Kyle Maclachlan is getting a lot of love and not undeserving mind you.
As Mr. C I liked him best during the face-off with his old friends from the FBI and him eerily trying to impersonate the good Cooper that we know and love. His expressions and not least his voice was great and from somewhere very deep, dark and twisted.
I also liked his overheated Leland/Bob face when racing against time, coordinates, a lost highway or whatever it was before crashing his car.
Overall though I'm still kind of settling on Mr. C... It's definitely not bad and I'm sensing the evolution of this fascinating character (with Cooper and I guess Bob elements) and what he is now but when it comes to Lynch the track record of gruesome characters are unparalleled and if Mr. C. is the main malevolent force I'm not quite there with him at unease.
We have Bob, Robert Blake, The Phantom, FRANK BOOTH (without helium sadly), Bobby Peru, Leland and various Mulholland entities... Very scary company... very high standards. I'm not quite there with Bad Cooper yet.
Of course if it was many years ago and some emotional bond with Special Agent Dale Cooper was stronger, which it probably is for many still, and seeing him like this, doing these things, maybe that would do the trick. Obviously it did just that with the infamous series ending.
Grew to love Mr. Jackpots for sure. While I'm still settling on evil Maclachlan there is something about wonderfully weird Maclachlan that Lynch bring out again and again.
The chicken walk in Blue Velvet, countless Cooper moments in the series and here the HELLLLOOOOO highlight and his tie and coffee antics at Dougie's.
Randomly I also have to input that it hit me the last time watching Blue Velvet that both Maclachlan and Laura Dern (maybe Dern especially for Lynch) have distinct David Lynch faces. They really do look like him! Maybe especially his younger self.
- also really liked the music when Mr. C first arrives by car.
- always love the Lynch crime gangs and the upper tier of those always doing various of obscure plotting.
Actually the Ray character who stood up to evil Cooper didn't make the strongest early impression but hopefully there is more to come. The rest do have Blue Velvet or Wild at Heart gang potential if things really get going.
Jennifer Jason Leigh is an all time favorite and I hope to see a lot more from her. She could really bring Bad Cooper's company to the next level.
- music and sound? When I rewatched the original series the last time, as classic as the music is, it really did get to a point where I felt it got overused bordering on cheap-ish AT TIMES, so I don't miss it being there all the time unlike some people it seems but yes it was all the feels and a fantastic highlight when it first hit with intro in part 1 and later Bobby seeing Laura's picture was very much a classic Twin Peaks moment that you can't hate on. Totally in the spirit of season one.
I watched it with headpones on and it's a looong time since I've seen Eraserhead but also with the sound design I was a little bit reminded of that.
Standout sound moments was Cooper's journey in time and space in part 3. That was fantastic on headphones.
The ending music is somehow 3/3 for me. I've really liked everything!
- but I do hope there is some way to sometimes find episodic tv series endings which can be really good and maybe needed but it is clear that this really is one long movie.
The seamless end of part 2 was totally fine for an example and one of my favorite moments so far.
The short James and Shelly moment had all these layers whether meta in a smart or fun way or genuinely touching in the best nostalgic way.
These old characters have so much baggage and there is a lot of potential there.
- I liked the young couple and the glass box, their scenes in that great gloomy building contrasting the epic NY skyline shot, their acting, very Lynchian and the second time that I watched I got different vibes from them than the first time. I liked them! Too bad they had to go.
- Enjoyed the whole South Dakato murder story. The cops were great and so was the big woman and her small dog. Funny and bizarre. The put together corpse was like one of those sinister paintings that we all know...
Mr. C has a thing where he shoots people in the eye which I believe is also what Hero Cooper exhibits at the shooting range in the original series.
Matthew Lillard is also getting a lot of credit. He is one of those actors I've seen in so many things, big and small, and I dunno, sometimes he just doesn't seem real, more like a part, and maybe that's for the best here. Who knows. Right now his predicament in the cell reminds me of Lost Highway so maybe something could still happen there?
Mr. C is clearly involved. Kills Hastings wife, downloads the prison (or wait, was that the prison where he himself is at now?) and want info from the secretary. He has plans for sure and then there was the entity in the nearby cell who does look like one of the Black Lodge beings we see in FWWM and the Missing Pieces.
Has he done something there earlier in history (Dakota is where early FWWM takes place) or now possessing Hastings?
- Great to see Leland! I can't really speculate about Mr C and his phonecall with the person saying he was Agent Jeffries (Bowie) which I've seen some say that it clearly wasn't. How do you know that? Different voice? Some have said Albert!? But wow seeing Leland and the "So I can be with Bob again" line during the phonecall made me wildly think of a Leland comeback as the main monster. As Bob! Another evolution of a Black Lodge being. It would go against his ending in the series I guess?
I don't even remember if this was the first time we ever see Leland in the lodge and if it was the first time, was it the first time with his non white hair?
-It's a fine line with the humor so far tightly balancing fun or not. I almost never found Andy and Lucy funny when rewatching the series the last time. Apart from Andy during famous moments in Lynch episodes, but here so far it has just about hit home.
Lucy have now truly become a moron and the phone part where she faints was just such a wtf is this **** moment and then you realize how unbelievably silly it is that it was kinda funny.
The bunny bit also just about worked and I loved the Wally Brando scene.
Forster it is clear will be a gift to the show and I hope there is somehow more Wally Brando!
I've seen some suggest that they now think that Dick not Andy is indeed Wally's father.
- the woman with a kid going 1-1-9! in the house on the street where Dougie is having his affair remindmed, and I guess the whole street with its houses does in a way, of some of the women in Inland Empire. Stuck, placed, existing in these houses unclear what they are.
- 3 am and pm seems important. The strange time piece or what that design happens to be in the place that Cooper fell into switched between the number (the time?) 15 and 3 as the women in the room there switched also (from no eyes to Ronnette actress). Obviously (?) it seemed like the time that he could leave and I'm only mentioning it because just today watching the Missing Pieces scene at the very end where Annie is in the hospital with the Owl Cave Ring the time is also nearing 3 and a nurse takes the ring away from her.
So yeah... that's what came to mind right now. This feels more than long enough!
Didn't even talk much about the Lodge stuff, which does feel different in ways that I can't quite put my finger on yet, but I will say that the very Lynchian effects and design felt even more just-right on second watch and again, especially the opening, was it almost 30 minutes of part 3, was just amazing. I love part 3. It must be up there with the best television that I've ever watched where of course I also count the Lynch episodes from the original run. On re-watch perhaps especially those in early season 2. Holy **** those were incredible. This part 3 here this time was just totally unique and heroic.