Completely agree. Everyone loves to credit lynch for twin peaks success but it was frost who would let lynch off the leash in season 1. But halfway through season 2, lynch gives you both barrels and it sucks.
He’s done some good things, but in my opinion, at the end of the day lynch is just another artist who doesn’t always tell a complete story and pretends like this inability is some sort of gift to the viewer.
He’s like the Papa Murphy’s of storytellers. Here’s the ingredients, now you figure it out. And you’re welcome.
Everyone loves to credit lynch for twin peaks success but it was frost who would let lynch off the leash in season 1. But halfway through season 2, lynch gives you both barrels and it sucks.
Many people contributed to make Twin Peaks a success, but it was definitely David who is most responsible for it becoming the cult masterpiece that it has. He actually left the show in the middle of season 2, so arguably the weakest episodes of that season had little direct involvement from him - and you could definitely feel it.
He directed episodes 1 and 3 of Season 1 (and co-wrote 1, 2 and 3) and then left to do Wild at Heart. He came back to direct the first 2 episodes of Season 2, and episode 7, and basically planned the show with Frost up to the big reveal in episode 9. After that, both Lynch and Frost left to focus on other projects, and after the main plot mystery was resolved in episode 9, and without Lynch and Frost, the show lost direction at this point and kind of meandered trying to explore some of the characters. As the ratings declined the studio cancelled the show after episode 16, and these episodes (10-16) are the weakest and still the lowest rated ones of the show.
Lynch did lobby the studio to resume the show, and managed to convince them to order 6 more episodes, bringing back Lynch and Frost to try to revive the magic - and they delivered a strong finish to the season, especially the final episodes directed again by Lynch (the iconic finale is the 3rd highest rated episode of the show now) - unfortunately the ratings at the time did not recover, and the show was cancelled for good after episode 22.
If there was ever any doubt, when Lynch came back to do the Return (Season 3) he directed and co-wrote every episode, and this season is in my opinion the pinnacle of television as an art form - best TV show ever made (and I say this as someone who had extremely low expectations for the Return initially - I couldn’t imagine how rebooting Twin Peaks 25 years later can be a good idea - but somehow David not only made it work, he took it to levels I didn’t know were possible)
but in my opinion, at the end of the day lynch is just another artist who doesn’t always tell a complete story and pretends like this inability is some sort of gift to the viewer.
I understand why many people have this read on David Lynch, although I now think it’s fundamentally a misunderstanding and mischaracterization of his work. I remember when Lost Highway came out in theaters (I have seen a few of his works before that - Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, which I enjoyed, but didn’t really know much more about him at that time) my first reaction was that it was a load of pretentious nonsense. Later when the movie got to pay per view on cable, I ended up catching it late at night, initially just due to boredom, but slowly getting more and more inexplicably drawn into the movie - ended up re-watching it multiple times over the next few weeks (my roommates had a cable descrambler back then, so we could watch free cable, and pay-per-view channels would play the same movie over and over for weeks.)
After repeated viewings I’ve come to form a completely different opinion, about both the movie and David Lynch as a director - appreciating it required learning David’s unique artistic language, letting go of linear narrative conventions and expectations, and connecting with it on a different, much more emotional level.
I’ve since become a huge Lynch fan of course. His movies do often tell a “complete story”, but it’s not necessarily done the way you might expect, and it’s not because of some “inability” to tell a conventional story, it’s a deliberate choice. He is a true original and managed to put feelings and abstract concepts in his works that nobody else has.
Seriously though, what’s the difference? If the end result is identical does it really matter what we label it? Whether he can’t or won’t conclude anything doesn’t really matter. Either way, he doesn’t.
And I’m glad you can appreciate those things. To me, it’s still a load of cleft asshole claptrap parading in a human skin suit of, “you just don’t get it, and I’m not going to explain it (without a heavy application of ‘magic’).” Movies like 2001 get a pass because they are almost indiscernibly linear and would be making a neck breaking heal-turn were they to end linearly any other way than the way they did.
But season one of twin peaks has not much more than a passing glance from complete focus on linearity. Even the parts that abstract from reality conform to the convention of a linear narrative. So, fine, season one is telling a story that is at least a narrative miniseries and at best a cynical critique of rural life in the northwest. Even though they show little intention of revealing major questions introduced of the plot by the end, they still demonstrate unwavering dedication to a linear style.
And I get that season two and the myriad network blunders combine to describe a project that is nothing if not needlessly nuanced (I don’t think any two words have ever more accurately described how I feel about David fucking Lynch 😆), but the fact remains and evidenced by lynch himself that he had a greater creative influence in the direction of the plot in season two than he did in season one. Even considering the episodes he had no credit in, at the very least he has claimed that he had more influence.
He shows absolutely no sign of deviation from this narrative method in his further works, so I have a hard time believing that poor little davey was merely a victim of Mr Frost’s incomprehensibly abstract direction. I would argue he leans in a bit more without frost at all.
And, finales are usually the highest rated episodes in a season, so in a two season release with two season finales, one of those finales being outside the top two is telling more of the story than lynch ever did. 🤭
Otherwise, everything else you’ve said is something I either agree with, am wrong about, or won’t dignify. But I really enjoyed reading it nevertheless. You’re obviously far more familiar with him and his works than I am and my frivolous accusations carry little water. But I tried my best! Thanks
It bothers me there are people coming through and kicking down comments like this, there’s a lot of support for the guy and his fans without anything derogatory being said, why would anyone take the time to discourage discourse like this?
