I’ll also say, this was my first time rewatching the doldrums in the middle of S2, and though they did get pretty dire, it was still a much more fun time than I’d remembered. It’s dumb as hell, but still entertains throughout, in a goofy soap opera kind of way.
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haha man i was gonna say i found the back half of season 2 even more insufferable than i’d thought the last time i watched it. i did not have fun at all with inexplicable confederate imagery or tojamura or even josie doorknob, and boy do i really fucking hate this shit where the whole town rallies around this fucking beauty pageant what the fuck jesus christ
gonna watch it probably one more time when i get this box set in december and then that’s it for me and evelyn marsh
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Well yeah, the Evelyn saga, the civil war stuff, and Lana instantly turning every man in the show into a leering creep, that stuff is all totally indefensible. The only redeeming part of that experience was trash talking it.
Almost every episode has at least one bit that’s legitimately fun though. Denise and Dead Dog Farm were surprisingly good, every time Gordon Cole is on screen it’s a great time, and Cooper and Pete are both almost always charming throughout.
It’s actually pretty surprising they never fucked up Pete’s character or gave him a totally idiotic arc of his own.
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i remember thinking they even found ways to fart on cooper, though i guess i don’t remember anything specific this minute
pete might have gotten out clean
i hate gordon getting horny for shelly
jesus i had actually forgotten lana, what the hell were they doing
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Lana’s whole arc was the worst. She has this magical “curse” of seduction that makes every man instantly fall in love with her, and the show devotes like 3 hours of screentime to two weird horny old men fighting over her.
Her arc was the biggest way the show ever farted on Cooper, actually. There’s a bit in the police station where every dude there is creepily fawning over her, even Coop. It’s completely out of character.
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Gordon getting horny for Shelly did make me cringe, but the bit where she’s the only one who he can hear was actually kind of sweet and a fun twist to it? It ends up being less gross than I thought it would be. And it does result in the pretty great line “YOU ARE WITNESSING A FRONT THREE-QUARTER VIEW OF TWO ADULTS SHARING A TENDER MOMENT.”
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lana the most beautiful woman alive in a town where audrey and shelly and norma live. get the fuck out of here
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I heard that the actress who played Lana had that thought too, like “this is a show full of beautiful women, how do they have me playing this part?” Apparently she tried to compensate for this by putting on a southern accent to try and hit the sexy southern belle archetype. It’s just all bad.
it had been long enough since I saw it that there were some good moments and nostalgia sensations when I rewatched later season 2 for the first time right before season 3 came out, but also I thought okay I’m never rewatching that again. the first time you watch the show it’s not as bad because you just want to stay in the world as long as possible, even this goofy dumb version of it.
but I’m at the point now where I think even the good episodes of the original series never quite lived up to the pilot. There’s moments that come close and I think the best ones are really in early season 2, not season 1, even though the dumb subplots are slowly starting to creep in.
I really hate those two mark frosty explanation episodes of the palmer murder though, after that great ending of cooper and everyone crying in the roadhouse.
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i don’t know if you’ve ever just watched the like six or seven episodes that lynch directed but that’s what i did before the return and, like, those are all pretty fucking good
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I told my gf that season 3 focuses on Lana, Dick Tremayne, and Little Nicky investigating what happened to Josie.
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dude i fucking forgot about little nicky too what in the hell
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“I’m so sorry.” Roadhouse ending is such a powerful moment!
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that’s kind of what I did last time I rewatched the show just focused on the european pilot and the finale and skimmed through the other lynch directed episodes inbetween. you go from there to fwwm + missing pieces, to palmer family interview + s3, it’s a pretty natural continuation. it doesn’t feel like s3 is “more like mulholland dr the series” or whatnot it just feels like more twin peaks
I’ll give shitty 2nd half s2 this: that part where cooper talks about the sentience of animals and the game beyond the game and whatnot is a great cooper moment. and denise bryson was better done in s2 than s3, though “fix your hearts or die” is an all timer. also the part where evelyn marsh’s uh, lover or brother or whatever says “lucky, lucky, lucky” and the way he says it has been stuck in my head forever.
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hmm
this is like half of his total characterisation incl. s3, be it self-awareness or the reflection of others involved re. lynch’s foibles see above re. denise
Well, the idea of Lana as a riff on Laura Palmer never occurred to me before… Can you imagine if season 2 tried to take that to its logical conclusion?
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I’ve always thought that Cooper is kinda disappointingly downbeat through most of season 2. His joyful bro-outs with Truman are almost removed, and he seems somber and depressed as he works through his history with that woman he loved who died. It felt like such a disappointment following how wonderfully chipper in the face of awfulness and weirdness he was in season 1.
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When ur parents get you Kid Pix
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a lot of people shit talk james having his own neo-noir when they should really be talking more about how awful windom earle is.
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