come across that way, but I don't really feel it when I'm watching. I think there's a line between doing what you want to do and letting people decide for themselves, and forcing your views and ideas onto people (which is one of the reasons I've never been a big Aaron Sorkin fan). But I know a lot of people would disagree with me. 

It's funny to me because I've seen a lot of fans go around dismissing anyone who likes this season as just being a "film school graduate." I'm not, and I'm not even hugely attached to Lynch's work. But the reaction has been so polarizing that there's very little in-between in comment about the show. 

[peachmangosteen]

3 minutes ago, Pete Martell said:

I think there's a line between doing what you want to do and letting people decide for themselves, and forcing your views and ideas onto people (which is one of the reasons I've never been a big Aaron Sorkin fan). But I know a lot of people would disagree with me. 

For me he's skirting that line pretty fiercely, but I don't mind it the way I do with, as you mentioned, Aaron Sorkin. 

I feel like I sound like I hate this revival/Lynch when I actually don't. And I can certainly understand why people love it/him.

[Nashville]

On 6/25/2017 at 9:44 PM, clack said:

That was the most hallucinatory, haunting, nightmarish, and eerily beautiful hour of television ever made.

God, but I love Lynch when he's at his Lynchiest.

 

On 6/26/2017 at 0:46 AM, Pete Martell said:

 

The scenes were so disturbing to me I wasn't sure what was going on, but I took it at as their feasting on him and reviving him at the same time. One of the recaps mentioned that they seemed to "remove" Bob from him (the thing that he feared most while in prison), so I imagine that may be a big issue when he wakes back up.

My takeaway from the Three Witches scene appears to be markedly different from most:

1. The SootBoys are minions of BOB's - possibly part of the effluence from BOB's "birth", and just as evil as he.  Actually I sensed in them an association with the eggs, and possibly the bug - which may be the possessor form.
2. When EC got shot, their capering about was an evil form of celebration - mocking their boss BOB, and reveling in the pain he's feeling through the injury to his host.
3. As EC's body begins its final descent into death, BOB's essence begins to depart the dying body - we see it begin to emerge from EC's abdomen.  We know BOB can voluntarily separate from a host - we saw him do so with Leland - but what would happen to BOB if he had to involuntarily depart his host?  Return to the Black Lodge?  Dissolution?  Unknown, but it probably isn't good.
4. Although the SootBoys may mock and take evil pleasure from BOB's plight, they are still his minions - plus, on a more self-serving side, they may suffer to some degree the same fate as BOB should he involuntarily depart.  So they "press" BOB back into the injured EC's body, and repair it sufficiently to continue as BOB's host.

On a side note: did anybody else wonder if the SootBoys' sooty, blackened appearance was either a real or allegorical indication of exposure to the atomic bomb's flash?

 

58 minutes ago, peachmangosteen said:

I think he's mostly making it for himself, but yea his fans are probably his second reason.

IMHO Lynch has always made all of his productions for himself; we're just lucky he likes to take us along for the ride.  :D

 

ETA: I've seen (and agree with) a lot of the Carnival of Souls parallels being drawn - but am I the only one getting a strong Blood of a Poet vibe as well?

Edited June 28, 2017 by Nashville

[jsbt]

I do see a bit of Blood of a Poet.

I saw Souls when I first went to college and then it sat on my shelf for years til I lost the old (now out of print, I think) Criterion DVD. I'd forgotten Lynch loved the film. There is definitely a big influence.

[jamblastx]

  On ‎6‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 2:10 AM, dwmckim said:

You Know You're a Twin Peaks Addict When:

The thing that baffled you most about Part 8 was Nine Inch Nails.

Because of course Nine Inch Nails would appear in a dive bar in a little town in  the middle of nowhere for an impromptu concert.

I also loved the nattily dressed gentleman on stage who introduced them as "THE Nine Inch Nails".

And in the credits, they were listed as 'The' Nine Inch Nails

[carrps]

On 6/28/2017 at 2:23 PM, Nashville said:

 

ETA: I've seen (and agree with) a lot of the Carnival of Souls parallels being drawn - but am I the only one getting a strong Blood of a Poet vibe as well?

Yeah, and I LOVED Blood of a Poet. This? I don't love. It leaves me cold. Except the wonderful Joy Nash scene. That's the only one that resonated with me. The rest was a snooze. Or silly.

[dwmckim]

On 6/29/2017 at 8:54 AM, jamblastx said:

And in the credits, they were listed as 'The' Nine Inch Nails

Now i really want to see The U2 play the Roadhouse - or how about The The The?

[Affogato]

On ‎6‎/‎28‎/‎2017 at 9:04 AM, Giant Misfit said:

 

I understand this frustration, particularly considering this is an 18-hour movie cut up into one-hour pieces doled out over the course of seven (or 14, as is the case this week). It's maddening to me because I just want to keep seeing it through its conclusion. At the end of all Lynch's movies, most of which move me to tears, I can't ever articulate what I just saw in any intellectual way but I know on some level of consciousness that I have understood completely what he meant to convey. That, to me, is what art is intended to do even though I may have spent the better part of two hours saying to myself, "What the fuck was that?"

I couldn't shake episode 8 all day on Monday. I thought about it constantly. It was truly an aural and visual assault on my senses. For me, it wasn't really about putting the story together in my mind so much it was about pondering the mystery, not just of that individual hour of television, but of everything in life. I don't have any answers to either but it's a challenging exercise to thing about them. Which, again, is what art inspires me to do. 

 

I look forward to someday seeing this straight through (with bathroom breaks) in a theater.

[Nashville]

4 hours ago, Affogato said:

I look forward to someday seeing this straight through (with bathroom breaks) in a theater.

I'm already anxiously awaiting the Blu-Ray preorders on Amazon.  So I'm fucking hopeless.

[Affogato]

On 7/1/2017 at 4:19 PM, Nashville said:

I'm already anxiously awaiting the Blu-Ray preorders on Amazon.  So I'm fucking hopeless.

I had a cup from a film marathon once "young enough to stay awake, old enough to know better:....

[kingshearte]

On 6/26/2017 at 3:36 PM, gaileygirl said:

I am so glad I have all of you to explain what the heck seems to be going on, because I would never get all this on my own. The "Interdimensional Homeless Cannibal Bitches" TM Dan were definitely creepy. And ever since Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, I cannot watch bugs crawling in or out of people. Yuck.

To the first part of this: yes. Me too. I would have summed this up as having about 30 seconds of actual plot (EvilCoop gets shot, EvilCoop is not dead), but I guess at least some of the rest of it was relevant to the mythology, if not so much the plot. Which is fine, I guess. Didn't really do much for me... Actually, what annoys me most is that, for some reason, the service where I watch this doesn't have episode 7, so I had to just read a recap of that to find out what happened — which was a lot — and then I find myself watching this for an hour. I have never really had a lot of affinity for art for art's sake (not that I'm knocking it or those who do appreciate it; it's just not my thing), so I can't help but wish that if I had to miss an episode, that it had been this one. I could watch it later if it came up, or I felt like having the experience, but since it doesn't seem to add a lot to the current storyline, and doesn't likely require a lot of current storyline context to appreciate it, it could just as easily have been experienced separately.

But anyway.

I haven't actually seen Wrath of Khan (my Star Trek love started with TNG, and I'm still in the process of working my way through TOS material), but the bug thing definitely gave me the vibe of a TNG 1st season episode, "Conspiracy." Which still squicks me out every time I watch it. Serious yuck.