Twin Peaks Unwrapped - Ultimate Lynch Madness (w/ Mya McBriar, Josh Minton, and John Thorne)

If you haven't listened to the previous four "Madness" podcasts yet, stop reading and check them out now because this episode was determined by those outcomes.

All good things must come to an end. This is true not only of the fun "Madness" exercise of the past two years, where the hosts of Twin Peaks Unwrapped have invited myself and other guests to rank various Peaks and Lynch works in a March Madness-style bracket until only one title remained, but also of Twin Peaks Unwrapped itself. Although Ben and Bryon intended to conclude the show in 2020, the pandemic disrupted their plans. For the past few months they've been working their way through the final community rewatches of season two episodes and will belatedly wrap it all up this month. This will be my last appearance as a guest although not the last time we talk in podcast form (stay tuned).

This was a great way to go out, revisiting our early decisions (all of the guests from previous episodes were supposed to participate, although only four of us could make it) and figuring out which work we wanted to ultimately represent the Lynch canon at its apex: Lost Highway, the season one "Red Room" episode, the season two finale, or the season three finale. I found myself going back and forth so what both we as a group and I individually chose was as much a surprise to me as to the listeners (or viewers, since Unwrapped published the video on YouTube - you can also listen to it here or elsewhere).

The episode was recorded in April and shared in May, but this is the first Thursday I've had open to share it and coincidentally it's the thirtieth anniversary of the episode that ended the original Twin Peaks. Whether or not episode 29 takes the cake (or the cherry pie) I'll leave for you to find out, but if you're a patron - and even if you're not (yet) - keep an eye on my Patreon today...this conversation won't be the only one to highlight that unforgettable finale.

Twin Peaks Unwrapped - Season 3 Madness (w/ Josh Minton)

Last year, I joined Ben, Bryon, and rotating guests on the Twin Peaks Unwrapped podcast to undertake a ridiculous (and ridiculously enjoyable) attempt to "rank" David Lynch films, as well as the episodes of Twin Peaks seasons one and two, using a "March Madness" style bracket system (see below). Now they are tackling season three, and the results may surprise you; as I put it on Twitter, "I voted correctly...but did everyone else??" This time Peaks commentator Josh Minton - who has written extensively about the Showtime season in his book Skeleton Key to Twin Peaks - is on the panel, often providing the decisive vote after much discussion. You can watch the whole Zoom call above (apologies for my distant gaze, I couldn't find the eyeline on my phone's screen and didn't realize I was visible when I wasn't talking...) or listen to the audio version from iTunes or pretty much anywhere else you download podcasts.

Thanks to the pandemic, the Unwrapped schedule for 2020 has been thrown into disarray. They originally intended to conclude their half-decade run at the end of the year, following months of community rewatches, "Madness" rankings, and other frequent episodes but now they've committed to extend themselves into 2021, the rewatch episodes are delayed (I've already recorded a killer's reveal discussion which is still several steps back in the backlog), and after initially offering a new contest every calendar season, the "Madness" is now finally reaching its last entry. Well, almost its last entry; the final four will get their own face-off with a massive line-up of all the former participants making the call. That should be fun! The contestants, based on previous victors, will be Lost Highway, episode two, episode fourteen, and....well, you'll have to listen to the above conversation to find out.

Twin Peaks Unwrapped - Season 2 Madness (w/ Sam Iswitt)

A month and a half ago, the sprawling field of Democratic candidates - which has of course been winnowed down since (I'm writing this back in October, so forgive me my optimism) - gathered on a stage in Ohio. On that very night, an important debate was held and in this debate, crucial questions for our time were fervently contested. What is the best episode of the mid-season two slump? Are some of those episodes hidden gems? Is the Miss Twin Peaks contest a charming delight or one of the darkest moments before the Lynchian dawn?

Now the podcast episode recorded that evening is finally available! For months, I eagerly anticipated this "Madness" session (a follow-up to the Lynch film and season one contests where we chose the "best" entry through a bracket system). This was the discussion I was most excited to have in large part because I thought it would be great fun to compare and contrast those strange, how-did-this-happen? chapters of Twin Peaks' much maligned season two. But of course there are also genuinely spectacular moments to assess and analyze as well - some of the most powerful presentations in TV history. Joining myself and the Unwrapped hosts for this discussion is Twin Peaks Reddit moderator Sam Iswitt, whose rare, genuine love for the season's back half spiced things up. Though recorded earlier in the fall, the podcast was saved until now to help kick off the hosts' round-table rewatch of the second season: let this serve as a refresher and reminder for the episodes to come. So settle in for the long, winding road and then let us know - what are your rankings?

Twin Peaks Unwrapped - Season 1 Madness (w/ Francine the Lucid Dream and John Thorne)

This spring, just in time for the NCAA Finals, Twin Peaks Unwrapped hosted me on its own version of March Madness - in which we used a bracket system to choose David Lynch's best film. The exercise was as delightful as it was absurd, so I was eager to return to this template. This time we tackled TV episodes, sticking to the eight that make up the first season (the second will be a doozy, and I can't wait). Which two episodes will face off in the final match? Can another director sneak past David Lynch's work? Will the Log Lady's cabin or Audrey's cherry stem tip the scales in the episode 5 vs. 6 contest? Along the way, Ben, Bryon, and all of us guests discuss the merits and drawbacks of the various episodes, taking surprising deep dives into some of the more random entries and contemplating questions like why episode 2 feels like the real start of the series and how the pilot establishes Laura Palmer as an almost spiritual presence in its opening minutes.

Lynch Madness: choosing our favorite Lynch film on Twin Peaks Unwrapped (w/ Mya McBriar)

I joined the Twin Peaks Unwrapped podcast (along with Mya McBriar, of Twin Peaks Fanatic) for our first discussion in a year, and it was a doozy - not just a normal conversation, but a "March Madness"-style competition to determine our collective favorite Lynch films by setting two against each other in brackets and advancing until only one remained. You won't believe what happens next...

There are plans to use this format again for episodes, and I can't wait. It's of course ridiculous to set Lynch's film against each other this way, but by embracing that ridiculousness we had a blast and even managed to point out some interesting strengths, flaws, and surprises about the various works. How would you have voted in each step?

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