Nah, I think I had heard and remembered in the back of my mind that he was in it. Still, it brought a smile to my face.
Two shows that really changed TV were X-files and Twin Peaks. Both were more like movies every week than television shows. In fact, my X-files and quite a few Twin Peaks episodes were better than feature films released those years.
So I am still rewatching it. It’s convenient that it’s on Netflix Instant, and I like to have a show to watch, so I watch an episode a night.
I am halfway through the second season. David Duchovny has just shown up. This is the second time through I am watching, and honestly it is both better and worse.
First of all, it is surprisingly comforting to be reminded that it is indeed a fictional universe, and in this universe, an entity like Bob can totally exist.
The actors that are good, are great. I love Duchovny, and Maclachlan is just amazing. Just…damned good, I guess is the best phrase. I like the guy who plays Hawk, and the guy who plays Sherriff Truman.
The actors that are bad are phenomenally bad. I’m talking about Leo, who is seriously doing his best acting as a quadriplegic, and James, and Bobby. And Laura’s mom! Ugh! She should never be allowed to act again.
It is easier to watch this time because I am not expecting amazing TV. This show was hyped up soooooooo much that I was really disappointed the first time through, kind of like Firefly. This time I can accept the show for its merits.
I do not believe it was merely the reveal of the killer that ended the show. Like others here have said, ratings were already dropping. I think they spent too much time focusing on inconsequential plots and not really on the plots that were most interesting.
Still, there were a few amazing moments. The rescue of Audrey was one such, as was the quiet understated scene wherein Norma (the diner lady) tells her mother to get out and never come back. Also the scene where Cooper asks for a Bookhouse Boy and it is Truman himself who responds. The relationship between Truman and Cooper is real, charming, and a nice change from the “local cop hates the FBI” schtick.
One thing I really liked about the show is the dichotomy it shows in almost every character. Almost everyone has good and bad in them. Some have lots of bad, like Ben Horne, but just a little good, like how genuinely worried he is about Audrey (even though he does get skeevy about it). Some of them have lots of good in them, like Truman, with just a little bit of bad, trusting Josie without question.
That’s the message you took from it? You’ve been watching too much L&O: SVU.
It never bothered me that they showed us who Bob possessed. I was satisfied with the answer that “killer Bob, the creepy supernatural force, did it,” and the Big Reveal was a let down for me. It was way too Disease-of-the-week for me. I mean, statistically, he was the most likely person to have done it in real life, which seemed like a cop-out in a David Lynch production. It also left open a big hole in the Ronette Pulaski scenario. I was satisfied with “supernatural killer Bob attacked Ronette,” but once Laura’s death was tied to a real person, I suddenly needed to know if the same person was possessed, and attacked Ronette, or whether perhaps it was her own father. That was never resolved.
For people too young to remember the show: it was an event when this came on. Big groups of friends got together to watch it-- no one watched it alone. In fact, the last time I did pot was watching a second season episode. We’d get coffee, doughnuts, and cherry pie, and settle in, then we’d discuss it for another hour.
And since no one else has said it, damn Peggy Lipton looked good. If I hadn’t liked the show, I might have watched it just for Peggy Lipton. And then, at the end of one episode, Clarence Williams III showed up! It was great. All of us watching it together said “Linc!” in unison.
I was so proud of myself for figuring out the “clue” when I first watched Twin Peaks.
“That gum you like is going to come back in style.”
Gum? What gum is out of style? There used to be a kind of licorice gum called Black Jack that all the stores used to carry, but I hadn’t seen it in years.
Wait a second. “Black Jack?” Isn’t the club where everyone hangs out in the town of Twin Peaks called One-Eyed Jack’s? And isn’t it run by a woman named Blackie?
That’s it! I figured it out! I’m so clever, I… what? The gum had nothing to do with it? The phrase was just a trigger that helped Cooper remember his dream?
Funny thing is that I saw Black Jack in a store a few years after that and bought some to see what it was like. My dad commented that he hadn’t seen it in forever either. So maybe it did in fact come back into style.
Something tangentially related to Twin Peaks: people who like it may well enjoy the game Deadly Premonition. It’s a complete tribute to Twin Peaks in characters and story, but it doesn’t feel like a rip-off. It’s also an interesting if somewhat off-beat murder mystery. The big problem is the gameplay: there are Resident Evil-style combat sections mixed in with the good stuff, which is why you might be better off watching an excellent presentation of the game by someone else.