Completely agree. Everyone loves to credit lynch for twin peaks success but it was frost who would let lynch off the leash in season 1. But halfway through season 2, lynch gives you both barrels and it sucks.
He’s done some good things, but in my opinion, at the end of the day lynch is just another artist who doesn’t always tell a complete story and pretends like this inability is some sort of gift to the viewer.
He’s like the Papa Murphy’s of storytellers. Here’s the ingredients, now you figure it out. And you’re welcome.
Many people contributed to make Twin Peaks a success, but it was definitely David who is most responsible for it becoming the cult masterpiece that it has. He actually left the show in the middle of season 2, so arguably the weakest episodes of that season had little direct involvement from him - and you could definitely feel it.
He directed episodes 1 and 3 of Season 1 (and co-wrote 1, 2 and 3) and then left to do Wild at Heart. He came back to direct the first 2 episodes of Season 2, and episode 7, and basically planned the show with Frost up to the big reveal in episode 9. After that, both Lynch and Frost left to focus on other projects, and after the main plot mystery was resolved in episode 9, and without Lynch and Frost, the show lost direction at this point and kind of meandered trying to explore some of the characters. As the ratings declined the studio cancelled the show after episode 16, and these episodes (10-16) are the weakest and still the lowest rated ones of the show.
Lynch did lobby the studio to resume the show, and managed to convince them to order 6 more episodes, bringing back Lynch and Frost to try to revive the magic - and they delivered a strong finish to the season, especially the final episodes directed again by Lynch (the iconic finale is the 3rd highest rated episode of the show now) - unfortunately the ratings at the time did not recover, and the show was cancelled for good after episode 22.
If there was ever any doubt, when Lynch came back to do the Return (Season 3) he directed and co-wrote every episode, and this season is in my opinion the pinnacle of television as an art form - best TV show ever made (and I say this as someone who had extremely low expectations for the Return initially - I couldn’t imagine how rebooting Twin Peaks 25 years later can be a good idea - but somehow David not only made it work, he took it to levels I didn’t know were possible)
I understand why many people have this read on David Lynch, although I now think it’s fundamentally a misunderstanding and mischaracterization of his work. I remember when Lost Highway came out in theaters (I have seen a few of his works before that - Elephant Man, Blue Velvet, which I enjoyed, but didn’t really know much more about him at that time) my first reaction was that it was a load of pretentious nonsense. Later when the movie got to pay per view on cable, I ended up catching it late at night, initially just due to boredom, but slowly getting more and more inexplicably drawn into the movie - ended up re-watching it multiple times over the next few weeks (my roommates had a cable descrambler back then, so we could watch free cable, and pay-per-view channels would play the same movie over and over for weeks.)
After repeated viewings I’ve come to form a completely different opinion, about both the movie and David Lynch as a director - appreciating it required learning David’s unique artistic language, letting go of linear narrative conventions and expectations, and connecting with it on a different, much more emotional level.
I’ve since become a huge Lynch fan of course. His movies do often tell a “complete story”, but it’s not necessarily done the way you might expect, and it’s not because of some “inability” to tell a conventional story, it’s a deliberate choice. He is a true original and managed to put feelings and abstract concepts in his works that nobody else has.
Lol,
direct choice? 🤷
inability? 💁
Seriously though, what’s the difference? If the end result is identical does it really matter what we label it? Whether he can’t or won’t conclude anything doesn’t really matter. Either way, he doesn’t.
And I’m glad you can appreciate those things. To me, it’s still a load of cleft asshole claptrap parading in a human skin suit of, “you just don’t get it, and I’m not going to explain it (without a heavy application of ‘magic’).” Movies like 2001 get a pass because they are almost indiscernibly linear and would be making a neck breaking heal-turn were they to end linearly any other way than the way they did.
But season one of twin peaks has not much more than a passing glance from complete focus on linearity. Even the parts that abstract from reality conform to the convention of a linear narrative. So, fine, season one is telling a story that is at least a narrative miniseries and at best a cynical critique of rural life in the northwest. Even though they show little intention of revealing major questions introduced of the plot by the end, they still demonstrate unwavering dedication to a linear style.
And I get that season two and the myriad network blunders combine to describe a project that is nothing if not needlessly nuanced (I don’t think any two words have ever more accurately described how I feel about David fucking Lynch 😆), but the fact remains and evidenced by lynch himself that he had a greater creative influence in the direction of the plot in season two than he did in season one. Even considering the episodes he had no credit in, at the very least he has claimed that he had more influence.
He shows absolutely no sign of deviation from this narrative method in his further works, so I have a hard time believing that poor little davey was merely a victim of Mr Frost’s incomprehensibly abstract direction. I would argue he leans in a bit more without frost at all.
And, finales are usually the highest rated episodes in a season, so in a two season release with two season finales, one of those finales being outside the top two is telling more of the story than lynch ever did. 🤭
Otherwise, everything else you’ve said is something I either agree with, am wrong about, or won’t dignify. But I really enjoyed reading it nevertheless. You’re obviously far more familiar with him and his works than I am and my frivolous accusations carry little water. But I tried my best! Thanks
Love the papa Murphy analogy.
It bothers me there are people coming through and kicking down comments like this, there’s a lot of support for the guy and his fans without anything derogatory being said, why would anyone take the time to discourage discourse like this?