Lost in the Movies: 2018

Patreon update #52: FREE Blade Runner 2049 conversation w/ Max Clark plus preview of Civil War Cinepoem


This is my last update of the year, and only the second that doesn't feature a new podcast episode. From now on, updates will continue on a weekly basis but podcasts will not (although when they do appear they will be consistently jam-packed with material).

This entry includes a look back at 2018 and a sneak peek of 2019. I had three guests on the show and two of those episodes have been made partially and entirely public on YouTube. Now it's time to present the first, and as yet patron-only, conversation, a great-in-depth discussion with friend of the show Max Clark on Blade Runner 2049, the compelling sequel to the beloved 1982 sci-fi classic. If you're a patron who enjoyed this episode before, feel free to share it with others; and if you're not a patron who's curious what you missed, jump right in!


The sneak peek for the coming year is my first video preview since January: a minute from an upcoming resumption of my long-stalled Cinepoem series, featuring two excerpts from two Civil War poems (one by Walt Whitman, the other by Herman Melville) intersecting with a variety of impressionistic film clips. I was really excited to return to this form, and hopefully you like this glimpse as well.





See you in 2019.

Patreon update #51: Before Sunset (+ Twin Peaks season 3 blu-ray special features, It's a Wonderful Life, 2000s politics: Bush administration/Obama campaign & more)


At the end of Before Sunrise, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) hatch a plan to meet on the six-month anniversary of their rendezvous. Well, six months ago I cross-posted my podcast review of Before Sunrise on this site so here we are: the characters are reunited! Of course, it took them a bit longer than it took us - nine years to be exact. Choosing Before Sunset as my last film in focus for 2018 not only serves as a sequel to my earlier episode but also a continuation of my month-to-month Ethan Hawke series, which began with him as Dead Poets Society's shy young prep school student in early autumn and will conclude with him as First Reformed's fanatical pastor in the dead of winter. By the way, it won't take nearly as long for us to reach the next chapter in Jesse's and Celine's ongoing relationship; my plan for January is to review a Hawke/Richard Linklater double feature of Before Midnight and Boyhood.

Indeed, this is my last weekly episode of Lost in the Movies for the forseeable future; from now on, a somewhat beefed-up podcast will drop once a month for all patron tiers. I will also be debuting a Twin Peaks rewatch/introcast podcast for the second tier (the first tier will get access to each episode six months after they premiere, and eventually - years later - I will publish the episodes as a weekly public podcast). I'll have more information in upcoming Patreon updates, because I still plan to write about what I've been up to and link what's available every week on this site. This will include some form of wrap-up/look back at the past year, which not only saw extensive work on Patreon and in-depth retrospective activity for my tenth anniversary, but also my busiest year ever on this site, with over two hundred posts.

For now, in addition to the Before Sunset review and a more detailed announcement about 2019, I (finally!) dive into the blu-ray special features for Twin Peaks: The Return (er, Twin Peaks season 3, er, Twin Peaks: The Limited Event Series); finish my viewing of the CNN documentary series The 2000s, which leads to some thoughts on the previous decade's political landscape; catch up with the last batch of Twin Peaks feedback from the past few months; and conclude with an Opening the Archive entry on the Christmas movie, although of course it's much more than just that.

Thanks for following along this year, and see you again soon.




Line-up for Episode 50

INTRO

ANNOUNCEMENT FOR 2019

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Twin Peaks season 3 blu-ray special features

FILM IN FOCUS: Before Sunset

OTHER TOPICS: CNN's 2000s documentary - Mission Accomplished/Quagmire/Yes We Can, NY Times Magazine Afghanistan article, podcast recommendation

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Hands in Twin Peaks, Fire Walk With Me book interview, is the Evolution of the Arm a good guy?, The Return's connections to seasons 1 & 2, Maddy's murder and Laura's spirit, podcast recommendation, Red

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: It's a Wonderful Life

OUTRO

Patreon update #50: Requiem for a Dream (+ The Blue Rose Magazine in 2018, The Green Book, A Charlie Brown Christmas/It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, Sherilyn Fenn in Twin Peaks season 3, who is Red? & more) and preview of Mary Shelley review


Christmastime is (almost) here with the first of two archive pieces paying tribute to the holiday. This one doubles up a couple Charlie Brown Christmas specials, one from the sixties and one from the nineties, to find out what they tell us about changes in both pop culture and Peanuts canon across the years. I also reflect on Requiem for a Dream over the span of nearly two decades to revisit the early millennium's zeitgeist, much as I did with The Social Network last week. To continue this running theme of cinematic historiography, yesterday's biweekly preview explores how a Mary Shelley biopic straddles the eras of Reason and Romance (which bleed together more than we sometimes remember).

For "Twin Peaks Reflections" I survey a great year of issues for The Blue Rose magazine (including an amazing interview with Sheryl Lee), other topics include The Green Book and Richard Ojeda, and as always there's a ton of compelling listener feedback on Twin Peaks (this week perhaps a bit more than usual).

Stay tuned for one more podcast in a couple days, my last of the year before I take a revamped approach in 2019.



Line-up for Episode 49

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - Mary Shelley

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: The Blue Rose Magazine in 2018

FILM IN FOCUS: Requiem for a Dream

OTHER TOPICS: The Green Book, Conspiracy Theory, Richard Ojeda, podcast recommendation

LISTENER FEEDBACK: The Owl Cave ring and Annie's nurse, Sherilyn Fenn in season 3, did Lynch care about the Audrey/Cooper romance?, who is Red?, is Audrey dead?, "Mike is the man" & Halloween

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: A Charlie Brown Christmas & It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown

OUTRO

Patreon update #49: The Social Network (+ the Angela Nagle immigration controversy, LeftTube, Fire Walk With Me as Twin Peaks episode, the RR counter/the ring in season 3, Disney's aesthetics/ideology, the Hollywood War and Peace & more)


The Social Network - which I've been planning to make a film in focus since June - is a movie I've covered a couple times before, first in a review/discussion disguised as a Facebook page and later as a visual tribute alternating between the film's images of paper and plastic as methods of communication. This time I take a more straightforward approach and reflect on the film's triple status: as a document of the early 2000s when Facebook was born, as a reflection of the turn-of-the-decade when the film was released, and as an artifact explored in today's context when Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg have become deeply entangled in our political and cultural landscape.

