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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
This was good but also really short and I feel like it didn't have a lot of substance to it.
It seemed like things were made a little clearer in terms of some characters and certain plot points, as well as wrapped up some stuff, from the continuation. The book seems like a conclusion but at the same time I know THERE IS and CAN BE SO MUCH MORE. Because there's a question of whether or not a Season 4 will happen, I don't know if that means they are open to doing another or more books. It seems like a conclusion but it also seems like there could be more done.
I like it for what it is but wish there was more. I knew it wasn't going to take me that long to read, but at the same time I would have preferred something deeper and, again, with more substance.
The reason I'm giving it 4/5 stars instead of 3/5 stars is because it made me realize just how much I really love (and appreciate and respect) the continuation/The Return/Season 3- whatever you want to call it. I watched the parts/episodes as they aired for the most part and I think it would have been more effective marathoning them, which is why I might be having this belated reaction.
It seemed like things were made a little clearer in terms of some characters and certain plot points, as well as wrapped up some stuff, from the continuation. The book seems like a conclusion but at the same time I know THERE IS and CAN BE SO MUCH MORE. Because there's a question of whether or not a Season 4 will happen, I don't know if that means they are open to doing another or more books. It seems like a conclusion but it also seems like there could be more done.
I like it for what it is but wish there was more. I knew it wasn't going to take me that long to read, but at the same time I would have preferred something deeper and, again, with more substance.
The reason I'm giving it 4/5 stars instead of 3/5 stars is because it made me realize just how much I really love (and appreciate and respect) the continuation/The Return/Season 3- whatever you want to call it. I watched the parts/episodes as they aired for the most part and I think it would have been more effective marathoning them, which is why I might be having this belated reaction.
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A fun extra for a twin peaks completist, which I guess I am. I loved the ending.
Kind of a mixed bag on this one; it is billed as 'filling in the gaps between Season 2 and The Return', which in itself I wasn't sure if I needed. But it fills in some unnecessary gaps, it connects some useful dots, and then it oversteps its boundaries by trying to explain the ambiguous ending of The Return.
The book comprises of 18 separate 'files', which generally cover one character (or aspect) of Twin Peaks that we all know and love. So first up: there's the direct gap-filling between Season 2 and The Return. We have files containing the histories of Shelley, Ben Horne, Donna Hayward, Norma, Jacoby, Harry Truman. And I was right; I didn't need any of this information. Having biographical content written down always just feels like fan-fiction to me. It's like the Nineteen Years Later epilogue in Harry Potter. It just doesn't feel authentic. And that's how I felt reading about everybody's continued adventures post-Season 2.
And then there's the more mythology-centric chapters. We find out what happened to Annie. We get some concrete(ish) definition of what is up with Audrey. At least, we find out a very specific event that happened to her, which lends some very strong credence to one of the popular fan theories about what was up with her in The Return. The revelations about these two characters felt anti-climactic to me. It's that old case of thinking you want something, until you get it. I was desperate to find out what was UP with Audrey Horne in The Return. And then reading this, in black and white print, on the page, just made me feel disappointed. I preferred the mystery, the ambiguity.
There is also information on Major Briggs, Philip Jefferies, and Cooper's Double, all of which I actually found interesting and enlightening. Not all of it was new information, most of it just put all the dots together. But it was quite nice to read it all laid out, kind of like a Twin Peaks wikia.
Then there are two sections that expand on the finale of The Return and attempt to make things more understandable and concrete; a chapter on Judy and a chapter titled "Today". Both of these give some pretty lore-heavy information. Judy doesn't contain explicit answers per se, but there is a little more elaboration on what Gordon Cole said about Judy/Joudy in The Return, and then there's some implications for what that means in terms of Bob (at least, that's how I read it). I'm not entirely comfortable with lore being explained solely in companion materials, but given that there's no explicit answers or revelations, I think I am actually quite content with the ambiguous nature of what is detailed.
And the "Today" section. There's a very definite confirmation of the identity of the girl in the New Mexico frog-moth scene in The Return. Which, again, feels... unnecessary. If there is going to be confirmation of ambiguous facts, I wish that that would happen within the material itself, rather than confined to the extraneous companions. It makes it feel somewhat less "official", and like it could be retconned at any point. but the "Today" file actually goes much deeper than simply confirming theories. It also explores what happened in the finale of The Return, after Cooper's dimenson-travelling appearance in FWWM and meeting with Carrie Page, and the consequences of his actions. It pretty definitively gives you an answers about what the consequences were. Which right away makes me uneasy because see above re: plot points given away in companion material. But more than that, it creates a headache in terms of dimension and timelines.
