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Last Week In Twin Peaks Podcasts, Week of May 14 to May 20

Twin Peaks Revival dropped a podcast Saturday afternoon titled The Owls Are Not What It Seems (Remix). The hosts don’t say a word. It’s not an advertisement. It’s not comedy. This is one song: a genuine remix of Laura Palmer’s Theme that includes some dialogue for the show, and it achieved its purpose magnificently with me by getting me in the mood for the tonight’s debut.

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Also setting the tone was a YouTube entry from Emma the Vlog Lady (that I missed from last week) titled Twin Peaks ‘It Is Happening Again’ Trailer Reaction & Discussion. A theorist who never takes herself too seriously (yet is the originator of the ‘Annie is (influenced by) a lodge spirit’ theory), our host dissected the latest trailer that begins with a stairwell. She observes a Chihuahua might be a reference to a classic Gordon Cole line, and that Cole seems to be reacting to something Albert can’t see. Emma always gets you thinking away from straight lines.  

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A Twin Peaks Podcast.  On Monday The EW guys took on Fire Walk With Me. While listening, it occurred to me that much as Laura is the main character of FWWM, Lynch is the main character of this podcast’s analysis. They think the movie is his final statement of TP, a requiem of how he felt about the thing that was Twin Peaks. When Darren is giving a rundown of the plot/scenes of the first part of the movie, you can hear Doc good-naturedly laughing in the background, which struck me as a Lynchean vibe all by itself, and I loved the thought that Garmanbozia could be Twin Peaks’ midichlorians. And when touching on the dream theory Darren shared his thought that Fire Walk With Me could be a shared dream between cooper and Laura.

Later in the week the hosts came back with a mailbag episode where they answer some listener questions (where they make a solid joke about the Owl Cave ring being a green lantern ring) and they finally acknowledge Mark Frost on-mic as a major force in Twin Peaks, as well as acknowledging the Twin Peaks fan podcasts already living in the neighborhood. The hosts say they’re the  Chester and Sam of the podcasts and they’ve expressed interest in shining light on other pods as they proceed through their episodes. For anyone who wants to believe they’re a corporate trampling beast, I would put those worries somewhere else. I think they’re here for the same party we’re here for.

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There Will Be Drinking Recaps Twin Peaks covered Fire Walk With Me on Friday and had as much fun with it as possible. They screwed around for the first twenty minutes in their typical entertaining manner and jumped into it. Finally seeing Laura Palmer live and breathe made them LOVE Laura’s badassery and think Sheryl Lee is phenomenal. And Cait said FWWM was 20 different art movies put together. This was a fun way to get through a bummer of a movie.

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Twin Peaks Rewatch started out by sharing their love for Showtime’s marketing strategy, sharing the choice line that it looks like an Owl with a GoPro is doing the establishing shots these days. They like the confidence of under sharing trailers but hope it’s not a hedge. Next the hosts cover Secret History of Twin Peaks. While on the topic they phrase the dynamic between Frost and Lynch in such a way that Frost’s worldbuilding abilities may just be that thing that feeds Lynch’s creativity towards Twin Peaks so that it’s impossible for Lynch to leave it behind (a concept he has no trouble doing regarding his other movies). After that, they dig into some topics such as Kenneth Welsh being the one who decided Earle was a master of disguise (and who got to choose his exact disguises). Then they got into their feedback segment where they answered some stray emails that trickled in during the show’s hiatus.

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Counter Esperanto began with a reading of Kubla Kahn, then made an intro that gave us the framework of our particular precipice: Twin Peaks as we’ve known it for 27 years, will never be the same again. The hosts discuss each character fairly and give the show a proper post mortem to say goodbye as we know it to Twin Peaks. I liked these guys way before they plugged our site (which they did and I say thank you gentlemen), and this episode exemplifies why they have their Eagle Scout patches.

Some of their observations: Lynch is basically the classic Male Detective Lead who fell in love with the victim and resurrected her. The Showtime episodes are a true product of a 25-year collaboration. They even play the seldom-heard Dick & Lana Love Theme music cue.