Speaking of politics and culture, I've been waiting a couple weeks until I could devote an entire "other topics" section to the backlash against Angela Nagle, author of the popular but controversial Kill All Normies, who recently wrote an essay attacking the left's position on open borders. I think both her approach and the reaction to her speak of a growing rift on the left, a phenomenon I've already begun to explore on previous episodes. I've had a lot to say about this on Twitter and hopefully here I'm able to organize various responses into a cohesive analysis of what's going on, with Nagle and with the left and the issue of immigration more broadly.

This podcast also concludes the exploration of my "4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me" study by examining that film in relation to a dozen Twin Peaks episodes, continues a conversation with listeners about Sherilyn Fenn's and Audrey Horne's on/offscreen stories in The Return, and follows up my two-part review of the Soviet War and Peace by dipping into the archive for my review of the Hollywood adaptation, directed by King Vidor and starring Audrey Hepburn, Mel Ferrer, and Henry Fonda.




Line-up for Episode 48

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: added Christmas highlight to the sidebar

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Twin Peaks blu-ray features & John Thorne interview for podcasts

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Fire Walk With Me as Twin Peaks episode

FILM IN FOCUS: The Social Network

OTHER TOPICS: Controversy over Angela Nagle's "The Left Case Against Open Borders", podcast recommendation

LISTENER FEEDBACK: LeftTube recommendations, the RR counter scene, Leland/Bob, Teresa's ring, the Pink Room & the Red Room, Twin Peaks truckers, the aesthetics & ideology of Disney

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: War and Peace

OUTRO

Patreon update #48: Training Day (+ Fire Walk With Me as Lynch project, the Soviet War and Peace - 1812 & Pierre, Jonathan, CNN's The 2000s, Twin Peaks fan theories, Ocasio-Cortez clapbacks, Bernie 2020? & more) and preview of Lady Bird review


Just in time for November, my monthly Ethan Hawke series continues with Training Day - a film mostly celebrated for Denzel Washington's iconic performance as a corrupt LAPD cop but also including an Oscar-nominated turn by Hawke as the rookie protagonist. My "Twin Peaks Reflections" attention to the recent Fire Walk With Me essay resumes; I analyze the Twin Peaks movie as a David Lynch project. I also conclude the reading of my War and Peace essay for "Opening the Archive." There are two long sections this week, as I delve into political subjects I discussed on Twitter in "Other Topics" and share extensive listener feedback for my last couple episodes. At the outset of the episode I lay out more specific plans for 2019, as some tiers will shift and a new Twin Peaks project will launch; meanwhile, for my biweekly preview I share parts of an upcoming review of Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird.





Line-up for Episode 47

INTRO

ANNOUNCEMENT - 2019 Plans for 1st/2nd tier restructure & Twin Peaks rewatch

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - Lady Bird

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Cinepoem, Mad Men viewing diary, Mary Shelley review

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Fire Walk With Me as Lynch project

FILM IN FOCUS: Training Day

OTHER TOPICS: Jonathan, Ollie Klublershturf vs. the Nazis, random TV viewings, CNN's 2000s documentary - I Want My MP3/The iDecade/The Financial Crisis, CGI Lion King, CBS sports montage, John Carpenter's special effects, Dr. Amp's early musical, The Magnificent Ambersons on Criterion, Evangelion on Netflix, Nicolas Roeg & Bernardo Bertolucci died, ridiculous Dear Prudence letter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clapbacks, Stephen Hawking vs. Joe Lieberman at 2000 Democratic convention, "Thomas Jefferson" disses Ocasio-Cortez, donut Twitter celebrates the new Democratic Caucus chair, Bernie Sanders' "not racist" statement, should Sanders run in 2020?, Eric Erickson celebrates Augusto Pinochet, podcast recommendations

LISTENER FEEDBACK: my disclaimer about how I'll respond, Michael & Us covers Donnie Darko, Judy as repetition, different versions of the Palmer house, One Eyed Jack's & spirit world, Teresa & the dirt mound, Cooper leading Carrie to her death?, Laura & the ring, Lynch vs. Frost on Judy, do theories overlook flaws?

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: War and Peace (Soviet adaptation) 

OUTRO

Patreon update #47: Steamboat Willie's 90th anniversary & 9 other classic Mickey Mouse cartoons (+ Lindsay Hallam's Fire Walk With Me book, the Soviet War and Peace - Andrei & Natalya, Democrats in the midterms, Vic Berger's Walkaway video, Nazis vs. MAGA normies, Armistice Day, Halloween/political podcast recommendations & more)


Mickey Mouse, Laura Palmer, and Leo Tolstoy star in this week's eclectic podcast episode (with guest appearances by Vic Berger, Kurt Vonnegut, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). In some ways, though, the lead subject is Lindsay Hallam, an author whom I interviewed last week about her new book on Fire Walk With Me. "Twin Peaks Reflections," continuing its synchronization with my "5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me" series, discusses that book and the talk we had about. My film in focus becomes films in focus as I celebrate not just the ninetieth anniversary of Steamboat Willie, the first-distributed and first-sound-designed Mickey Mouse cartoon, on November 18, 2018, but also nine more Mickey shorts from the thirties, ranging from sharp black-and-white to lavish Technicolor. These were a lot of fun to revisit.

The bulk of the episode, however, is consumed by a mammoth "other topics" discussion, my first in about a month. There are a few readings or viewings to touch on but, aside from a lengthy segue on Halloween podcasts, the topics are mostly political. A couple weeks after the fact, I finally offer my response to the "blue wave" (or was it?) midterm elections and some of the spillover into the already-coalescing new Congress. I share a hilarious Vic Berger video about a rally gone wrong (including some audio), muse on the ridiculous but unsettling exchanges between fascists and run-of-the-mill Republicans on Twitter, and reflect on the centenary of Armistice Day. And of course, I offer another big round-up of podcast episodes, all featuring a political context but with subjects ranging from existentialism to the Haitian Revolution.

