All episodes & show notes for my podcast coverage of Twin Peaks season 1 episode 6
November 6 - 12, 2021
(illustrations for storylines, character rankings, locations, TIME cover & all categories)
Showing posts with label lesli linka glatter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lesli linka glatter. Show all posts
Mad Men - "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" (season 4, episode 5)
Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Every Monday I will review another episode of seasons four, five, and six. The last season will be covered in the summer of 2022 (now updated to winter 2021-22). I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on August 22, 2010/written by Erin Levy; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): "The Chrysanthemum and the Sword" points both backward and forward while anchoring itself very firmly in the moment. The Japanese motorcycle company Honda becomes a potential goldmine client for SCDP, triggering a furious Roger's war-fueled resentments from the forties while hinting at the Pacific nation's eventual dominance of the auto industry in the eighties. (The notion of Japanese cars seems so absurd to the admen that, when they learn they have a shot at marketing the company's brand new models, they wonder if they really want to.) After Roger ambushes a business meeting with ratatatat insults involving barely-veiled references to Pearl Harbor and the atomic bomb, a furious Pete accuses him of having ulterior motives: is this really about promises made to dead sailor pals or is Roger worried that if Pete starts bringing in big hitters, Roger's own Lucky Strike account will carry less weight? Don nearly salvages the account when he cooks up a plan almost as conniving as the legendary creation of SCDP in '63 - he pretends to shoot an expensive spec commercial, in direct violation of the Japanese business' scrupulously written rules, in order to provoke his obnoxious rival at the CGC agency, Ted Chaough (Kevin Rahm), into filming his own ad. Then Don self-righteously removes himself from the competition by telling the Honda reps that it would be dishonorable to compete against someone who flouted their conventions so brazenly. Don, reading the postwar anthropological study from which the episode takes its name, believes he's got a solid read on their cultural conventions; we'll see whether or not this stunt pays off in the long run, but early signs are promising. At any rate Ted faceplants, which is good enough.
While Don continues to thrive professionally, he's flailing in his personal life. A visit with his kids in the city heads south when he leaves them with a babysitter (neighbor Phoebe, whose unflappable demeanor in previous episodes collapses to the point where she is humiliatingly fired by Don). Sally decides to cut her hair, leading to an outburst from Betty who is particularly pissed that Don pranced off with a date rather than watch the kids himself during his one night a week. She's also alarmed by indications that the little girl is growing up all too fast. Encouraged by Henry to go easy on the kid, Betty lets Sally attend a sleepover which backfires disastrously. As her unsuspecting friend slumbers on the couch, Sally becomes ever more fascinated with the handsome men on TV and - tactfully, under the notable guidance of a female writer and director - we quickly find out how few inhibitions Sally harbors...as does her friend's mother (Amy Sloan). Deposited back at the Draper home as punishment for "playing with herself," the humiliated Sally is more confused and morose than ever and so Betty agrees, with Harry's prodding, to send her to a child psychiatrist, Dr. Edna Keener (Patricia Bethune). As quickly becomes apparent in their first meeting, it's Betty who needs a therapeutic outlet as much as anyone; we're right back in Betty's first season childishness as she sits in the playfully decorated office and starts inadvertently spilling her own guts to the intrigued shrink, who carefully sets up monthly meetings with mother as well as daughter - ostensibly just to check up on the child's progress. Don, kept abreast of his daughter's crisis from a distance, finds his own solace over sake with Faye in the company kitchen, finally sharing the familial troubles he withheld for so long. She, in turn, confesses that she wears a fake wedding ring as a prop to keep men away, although Don is quick to note that he must, implicitly, not be one of the ones she wants to keep away. Faye is able to exit this encounter without going any further, but we strongly suspect this won't be their last temptation to further let down their guard.
My Response:
My Response:
Films by Twin Peaks episode directors - Halloweentown, Zelly & Me, Now and Then, The Escape Artist (TWIN PEAKS CINEMA podcast #1/LOST IN THE MOVIES podcast #6)
For over a year, I've been publishing "Twin Peaks Cinema" podcasts on my Patreon, and now it's time to begin sharing them publicly. I decided to start with capsules on four features by Twin Peaks season one directors Duwayne Dunham, Tina Rathborne, Lesli Linka Glatter, and Caleb Deschanel. Their work is discussed both on its own terms and in light of not just Twin Peaks more broadly but their own specific episodes of the series. Often, oddly enough, the greatest links are found not in their visual style (although there's some of that) but in the screenplays they didn't even write! As Cooper once said, "when two events occur simultaneously pertaining to the same object of inquiry, we must always pay strict attention."
This is an opportune moment for this episode since my long-planned Journey Through Twin Peaks chapter covering this particular topic should finally see the light of day in the next week or two - plus one of the films' holiday spirit is relevant as the weather changes, the leaves fall, and the last day of October approaches (though of course this isn't going to be much of a year for trick-or-treating). Although the films were grouped chronologically - based on the directors' first visits to Twin Peaks - they all share a common theme, centering children as their protagonists. For whatever reason, the world as seen by adolescents and preteens, in all its excitement, melancholy, and confusion, provided a great gateway into that small town in the woods.
LINKS FOR EPISODE 6
UPDATE 4/28: My podcast covering four more films by Twin Peaks directors will go public on Wednesday, May 5
Listen to the rest of my Twin Peaks director coverage on Patreon:
New on my site
JOURNEY THROUGH TWIN PEAKS: Original series collaborators (video debuts this month)
update 10/7: The video is finally published
ORIGINAL INTRO & DAILY PROGRESS
Stay tuned and bookmark this post for more news and eventually, the next Journey Through Twin Peaks video chapter.