They end the episode with Karl’s essay that is essentially a response to our own Lindsay’s essay “Who’s Annie”, where he posits Caroline Earle could possibly be a walk-in, a concept that also features heavily in the Kyle McLachlan movie the hidden, and is talked about when playing the Quantum Leap theme music in the background, additionally explaining the concept by comparing it to what Sam does every week. Using a music cue to actively color an essay’s argument with a memory is highly economical and, as far as I’m concerned, genius level.

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Last week Bickering Peaks promised us Fire Week With Us, and they gave it to us. On Monday they began their recap of Fire Walk With Me, and they had on a panel of guests, two that had seen everything before, and two people who’ve never seen anything at all Twin Peaks. Their newbies thought the movie worked well enough on its own, and overall they liked the film.  Monday’s Part One, titled Deer Meadow Prologue, went from initial impressions to the moment the Twin Peaks Theme kicks in. Everyone was in agreement that the characterizations could’ve been better for Chet, really for every character. It was hard to know Cooper was the hero of the previous Twin Peaks. Tuesday’s show, titled The Last Seven Days of Laura Palmer, wrapped up the movie with the Laura Palmer portion of Fire Walk With Me, and the same guests continued their conversation. The newbies like James. It was poor James this and poor James that, giving credence to the anecdote James Marshall shared that he didn’t have a handle on James’ character until filming the movie. Once Laura goes to Harold’s to hide her diary, everyone began discussing whether Laura’s predicament with Bob was psychological or supernatural, and they cover the rest of Laura’s descent as easily as possible. They all talk through their theories about the ending and everything else they just experienced, and Lindsay came to the conclusion that this is the definitive version of Twin Peaks because it seems like Lynch meant it to be that.

On Wednesday, in the episode titled Theories and Conjecture, they brought back their guest Aaron (who’d seen the show and movie before this) to explore the theories based around two questions: What is the ring, and what is the dream theory? The first two episodes were all well and good mostly to see what the newbies picked up on and why, but Wednesday’s was more interesting to me overall because they’re digging into the theories the initiated want to parse through. Before explaining the aspects of John Thorne’s theory that the Deer Meadow portion of the movie was Cooper’s Dream, the three cover such topics as: Does Laura accept or refuse the ring? Who controls her if she wears the ring? Who are the lodge denizens and what is their hierarchy? What is garmonbozia all about? And per all good things Twin Peaks they take the journey even though there are no actual answers.

On Thursday, in the episode titled Questions in a World of Blue, they brought back their guest Olivia (who’d never seen it before) along with Aaron to see how well Fire Walk With Me worked as an ACTUAL prequel. And for the most part it does, though seeing the killer act the way he does makes Olivia MAD. Sarah had visions rather than mental problems. Maddie was cheerful and probably a different actress. And Olivia liked Lara Flynn Boyle’s Donna better than Moira Kelly’s.

And on Friday, in the episode titled The Missing Pieces, the hosts talk their way through the missing pieces and talk about how they should’ve been served better left in the movie or it made total sense that the scene was taken out. There’s lots of speculation of what will come back up in the Showtime episodes as well as a look into a feature from the Blu-Ray set: Between Two Worlds. While David Lynch interviews the Palmers. Among other things, Laura says she’s met many beings that have no names, which got the hosts going. And then there’s an easter egg that might just win you over at the end: 16 Reasons why James Hurley is cool. (and after the romp of Fire Walk With Me, good comedy is always welcome).

And because that just wasn’t enough work for them, Lindsay was the guest on this week’s The Cave, in which she and the enthusiastic host Shane go through every major character one at a time, revelling in the maxed-out melodrama of it all. The host even had some understanding words for why the fans have held onto this show for as long as we have. This was a most excellent character primer, and economical too: the whole episode was done in under an hour.

And let’s not forget to mention Aidan and Lindsay were also excellently representing the fandom over at the newly-revamped It’s Canon podcast (and hopefully took a nice long nap after all this). The first hour was about the show’s normal comics-and-movies material, before the hosts set up their own exposure to Twin Peaks. They arrive at a few interesting thoughts (for example Cooper is perhaps actually insane) before bringing in our Bickering Peaks hosts to talk about Twin Peaks from the highs of season one to what happened when Lynch and Frost let others steer the ship, the Diane Podcast-coined 50s 80s, and how they’re not hoping for an ending more than they are looking for emotional closure when all is said and done.

