- I LOVE the way Lynch keeps doing this. It's so fantastic. And somehow... perfect.
- That shot was the motel where Philip Jeffries (or the Jeffries Teapot) lives. That woman was the backwards talking woman in the robe who told Dopple Coop that she could open the door for him.
- Yes and it's amazing. I can't believe somebody caught that! I could barely tell what was happening. My screen was so dark and there was a lot of bleeding light in the room I was in. I need to rewatch that seen.
- Yep. Well, not my #1. But it's up there.
- I just love that he tortures Chad so much. Makes me so fucking happy. I hate Chad.
- That's another seen I have to watch again. The sound was soooooooo low. And he mumbles so much. I missed a lot of it. I didn't get that he killed Becky. I thought it was something else that they both (he and Becky) did. He was blaming himself and Donna's sister was trying to ease his mind by saying it was Becky's fault? Maybe they were talking about his killing Becky. I really don't know. I feel like I missed a lot in that scene, too.
- Lynch is amazing.

This episode was so outstanding. So emotional. And such a wide RANGE of emotions: they seemed to hit damn near ALL of them. The elation and joy I felt watching Ed and Norma reunite... That was such bliss. The sheer tension and terror I felt in the woods. The nausea and awe of the Convenience Store. Hearing reference to Judy again! The anger at seeing James beaten down. I thought I'd explode watching Coop on his way back!

But, for me, the best part was the end. That final Roadhouse scene was pure Twin Peaks. Not just pure Lynch -- pure Twin Peaks. It 100% captured the feeling ... that ineffable thing that is "Twin Peaks to me" (we all have our own things that define the show for us, I know) with such accuracy that my head was spinning. That could have been an outtake from the S2 finale or Fire Walk With Me. It was beautiful -- haunting, heartbreaking and hilarious all at the same time. It was absurd and completely real. Pure fucking art!

I loved how the foreboding and awful feeling of those two huge hulking bikers looming over poor Ruby gave way to a burst of laughter and relief when they didn't actually hurt her; they just eased her from the table to the ground. Genius! There is so much violence in Twin Peaks, and so much of it against women, that I was all tied up in knots when those guys showed up. The first Richard Horne scene immediately jumped into my head (followed by ALL of his interactions with women in this show, actually) and then the bar fight scene from earlier in this very episode... man. I was sweating. I was so viscerally worried for Ruby.

But they don't harm her. They don't threaten her. They just pick her up and set her down. It was genuinely hilarious. Not just a typical Lynch expectation-subversion, but a truly Twin Peaks-ian sequence of the kind we've seen played out over and over again in the previous seasons. And then the crawl (which had THIS current season's flavor splattered all over it)! The music. All of it culminating in that delicious scream. It tickled me just right. All my bones were vibrating. My eyes went wide and I felt... so. Goddamn. Happy. Such real, true, comfortable joy. It wasn't the first time I'd felt back home in Twin Peaks during the run of The Return. But it was the most complete, the most palpable, the most... authentic and sustained occurrence of that old feeling. And, my oh my, it was a damn good. And hot!

The ending with the girl screaming was so perfect. From the beginning of the episode there was this electricity of Ed and Norma being the calm before the storm - and once the storm started, it hit hard.

Another thing I have been thinking about:

We now know that the giant is called "The Fireman". In fact, the song that plays during his section of Part 8 is called "The Fireman". In The Secret History of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost revealed that Margaret Lanterman's husband was very tall, and died trying to put out a forest fire on their wedding day. I had speculated in an earlier post that one of the woodsman was her husband, but considering all this information, it would reason that maybe her husband is The Fireman. The kicker being that the song playing when Hawk announces that she has died is "The Fireman".

Does any of this matter? Probably not, but it's fun to speculate.

Oh man! I love what you're dancing around here, friend.

More fuel to the fire with all that crawling that happened last episode:

Also,

Have we considered that maybe some fantasy is at play in the spirit of Mulholland Drive/Lost Highway with Ed and Norma?

I loved how that story ended, but it seemed a little rushed and unlikely - almost too good to be true for those two.

Woof. Yeah, that would be tough to take for me. That felt so good, true, and honest. But it's entirely possible. Certainly wouldn't be out of bounds.

Maybe, since I'm pretty sure this is all out of order, something happens in these last few hours that gives us more info/context; something that actually, in chronology, happened before their reunion but that we don't see until after, that offers reason and makes it feel less "easy".

Lynch has us fairly well conditioned if we see a relatively happy event and find it disconcerting...

With only three hours left and a television universe built upon seemingly endless arcs I don’t think Lynch wants to leave everything open ended and the viewer totally jaded. I may very well be wrong but there is a good and an evil always at play in Twin Peaks, perhaps ground zero for that eternal battle, though the skirmishes eventually end; there is an innate comfort in closure and some of these stories do have to end. As much as Lynch revels in unease and quandary, a master of his craft, he isn’t inhuman. He’s a gifted storyteller, one who understands the tale to tell and the audience who is taking the ride. I’ll take Ed and Norma coming together so I can focus on the rest of the shit that is going to hit the fan.

Absolutely. Well said.

Yeah, it felt rushed but at the same time i guess thats how much time those characters needed to have their story.
When this season ends it might feel like Lynch spent little time with some beloved characters and focused a lot more of Dougie. Well see.

I can completely understand how some might feel it was rushed.

However, for me the scene of Big Ed looking out the window of his gas station told all the story we needed to explain the last 25 years. For a scene with no dialogue it really communicates the frustration that was eating him alive while trying to do the right thing with Nadine.

Now that I think about it, all of the scenes with Nadine speak volumes about the last 25 years. While I truly believe she loves Ed, her true love has always been her obsessions: silent drape runners, high school wrestling, Jacoby's rants, golden shovels, and whatever else has struck her fancy during this large gap of time.

I certainly didn't think it felt rushed. I loved it. It really hit hard for me.

Nadine's long trudge, a feign triumphant walk, that leads to one of the most human of conversations, as so many marriages do end before death, was superb. Wise old Ed argued, contemplated and then acknowledged his gift like a sixteen year-old legally getting the car keys for the first time. The juxtaposition of doing time v being set free immediately followed Ed’s fervor once again hindered by duty then released by Norma’s acceptance was superb; I don’t feel it was rushed at all, a roller coaster perhaps. If you don’t get a jolt of adrenaline when the one thing you’ve been longing for for ages presents an opportunity… well then you may want to check your pulse.

Plus, the choice of Otis Redding to play during this section was absolutely perfect.

Anyone want to talk about the Rancho Rosa logo before each episode? I've notificed the slight color changes set the tone.

Interesting.

Go on...

My two favorite episodes (8 and last week's episode) were black and white. As far as I can remember all the others have been different.

Parasol pretty much covered it.

I play a guessing game with myself before the opening credits end every week wondering if the first shot will have people in it or not. The one's without people (dark roads, tree lines, establishing building shots...) tend to be darker episodes too.

Just an observation. Part of the fun watching this show.

Oh! I hadn't noticed that! I'll have to pay attention to it tonight!