David Lynch is a badass. He gets to go around Hollywood being treated like an elite while making insane films that don't make much sense. He freely admitted during a recent lecture I attended that he came up with the plot for "Mulholland Drive" in under an hour. He does exactly what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. And that is to be admired.
But there is a certain self destructiveness to it all. Case and point, season 2 of Twin Peaks. After the phenomenal success of the first season's 8 episode run, Lynch's murder mystery in a small town opus was re-upped for 22 more episodes. Everyone was happy with the critically lauded show that pulled in massive ratings. But when Lynch was given more free reign, things only got weirder.
We found out who killed Laura Palmer and why. The solution was vastly more fulfilling than I'm sure Lost will ever be, but all the same, without Laura's ghost haunting the town, things took a turn for the weird. Many people didn't like it. The midget whose dialogue was recorded in reverse became more prominent and the character quirks that once made the show pop seemed to overtake the characters. The show had always been satirical, but any naturalism faded away and everything went absolutely crazy.
Needless to say, ratings dropped off and the show was canceled. Adding insult to injury, the last few episodes were thrown together on one night to burn them off more quickly. (Ala, the late, great, Arrested Development.) But those who stopped watching after the big reveal missed the point of the show completely. Every scene was a mystery that built to a conclusion that led to greater mysteries that didn't have to be solved because the point was that things don't always make sense. In one early episode, we are confronted with the bizarre image of a close up of a man's hands drenched in oil slowly opening a door. The image is odd, compelling, humorous and possibly a bit dangerous since we cannot immediately identify the liquid. We pull back, and back until we finally see the hands belong to the town's sheriff, Harry S. Truman. We still don't know where he is until he trips over 2 long poles and his wife screams at him for breaking her "invention." (She was trying to make silent curtain openers, which she does with the help of a few drops of oil).* This scene is a mystery all unto itself as are most scenes in the series. From the moose head that keeps appearing on tables, to the evil scheming of the high school kids who aren't as clean cut as they appear, the whole builds and builds until your brain begins to make connections on things that might otherwise not seem logical.
Lynch works in the ephemeral, the either. Those blurry spots in your peripheral vision as you fall asleep. And Twin Peaks taken as a whole expounds on this better than most anything he has ever done.
For more reviews please visit www.collider.com
But there is a certain self destructiveness to it all. Case and point, season 2 of Twin Peaks. After the phenomenal success of the first season's 8 episode run, Lynch's murder mystery in a small town opus was re-upped for 22 more episodes. Everyone was happy with the critically lauded show that pulled in massive ratings. But when Lynch was given more free reign, things only got weirder.
We found out who killed Laura Palmer and why. The solution was vastly more fulfilling than I'm sure Lost will ever be, but all the same, without Laura's ghost haunting the town, things took a turn for the weird. Many people didn't like it. The midget whose dialogue was recorded in reverse became more prominent and the character quirks that once made the show pop seemed to overtake the characters. The show had always been satirical, but any naturalism faded away and everything went absolutely crazy.
Needless to say, ratings dropped off and the show was canceled. Adding insult to injury, the last few episodes were thrown together on one night to burn them off more quickly. (Ala, the late, great, Arrested Development.) But those who stopped watching after the big reveal missed the point of the show completely. Every scene was a mystery that built to a conclusion that led to greater mysteries that didn't have to be solved because the point was that things don't always make sense. In one early episode, we are confronted with the bizarre image of a close up of a man's hands drenched in oil slowly opening a door. The image is odd, compelling, humorous and possibly a bit dangerous since we cannot immediately identify the liquid. We pull back, and back until we finally see the hands belong to the town's sheriff, Harry S. Truman. We still don't know where he is until he trips over 2 long poles and his wife screams at him for breaking her "invention." (She was trying to make silent curtain openers, which she does with the help of a few drops of oil).* This scene is a mystery all unto itself as are most scenes in the series. From the moose head that keeps appearing on tables, to the evil scheming of the high school kids who aren't as clean cut as they appear, the whole builds and builds until your brain begins to make connections on things that might otherwise not seem logical.
Lynch works in the ephemeral, the either. Those blurry spots in your peripheral vision as you fall asleep. And Twin Peaks taken as a whole expounds on this better than most anything he has ever done.
For more reviews please visit www.collider.com