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Ghostwood came back with a podcast about the season two finale, and it was a typical episode: I like the hosts, find their information to be a little scattershot, but the hosts’ chemistry is good. It’s enjoyable enough but I can’t stop thinking about how Xan made a mention that Caroline Earle was a blind lady. I assume she read a typo once when someone should’ve referred to her as a blOnd lady (o being i’s neighbor on a keyboard), otherwise I have no idea what to make of it. The hosts really enjoy Twin Peaks (that’s more than evident) they just don’t do a ton of research to go outside their own experiential memories.

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Twin Peaks Log covered the Secret Diary of Laura Palmer this week. You can tell the hosts read the book because they didn’t want to listen Sheryl Lee read on the audiobook (because the book was creepy enough by itself). The hosts thought it was obvious deep abuse was happening but there were enough details in the narrative to equally believe the cause could be domestic or supernatural or at least inner demons need to be exorcised. They decide this book is most helpful because it explains Laura for the first time.

In addition to this episode, the Twin Peaks Log hosts completely took over the United Nations of Horror podcast’s 57th episode and turned it into a 2-hour series recap. They did a comprehensive look into pretty much any character that had a speaking part, and they go on record as being Pro-Mark Frost.

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Ever since they covered Fire Walk With Me so memorably well (one of the best and comprehensive takes I’ve ever heard), I’ve been dying for Ashley and Matt of Twin Peaks Peeks to cover Laura’s Secret Diary, but what they came back with instead was an episode they recorded back in March about the Georgia Coffee Ads directed by David Lynch and starring a roomful of Twin Peaks actors and one Japanese actor. It was a light topic but I don’t care; I missed them and was glad to have them back in my feed. The hosts caught up with each other, did a review of the actual Georgia Coffee Matt was able to try for himself, barely covered the “plots” of the commercials, went through a list of directors that also shot commercials, and then went on a tangent about how they feel about the Dead Laura Funko toys as a ghoulish shouldn’t-have-happened concept (and I completely agree…I personally like them, bought a Dale and a Margaret so far, but I will NEVER buy or display Bob or Dead Laura “toys” in my house).

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Laura Palmer Is Dead came back with two more episodes and suspect they might put out another this weekend to complete their run of the series before the Showtime episodes. The episodes covered were Season Two Episodes 16 through 19. They noted how Josie was the only woman in the cast who never took agency and remained a victim the whole series, which is close but not quite (I’m remembering a scene of stalemate with Ben Horne for one). I could let that one go because who can remember everything, but I took umbrage with them when later they got Annie’s last name and John Justice Wheeler’s middle name just plain wrong. The four hosts are fans enough to want to make a podcast, and their conversations about the show scenes are entertaining enough, but they are NOT polished.

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The Stuff to Blow Your Mind guys made a whole episode around Jack Parsons titled Escape Velocity: Jack Parsons and the New Magick. The hosts start with the genuine science Parsons was involved in, and then go all the way to Parsons and Hubbard attempting to summon the moonchild. They talk about his sad downfall and early death but do not mention anything about the Owl Ring or his connections to Secret History of Twin Peaks. Think it might have something to do with that part being technically fictional. One note of interest: apparently Ray Bradbury went to those Thelema parties at the parsonage. Could Something Wicked This Way Comes or the Martian Chronicles both be lodge-related? The hosts wouldn’t know how to field that question but it might just make you think.

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The I’m Worried About Coop podcast is hosted by Dan and Autumn, who want us to know them more personally than we know most hosts of Twin Peaks podcasts, and they discuss the show in broad stroke before talking their way through some thoughts on Mark Frost and Secret History of Twin Peaks. They pull out an astute observation that we haven’t seen true Lynch/Frost Twin Peaks yet, and that we finally will starting tonight. Then they go into the characters of Twin Peaks, catching up on where they’ve been and predicting where they will be. They seem knowledgeable of the material, and besides the occasional overgeneralization this one looks promising. Dan made a point how they are willing to call out Twin Peaks if it needs to be called out for its problems when they see them. He thinks other pods remain positive (without being critical) no matter what, but my experience is that the Twin Peaks podcasts try to remain positive WHILE being critical, and thus maintains fairness. I think the show just wanted to warn us that they’ll call out problems with the show rather than looking past them. Which I think is a good trait.