Consider this post both an announcement and a placeholder for the next, long-delayed "missing chapter" of my Twin Peaks video series - about the collaborators on the original series, it's provisionally titled "A Candle in Every Window" (playing on my memory of a quote from the Mark Frost introduction to the re-published Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, the I can't find the actual passage at present). I will update this post with my progress as I go (which I will also be keeping track of on Twitter) and I will cross-post the video here when I'm done.
Though I'm hesitant to proclaim deadlines given how often they get postponed, in this case I can make a commitment as well. All of my available "online project" free time will be devoted to this video from now on - I won't even tackle my monthly patron commitments until the video is uploaded on YouTube (another incentive to get it done by the last week of September if not sooner). [revision 9/18: unfortunately, I quickly discovered that I need to finish a Mark Frost book, thanks to a hard library due date, and complete one more public podcast which I overlooked, but after THAT, no distractions!] Updates begin, hopefully, as soon as tonight...
UPDATES ON THE PROGRESS OF CHAPTER 34:
* * *
September 18: re-wrote the narration after losing the file I recorded in July (this version is shorter, although still too long, and will require less cutting as I tighten the chapter during editing)
September 21: re-recorded the narration, catching up to where I was mid-summer
September 23: although not directly related to this video, I published a tie-in public podcast on films by Twin Peaks episode directors (listen to it here) - this was also the last obstacle in my path to focusing entirely on chapter 34 during my "online work" time
September 26: finally began editing the video - I will now use this post to track, day-by-day, how far this process has progressed so stay tuned and keep checking in
September 27: narration is cut down (some material may be saved for an eventual standalone video) and I've begun choosing clips for the introduction
September 28: continued choosing clips for the introduction - a montage of house/lights footage from different films by episode directors
September 29: finished intro montage and began designing "editors" mosaic sequence (displaying a clip from every original series episode on the same screen)
September 30: continued designing "editors" mosaic sequence (chose clips for each episode and began creating titles/freeze-frames etc
October 1: completed the "editors" mosaic sequence; here is a screenshot:
October 2: created opening of "directors" sequence with clips of directors' credits and juxtapositions with their Mad Men episodes
October 3: continued "directors" sequence with Mad Men episodes and some of their feature films
October 4: finished "directors" sequence including side-by-side montage of episodes and feature films (this was by far my longest day)
October 5: created quick "production designer/cinematographers/composer" sequence and began "writers" sequence - now all that remains is the Harley Peyton/Robert Engels part, which is about half the chapter but much less visually complex than other sequences, and I'll have all day today to work on it
October 6: created the majority of the Harley Peyton/Robert Engels writers sequence (although I spent too much time trying to figure out what clips had been used in past chapters through a more in-the-weeds approach than necessary) and I stopped working at the point where I would cross-reference other Engels work; also, worth noting there will be one coda after Engels is finished, addressing Frost in a way that transitions into the following chapter
January 2020 Patreon podcasts: LOST IN TWIN PEAKS #12 - Season 2 Episode 4 and LOST IN THE MOVIES #63 - The Longest One Yet w/ Bernie 2020 endorsement, Class violence in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, Joker, Parasite & Twin Peaks Cinema: What Did Jack Do?, Wiseguy, Twin Peaks directors' films (Halloweentown, Zelly & Me, Now and Then, The Escape Artist, The Wizard, Frances, Pay the Ghost, Heaven, After Dark My Sweet, Code Name: Emerald, Losing Isaiah & Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher + Midsommar, Shin Godzilla, Ah Wilderness, My Brilliant Career, listener feedback, podcast recommendations, the 60s in the 80s, Twin Peaks Reflections: Bobby, Einar, the Log Lady, the Log Lady's and Jacques' cabins, The Ghostwood Deal/Part 1 & much, much, much, much more)
A year ago, I published my longest podcast episode, one so long I had to divide it into three parts. As 2020 kicks off, I've definitely topped myself. The bulk of Episode 63 not only needed to be divided into six episodes, it also spawned another six mini-episodes' worth of podcast recommendations. This is catch-up for the past nine months, as I gather feedback I've received, podcasts I've listened to, films I've watched, and political events I've observed. And that's not even getting to the main course: my most sprawling "Twin Peaks Cinema" study incorporating a last-minute Lynch short addition, an old show that turned out to be worth an entry of its own, and a dozen capsules to observe the work of each Twin Peaks episode director (save Tim Hunter, featured last month, as well as David Lynch and Mark Frost). Usually I try to dig a little deeper into each episode in this round-up, but there's so much here already I'll trust the titles to do the talking.
Here are all the parts, illustrated and described...