The podcast closes with part one of my War and Peace review from ten years ago, discussing the Soviet adaptation's structure and the parts focused on the characters of Andrei and Natalya. I'll pick up with the 1812 and Pierre sections next week - see you on the other side of Thanksgiving.

Oh and one more thing - early on the episode, I discuss some potential ideas for my approach to both Patreon and Journey Through Twin Peaks in the new year. Expect more concrete plans for this in the next few weeks including some public Patreon posts.



INTRO

THOUGHTS ON MY APPROACH TO PATREON & TWIN PEAKS VIDEOS IN 2019 (plus a brief update on my Lindsay Hallam interview)

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Lindsay Hallam's Fire Walk With Me book & my interview with her

FILM IN FOCUS: Steamboat Willie (+ 9 Mickey Mouse shorts from the 30s)

OTHER TOPICS: The 2018 Midterms & Democrats in the House, Hill Street Blues, Mary Shelley and biopics, Frankenstein LIFE special edition, Halloween podcast recommendations, Vic Berger's Walkaway video, Nazis vs. "normie conservatives", Kurt Vonnegut & a centenarian on Armistice Day, political podcast recommendations

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: War and Peace (Soviet version)

OUTRO

Finding the Missing Pages: interview w/ Lindsay Hallam, author of Devil's Advocates - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me


This is the fifth entry in 5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me, concluding the series.

With the explosion of Twin Peaks literature following Brad Dukes' 2014 oral history Reflections, it's become easy to forget how thin that library was for several decades. Despite its presence in David Lynch monographs and the occasional TV history, virtually no books broached the series as their central subject. Now, thankfully, our shelves have been well-stocked with scholarly studies, episodes guides, fan theories, and historical overviews. Even so, until very recently there remained a glaring blind spot in this collection. The 1992 prequel film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, has grown in reputation since its initial critical savaging and box office disaster, but most Peaks books still - of necessity - treat it as an offshoot of the series (occasionally, it's even sidelined as an irrelevant tangent). Certainly no tome took the film as its sole focus until now. Two books have been published since the premiere of The Return in 2017, one by Maura McHugh for the Midnight Marauders series (which I've not yet read but am looking forward to) and the other by Lindsay Hallam for the Devil's Advocates series.

Devil's Advocates - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is primarily divided into four big chapters: "Filled With Secrets: Fire Walk With Me as a Twin Peaks Film"; "Cherry Pie Wrapped in Barbed Wire: Fire Walk With Me as a Horror Movie"; "'Since I was Twelve': Fire Walk With Me as a Trauma Film"; and "We Live Inside a Dream: Fire Walk With Me as a David Lynch Film". These thematic studies are interspersed with a selective study of the film's plot (not exactly chronological, different scenes are aligned with different topics) and make ample use of both an overflowing bibliography and Hallam's own keen insight; the book manages the neat trick of being a grand survey and a personal perspective. Hallam, a British film scholar who specializes in horror and trauma cinema, doesn't just cite her fellow authors, she engages directly with their words: amplifying arguments, contesting claims, and connecting different points of view. She concludes her study by looking at the paratexts that surround the film (including not just the original series and supplemental spin-offs but Showtime's 2017 third season) and, perhaps most interestingly, tracing Fire Walk With Me's echoes in recent art horror films like It Follows and Personal Shopper.

While her scholarship breaks new ground, Hallam's enthusiasm is also contagious. She's a diehard Twin Peaks fans going back to her teenage years in Australian suburbia. We decided to start our conversation not in the bracing clarity of her final analysis, but the intoxicating confusion of her first encounter...

Patreon update #46 (Fire Walk With Me in season 3, Pyaasa & more) and preview of Renee/Jade/Knox character studies


I planned to have a big "Other Topics" section this week covering the midterms, lots of podcast recommendations, and some random subjects that came up recently on Twitter or elsewhere, followed by more listener feedback next week. However, each of those efforts have been pushed back a week because my "Twin Peaks Reflections" and "Opening the Archive" segments are both longer than usual. For the first, I delve into my recent piece on Fire Walk With Me mofits in The Return; for the second, I revisit a 2013 review of an Indian film that has just been added to MUBI. See you next week - before Thanksgiving - for a 90th anniversary film in focus!





Line-up for Episode 45

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: Twin Peaks: The Return & Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - Renee/Jade/Knox

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Lady Bird review, Cinepoem, picture galleries

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Fire Walk With Me in season 3

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: Pyaasa

OUTRO

Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Twin Peaks: The Return


This is the fourth entry in 5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me. Next week I will conclude this series by interviewing Lindsay Hallam, author of a book about the film in the Devil's Advocate series.

Sixteen and a half episodes into Showtime's revival of Twin Peaks, FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) - the unquestioned (if multifaceted) hero of this series, as well as the old one (two seasons, 1990-91) - is speaking to a character who never appeared in the old show yet whose familiarity is taken for granted. Portrayed by a monstrous steam-spewing machine, and articulated by voice actor Nathan Frizzell, yet visualized in flashback as none other than late pop legend David Bowie, this "Phillip Jeffries" is sending Cooper back to a particular date: February 23, 1989. Cooper's one-armed companion (Al Strobel, Jr.) intones, "Eeee-lec-tric-ity..." - a curious motif for anyone who came to this decades-delayed third season after close study of seasons one and two (in the old series owls, not electrical currents, were the harbingers of spiritual energy between two worlds).

And then our protagonist closes his eyes as the camera pushes toward him, a whoosing sound filling the soundtrack before we realize it belongs to a ceiling fan. Another sound emerges - a motorcycle - and we are faced with perhaps the most important, if infrequently-glimpsed, location in this two-part finale, perhaps in the whole series. It is, we have previously been told (in parts two and twelve), the Palmer family household even though it's a distinctly different house than the one used in the classic first and second season. And then we see actors: Sheryl Lee, Ray Wise, and James Marshall (as Laura and Leland Palmer and James Hurley, respectively); all have been glimpsed in earlier parts of The Return but now they look much younger, much younger than CGI or makeup could achieve. What's going on here?