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Laura’s Secret Diary is a podcast I haven’t listened to yet because it’s currently only on Soundcloud (I’m a download-then-listen guy, don’t have the data plan for constant streaming) but they assure me it’ll make it through iTunes soon. Feel free to try them out now, just know I’ll catch you up here when they’re available to me.

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Imaginary Worlds put out a re-edited version of their segment From last week’s Radio 360 about Twin Peaks. This segment was about people who live and work in the Snoqualmie area (where Twin Peaks was filmed), and also the story of a real-life murder in a real-life Twin Peaks, California, which possibly influenced Lynch’s story choices when co-creating Twin Peaks. It’s the same material but it’s re-ordered in a way that it’s worth another listen.

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The hosts of Twin Peaks The Return are well versed in Twin Peaks as well as beautiful turns of phrases, and this episode where they examine what they like about how Twin Peaks works is full of wonderful examples of both. Among other things, they speak of Twin Peaks as something that seeps into you, bleeds into your life. Andy Hazel, one of the hosts, interviewed Mark Frost in the past and dropped this paraphrased quote from Frost: “If you present half a truth to somebody then they’ll bring their own truth to it, and then that conversation will end up becoming more important than the work of art that inspired that conversation.” This quote is exactly how I feel about the conversations Twin Peaks podcasts have been having with me since I discovered them in 2014. This podcast will have plenty of information and it will be packaged in poetic sentences that add to the whole experience, and you can bet I’m going to enjoy every minute.

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On Monday, Damn Fine Podcast invited Conner Kilpatrick and Gabriel Hardman to discuss the Season Two Finale. Their back-in-the-day reactions were mostly underwhelming because they were focusing on the total lack of resolution, some were too out of sorts to find it riveting, but one guest was 14 years old at the time and watched it alone and his story is what I found familiar. I was surprised at the sourness leftover in themselves. The guy who turned into a 14-year-old again loves it unconditionally but the others still seem mad because it ended on so many cliffhangers and it killed Audrey. When trying to guess how this Lynchian masterpiece got on the air as-is, they figured some network executive saying “let’s just air this, it’s already cancelled, I’m sick of fighting with David Lynch.”  When the Leland doppelganger said “I didn’t kill anybody” this crew thought Leland was exonerated?  I took it as sarcasm, not Lynch pinning the deed on Bob. One of the guests, I’m proud to note, is right in line with Joel Bocko that this moment is Lynch trying things that become his future movies, this was a pivot point.

On Thursday, the show came back with Sarah Lane as their guest discussing Fire Walk With Me. They all talked about their theater experiences watching the film when it first came out and none of them liked it until years later when they finally gave it another chance. After going through the movie scenes, they ponder how the Bob issue will be handled in the new episodes, and talk about how some actors fit into the Lynchian vibe (Stanton) and others don’t (Sutherland).

The guys will, on Sunday, do a Livestream speculation episode and look into the books as well, and this will go RIGHT up to the Showtime premiere.

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Time For Cherry Pie and Coffee is a new branch of the Time For Cakes and Ales podcast, which is a general pop culture discussion site, but the hosts wisely understood Twin Peaks was going to dominate their conversations and as such sectioned it off so it can be pure concentrate. This episode goes through their predictions. An actor plays more than one character and one character played by more than one actor in Lynch’s other work, so that could be an easily happening thing as “write it in your diary” could change everything? They also wonder if Lynch recorded w Bowie in secret, or if there will there be a Lynchverse. The hosts are thoughtful types with British accents and a pleasant low key demeanour. I’m not sure what to expect and neither do the hosts, but I’ll be more than happy to listen to them figure it out.

