Comments | evewithanapple: Stack up the donuts, pack up the pies

evewithanapple

Stack up the donuts, pack up the pies

Dec 13, 2010 02:03

You knew it was coming. You could hear the almighty footfalls in the distance. You could see the water glass vibrating. I promised it lo, these many weeks ago and now I'm back to keep my promise. This is the EPIC TWIN PEAKS RECOMMENDATION POST OF EPICNESS.

( Put on the trenchcoat, rack up the lies )

twin peaks, !public

Comments 39

my_daroga December 13 2010, 15:56:44 UTC

That is an awesome rec post. I should save it to link other people to, seriously.

I don't know if my dislike of Donna has to do with the LFB's off-screen attitude, though it didn't help. I don't like her acting, and she didn't make me feel for Donna. It doesn't help that a significant portion of it is done against James, who makes (early) David Boreanaz look good. As I believe I've said before, had Moira Kelly been cast initially, I think I'd have warmed to her much more.

(I've also never liked Sheryl Lee as Laura, I just can't get past a lot of her acting choices when we do see her, and I feel really, really guilty about that somehow.)

Anyway, great run-down. You're right about seeing Cooper in action--he's just about the most likable fictional character I know, and there's no way to describe why.

evewithanapple December 13 2010, 18:14:24 UTC

Go ahead and rec it! That's why I left it public.

LFB . . . her acting isn't great, and the fact that she was paired with one of the dullest/most unlikeable characters didn't help. (Seriously, I don't care either way about Donna, but I actively hate James. His stiff-as-a-board acting doesn't help, but the way he treated Donna and Maddie just made me want to punch him repeatedly in the face.) As for Moira Kelly, she and LFB play such vastly different Donnas that I have a hard time comparing the two- Kelly's Donna is much more doe-eyed and innocent, while LFB's has a harder edge.

(I liked Sheryl Lee's Laura, but then, I felt so bad for her that it would take a pretty bad actor to make me dislike her. The thing that struck me most when I watched FWWM is how badly she was abandoned by the people around her- her mother, Donna, James, Bobby- who should have seen that something was wrong and offered to help, and instead they just . . . didn't. And that's always what stick out in my mind when I think about her. Well, that and the way she ( ... )

my_daroga December 15 2010, 16:56:32 UTC

James is awful. James is tragic miscasting, and then a refusal to alter the plan when it became obvious he couldn't pull of James Dean. Now, it'd be interesting to watch someone who thought he was James Dean in this small town totally fail at it, but only if someone else was aware it was a failure. (Zuko, sort of ( ... )

evewithanapple December 16 2010, 06:16:05 UTC

I do not have the slightest clue who thought that James Marshall was a good idea. I mean, was he dating a crew member? Did he have connections? Did he sell his soul to Satan? WHY?

And the James Dean thing- I actually included that in my personal canon for him, because it's the only way he makes any sense to me. I think Bobby also sort of fits into the "would-be tough guy" slot because some of his dialogue is clearly influenced by it ("You're my girl, Shelly.") but at the same time, the writers were clearly aware that he was actually a dork. This is not the face of a guy who was being played straight as a bad boy ( ... )

Thread 7

here via tumblr notexotic December 15 2010, 01:58:58 UTC

AWESOME POST. Your descriptions are spot on, and I love that you focused on the women so much! I know you don't care for anything past the midway point of season 2, but I'm curious about your opinion of the series finale. Thoughts?

Re: here via tumblr evewithanapple December 15 2010, 20:25:52 UTC

Thanks! The ladies pretty much make this show for me- if it weren't for Audrey and Laura and Shelly and all the rest (even Donna!) I don't think it would have pulled me in as hard as it did.

I actually think that the finale was a return to the quality of earlier in that season- not the show at it's height, but close. I think that's largely attributable to David Lynch coming back to direct after he'd left midseason to make Wild At Heart. The thing I find most fascinating about it is the beauty pageant storyline, and how it measures up next to the show's earlier themes and stories. One of the more intriguing aspects of the show is how they played with various tropes and subverted expectations- Laura the broken beauty queen, Audrey the femme fatale who was actually a virgin. They did a lot of interesting things with female archetypes, and a beauty pageant is basically the highest form of female archetype. So in that sense, it was a really interesting plot for them to choose. In a way, the way the characters respond to being in the ( ... )

Re: here via tumblr notexotic December 16 2010, 02:45:37 UTC

Haha, I don't mind walls of text--I'm frequently guilty of them myself!