This whole passage - the Bowie-initiated time travel, the view of a tall foreboding "Palmer house" ascending from a sidewalk, the actors who've leapt back in time a quarter-century - represents not only a return to the winter of '89. It is a return to Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the controversial 1992 spin-off film that was for years left out of many discussions of Twin Peaks, often treated as an odd footnote at best and an irrelevant cast-off at worst. This crucial sequence of the "third season" (as Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost call it, though Showtime's designation The Return remains catchy and telling in its own right) begins with overt references to Lynch's onetime bete noire and concludes with direct immersion into that very work.

For most of the next five minutes David Lynch (who directed only six episodes of the first two seasons, but all of the third season as well as Fire Walk With Me) will play footage from his own movie, with color and score extracted and some new shots (along with a few previously unused old ones) sprinkled throughout. Having promised (or warned) viewers before the season's May premiere that his prequel film would be very important to the new work, Lynch certainly delivers. And yet this time, his Fire Walk With Me ideas are filtered through Frost's own strong vision (rather than reinforced by Robert Engels, co-writer of the film, who came closer to Lynch's own sensibility and was generally more deferential towards him). Frost was not involved at all with the film, but now he has been able to re-interpret its motifs in collaboration with Lynch. How does this impact the prequel project's legacy as well as the new material?

What follows is an exploration of all the Fire Walk With Me references in The Return.

Patreon update #45 (Fire Walk With Me as art film, Sherilyn Fenn in Twin Peaks season 3, what is Judy? & more)


This week mostly consists of listener feedback, as readers pour forth their thoughts on Judy, Diane, Richard/Linda, Red, and much more (including a few non-Twin Peaks topics too, believe it or not!). A particular highlight is one listener's recounting of Sherilyn Fenn at a recent Eraserhead Q&A in which she divulged the most in-depth account yet of what happened in season three. I also discuss Fire Walk With Me in conjunction with several European art films and offer updates on recent work, including the next "5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me" entry which will be published within twenty-four hours (stay tuned).




Line-up for Episode 44

INTRO following quick corrections/disclaimer

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: 4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Mad Men viewing diary, Cinepoem, Fire Walk With Me & season 3

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Fire Walk With Me as art film

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Sherilyn Fenn talks about season 3, listener's #1 horror film (Phantasm), Halloween & Fire Walk With Me, what is Judy?, did Lynch become more straightforward?, Deer Meadow & dream theory, season 3 behind-the-scenes documentary, who is Linda?, Diane & Cooper's mission in Pt. 17 & 18, "federal prison" = Black Lodge, uncles & cousins, Red & Richard Horne, circuitry in the mythology, Cooper is pathetic in Pt. 16, Twin Peaks & Eyes Wide Shut, ep. 17 wake fits non-response to trauma in s3, Maddy's "Fire Walk With Me" face in ep. 14, 4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me

OUTRO

Patreon update #44: Halloween (+ Fire Walk With Me as horror movie, The Old Dark House & more) and preview of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari review


Halloween horror dominates this special podcast episode; taking the week off from other topics and postponing most of the extensive listener feedback I received since Episode 42, I focus on the holiday theme in almost all sections. The film in focus was an obvious pick, with John Carpenter's unforgettable theme music leading into my musings on the first Michael Myers slasher flick. For Opening the Archive, I picked James Whale's evocatively-titled but dazzlingly idiosyncratic horror comedy The Old Dark House, reading my review from seven years ago. And "Twin Peaks Reflections" emphasizes one section of my recently published essay 4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me, exploring the film's links to the horror genre. The one piece of feedback, meanwhile, shares a listener's favorite horror film (expect at least one more in the next episode).

Even the biweekly preview participates in the spooky mood with a full (and longer than usual) review of early Expressionist horror film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Although I got both podcast and preview up on Patreon in time for the eve of All Hallow's Eve, by the time you're reading this cross-post we're several days into November. But like The Shape himself, the spirit of Halloween is always ready to spring out from the shadows just when you think you've finally put it to rest.


Line-up for Episode 43

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: 5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me resumes

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: lost Mad Men review, re-recorded Lindsay Hallam interview, Fire Walk With Me & season 3, finalizing 4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Fire Walk With Me as a horror movie

FILM IN FOCUS: Halloween

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Listener's #1 horror film

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: The Old Dark House

OUTRO

4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me: Art Film, Horror Movie, Lynch Project, Twin Peaks Episode


This is the third entry in 5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me. Next week I will discuss connections between the film and the new Showtime season last year.

David Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) is a confounding experience for many viewers because it can be so hard to contextualize. Cinephiles may feel too alienated from its connections to a TV series to appreciate its qualities as an art film; horror enthusiasts may be tripped up by its reliance on surreal experimentation over genre tropes; Lynchheads may be perplexed by its raw, grisly intensity, its ingredients less balanced than they are in other, equally strange entries in his oeuvre; and Twin Peaks fans may be the most bewildered of all. This is all the more true if those TV viewers came to the beloved ABC series thanks to soap opera, sci-fi, or quirky comedy but are unfamiliar with the more abrasive work of its auteur. Haunted for many years by its undeserved bad reputation, the Twin Peaks prequel wandered in the wilderness like a lost soul, a film without a home. The truth, however, is not so much that Fire Walk With Me doesn't belong in any of those contexts - in fact, it belongs to all of those contexts. If the movie doesn't fit neatly into any one category, it still spills over into many, in deeply fascinating ways. Here are four ways to watch Fire Walk With Me, each gripping on its own but even richer when viewed in conjunction with the others.

Inevitably, major plot points will be discussed below. And if you're hungry for an additional "Four Ways" analysis, in this case placing the movie inside different junctures of the series, check out the brilliant "The Four Placements of Fire Walk With Me" by Julius Kassendorf. My own analysis will eventually explore Fire Walk With Me's connections to the series (in the most extended section of them all), but first I want to start as far away from that perspective as possible.

"5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me" (finally) resumes this week


Just over a year ago, I announced a loose series of posts: "5 Weeks of Fire Walk With Me" to celebrate the release of the Twin Peaks movie as part of the Criterion Collection. Some of these pieces were more ambitious than others, and I had to pause my schedule after a couple weeks. I never thought it would take an entire year to come back!