Episode 63A
(Intro/Path to Journey Through Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks Reflections: Bobby, Einar, the Log Lady + her cabin, Jacques' cabin, the Ghostwood Deal/Part 1 & more)
(Intro/Path to Journey Through Twin Peaks, Twin Peaks Reflections: Bobby, Einar, the Log Lady + her cabin, Jacques' cabin, the Ghostwood Deal/Part 1 & more)
Episode 63B
Twin Peaks cinema - What Did Jack Do?/Wiseguy's Lynchboro arc & Twin Peaks directors' films (Halloweentown, Zelly & Me, Now and Then, The Escape Artist, The Wizard, Frances, Pay the Ghost, Heaven, After Dark My Sweet, Code Name: Emerald, Losing Isaiah, Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher & more)
Twin Peaks cinema - What Did Jack Do?/Wiseguy's Lynchboro arc & Twin Peaks directors' films (Halloweentown, Zelly & Me, Now and Then, The Escape Artist, The Wizard, Frances, Pay the Ghost, Heaven, After Dark My Sweet, Code Name: Emerald, Losing Isaiah, Matthew Blackheart: Monster Smasher & more)
Episode 63C
Media Journal - Class violence in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, Joker & Parasite (+ more capsules on Midsommar, Shin Godzilla & the original Godzilla, Ah Wilderness, My Brilliant Career, Knock Down the House, Ad Astra, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Won't You Be Me Neighbor?, The American Experience: Walt Disney, Glory, Space Men, Seven Days in May, Adopt a Highway, The Kominsky Method, Living With Yourself, Schitt's Creek & much more)
Media Journal - Class violence in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, Joker & Parasite (+ more capsules on Midsommar, Shin Godzilla & the original Godzilla, Ah Wilderness, My Brilliant Career, Knock Down the House, Ad Astra, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Won't You Be Me Neighbor?, The American Experience: Walt Disney, Glory, Space Men, Seven Days in May, Adopt a Highway, The Kominsky Method, Living With Yourself, Schitt's Creek & much more)
Episode 63D
Listener feedback, part 1 (Lost Highway, Lynch in Twin Peaks season 1, ordinary/mythological character connections, "primal scene" locations, Twin Peaks as Laura's Projection & more)
Listener feedback, part 1 (Lost Highway, Lynch in Twin Peaks season 1, ordinary/mythological character connections, "primal scene" locations, Twin Peaks as Laura's Projection & more)
Episode 63E
Listener feedback, part 2 (Twin Peaks season 3 as Laura's psychodrama, Veronica Mars, Neon Genesis Evangelion & more)
Listener feedback, part 2 (Twin Peaks season 3 as Laura's psychodrama, Veronica Mars, Neon Genesis Evangelion & more)
Episode 63F
Endorsing Bernie 2020 (+ the 60s in 80s media, podcast recommendations, 2019 politics - campaigns, Bolivia, UK election, Iran & more)
Endorsing Bernie 2020 (+ the 60s in 80s media, podcast recommendations, 2019 politics - campaigns, Bolivia, UK election, Iran & more)
Podcast Line-ups for...
Mad Men - "Guy Walks Into an Advertising Agency" (season 3, episode 6)
Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Every Monday I will review another episode of season three. Later seasons will be covered at another time. I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on September 20, 2009/written by Robin Veith, Matthew Weiner; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): Everything is about to change. The characters know this, they've been expecting it for a while, but even so the changes are happening in a way they don't like and didn't expect. And then, without warning, everything changes again in an instant, leaving them to wonder what other shocks the future may hold. That's the story at Sterling Cooper anyway. In the Draper household, change is more ingrained, gradual, and perpetually unclear - baby Gene has unsettled the household, particularly Sally who is terrified of her new brother. She's convinced that he is the reincarnation of his ancestor, sharing not just Grandpa Eugene's name and living quarters but (according to her at least) his looks. Betty tries to playfully assuage her daughter's concern with a present on the infant's behalf (a Barbie doll wrapped inside a comic strip) but this only creeps Sally out more, investing the unspeaking child with uncanny powers that are cemented when she wakes up to find the Barbie sitting on her dresser after she chucked it out the window. Don has his own reason for discomfort with little Gene's resemblances... "He hated me and I hated him," he snaps at his wife. "That's the memory." As if to console himself and not just Sally, while cradling the baby he tells her that they don't know who this Gene will be yet, and that's a good thing.
Indeed, the episode is filled with such reminders about the dangerous fragility of certainty. When Joan cries at her farewell party in the office, these aren't tears of joy. Greg is devastated to discover that not only has he been passed up as Chief Resident but he'll never be a successful surgeon ("You have no brains in your fingers," a mentor informs him) - they're going to need Joan's job, or a new one, after all. Suddenly her ten years at Sterling Cooper seem not just like a fond, bittersweet memory but a desperate economic, and probably emotional, necessity (I also love the subtle hints that she and Don once had a romance; I can't remember if this was ever explicit, was whispered in previous episodes, or is simply something I'm reading into the situation). Her party unfolds against a much broader backdrop, a British business invasion preceding the broader musical one seven months later. The agency's new owners Saint John Powell (Charles Shaughnessy) and Harold Ford (Neil Dickson) arrive on July 3, pointedly putting their American employees in their place on the eve of Independence Day. Don has reason to suspect that he's going to be promoted and transferred to London, a transatlantic deliverance that makes him giddy with anticipation. Instead, wunderkind Guy Mackendrick (James Thomas King) lands cheerfully arm-in-arm with Powell and Ford, spreading disappointment in his wake.
A crestfallen Lane, already struggling with the New York relocation, is exiled to India. Bert is relegated to "chairman emeritus," Roger is left off the new organizational chart altogether (ostensibly by accident), and Don remains head of creative but firmly underneath the leadership of young Cambridge-educated Guy. Only Harry receives any sort of promotion, but the situation starts to turn at the office with two incredible, unexpected events. First Don receives a phone call from Conrad Hilton; he ditches the festivities for an impromptu meeting and finds out that "Connie" was the man in the white tuxedo at the country club bar, with whom he shared his humble background. Playing hard-to-get but also modest in his ambitions, Don reluctantly advises Connie on a new campaign featuring a cartoon mouse ("no one wants to see a mouse in a hotel") and, having been burned by the London disappointment, he asks only for Connie's business account. When pressed, Don relates the story of a snake that hasn't eaten for months and then chokes to death when it gorges itself. Meanwhile, back at the office, the celebratory Guy's foot is chopped off by a panicked secretary riding a John Deere tractor between the desks, unleashing a gruesome torrent of bloodshed.
