April 2025 Patreon round-up: EXCLUSIVE - Breaking Bad season 2 viewing diary (second part) + Advanced narration audio (& bonus still image) for Journey Through Twin Peaks

A couple months ago, I shared the first half of this Breaking Bad season's viewing diary (the previous season was covered for the public many years ago). I intended to wait until June to finish the season but other plans fell through and I decided that last month's patron pick podcast (on Penda's Fen) was enough of an interruption. The time had come to conclude Walter White's journey through season two. As much as I enjoyed the first seven episodes, I was even more bowled over by the last six, from the introduction of one of TV's most memorable supporting characters (eventually a lead in his own spin-off) to the grand, novelistic season finale teased from the premiere's first moments. Above all, the fleshing out of Walt's immensely compromised ethos alongside his flinty focus (and the way these two qualities interact) impressed me deeply. I was also struck by the structure the show develops while pursuing its multifaceted storytelling strategy. There was certainly a lot to discuss in these overviews and in the process I stretched my two-paragraph-per-episode format to its limits. I'm not sure yet when I'll watch the next season - not to mention the two after that - but I hope to resume the series later this year. For now, I want to focus on Journey Through Twin Peaks and other video projects, which this month yielded a couple advances: the audio recording of my narration for the upcoming 37 as well as an image which will be used in that chapter (an "in memoriam" mosaic of actors who passed away before The Return). I also conducted my usual bimonthly patron poll to determine next months' podcast topic for the top tier - a close contention resulting in the first runoff poll in six months.

What are the April rewards?

Twin Peaks status update: My work on Journey Through Twin Peaks resumes tonight on the 35th anniversary of the pilot, along w/ the long final phases of Lost in Twin Peaks & The TWIN PEAKS Character Series

"In DARKNESS the sound of a meadowlark's song."

- opening line of the script for the Twin Peaks pilot

Between 9pm and 11pm on April 8, 1990, ABC first aired the pilot of Twin Peaks. In tribute, tonight during that same two-hour timespan I'm going to finally initiate behind-the-scenes work on new and ultimately conclusive stretches of my TWIN PEAKS Character Series, my Lost in Twin Peaks podcast, and last but not least my Journey Through Twin Peaks video essays. In the first case, I'll be cracking into the top ten characters by looking at the pilot script and beginning to fill out the "offscreen mentions" and "deleted scenes" categories for all of those characters at once. In the second case, I'll begin to re-edit my Patreon episodes for the second season premiere while adding a new introduction and other elements necessary for the eventual public release. And in the third case, well, mysteries are a good thing...so I'm not sure yet sure if I'll return to a draft of the narration I wrote last fall and tighten it up, or if I'll begin picking David Lynch weather reports to include as quick clips in chapter 37 (about the poignant years after the third season). Only now does it occur to me that the order I plan to work on these projects reflects the trajectory of the series itself, from pilot to post-Return - a fitting tribute indeed! Obviously these efforts will only represent a few footsteps onto a much larger terrain. Nonetheless, I wanted to share this progress with readers, listeners, and/or viewers after so many delays and detours. Speaking of which, in the midst of this work in the next couple hours I'll also probably take a moment to watch some Twin Peaks itself (not the pilot, actually, but the opening sequence of the second season premiere), part of a longer rewatch I began Monday night. May the Giant be with me...