Now, however, the remaining entries are either completely or almost ready and Halloween seemed like a good time to return, not only because the first post discusses the film within the horror genre (among several contexts) but because the last day of Fire Walk With Me's production happened to fall on October 31, which is also - believe it or not - the birthday of both the actors who played Bob and the Man From Another Place.

So this Wednesday, look for "4 Ways to Watch Fire Walk With Me," a study of the film in light of art cinema, horror, Lynch's filmography, and Twin Peaks. The following week, hopefully by Wednesday, I will publish "Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me and Twin Peaks: The Return," a collection of connections between the film and the third season (which featured many callbacks). And finally, in a concluding entry that wouldn't have been possible if the series stayed on schedule last year, I will interview Lindsay Hallam, author of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, a new book in the "Devil's Advocate" series.

See you in three days.

Patreon update #43 (The Shining, Cooper & Mr. C, the year after Twin Peaks, Hill Street Blues early season 4, Mimi, Schitt's Creek, "race vs. class" on the left, podcast recommendations & more)


This was intended to be a light episode but it ended up being kind of packed. The "other topics" section is vast this week, despite mostly limiting itself to very recent media intake. This includes the unsettling French film Mimi, the comedy series Schitt's Creek, and an extended discussion of Hill Street Blues' early fourth season, including another Mark Frost-penned episode (although he was also story editor for all the episodes this season). There are also a load of new podcast recommendations alongside a reflection on some recent Twitter beef involving the hoary "race vs. class" debate that has only worsened since 2016 while taking on new (and in my mind lopsided) manifestations.

For "Twin Peaks Reflections" I go broad, surveying the past year for a general discussion of what the fallout from The Return has looked like. I read some listener feedback on that Showtime season and close out the program with an apropos reading of my 2010 essay on my "#1 horror film" The Shining (although a year later, it didn't even show up in a top 100 films of all time list alongside Rosemary's Baby or Fire Walk With Me - so who knows about these things). I'm hoping there will be much more Halloween programming in a few days but it might be difficult to complete the work in time. Wish me luck and maybe I'll have a treat instead of a trick for listeners early next week.


INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: thread of biweekly previews

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Mad Men viewing diary, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari review, notes on Hill Street Blues

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: the past year of post-Return Twin Peaks fandom, plans for season 1/2 rewatch

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Cooper & Mr. C, Leland & Cooper

OTHER TOPICS: Mimi, Schitt's Creek, Hill Street Blues, Blue Rose magazine's Women of Lynch, Twitter arguments about race & class, podcast recommendations (including Stalin podcast)

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: The Shining

OUTRO

Patreon update #42: Gattaca (+ The Contender, Kavanaugh hearings, Twin Peaks interviews, podcast recommendations & more) and preview of Daguerréotypes review


The Ethan Hawke film in focus series continues for its second month; October's selection is Gattaca, the 1997 sci-fi film in which Hawke plays a genetically "deficient" young man who passes as someone else. Enmeshed in a murder mystery while awaiting an imminent trip into outer space (and romancing Uma Thurman in a very hip nineties pairing), he's pulled in two directions at once. At the end of this podcast, after discussing podcasts about the recent Brett Kavanaugh judicial confirmation, I revisit my 2008 review of The Contender about a scandal-plagued vice presidential candidate tormented by a Republican political inquisition (this is a film I thought for all the world had been written by Aaron Sorkin until about three hours ago). I also have quite a lot of listener feedback this week, in response to several different episodes, and for "Twin Peaks Reflections" I look back over the interviews I've conducted with Twin Peaks scholars since 2014.

The biweekly preview, meanwhile, is an Agnes Varda documentary about shopkeepers - another full review, and the twentieth preview this year. Now is a good time to become a $5 patron because I have yet to publish any of the pieces I've previewed since January: that's roughly thirty-five pages of written material, a dozen or so images, and a couple minutes of video essay footage only available to members of the second tier. Be the first one on your block to get a sneak peek!





Line-up for Episode 41

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: updated TV/director directories & Top Posts

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - Daguerreotypes

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Boyhood for Patreon, choosing next Cinepoem, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised review, finished Twin Peaks character runners-up

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: history of Twin Peaks interviews

FILM IN FOCUS: Gattaca

LISTENER FEEDBACK: patrons switching places at the diner, the actor in Carrie's house is not the loan shark, Frost's knowledge of casting, Dead Poets Society, the existence of good and evil, Great Expectations, season 1/2 rewatch for Twin Peaks Reflections?, FWWM early draft, I Love the 90s w/ Twin Peaks theme

OTHER TOPICS: Podcast recommendations, Judge Kavanaugh's confirmation

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: The Contender (w/ 2018 reflections)

OUTRO

Patreon update #41: Mark Twain (+ the 2000s decade/documentary, the French Revolution, Nicaragua, podcast recommendations, early Fire Walk With Me draft & more)


Bit by bit over the past month, I've been watching Ken Burns' fascinating documentary Mark Twain. I didn't know many details of Twain's life before watching so both the style and the story made for a captivating experience. In this episode, the 2002 Twain is my film in focus, while "Twin Peaks Reflections" focuses on an early (and apparently contested, as I only found out after recording) draft of Fire Walk With Me. The latter half of Episode 40 is dominated by podcast recommendations, covering Nicaragua, Washington congressional candidate Sarah Smith, animator Ub Iwerks, and the French Revolution - among many other topics. You can watch Mark Twain here and here.




Line-up for Episode 40

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: updated a couple 2017 Twin Peaks cross-posts

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: interviewed Lindsay Hallam, Mad Men season 2 viewing diary, Daguerreotypes, Twin Peaks characters runners-up (limo driver), watched Gattaca for upcoming podcast

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: early draft of Fire Walk With Me

FILM IN FOCUS: Mark Twain

OTHER TOPICS: CNN documentary on the 2000s, Back to the Future Part II, PBS book program, Vice segment on Nicaragua, podcast recommendations (including French Revolution, identity politics, and electoralism)

OUTRO

Patreon update #40 (The End of Evangelion, Carrie Page as the dreamer, American Made, The Children Act, Wire's 154 & more) and preview of Zama review


What would you be interested in hearing from "Twin Peaks Reflections" in the future? With the Return rewatch over, I consider some different options and also ask for your input. Additionally, I survey all of the Twin Peaks subjects I've covered so far. Elsewhere on the podcast, I finish reading my 2015 End of Evangelion review, read some follow-up feedback from the listener who discussed Cooper as the dreamer (now she's focusing on Carrie Page as Laura's dream), and run down the films, books, and music I've experienced in the past several months. For the biweekly preview, I share a full review for the first time, of the Argentine film Zama.