Indeed, the episode is filled with such reminders about the dangerous fragility of certainty. When Joan cries at her farewell party in the office, these aren't tears of joy. Greg is devastated to discover that not only has he been passed up as Chief Resident but he'll never be a successful surgeon ("You have no brains in your fingers," a mentor informs him) - they're going to need Joan's job, or a new one, after all. Suddenly her ten years at Sterling Cooper seem not just like a fond, bittersweet memory but a desperate economic, and probably emotional, necessity (I also love the subtle hints that she and Don once had a romance; I can't remember if this was ever explicit, was whispered in previous episodes, or is simply something I'm reading into the situation). Her party unfolds against a much broader backdrop, a British business invasion preceding the broader musical one seven months later. The agency's new owners Saint John Powell (Charles Shaughnessy) and Harold Ford (Neil Dickson) arrive on July 3, pointedly putting their American employees in their place on the eve of Independence Day. Don has reason to suspect that he's going to be promoted and transferred to London, a transatlantic deliverance that makes him giddy with anticipation. Instead, wunderkind Guy Mackendrick (James Thomas King) lands cheerfully arm-in-arm with Powell and Ford, spreading disappointment in his wake.
A crestfallen Lane, already struggling with the New York relocation, is exiled to India. Bert is relegated to "chairman emeritus," Roger is left off the new organizational chart altogether (ostensibly by accident), and Don remains head of creative but firmly underneath the leadership of young Cambridge-educated Guy. Only Harry receives any sort of promotion, but the situation starts to turn at the office with two incredible, unexpected events. First Don receives a phone call from Conrad Hilton; he ditches the festivities for an impromptu meeting and finds out that "Connie" was the man in the white tuxedo at the country club bar, with whom he shared his humble background. Playing hard-to-get but also modest in his ambitions, Don reluctantly advises Connie on a new campaign featuring a cartoon mouse ("no one wants to see a mouse in a hotel") and, having been burned by the London disappointment, he asks only for Connie's business account. When pressed, Don relates the story of a snake that hasn't eaten for months and then chokes to death when it gorges itself. Meanwhile, back at the office, the celebratory Guy's foot is chopped off by a panicked secretary riding a John Deere tractor between the desks, unleashing a gruesome torrent of bloodshed.
My Response:
Mad Men - "Love Among the Ruins" (season 3, episode 2)
Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Every Monday I will review another episode of season three. Later seasons will be covered at another time. I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on August 23, 2009/written by Cathryn Humphries, Matthew Weiner; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): Out with the old, in with the new! (But it's not so easy, is it?) As spring blossoms, Sterling Cooper tries - in stops and starts - to make the case for Madison Square Garden's replacement of the revered landmark Penn Station, Betty's father arrives with her brother's family and when they leave he doesn't, Peggy attempts to figure out if the juvenile sex appeal of Ann Margaret can (or should) work for her, and Roger grumbles about his daughter's wedding now that he realizes - or is forced to recognize - that they don't want homewrecker Jane ruining the big day. Of course Margaret's nuptials are set for November 23 (the camera lingers on that save-the-date so we don't miss the implications) and the Jane drama may end up being the least of her overshadowing worries. With Kennedy, Oswald, and Jackie's bloody dress still in the distance, another '63 icon makes an appearance: the episode opens with a conference room screening of the bold pre-credits sequence of Bye Bye Birdie. While all the men are charmed by the vivacious young star, Peggy's snippy reaction ("Let's say we can find a girl who can match Ann Margaret's ability to be twenty-five and act fourteen") launches a sequence of uncertain reflections and forays for the ever-confused copywriter.
In the office, she overhears Joan flirting with a group of young men and steals her line later in a bar. Alone in her room, she faintly sings the song she made fun of in the mirror; when she meets a college student in a bar she trades banalities and burgers and then tiptoes out in the morning with a not-entirely-convincing (but not exactly insincere) "This was fun." When Peggy expresses her frustration with this derivative campaign for Patio (a Pepsi subsidiary marketing a diet drink for women), complaining that the "shrill" Bye Bye Birdie imitation would be embarrassing in a movie or play, Don reprimands her: "You're not an artist, Peggy. You solve problems." And this works as an effective segue into Don's own assertive problem-solving at home. With William trying to force a nursing home as the only viable route (the guilt-tripping alternative he proposes is that he and his wife move into the dad's house to take care of him full-time), Don takes his brother-in-law aside and harshly informs him that the elder Mr. Hofstadt will be living with him and Betty from now on, William will pay for him, and the house and car will remain the old man's property.
Don knows he's both putting his foot down and taking one for the team (essentially he's ensuring that both he and William, who won't be getting the house anytime soon, will lose in different ways). He's reminded just how much he's taking one for the team when he wakes up in the middle of the night to find Eugene, thinking it's still the middle of Prohibition, pouring all the family's wine bottles down the sink. And at work, Don discovers the limits of his power as well: after coaxing Madison Square Garden back into Sterling Cooper's fold (Paul used a conference to bash them for their vulgar imposition on New York's architectural landscape), he's brusquely informed by Lane that the UK office has nixed the deal, considering it an overextension of resources. Exasperated, Don asks why they were even bought out in the first place and Lane, whose wife has already voiced their discontent with the relocation, mutters honestly, "I don't know."