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Investigating Twin Peaks continues to be a video podcast most helpful for the completely uninitiated.  The hosts cover Zen, Or The Skill To Catch A Killer in a tight half-hour, interspersing pictures of the scenes and characters they’re currently discussing, and they cover things comprehensively but not deeply. At the pace they’re on, while the rest of us are dealing with the final episodes of Showtime Twin Peaks the hosts here will be covering Dispute Between Brothers.

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This week’s Bookhouse Podcast covers Fire Walk With Me, The Secret History of Twin Peaks, and the hosts’ general thoughts on the upcoming Showtime series. The hosts are aware that many fans LOVE Fire Walk With Me and that many HATE it, but don’t know much about the controversy otherwise. They thought it was ridiculous that Hawk was the one who wrote the giant section on Ed, Nadine and Norma, and the veteran host (of the veteran/newbie formula) said “Watch the second season, dude” about Frost writing that Pete was a checkers man, not chess. No one was able to look deeply enough at Secret History to understand that these inconsistencies are something Frost is for some reason doing on purpose. This podcast appears to lack the total ability or interest to conjecture or look under the surface.

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I’m re-running this blurb as it’s happened again: Showtime put an advertisement in the new Alice Isn’t Dead podcast by the way. Smart spot-on advertising if I do say so. If you’re not listening to this, it’s a drama by the Night Vale people where the journey IS the story. High five to Showtime for appropriate advertising.

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Fish In The Percolator stopped by with an episode titled Showtime Revival Preview to remind listeners of their personalities as well as to chat about their expectations with the new material. They sound like goofballs at first glance but Matt will sneak in interesting takes fairly regularly. Today was no exception: Cooper could’ve expelled BOB already and we see his time as Bob’s host in flashbacks (probably more spoken than shown) as well as seeing his pain today trying to atone.

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Twin Peaks Unwrapped talked about the last Log Lady Intros and brought John Thorne on for a short segment where among other things he says he’s appreciating this small window of time where we all know NOTHING of what will happen. He also goes into his reasons for why he thinks Cooper’s been split in two.

After this, the hosts bring on the There Will Be Drinking Recaps Twin Peaks hosts, who say they go in cold before recording and use a skeptical point of view on purpose. This POV used to be genuine but they grew into fans. Both ladies think the show holds up.

Then Ben & Bryon bring on Sparkwood & 21’s hosts, who talk about their origin story to Twin Peaks as well as podcasting in general and Sparkwood’s special status as the only recap show that bakes spoilers into its discussions (which puts it tied for first on my Mount Rushmore). Then they all discuss theories and expectations.

Actor Gary Bullock (Fire Walk With Me’s Sheriff Cable) comes on next to talk about his filming experience (Lynch told him to slow down until it felt uncomfortable. “Then you know you have it.” The best advice he’d ever been given.) as well as his genuinely interesting new novel, The Elsewhere Gene.

Scott Ryan finished off the episode by talking about the Secret Diary of Laura Palmer audiobook, which SHOULD scare people. And Sheryl Lee scares him (and I think he loves it).

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The Gifted and the Damned hosts said they’re going to have a newbie on their next episode to see if they can get anything out of the new Twin Peaks or if it’s only going to work for previous fans. It’s a bit of a science experiment. This show also gave us a nice mention upfront, so thanks, fellas.

Then the guys went through their usual morning radio shtick and pulled a contest winner before talking about their experiences seeing Fire Walk With Me in the theaters (Mork said the movie almost made him Like Leland less). Then they discuss their white lodge (best) and black lodge (worst) minutes of the movie. After that they went through the missing pieces scenes to see which ones should’ve been included in the final cut. Their winner was the learning-Norwegian scene at the Palmer house, because Leland had no good side in FWWM and it could’ve given him some balance. After this, the guys do their best to find a real-life Twin Peaks celebrity encounter to close off that segment and they settled on both had seen Pearl Jam in concert.