Line-up for Episode 39

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: updated Twin Peaks directory, from now on focusing on my backlog

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 2nd tier biweekly preview - Zama, discussing biweekly preview backlog

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Ethan Hawke films for Patreon, The Unseen: La La Land, Devil's Bride review, Fire Walk With Me early draft, read Lindsay Hallam's Fire Walk With Me book, Mad Men season 2 premiere viewing diary

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: Where should I go with this section?

LISTENER FEEDBACK: Twin Peaks/Neon Genesis Evangelion, Double R counter patrons - is that shift/cut a continuity error & does it matter, Carrie Page as Laura's dreamer, remembering what Ethan Hawke was in

OTHER TOPICS: American Made, The Children Act, other films I've watched for online work, Dead Poets Society special features, still playing DVDs & CDs, Alan Splet, Roku menu, Spielberg bio, Lynch's Room to Dream bio, Blue Rose Magazine including Women of Lynch episode, Fire Walk With Me book, Classics Illustrated (90s editions), Time Machine books, Common Ground photo book, 154 (Wire album), Live at the Witch Trials (The Fall album), Sister Ray

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: The End of Evangelion (2 of 2)

OUTRO

Patreon update #39: Dead Poets Society (+ Twin Peaks for new viewers & more)


Fall is the perfect time to focus on the richly autumnal Dead Poets Society but I'm emphasizing the film for another reason as well. I've recently watched three Ethan Hawke films: Before Sunset and Before Midnight, to finally follow up on the first Before film I covered back in June, and coincidentally First Reformed, in which he plays a Protestant clergyman seized by growing fanaticism. I decided I might as well make this a thing, so I added Dead Poets Society, Gattaca, and Training Day to the mix with plans to cover one a month in chronological order until February. In an admittedly very rambling monologue, I touch on the film's vivid location, its place in the "inspiring teacher" genre, the cringe factor of its romantic storyline, and the ambiguity of Robin Williams' character. For a more jaundiced (and more disciplined) take on the film, Roger Ebert's 1989 takedown is worth reading. Many of his points (and those of the commentators) are quite solid, but I have a soft spot for this film. What are your thoughts on it?

From now on, episodes will be a little shorter and I'll tend to shift between categories each week rather than running through all of them every time.




Line-up for Episode 38

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: Zama review, The Unseen: La La Land, character bonus: Johnny Horne

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS: my dugpa comments round-up & first time viewer companion

FILM IN FOCUS: Dead Poets Society

OUTRO

Patreon update #38 (Twin Peaks season 3 finale - Listener Feedback, The End of Evangelion, additional listener feedback & more) and preview of Jeffries & the Woodsmen in Fire Walk With Me/season 3


The long break between episodes was still filled with activity, including a Patreon update sharing video "slide-show" versions of an earlier podcast (as well as a couple biweekly previews - the second one, on a couple Fire Walk With Me motifs dragged into season 3 - is featured below). Part of this episode covers those videos as well as other material released during this time - September saw more individual posts than any other month in the site's history. However, most of Episode 37 is devoted to listener feedback, primarily (although not exclusively) for my last episode, covering Parts 17 and 18. Topics include Cooper's responsibility for Mr. C, Lynch as a trickster or naif, and the Doppleworld of season 3, along with surprising - at least to me - revelations about Mark Frost's initial seed for The Return, Sheryl Lee's perception of Maddy, and Sherilyn Fenn's knowledge of her character's storyline. This podcast concludes with the first part of an End of Evangelion essay from my archive series. It was published in 2015, but perhaps has new relevance after The Return's own conclusion.



Line-up for Episode 37

INTRO

WEEKLY UPDATE/recent posts: Twin Peaks comments from spring 2015 & first time viewer companion, the full archive, added 4 Fandor videos to YouTube, updated The Passion of Anna K. YouTube link

WEEKLY UPDATE/Patreon: 10th anniversary videos, 2nd tier biweekly previews - Get Out & Jeffries/woodsmen in FWWM/s3, ep. 15 YouTube takedown

WEEKLY UPDATE/work in progress: phone videos for Journey Through Twin Peaks, corresponding with viewers on Journey Through Twin Peaks

TWIN PEAKS REFLECTIONS & LISTENER FEEDBACK: responses to my coverage of Pts. 17 & 18 (as well as pre-s3 predictions, Pt. 16, old Twin Peaks episodes, Maddy, comic-con panel, ring in s3, David Learns to Fly, etc)

OPENING THE ARCHIVE: The End of Evangelion (1 of 2)

OUTRO

The Full Archive for Lost in the Movies


Earlier this year, Lost in the Movies celebrated its tenth anniversary. I had been hoping for a while to post a fully illustrated archive featuring a small picture, tweet-size blurb, and link for each of the fourteen hundred posts I'd published over a decade. This approach yielded way too much content for one page so I divided it into thirty chapters; it also entailed way too much work to complete on schedule, so here we are a couple months - and another chapter - later. Recently, I also illustrated a podcast video outlining my history, suggesting my future, and emphasizing particular works in my two most popular categories (Twin Peaks and video essays).

For this post, I've reproduced each chapter's introduction (suggesting the spirit of that period, surveying several trends and topics, and choosing a particular highlight), along with a link to that chapter's page, and links to pages organized by year as well. This archive doubles not only as a resource for my site, but an overview of my evolution across multiple platforms, media, sensibilities, and approaches. Maybe "evolution" is misleading because while growth may be part of this story, the journey has been more of a winding path through the woods than a steady hike up a mountain.