In the office, she overhears Joan flirting with a group of young men and steals her line later in a bar. Alone in her room, she faintly sings the song she made fun of in the mirror; when she meets a college student in a bar she trades banalities and burgers and then tiptoes out in the morning with a not-entirely-convincing (but not exactly insincere) "This was fun." When Peggy expresses her frustration with this derivative campaign for Patio (a Pepsi subsidiary marketing a diet drink for women), complaining that the "shrill" Bye Bye Birdie imitation would be embarrassing in a movie or play, Don reprimands her: "You're not an artist, Peggy. You solve problems." And this works as an effective segue into Don's own assertive problem-solving at home. With William trying to force a nursing home as the only viable route (the guilt-tripping alternative he proposes is that he and his wife move into the dad's house to take care of him full-time), Don takes his brother-in-law aside and harshly informs him that the elder Mr. Hofstadt will be living with him and Betty from now on, William will pay for him, and the house and car will remain the old man's property.
Don knows he's both putting his foot down and taking one for the team (essentially he's ensuring that both he and William, who won't be getting the house anytime soon, will lose in different ways). He's reminded just how much he's taking one for the team when he wakes up in the middle of the night to find Eugene, thinking it's still the middle of Prohibition, pouring all the family's wine bottles down the sink. And at work, Don discovers the limits of his power as well: after coaxing Madison Square Garden back into Sterling Cooper's fold (Paul used a conference to bash them for their vulgar imposition on New York's architectural landscape), he's brusquely informed by Lane that the UK office has nixed the deal, considering it an overextension of resources. Exasperated, Don asks why they were even bought out in the first place and Lane, whose wife has already voiced their discontent with the relocation, mutters honestly, "I don't know."
Out with the old and the new, in with the.....?
My Response:
Mad Men - "A Night to Remember" (season 2, episode 8)
Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Every Monday I will review an episode of season two, possibly followed by each episode of season three. Later seasons will be covered at another time. I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on September 14, 2008/written by Matthew Weiner & Robin Veith; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): Betty's encounter with Jimmy has pushed her already shaky confidence in Don (and herself) over a cliff, so it only takes a relatively innocuous incident (a couple, perhaps) to trigger the Drapers' incipient marital crisis. When Betty hosts an "around the world" dinner party and selects Heineken as the drink of choice, Duck - the guest who almost didn't make it - chuckles. He and Don had a dispute at the office over whether housewives would be drawn toward a display highlighting the beer's refined aura, and he's amused that Don was proven correct in his own home. But Betty is offended that Don thinks he knows her so well (and perhaps more offended that he nailed it), and this insult finally pushes her to confront him with the Bobbie situation. Don, of course, adamantly denies the affair and after Betty fails to find even the slightest piece of evidence, she seems to agree with Don that they "don't want to lose all of this." The next day, however, sitting on the couch and watching sitcoms with her children, Betty encounters the Utz ad featuring Jimmy talking about "a night on the town turned ugly," and "Am I crazy? I don't think so!" It's the final straw. She calls Don to tell him not to come home and he spends the night at the office. This is clearly the most important plotline of the episode, but there are a couple significant shifts for other characters too. Peggy is pressured into crafting a pro bono pamphlet with a church dance; the blue-haired ladies don't like her tagline and Father Gill not only fails to back her up but, after taking advantage of her office space, obnoxiously presses her on spiritual matters. Joan, meanwhile, is enlisted into Harry's TV department, reading scripts for soap operas. She realizes that she loves the assignment before being disappointed to discover a not-nearly-as-talented young man filling her spot a few days later.
My Response:
Mad Men - "The Benefactor" (season 2, episode 3)
Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Every Monday I will review an episode of season two, possibly followed by each episode of season three. Later seasons will be covered at another time. I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on August 10, 2008/written by Matthew Weiner & Rick Cleveland; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): After featuring prominently in the previous episode, Pete is entirely absent and Peggy makes only a brief appearance, looking very uncomfortable as her co-workers screen a TV episode about a hidden pregnancy. Surprisingly, it's Harry Crane who steps to the fore; the timid, bespectacled writer is growing claustrophobic in his shared office, and when he "accidentally" opens Ken Cosgrove's paycheck (to see that it's $100 more than his own), he begins to wonder if he should just fly the coop. Calling a friend who works at CBS, he gets another idea instead and pitches a controversial abortion-themed Defenders to the Belle Jolie lipstick company. The representative doesn't bite but is impressed nonetheless - and Roger Sterling is too. Harry is promoted to the head of the one-person "television department" and summons up the courage to ask for a raise. He proudly returns to his expectant wife to announce that he now earns $225 instead of $200, although he hesitates to tell her the subject of the episode that vaulted him to a (slightly) higher level.