I don't hate her like a lot of fandom seems to, because most of the hate she gets is tied to a Die For Our Ship mentality. I feel like she was what Laura would have been if the writers had never invested any depth or complexity in her character.

THIS. I thought there were some really interesting things about Annie, but did the writing staff bother to play them up and give her some agency? No, and it sucked. Also, potentially blowing up Audrey? Not cool.

Re: here via tumblr evewithanapple December 16 2010, 06:27:05 UTC

Exactly. We got very brief glimpses of a personality, but they never bothered to expand on them. Like, during the scene where they were in the diner and Truman asked her for a hangover cure and she replied "abstinence and prayer-" and it was like look! Personality! (A rather judgey and preachy one, but hey, it was still a personality!) And they just never went anywhere with it, because they wanted her to be a blank victim template instead. Argh.

And ugh, Audrey getting blown up. I have huge issues with that whole storyline where she instantly forgave her neglectful dickbag of a father without any kind of improvement on his part, or even a reason on hers'. And then there was that stupid, stupid, stupid storyline about him being Donna's father, and Josie getting fridged, and arrrrgh I hate that part of the show so muuuuuch.

Thread 7

astolat January 3 2011, 00:51:00 UTC

this is such an awesome picspam/intro post for the show -- have linked! and OMG YES re Kyle MacLachlan scuttling the Audrey/Cooper. I am STILL BITTER AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.

lydiabell January 3 2011, 02:09:43 UTC

SO BITTER OMG.

evewithanapple January 3 2011, 02:45:24 UTC

BITTER ALWAYS. Sometimes I feel like I'm overreacting, because it's just a TV show, and it was twenty years ago. And then I remember the "breakup" scene, and I start wanting to break things again. Supposedly- though obviously this is all rumours- part of what fuelled it was that Lara Flynn Boyle (who was going out with Mclachlan at the time) didn't like Sherilyn Fenn, and thus didn't like the idea of her boyfriend having an onscreen relationship. Which a) it's called ACTING for a REASON, you moron, and b) why in the name of all that's holy did the writers go along with it? If I demanded that the writers of a show I was in change the story because I didn't like it, they'd laugh in my face. WHY. WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT.

heidi8 January 5 2011, 14:36:47 UTC

Bitterness abides.

And not just because I still have the Audrey/Cooper New York Magazine cover from that fall tv season.

Thread 8

auroraprimavera January 3 2011, 01:09:25 UTC

I'd never heard of this show before, but I am intrigued. Great rec post - I'll definitely have to find a way to get my hands on it.

Here via astolat

lydiabell January 3 2011, 02:14:20 UTC

If you're in the US, it's streaming for free on cbs.com. The picture quality's pretty awful, but hey, free!

auroraprimavera January 3 2011, 02:34:12 UTC

Unfortunately I'm not in the US. But I'll find a way. Thanks tho :D

tabby333 January 3 2011, 01:32:02 UTC

You don't know me, but I am here via astolat's post. I adored Twin Peaks and it remains one of my top five tv shows so I had to come read your post. I bought the show on DVD last year and watched it non-stop. It's a shame that folks have forgotten about it. It's hard to explain to others the awesomeness that is Agent Cooper and the people of Twin Peaks, I like that you focused on the women. Even I forgot how awesome and strong they were.

Now that I've read your post, I feel a need to go watch it again.

I have to say, season one is among the best television ever made. It almost allows me to forgive Lynch and Mark Frost for how they ended the series. I still can't scrub it from my memory.

Did you see the Chuck 'tribute' to the show? It was amusing for a bit and then it was too much.

evewithanapple January 3 2011, 02:33:35 UTC

Did you see the Chuck 'tribute' to the show? It was amusing for a bit and then it was too much.

I didn't, no- I haven't watched Chuck. I did see the Psych tribute, which was a lot of fun, especially since they had a bunch of the original actors. And I know Fringe did a tribute as well, which I'm looking forward to seeing when I get around to the second season.

tabby333 January 3 2011, 03:06:08 UTC

Sorry, I meant Psych, not Chuck. I keep doing that because I'm not a regular watcher of either