Subject: Re: thoughts on 12/8.... From: ekushnir@math.lsa.umich.edu (Eugene Kushnirsky) Date: 1990-12-10, 17:09 Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks In article <28456@megaron.cs.arizona.edu> gln@cs.arizona.edu (Gary Newell) writes: > > > > > > Just an example of what I see as weak in twin-peaks. At the start > >of the last episode, we see what I assume was meant to be a touching > >dialogue between Cooper and Mrs. Palmer. But I was unable to buy > >into the emotion of the scene because it was clear that it was being used > >to once again pile in the details of the plot. Rather than simply having > >a scene in a previous episode showing Leland drugging her, we have to > >have cooper sit there and spew out some awkward lines describing (in a > >very unatural way in my opinion) how leland had drugged her etc. Why? > >My guess is because they noticed a hole in the storyline - a hole that > >could have and should have been explained earlier. It clearly is not a > >major part of the mystery and it would have taken nothing away form the > >last three episodes to have shown leland taking care of his wife before > >bouncing Maddie off the walls. Actually, the scene of Sarah Palmer crawling down the stairs was very good and very creepy. But I agree that Maclachlan reading the explanation off of some cue card was pretty awful. "Your husband went so far as to drug you..." Blech. If that's the way we're going to get the answers, I'd rather stay in the dark. Is it just me, or do all of the explanations turn out to be so trite and mundane that it's clear that the writers were more interested in dropping the clues than in deciding what the clues would mean. So far, we've gotten totally improbable explanations of the dwarf, the gum, the letters, the hair, and now Sarah's condition. > > Also, I am surprised at the general positive response that this episode > >has received on the net so far. I thought that it was one of the > >weakest shows yet. The dialogue was pretty sad (the Donna whining was > >pathetic I'm a little unsure why Donna chose Ed as the person to share her problems with. Was it because the writers felt that the character is underused? Certainly he looked as interested in Donna's love life as I am. > >and Truman's "cooper is a saint" speech went a bit far for my > >tastes) and aside from the "holiday-like" spread at the funeral, the > >images didn't impress me as much. Frankly, I expected to see a number > >of "geez - this show is really going downhill fast" postings after this > >one - maybe they'll come later....... Not from me. I liked this episode. Certainly, it wasn't one of the very best, but compared to last week's... Maybe it was because I felt there was some genuine emotion in Cooper's good-bye to Truman (we knew he wasn't really leaving, but still) or because I liked the fact that Cooper turned down Audrey, or because Ben Horne is out of jail and ready to throw a two-bit punk with delusions of grandeur out on his ass, or because the last scene was fairly interesting, but I liked this episode. Even the dastardly double-dealing Dudley Do-Right, while being a really hackneyed plot device, might work.Thankfully, the investigation has brought back a Cooper we have not seen for a long time. Nadine worrying about "the boys" seeing her panties was funny, as was the look on Ed's face. The teasers for next week look promising. All in all, not bad. (By the way, I can't leave without giving the canonical spelling of Cooper's ex-partner, according to the TV listings. "Windom Earle". There. That's W-I-N-D-O-M. Personally, I feel that "Wyndham" makes more sense, but I don't write the show. So now we all know how to spell it and can go back to arguing about "McLaughlin", "Jose", and "Jaque Renou".) -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | "I don't believe it! You actually found a practical use for geometry!" | | --Bart Simpson | | | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~