Meanwhile, Don's secretary Lois falls while Harry rises; Don fires her when she proves unable to "manage expectations" one time too often, and Joan temporarily steps into her place. Don's primary task in "The Benefactor" is to manage a troublesome client, the cutting and often drunken comedian Jimmy Barrett (the always-unsettling Patrick Fischler, seven years after Mulholland Drive and nine years before Twin Peaks). Jimmy has brutally mocked the overweight wife (Jan Hoag) of Hunt Schilling (Steve Stapenhorst), the owner of Utz Chips. Don's attempt to smooth things over involves a dinner date with himself, his wife, the Schillings, and the Barretts: Jimmy and his wife/manager Bobbie (Melinda McGraw). There's a lot more going on here than just a business arrangement - Don has already had a fling with Bobbie and he may be as eager to wield Betty for her benefit as for Jimmy's (who acts absolutely smitten). When Bobbie tries to force Don to bribe her into making Jimmy apologize, Don shoves his hand up her dress and threatens to destroy her husband/client if he doesn't comply. Jimmy says he's sorry and on the way home, Betty begins to cry - not because of the cynical way Don exploited her (or any suspicion of his behavior with Bobbie) but, ostensibly, tears of joy because she's glad that she and Don can spend time together this way, working as a team.
My Response:
TWIN PEAKS First Time Viewer Companion: S2E16 "The Condemned Woman"
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.
Undoubtedly an improvement on the previous two, this episode seems clearer and more subtly polished. However, it suffers in its spot. On any rewatch, apparently even this one where I've been enjoying the mid-season more than usual, I'm tired of the Josie plot by now. I'm tired of seeing Cooper in plaid shirts, I'm tired of the endless dragging-out of the James-Evelyn scenario (down to just one scene, without the Marshes, but still draining even to reference), and sadly I'm even tired of the new things the show has brought to bear: Windom Earle has already descended into irritating clowning and pointless "threatening" gestures, and John Justice Wheeler can hop right on his jet and fly back out of town as far as I'm concerned.
That's harsh, but people tend to place the show's comeback in one of three places: this episode, the next one, or the one after. I'm a next-episode kinda guy (despite some big hiccups: can anyone say pine weasel?). And it's not just a hangover; this episode has some problems of its own. That ending? For many, Bob and Little Mike appearing on the bed is a huge relief. Finally, they're back! But the first time I watched the show, I hated this scene. Bob wasn't scary at all and the Little Man just looked foolish up there. My favorite elements of the series so far had been reduced to non sequiturs, and it seemed as if Twin Peaks was trying WAY too hard to be Peaks-ian. And the drawer pull? I'm bemused by its idiosyncrasy - and I very much like some of the threads we can spin from it - but its effect is all intellectual, not visceral as with other Lynch touches (probably because he didn't direct it himself, although he DID suggest it as a way to keep Josie in play for future seasons even as Joan Chen left the show).
Repeat viewings diminished my disappointment (at times), and occasionally I was even able to see this as an underrated accomplishment. This time I was more down the middle. I like some things (the actors who play Andrew and Thomas are quite fun to watch) more than others (Windom's torment of Leo feels so tired to me). I'm ready for the thaw to begin so that a youthful springtime energy can take over from Josie's grim, baroque denouement.
Want more? Here's my other coverage of the episode:
More for first-time viewers (SPOILER-FREE)
(but be careful of video recommendations at the end of YouTube videos and image/link recommendations at the end of Tumblr posts)
+ My "Journey Through Twin Peaks" chapter on this episode, from 2014:
The comments section below may contain spoilers.
TWIN PEAKS First Time Viewer Companion: S2E6 "Demons"
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.
This has often been either my favorite or second-favorite non-Lynch-directed episode of the series (I was going to write "non-Lynch" but THAT ISN'T QUITE TRUE!), thanks to the introduction of Gordon Cole, some great Leland/Ben scenes, the fantastically creepy/tense reunion of Ben and Audrey, and a surprisingly effective farewell from Maddy (despite the shamelessly syrupy approach and James' ridiculous dialogue, I find the scene appealing mostly due to Sheryl Lee I guess). While I'm not a big fan of Josie, many of her scenes here are pretty solid, and the flubbed Harold climax of last episode plays better in the intro here. Oh, and I love Pete's awkward introduction to Tojamura. But all that good stuff pales in comparison to Gerard's transformation into Mike, where Al Strobel just eats up the screen and Lesli Linka Glatter delivers the best evocation of the supernatural/eerie/uncanny this side of Lynch.
That said, the episode didn't click as well for me on this viewing, which may simply be due to external factors - who knows. I do think even at its best, Twin Peaks doesn't quite reach the sublime heights of Lynch-directed entries, especially the ones to come (which, for the record, I consider better - almost stratospherically better - than the already indelible Lynch-directed efforts we've seen so far, even his infamous Red Room episode).
Some questions for the new viewer:
Where do you expect the show to go after that final scene?
Did the Gerard/Mike thing surprise or did you see it coming?
What do you think is the nature of Bob and how can he be tracked?
Do you believe Bob killed Laura? If not, what do you make of all the attention to Bob?
What was your reaction to Gordon Cole - did you know David Lynch would appear on the show? (And did you realize that was David Lynch?)
Do you think Josie and Maddy will return or is this really curtains for their characters?
How does Audrey deal with Ben after everything she's seen?
Will Leland be able to function as Ben's lawyer, and if not, where does his character go from here?
Will Harold give up the diary easily, and if not how does the sheriff get his hands on it?
Will Ben sell to Tojamura or will he be able to re-engage the Icelanders? Any thoughts on the mysterious Japanese investor?
The storylines of Ed & Nadine and Bobby, Shelly & Leo are stuck in a certain status quo at the moment. How do they continue to develop/evolve?
We have now heard twice about Cooper's ex-partner Windom Earle. When do you expect him to enter the story more fully, and where do you see that going?
For the first time in several episodes, Cooper's shooting is brought up (by Gordon Cole, who mentions the sample from a Vicuña coat). Who do you think pulled the trigger?
