I'm finding it interesting to see the various ways they're working around Frank Silva's absence, considering how central his character is to some of the story threads. Likewise, it's curious that they've invoked David Bowie's character Philip Jeffries in the plot a number of times. Surely it would have been simpler to just not mention that character again (Unless maybe they shot some footage with Bowie that will show up at some point?).
Now that Bob has left Cooper, Bad Cooper should immediately become regular old Cooper again -- and if I my wish comes true, both Dougie and Wally Brando will then brutally murder each other and set each other's corpses on fire so we never have to see them again. To fill in the gaps, Lynch can add-in more scenes of Jade in the shower.
Same with Harry Truman. They could have just said he died and skipped all the one sided phone calls. Maybe that would be considered too easy.
Shame he doesnt have a role in this series. Gotta say though, Robert Foster is one helluva actor. His presence balances out the absurdity of the actors around him.
While I find your sentiment here to be eloquently stated, my point was that I haven't seen the slightest bit of character development from Bob so it's bizarre to suddenly hold the show to a standard its never presented in the first place. Bob's not an "evil character", he's more like "evil itself" as it pertains to destruction in both man and the universe. He was the embodiment of evil from day one and he remains the embodiment of evil. Whether that evil "needs good" in the world to exist in the first place or can change at all is another topic and doesn't really have much to do with Bob's "growth", as if all the guy needs is a good therapist. You say things in the vein of "maybe Bob has learned something during his 25 years", to which I'm like "from who?" Humans? Have you seen the way most humans are depicted in this show? If you want to sympathize with Bob, do it on the show's terms, not your own, and sympathize with him because he can't help what he is, not because he might become something he's not (or something you want him to be). Meanwhile, episode 8 is dropping literal and figurative mega-ton bombs and hatching strange creatures out of eggs and making brilliant allusions to 50s sci-fi/horror and having skulls get crushed by these sooty personifications of dark energy fields and all you can really respond with is how basic the haiku was or how you hope this isn't a battle of "good vs evil" (which is seems to sort of obviously be) or how contrived some aspects were in spite of the fact that it was basically unlike anything anyone has ever seen on TV. I must confess it often seems like every episode is a wave and instead of trying to catch the wave you're standing on the shoreline with your arms folded nit-picking random details to death. Obviously there will be flaws in any given episode, but why focus solely on that when there's so much other cool stuff going on?
Do you realize that Bad Cooper wasn't just bad because of BOB, right? He's the good Cooper's doppelganger. To be fair though, I'm certainly curious to see what happens with the two opposite Coopers considering it looks like the Woodsmen retrieved BOB when Bad Cooper was shot.
The return of Windham Earl! (Not!!) Really could go anywhere, or really, likely will just keep going along the same arc as it has. As mentioned just above, doppelgänger Coop is still bad Coop. I think Dougie Coop still has to get him back into the lodge to fully transmogrify back into Dale Coop. And there are the other threads, mainly the Major Briggs's body thread and what's going on back in Twin Peaks with Hawk, new Truman, new girl Horne, Canadian coke capers, the Renault family business, etc., I guess some of it tying into the spirit world somehow. And remember also, Laura Palmer is still dead, yet lives..
He's terrific. It's hard to believe he wasn't in the original, because he is so at home in the role and seems like he's lived in Twin Peaks all his life! lol I keep forgetting he wasn't in the original.
I think you are correct here, there has been no effort to make Bob multifaceted, per se. He's the symbol or embodiment of evil, no question, however my point was that I hope Bob wasnt birthed by the A-Bomb -- I see that as too easy, and if Bob is Evil, being born from a mushroom cloud is redundant. Satan is also the embodiment of evil, but he is quite multi-dimensional and comes from a pious beginning. I never said this. Well, from himself, his experiences, from the other entities in the Lodge and from the ordinary people of Twin Peaks. I'm not sure how to answer this. I never said either of these things. I'm not nit-picking anything. I enjoyed the episode. And in response to several other posters we got onto the topic of simplifying character/archetypes. And we expressed our hope that the arc of the series wont turn into a battle of good vs evil. Also, thanks for your reply.
