Subject: Re: Second Season Failings (successes) & Nadine
From: giovin@medr4.ecs.umass.edu (Rocky J Giovinazzo)
Date: 1991-07-22, 21:31
Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks

In article <13120@scolex.sco.COM> erics@sco.COM (eric smith) writes:
> >
> >as215@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Alexander Aingworth) writes:
> >
>> >>just disappeared into the shadows, and many an incompetent
>> >>writer and director played a part in ruining _Twin Peaks_.  I
>> >>have yet to figure out why David Lynch and Mark Frost allowed
>> >>this to happen, aside from lazy disdain regarding a then
>> >>successful show.

> >Again, I agree. However, is it really true that Lynch and Frost
> >waited until the end of the first year to step aside? I seem to
> >remember that Lynch at least had little to do with the actual
> >direction of the show after the first episode or two.

> >My guess (and it's only a guess) is that having set up the show and
> >gotten all the attention of having it be acclaimed as a departure
> >for network TV, Lynch was basically bored at the idea of having tp
> >crank out a new episode every week, and preferred to leave that to

>> >> At this terrible turning point in the brief
>> >>life of _Twin Peaks_, the standard episode content became
>> >>outrageously bogged down with inane sub-plots, like Audrey
>> >>Horne's romance and Ben Horne's Civil War -- things any idiot

I'm getting tired of these gripes about the sub-plots so I have to say
(type) something.  True TP fans :) watched those talk
shows that Frost and company appeared on last spring and heard Frost
tell us that subplots would be intentionally introduced in the 2nd
season-- they were not, contrary to the apparently popular belief of
net-creatures, the product of last minute scrambling to get an hour
episode done on time.  This was an attempt to get people away from
thinking that if they hadn't been watching the show from the beginning,
then it was too late to start.  

Although I did think that the civil war business was dragged out too
long, some of the so-called sub-plots were done well enough to 
end up relating to the main story line(s) (i.e. BOB/the Lodges/WE).
For example, Josie's dealings with Jonathan, Eckhardt, etc., really made
Josie's death thrilling (because of all of the enemies she had made,
her last episode moved quickly and the fear thing made sense). How about 
Jean's speech before his death about 
"the nightmare?"  Even the major's disappearance didn't seem to be
as significant at first as it turned out to be.

Also remember that episodes in the U.S. were often separated by a week
or more (remember Dec/Jan?).  I wonder if Europeans & Austrailians found
that the show moved rather quickly (in comparison)--maybe fewer people
found the subplots as cumbersome.

> >Yes, if that. And what about the Nadine amnesia/super-strength
> >subplot? I have yet to figure out any connection between that
> >and the rest of the show.
By the "rest of the show" do you mean, "what does it have to
do with BOB, Laura, and Leland?"  I would say nothing.  However, it does
have to do with Ed and Hank who had both been pretty significant characters
from the beginning.  I think the deal is that we were supposed
to be wondering if Nadine would "come out of it" and maybe kill Ed (with
her super-strength) for sleeping with Norma.  By the way, I can't tell
from your comment if you understand this part:  Nadine was always strong
(remember her destroying the rowing machine?), Doc Hayward explained
the super-strength as a result of adrenilan she'd been pumping out after
her accident.  Her amnesia was probably a psychological phenomenon--
sort of a way to deny the failures of her "true" life (her relationship
with Ed, her lack of a patent on her drape runners...)

There is one other possibility with regards to Nadine's
relation to the rest of the story.  I used to think that the fact that
Cooper dreamed about curtains and the fact that Nadine was obsessed with
drapes runners was significant-- as if she knew about (what we now call) the
waiting room.  I also used to think that she had
maybe seen something through a window (i.e. Theresa's death) and was
trying to mentally "close the drapes" on that window through her
obsession with silent drape runners.  If the movie doesn't come out,
we'll probably never find out if Nadine was even around when Theresa
died.  

it's-too-late-to-re-read-this-so-I-hope-it's-coherent-ly yours,
Rocky Giovinazzo