Random questions but, what has been your favorite episode so far? Second favorite? If both are Lynch-directed ones (ex: the pilot, the Red Room, the giant/waiter, Bob climbing over the couch), what's your favorite not directed by him? What has been your least-favorite episode so far?
Who is your leading suspect in Laura's murder?
When do you expect the murder to be solved (please spoiler-tag if you know for certain)?
How do you expect the show to continue if/when the murder is solved?
Most importantly, will we ever find out the identity of food critic MT Wentz?
Want more? Here's my other coverage of the episode:
More for first-time viewers (SPOILER-FREE)
+ My original episode guide for this episode, from 2008 (no spoilers in the review itself, but SPOILERS in the comments section so don't read beyond my piece if you haven't seen the rest of the episodes yet)
For those who've already seen the full series & film
(SPOILERS IN THE FOLLOWING LINKS)
+ My dugpa comment on this episode, from 2015
The comments section below may contain spoilers.
TWIN PEAKS First Time Viewer Companion: S2E3 "The Man Behind Glass"
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.
This is really a pretty good episode. The fact that it's probably one of the weakest so far (I might place only the second episode lower, and many would disagree with even that ranking) says more about the strength of what we've seen than the flaws of this one. Besides, what's good is often even better than the bulk of season one: the otherworldly, menacing flavor is much more menacing now and Laura feels like an acute haunting spirit instead of just a plot device. The drawbacks are in the subplots, which really get going: Nadine waking from her coma, Dick's date with Lucy, Audrey drugged and held hostage (which gets so much screentime in these episodes, it's arguably the main plot, not a "sub"). There are two problems I see with these storylines, already apparent at this early stage: they don't really seem to go anywhere (even Audrey's "high stakes" situation lacks real bite), and they are clearly not attached to the show's core premise. More on that in coming episodes.
For me, the episode's greatest success story is the Donna-Harold connection. I find their interaction extremely compelling because it contains the spark of mystery some other areas lack, and it's deeply rooted in the questions of the pilot: who is this girl Laura Palmer, what did loved ones misunderstand about her life, and what impact does her outsize legacy have on the people left behind? Both Donna as a character and Lara Flynn Boyle as an actress are hardly fan favorites. The latter is resented for several behind-the-scenes reasons; the big one involves an aspect that hasn't come into play yet (so I won't speak on it), but another story is that she approached the show's creators and demand a more overtly sexy, edgy character than the mousy girl outshone by Audrey and Shelly in season one. Hence her uncharacteristic about-face in the season two premiere. Maybe so, but I think this shift is actually a welcome change for the character and one that this episode makes perfect sense of. Donna is frightened by the things she's learned about Laura, and as a confused, grieving, growing 17-year-old she is both liberated and terrified by the prospect of coming out from her friend's shadow. This is a much more interesting character than the purely naive good girl of the first few episodes, and I for one think Boyle makes the most of it (especially in a scene that gets a lot of crap: when she talks with her dead friend in the cemetery). More than any other episode (except perhaps the one two episodes from now) this is her moment to shine.
Want more? Here's my other coverage of the episode:
More for first-time viewers (SPOILER-FREE)
(but be careful of video recommendations at the end of YouTube videos and image/link recommendations at the end of Tumblr posts)
+ My "Journey Through Twin Peaks" chapter covering Laura's story up to this episode, from 2014 (contains spoilers for two classic films: VERTIGO & LAURA):
+ My original episode guide for this episode, from 2008
The comments section below may contain spoilers.
TWIN PEAKS First Time Viewer Companion: S1E6 "Cooper's Dreams"
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 come. They were first published as comments on a Reddit rewatch in 2016. (This is referred to as "Episode 5" in some places, including the DVD/blu-ray, but is "S1E6" on Netflix.)
So many characters get good scenes and solid story development, but I think it's most useful to view this episode through the two characters who are arguably most important to the show: Cooper and Laura. Coop gets to do some of his sharpest, most intuitive detective work since the pilot. For the most part season 1 has shown him soaking up information - using traditional (and Tibetan) methods or dreams - and then following up on a few clues. But now he's actively noticing things left and right: the magazine in the ceiling, or the drapes on the wall photo and in the magazine. At the same time he is shown to be human and grounded - grouchy after being kept up all night, and confused by the Log Lady's eccentricities in a way the locals are not.
Laura, meanwhile, gets more fleshed out. She's not only the mystery object motivating all the action but clearly someone with a tormented inner life worth exploring in its own right. This was suggested by Jacoby last week but feels more raw in Bobby's teary confession, the Log Lady's - or rather her log's - recollection of Laura's last night, and the eerie atmosphere of Jacques' cabin. I love that scene, starting on the raven's eye and ending with the chipped poker chip, between the music of Julee Cruise and the unsettling whistle of the cabin walls. Watching the series again, those of us who've seen everything can't usually re-access our first "what's going on here?!" buzz (something first-time viewers should really savor; it's the quintessence of Lynch, even though he was not directly involved with this episode). This scene, however, comes close to capturing that feeling even after many viewings - horror viewed at a safe distance, which makes you want to find out more even if you sense you're playing with fire. The location feels haunted, charged by a psychic presence left over from some unseen trauma.
Want more? Here's my other coverage of the episode:
More for first-time viewers (SPOILER-FREE)
(but be careful of image/link recommendations at the end of Tumblr posts)
+ My original episode guide for this episode, from 2008
+ My dugpa comment on this episode, from 2015 (includes vague reference to the subject of the film)
The comments section below may contain spoilers.