The nuclear bomb was a catalyst, not a creator (as I understand it at least). Then I don't know what you were saying, but you surely know what I was referring to. Right. Deep Thoughts by...Bob. That's what this show needs. Maybe a montage of him falling in love and learning to "feel" like humans. Truthfully, I imagine he'll be punished or transformed (or destroyed or sent back to where he came from) by higher powers and that's assuming Lynch/Frost can pull it off without the actor being alive. Personal growth simply doesn't seem on the table nor should it be. Here is what you wrote: "A long nod to Tarkovsky, Lem, Kubrick, Penderecki and a badly written haiku. This is the water and this is the well Drink full and descend The horse is the white of the eyes and the dark within" Perhaps, given your previous rants about subtext and what not, I misread your reaction in a negative tone due to the word "badly" or the emphasis on influences with virtually no acknowledgement of how excellent the work was unto itself. Apologies if I did. Anytime! Thanks for playing!
To further expand on my post. I read somewhere BOB is a manifestation of a fire demon. Hence the title, Fire Walk With Me. It would explain the archetype as well as the supernatural stuff. It's strange after 25 years I always had the impression of him being a human and the title of the movie as a reference to Laura's passions and fears. This website explains a lot of information I overlooked 20 years ago when I saw the series and film. http://twinpeaks.wikia.com/wiki/Twin_Peaks_Wiki Interestingly, Bob wasnt intended to be in the story at all, but found his way into the Twin Peaks lore by hiding behind a dresser during filming and being caught on film.
Of all the new characters, I have to say the coroner is one of my favorites. Both how she's written and how she's played.
Ep 8 one of the most beautifully bizarre episodes I've ever seen in television. Love love loved it. Now that's the David Lynch director I first fell in love with.
According to the website I linked earlier, he was asked to be in the original series and passed on it because of another tv show he was filming. Stated in retrospect, that his life would have changed if he took the Twin Peaks role.
A friend of mine called Episode 8, "How to Dismantle An Atomic BOB." Wish I had thought of it first!!!
I've watched this latest episode three times, and I think I'll watch it several more over the next week while I wait for the next installment. I am wondering why the spirits of the 40's-50's don't look like the spirits above the convenient store as shown later (The Chalfonts, The Jumping Man, the other woodsmen). Could it be that these beings eventually evolve their own sense of style and identities as time passes? Did observing the people around them influence them over time? So maybe a charcoal colored Woodman suddenly finds himself some groovy new duds along the way? My first assumption was this episode was a flashback, but what if it isn't and we are being fooled? Is it future, or is it past? What if we aren't witnessing the 'birth of Bob' but seeing him emerge in a different time after being extracted from Bad Coop? The events occur right after each other. Not a coincidence. Were the shots of the mechanic (Big Ed), the diner (Double R), and the young girl (Laura) supposed to remind us of Twin Peaks? When The ???? Giant does his thing and makes the Laura orb, is he creating her as I previously thought or is this how she gets ripped out of the Lodge in the earlier episode? Is this how she will live again? "I am dead yet I live." So much to consider. What is that instrument that sends the orb to Earth? It's clearly something musical, with holes in it. Very weird. That whole sequence with ????? and the Senorita was so strangely moving. The music and the visuals work together in such a marvelous, intangible way. It's incredible how Lynch (with Badalamenti's help, of course) can do this to me even when the actions taking place on the screen are not entirely clear in their purpose. This is why we love him. How will he ever tie this thing up in 10 episodes?!? I can't believe how far out this show has gone at times. There are probably executives at Showtime hiding under their desks, but good for them for giving this incredible artist the unlimited resources he needed to make this magnum opus. It is a miracle that this show has been allowed to be birthed. It has far exceeded my expectations, mainly by being something far different than anyone could have foreseen. If only Orson Welles had a Showtime willing to hand him a boat load of money to make his art the way he saw fit. It's stuff like this that makes the world a better place.
Only up to ep 5 so far but I think the scene from the season 2 finale of Bob & the doppelgänger laughing is one of the most unsettling things ever filmed.