If you're looking to quickly find particular titles or subjects, you can check out my many other directories which are organize film titles alphabetically, chronologically, geographically, and by director, as well as within particular categories like Twin Peaks, video essay, and TV viewing diary (the picture gallery can also lead to some interesting discoveries, aside from being fun to take in on its own terms, while Top Posts isolates what I think is my strongest work). These archive pages, on the other hand, offer a sense of the context from which these pieces arose; they are at least as much about surveying the big picture as they are exploring individual pieces.

Patreon update #37: FREE Public 10th Anniversary Videos and preview of Get Out review


This was supposed to be my week "off" but I thought it would be nice to mark the time by opening up an old podcast episode to the public as a video - in this case, the tenth anniversary episode from July. (You can read more about the episode, including the full line-up/timecodes, here.) I would just add a few illustrations to accompany the audio track. Easy, right? Well...


For those who just want to watch/listen to the part about my plans for the Journey Through Twin Peaks series, I've isolated that here. It's the only part I've shared on YouTube for now (I may add more later):

TWIN PEAKS First Time Viewer Companion: episode directory


Introduction

This series serves as a friendly companion for first-time viewers of Twin Peaks, meaning they can read about each episode directly after watching - to consider interesting questions, perhaps learn a bit of context, and hear a different and/or complementary perspective - without worrying about spoiling upcoming episodes. This series is not a formal guide that meticulously breaks down the plot and character relationships; it's a far more casual, spontaneous form of reflection, sometimes as short as a paragraph, sometimes as long as several pages, sometimes descriptive of several events, sometimes ignoring the narrative altogether to discuss style or mood.

These entries were originally written as comments on a Reddit rewatch in the summer before the third season was released. They cover each episode of seasons one and two, the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the deleted scenes from the film, and a few other topics (preparing yourself to see the film, my interpretation of the film's ending, and the overall structure of the series). Although there's some controversy over how episodes should be titled, since most people now watch the series via Netflix or other streaming formats, I used that model, citing the pilot as "S1E1" and employing the unofficial titles, chosen by a German TV station in the early nineties, which have somehow become permanently affixed.

After each entry, I share links to my other work on that given episode (noting when they do and don't contain spoilers), including chapters of my popular video series Journey Through Twin Peaks, as well as my 2008 episode guide, my 2015 ranking of episodes, and other comments, essays, or visual tributes when applicable. I have probably one of the largest personal archives of online Twin Peaks analysis, so if you've just stumbled across this site as a first-time viewer, you've come to the right place! And hopefully these short entries are a good starting point on your journey.

(Oh and also, although they weren't published as entries in the first time viewer companion and are generally much longer than these other reviews, my viewing diary for Twin Peaks' third season is also included in this directory since each entry was written without spoilers for the next. In fact, in that case I too was a first-time viewer.)

TWIN PEAKS First Time Viewer Companion: The structure of the original Twin Peaks


These short Twin Peaks episode responses are spoiler-free for upcoming episodes, presented here for first-time viewers who want to read a veteran viewer's perspective on each entry while remaining in the dark about what's to come. They were first published as comments on a Reddit rewatch in 2016.

On the thread for a late season two episode, Iswitt wrote the following comment in reply to one of my own (which it quotes at the outset):
This episode really hammers home how unnecessary the entire mid-season stretch was, and it contributes to why people look back at those episodes so scornfully. Now they we've moved on to a whole new set of subplots (aside from Nadine, who we don't see much of in this or the next few episodes), can we say anything from those episodes really mattered?
I see people say things like this a lot, not just in reference to this TV show. There will be a subplot within some TV series that someone happens to dislike and they ask, "Did this matter?" I find this an interesting question. Does it matter in the context of what? The overall series? What you think things ought to be like?
In the case of Twin Peaks, I think people are comparing these middle plots to things that happened in season one and what happens at the very end of season two (Owl Cave, the Lodge stuff, etc.). To me, so what if these middle plots had any bearing on the last few episodes' events? Why is that so important? TV shows that go on for any length time always have certain plots that come, they happen, and then they go away (The Walking Dead is a good, modern example). People often use phrases relating to subplots such as "it didn't go anywhere" or "it didn't matter", but this is entirely opinion based (where's it supposed to go to and what makes it matter to someone?). Obviously I'm speaking as someone who really enjoys the "slump" in season two, so I'm biased, but it irks me that people look at Dead Dog Farm, the Marsh plot or others and say "These plots don't matter. They aren't the Lodge or Laura so they're unimportant."
I disagree. I found them to be a fascinating look at what was going on in and around Twin Peaks as a whole. That's what I wanted out of this show. What is life in this town like? Who are these strange people? The murder mystery and the final sequences of the show are just icing on the cake to me. To me they did go somewhere (or perhaps take me somewhere) and they did matter (I was entertained and I learned more about the town, like I wanted to). So I contend those events did matter, as much as any long-term TV show's plot events can matter (yes, this show did get canceled, but they obviously intended for it to go on longer). To use TWD as an example again, we're entering season seven. Does anything in basically the first 4-5 seasons matter anymore? Go back and watch season two and try to feel like any of it matters. It really doesn't in the context of what's happening now. And that's okay. Pretty much all shows go through this kind of thing, some faster/sooner than others.
This was my response...

That's a great answer to what is a (slightly) more open-ended question than it may have initially seemed. I've actually been enjoying those midseason episodes more than usual but there does seem to be a widespread dissatisfaction with them which I’ve often shared. For me personally, this has something to do with a preference for “film” over “TV” storytelling. There are advantages to both – film usually has a stronger sense of purpose and momentum, reaching cathartic moments that can carry greater dramatic weight, while television can build attachment and investment in a way that a two-hour film usually can’t. Serialized shows attempt to bridge this gap by telling one ongoing story but usually stretching that story out by telling smaller chapters with their own dramatic arcs (sometimes as long as a season, sometimes as short as a single episode).

The tension between those two approaches will be present in any serialized show, but is especially sharp on one which aired on an early nineties network, where the format was also pressured to function on an episodic basis. And it’s especially sharp on Twin Peaks for a very specific reason: because Lynch came from the world of film and Frost came from the world of TV, and their sensibilities (maybe for other reasons too) really, really reflected this. It’s even apparent in the dichotomy of their interest: Lynch, much as he loves all the eccentric characters, repeatedly hones in on Laura and her singular mystery whenever he has the chance, whereas Frost is all about the town as a staging ground for various, perhaps unrelated dramas. Lynch is also a painter, which means he has an eye for the overall shape – the big picture – in a way a TV writer, under pressure to produce week to week and take the story in ever-new, ever-expanding directions, does not.