Mad Men - "5G" (season 1, episode 5)
Welcome to my viewing diary for Mad Men. Most days (except Saturday) I am offering a short review of another episode until concluding the first season. Later seasons will be covered at another time. I have never seen this series before so there will be NO spoilers.
Story (aired on July 26, 2007/written by Matthew Weiner; directed by Lesli Linka Glatter): Don Draper is not Don Draper. Perhaps I should say Dick Whitman is not Don Draper. When "Don" wins an industry award and gets his picture in Advertising Age, a strange young man (Jay Paulson) appears at the reception desk of Sterling Cooper. Don is so shaken that when he returns to his meeting, after sending the curious stranger out to lunch, he can barely speak and refers questions to colleagues. When they meet again at a nearby diner, we learn that this young man is Adam Whitman, Don's - or rather Dick's - kid brother. Dick Whitman supposedly died in Korea but Adam, a child at the time, remembers glimpsing his face from the window of their impoverished, abusive home, always wondering if it was a vision. Adam is not doing particularly well; his whole family is lost, he's working as a janitor in the big city, and he seems lonely and vaguely sad (there's also something strangely threatening about his pale, gangly visage and slight smile; it doesn't help that Paulson looks a bit like Mike White's creepy-friend-returned character in Chuck & Buck). Don shows more cracks in his stoic facade than we've seen before, but keeps trying to shake Adam until receiving an invitation to the room where his half-sibling is staying. Now the big brother has a decision to make.
Concurrent with this darker drama, there's a lighter but similarly troubled subplot with the younger members of the agency. Ken has just been published in the Atlantic Monthly (the series continues to have fun with the relatively confined artsy milieu of the period - what does it means for straight-arrow admen to harbor literary ambitions in this context?). This obviously inspires jealousy in Paul, who thought himself Sterling Cooper's resident man of letters, but it surprisingly spurs frustration in Pete too. Leveraging his wife's prior romance with a man in the publishing business, Charlie Fiddich (Andy Hoff), Pete's grand scheme is to crash the short story field with his masterpiece about a talking bear. He only succeeds in humiliating Trudy (Charlie was her first lover and he tries to initiate a new affair) as well as himself (the story will only be published in Boy's Life). And this places an icky strain on the marriage with the tacit understanding of both spouses that on some level Pete was pimping his wife for his own benefit. Meanwhile Don shows up for his illicit rendezvous (throughout the episode, implicit connections are drawn between Don's extramarital activity and this hidden family history, as if the latter is actually the bigger, more dangerous secret). It is heavily implied that Don has brought a gun to kill the troublesome Adam, but instead the gift he bears is a large amount of cash to pay off Adam, sending him away with the explicit warning never to make contact again. This may not be a physical assassination but it is an emotional one...or perhaps suicide is a better analogy. Dick Whitman is dead after all and it turns out our protagonist - whatever name he's called - is Don Draper. Or is he?
My Response:
The Spirits of Twin Peaks (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #21)
*A revised entry will be published separately in 2024 or 2025 for an updated character series (which will be collected here). This is the original entry written before The Return.
The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys eighty-two characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91) and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) as well as The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. There will be spoilers for the original series and film.
ORIGINAL ANNOUNCEMENT: The character series is pausing for at least a month and will resume in the midst of Twin Peaks: The Return (2017), although its focus will remain the older material. [Update: This plan was revised; see above.] I will be reviewing the new episodes of the Showtime series every Sunday night/Monday morning starting May 21, 2017.
•
What their sound and fury signify is difficult to apprehend from appearance alone, but something is happening, isn't it?
Major Garland Briggs, USAF (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #22)
*A revised entry will be published separately in 2024 or 2025 for an updated character series (which will be collected here). This is the original entry written before The Return.
The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys eighty-two characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91) and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) as well as The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every weekday morning until the premiere of Showtime's new season of Twin Peaks on May 21, 2017. There will be spoilers for the original series and film.
Major Briggs explores the depth of the woods and the distance of the stars, yet he keeps his feet on solid ground.
Madeleine "Maddy" Ferguson (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #32)
The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. The series will be rebooted in 2023 to reflect the third season (and patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public), but this entry will remain intact. There will be spoilers.
Maddy, sweet, easygoing, down-to-earth, is far removed from the all-consuming fire of her cousin's dangerous life...until she comes to Twin Peaks for Laura's funeral.
Sarah Palmer (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #24)
*A revised entry will be published separately in 2024 or 2025 for an updated character series (which will be collected here). This is the original entry written before The Return.
The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys eighty-two characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91) and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) as well as The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every weekday morning until the premiere of Showtime's new season of Twin Peaks on May 21, 2017. There will be spoilers for the original series and film.
As a wise man once said, "The home is a place where things can go wrong," and Sarah stays close to hers.
FBI Agent Albert Rosenfield (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #25)
*A revised entry will be published separately in 2024 or 2025 for an updated character series (which will be collected here). This is the original entry written before The Return.
The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys eighty-two characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91) and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) as well as The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every weekday morning until the premiere of Showtime's new season of Twin Peaks on May 21, 2017. There will be spoilers for the original series and film.
Albert is rude, snide, extraordinarily condescending...and impossible not to love.
Windom Earle (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #34)
The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. The series will be rebooted in 2023 to reflect the third season (and patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public), but this entry will remain intact. There will be spoilers.
Ostensibly mad but immersed in hyperrationalism, Windom attacks Twin Peaks in ways both blunt and subtle, betting his life that he can harness its dark shadow.
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