So all in all, this book falls in the middle of the road for me. There's some totally unnecessary fan-fiction-esque character catch-ups. There's some interesting and useful dot-connecting between the plot points that we saw but didn't fully explore in The Return. And then there's some fairly convoluted direct explanations of things that were (purposefully?) left ambiguous in The Return.
The book comprises of 18 separate 'files', which generally cover one character (or aspect) of Twin Peaks that we all know and love. So first up: there's the direct gap-filling between Season 2 and The Return. We have files containing the histories of Shelley, Ben Horne, Donna Hayward, Norma, Jacoby, Harry Truman. And I was right; I didn't need any of this information. Having biographical content written down always just feels like fan-fiction to me. It's like the Nineteen Years Later epilogue in Harry Potter. It just doesn't feel authentic. And that's how I felt reading about everybody's continued adventures post-Season 2.
And then there's the more mythology-centric chapters. We find out what happened to Annie. We get some concrete(ish) definition of what is up with Audrey. At least, we find out a very specific event that happened to her, which lends some very strong credence to one of the popular fan theories about what was up with her in The Return. The revelations about these two characters felt anti-climactic to me. It's that old case of thinking you want something, until you get it. I was desperate to find out what was UP with Audrey Horne in The Return. And then reading this, in black and white print, on the page, just made me feel disappointed. I preferred the mystery, the ambiguity.
There is also information on Major Briggs, Philip Jefferies, and Cooper's Double, all of which I actually found interesting and enlightening. Not all of it was new information, most of it just put all the dots together. But it was quite nice to read it all laid out, kind of like a Twin Peaks wikia.
Then there are two sections that expand on the finale of The Return and attempt to make things more understandable and concrete; a chapter on Judy and a chapter titled "Today". Both of these give some pretty lore-heavy information. Judy doesn't contain explicit answers per se, but there is a little more elaboration on what Gordon Cole said about Judy/Joudy in The Return, and then there's some implications for what that means in terms of Bob (at least, that's how I read it). I'm not entirely comfortable with lore being explained solely in companion materials, but given that there's no explicit answers or revelations, I think I am actually quite content with the ambiguous nature of what is detailed.
And the "Today" section. There's a very definite confirmation of the identity of the girl in the New Mexico frog-moth scene in The Return. Which, again, feels... unnecessary. If there is going to be confirmation of ambiguous facts, I wish that that would happen within the material itself, rather than confined to the extraneous companions. It makes it feel somewhat less "official", and like it could be retconned at any point. but the "Today" file actually goes much deeper than simply confirming theories. It also explores what happened in the finale of The Return, after Cooper's dimenson-travelling appearance in FWWM and meeting with Carrie Page, and the consequences of his actions. It pretty definitively gives you an answers about what the consequences were. Which right away makes me uneasy because see above re: plot points given away in companion material. But more than that, it creates a headache in terms of dimension and timelines.
So all in all, this book falls in the middle of the road for me. There's some totally unnecessary fan-fiction-esque character catch-ups. There's some interesting and useful dot-connecting between the plot points that we saw but didn't fully explore in The Return. And then there's some fairly convoluted direct explanations of things that were (purposefully?) left ambiguous in The Return.
mysterious
medium-paced
Skippable, to be honest, but better than the first book.
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This further fleshed out the world of Twin Peaks, and answered some questions - but, like all that Frost/Lynch do, it kinda raised more questions. It's not a traditional novel as such, as a series of glimpses (well, dossiers) into the lives of the characters - particularly between S2 and The Return, and gives us some of the extra after S2 information that we (well, I) probably wanted from The Return.
There is a lot to explore here.
Do not go into this before having seen The Return, as it will present significant spoilers.
There is a lot to explore here.
Do not go into this before having seen The Return, as it will present significant spoilers.
dark
hopeful
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
If you watched Twin Peaks: The Return all the way through, and loved it as much as I did, then believe me when I tell you:
YOU. NEED. THIS. BOOK.
Yes, a large part of Twin Peaks's inescapable bone-deep impact lies in the elliptical mysteriousness and enigmatic nature of Lynch's atmospherically terrifying vision, where the plot at the centre of everything isn't the be-all/end-all of what you enjoy the show for.
But as a damn fine bonus slab of fascinating exposition for the fates of characters past and present, a final chance to say goodbye to them all, and a slightly more concrete (but still just tantalisingly ambiguous enough) explanation for the ramifications of that ending, The Final Dossier is nigh-on required reading for the die-hardiest of die hard Peaks fans.
One last thing:
Gotta light?