If you listen closely to Lynch’s seemingly TV-friendly statements about “a neverending story” or “the mystery shifting to the background” it becomes increasingly apparent that he isn't talking about abandoning movie structures so much as taking one part – the middle – and extending it perpetually. This avoids the finality of the ending while maintaining the momentum a fixed endpoint implies. It’s essentially a massive cheat code in which a destination creates a sense of purpose, but that destination is placed so far on the horizon that it allows an unusual amount of immersion in the journey. (And, in terms of the audience of the time at least, it didn't work - they demanded the ending any movie requires but any TV show dreads.) For Frost on the other hand, the narrative model seems not to have been an extension of a middle but a perpetual, interwoven succession of beginnings, middles, and ends in a consistent environment. In other words, something closer to the traditional TV model but perhaps more intricate and inventive than usual (the essay you and Somerton were discussing does a good job of laying this out).

The mid-season epitomizes the crisis in Twin Peaks between these two different, essentially contradictory modes. We could also argue about the effectiveness of its execution, but that’s immaterial to this particular point. These episodes are attempts to create a much looser serialized structure for the show, one which theoretically could have carried it into multiple seasons. There are some big threads that trickle information to us – Windom, the Lodges – while other stories carry the show week to week. Obviously the proposed Cooper-Audrey romance was supposed to form a stronger central axis, but even that would have a different nature than the Laura mystery, more of an in-the-moment sense of discovery than a perpetual hungering for more. My – and others’ – frustrations with this development may partly be due to a preference for more filmic types of storytelling, but I think they are also fostered by the show itself, because it begins very differently.

The pilot of Twin Peaks puts forward a much more cinematic conception: here is this terrible incident that is haunting everything else, and all the events of the story are driven by and/or circulate around this event. To then abandon this story, as the show does at its midpoint, would be a bit like The Godfather veering off to Las Vegas to explore the travails of the Frank Sinatra character (which the Puzo book actually does!!). Yes, a lot of the characters are still the same (although many aren’t, and that’s its own problem) and – other than the Evelyn stuff - the setting remains, but the premise of Twin Peaks wasn’t about characters or setting, it was about a particular traumatic event and its effect on the characters. To abandon the centrality of this event feels like a violation to a lot of us. For others, due perhaps to a greater fondness for TV than film, or a general affinity to a Frost-like narrative conception, or simply some inclination difficult to articulate/pin down, the other aspect of the pilot – its world-creation and fondness for character sketches – outstrips the impact of the narrative device, and is enough to sustain the show on its own.

I think all Twin Peaks fans, wherever they fall in terms of their preferences, should recognize that the show exists in the tension between these two poles. Eventually, it seems, Lynch did win the tug-of-war by changing the final script, creating the feature film without Frost, and even writing the Log Lady intros which frame the show as a single, cohesive work in a way the episodes themselves do not. Now that Frost is involved again, will the show shift back toward his conception (of a universe of stories that needn’t fall within one single frame)? I have my doubts for a few reasons: a) as director, Lynch has a sort of final say, no matter how collaborative he and Frost are as writers and producers; b) the new season was shot in a fashion far more similar to film than TV, suggesting a cohesive, bounded story, however sprawling; c) Frost himself has given statements over the years that place him much closer to the “filmic” type of storytelling than he used to be. We’ll see. For the show as it exists now [prior to the release of season three], questions of quality/execution aside, whether one fundamentally accepts the mid-season episodes will depend on how much that viewer desires an overarching sense of purpose, and how much they are willing to accept that a storyline or event “matters” and “goes somewhere” even if it doesn’t bring us any closer to a dramatic conclusion.




Here is a chapter of "Journey Through Twin Peaks" in which I traced the effect of Twin Peaks on David Lynch's later work (spoiler for Blue Velvet):



Here is the final "Journey Through Twin Peaks" chapter on the original series/film before season three:



I also created a preview for the whole video series with clips from all the chapters:


Want more?

Here's one of the last comments I left on the Reddit rewatch, linking many of my pieces on the series. Since then I have also begun a character series

Having shared my previous work relevant to each step of Twin Peaks, I've left out a lot of material that approached the show/film as a whole entity. (I also have some work treating Lynch's entire filmography the same way but I'll save those for the film threads this sub will hopefully tackle.)
Here are some highlights...
If you are a fan of the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion (and the film The End of Evangelion) or don't mind spoilers for it, here is my side by side video comparison with Twin Peaks. These shows are very different on the surface yet they have a striking relationship.
Just before work on my Journey videos began, I created a screencap visual tribute to Laura & Cooper featuring all the moments they share or in which one is coming into contact with traces of the other:
Last year I made a meme/set of memes to clarify who contributed to the creation of Laura Palmer and how they contributed, as best I know:
On the 25th anniversary of Twin Peaks I shared some thoughts on why Twin Peaks was both influential and misunderstood:
Round-ups of other writers
Two years ago, while preparing for a conversation about Fire Walk With Me, I underwent massive research into the show and film and ended up gathering over 100 pieces of commentary from newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals, blogs, and videos from 1989 to 2014. I organized quotes chronologically and included links wherever possible. This is a good ground zero for anyone hoping to expand their understanding of how Twin Peaks has been discussed over the years:
Later I revisited the Usenet forums of 1990-92 to recover some of my favorite pieces of Twin Peaks commentary from the time it aired. This is a great look at how viewers responded in real time:
Finally, I went to fans today (on the dugpa forum) and asked them to recall how they had reacted to key moments on the first run-through:
In addition to all of this I have conducted several interviews with authors of Twin Peaks/David Lynch publications or documentaries, only one of which has been linked so far. If you want to explore more, I have created a massive list of every Twin Peaks post - or even fleeting mention - on my blog, from podcast appearances to news updates to image round-ups. Enjoy.

The comments section below may contain spoilers for season 3.

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