The last segment of the show is their title essay “It’s okay to not like fire walk with me”, where they look at the FWWM script from a screenwriter’s perspective and explain how it’s a flawed script. They look at it in a number of different ways from characterization to plot mechanics, and they even take on feedback at the end from defenders of the movie, culminating in Joel Bocko bringing it like he was in Sparkwood & 21 feedback form. I don’t always agree with Bubba and Mork (and with names like that, how could you?) but I believe their mission statement with this podcast is to get people talking about things that aren’t really being talked about. I commend them on their dedication.

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Lodgers started their discussion of Fire Walk With Me by discussing how it was panned, how the actors felt abandoned and wanted nothing to do with acting in it, and also how Lynch has since rehabbed his relationships & critics are finally coming around to the movie. And Kate didn’t think Lynch was being antagonistic to the audience on purpose but he was processing his experience with the making of ABC Twin Peaks.

The hosts point out how phenomenal Sheryl Lee’s acting is by reminding us she was untrained and the mere fact she did it at all would’ve been a victory. The empathy she brings to the character saved this movie from being a Dead White Girl stereotype. And for all the people who thought the movie offered no suspense, the hosts say it’s not that kind of movie. The actual drama is Fates vs The Individual. In this case, it’s the tragedy put onto a woman who’s at the center of forces she can’t win against. She’s subjected to their action and she weathers it by saying “you’ll never have me.” This is Laura’s defiance and victory. There’s a ton of things like this in the whole podcast. Give it a go.

 

AND IF YOU ONLY LISTENED TO ONE TWIN PEAKS PODCAST LAST WEEK IT SHOULD BE:

The Eagle Scouts over at Sparkwood & 21 came back this week with a three-hour show including TWO extensive interviews with the podcast teams behind Twin Peaks Unwrapped (finishing their crossover) and Counter Esperanto, as well as an introduction of their new third host, Paul. The conversations were completely different from each other but all three were thoroughly entertaining.

The Twin Peaks Unwrapped boys were in the role of the guests for the first time in my memory, and we get production insight into how they stay weekly, their favorite Lynch films, favorite characters, and let the cat out of the bag about an upcoming Sherilyn Fenn interview when they discuss interviewing in general (for Bryon it’s getting easier but for Ben it never does). Ben’s hopes Showtime Peaks still feels like Twin Peaks and fears it’ll be unrecognizable, and Bryon assumes it’ll be full circle in some ways and fears it won’t be in town enough. The guys share that they bonded over LOST, and Bryon, if he were able to make one other podcast, would make one called My Backlog Podcast so he finally can force himself to catch up on the things he can’t get to.

The Counter Esperanto guys share how behind the scenes unedited podcasts sound like two hours of two people trying to remember one person’s name, then go into the Sherlock Holmes connections to Twin Peaks and share the interesting thought that Frost’s lack of canon consistencies could’ve been less conspiracy-laden and more about him aping Arthur Conan Doyle’s (who didn’t care about canon at all and constantly contradicted plot points due to carelessness) writing style, as well as how the Bookhouse Boys could be Twin Peaks’ Baker Street Irregulars. Then everyone talks about Lovecraft and Sherlock Holmes connections before Jubel talks about production stories behind his project called Cooper’s Dream (where you’ll need to listen for the greatest song title you’ll ever hear). They talk predictions of what they think will happen in the Showtime episodes and then wrap up by revealing that Karl and Jubel had no idea what the reference was for “Hot water, Karl.”

This week’s Sparkwood wraps up with a Q & A with their new co-host Paul, who’d been a newbie up until he secretly watched everything. His co-hosts grilled him on anything they could think of to feel him out and the whole thing seems promising. For one thing, when they asked him what he thought the deal with Bob was, he said it’s “like trying to explain the Black Lodge. I could go around in circles for twenty minutes on it.” Try 27 years, Paul. But seriously I think he’s got the right mindset for this, and I for one welcome him aboard.

 

Not on the list but you released a podcast last week? Leave a comment here so I can add you into my listening schedule. The Twin Peaks community needs to know about you!

Written by John Bernardy

John Bernardy has been writing for 25YL since before the site went public and he’s loved every minute. The show most important to him is Twin Peaks. He is husband to a damn fine woman, father to two fascinating individuals, and their pet thinks he’s a good dog walker.

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