Wrapped in Podcast: Twin Peaks Season 3

J.R. interviews Sherilyn Fenn--who discusses her view of how Audrey could have been in The Return, her view of how Audrey was in the The Return, her thoughts on the inimitable Clark Middleton (R.I.P.), and more!

The Wrapped in Podcast crew comes together to discuss Eraserhead, David Lynch's first film and possibly the Rosetta Stone for all his later work.

J.R. conducts brief field interviews with Ray Wise and Sheryl Lee.

On part two of Wrapped in Podcast's discussion of Mulholland Drive, the gang walks through 10 "clues" to the movie provided by David Lynch himself as part of the promotion of the DVD release of his landmark 2001 film. Topics discussed include J.R.'s infected hangnail, those 10 clues, and how David Lynch is the devil and responsible for the destruction of Billy Ray Cyrus's family. We at one point reference this theory from a Mulholland Drive fan site: http://www.mulholland-drive.net/theories/06.htm

If you’re listening to the latest episode of “Wrapped in Podcast”, you may have won a jitterbug contest! The full four-member complement of America’s favorite legal podcast is back in action to review the David Lynch film that one panelist’s Amazon Echo referred to as “Mulholland Doctor”.

Host J.R. Parker speculates about Justin Theroux’s apparent second puberty and leads a unanimous cabal of critics who are wholly unsympathetic to current complaints concerning the lack of chapter stops on latter-day DVDs. Non-lawyer Jeff Fallis provides professorial insights into the combustion of the film’s 88-minute cut, the extraordinarily absurd oddness of dream logic, and the director’s cinematic send-off of the 20th century. First-time viewer T. Kyle King louses up the introductions by engaging in premature explication and briefly flummoxes Ken Walczak with a wildly unconventional theory. For his part, Ken hates the slapstick hit man scene, sees significance in the rictus grins of the tiny elderly pod people, and offers a thorough overview of “Gilda” and its resonance for “Mulholland Drive”.

During their deep dive into Lynch’s 2001 film noir, the crew engages in a wide-ranging exchange including allusions to the age before cell phones, apex narcissism, Bikini Atoll, “Blue Velvet”, “Bye Bye Birdie”, Nancy Drew, Doctor Faustus, gigantic copper fish, “The Godfather”, “Inception”, “Jackie Brown”, karma, Elmore Leonard, “Lost”, “Lost Highway”, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”, pixellated genitalia, psychosexual foreplay, quantum physics, Paul Revere, “Riverdale”, “The Sopranos”, “Sunset Boulevard”, Melania Trump, “Twin Peaks” episodes from the European pilot to the Showtime finale, “The Usual Suspects”, and the Venn diagram of perverts and purists.

Join the gang for the first hour of their examination of “Mulholland Drive”, complete with Ken’s tantalizing cliffhanger conclusion designed to whet the audience’s appetite for the second installment of Episode 26 of “Wrapped in Podcast”!

“Wrapped in Podcast” is back with Episode 25, Part Two, in which J.R. Parker, T. Kyle King, and Ken Walczak continue their explication of David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man”. Be forewarned, though, that this installment features neither Ice-T’s “Colors” nor Jeff Fallis’s moderating professorial influence.

In spite of those notable absences, J.R. questions John Merrick’s choice of theatrical productions, confuses corrupt Congressmen Dan Rostenkowski and James Traficant with one another, and welcomes listeners back to America’s favorite legal podcast, while Kyle criticizes a series of scenes that are a little too on the nose, spots both Plato’s shadows on the cave wall and Audrey Horne’s clandestine surveillance of her father’s secret meetings, and sparks a doctoral dissertation on flames versus electricity in Lynch’s oeuvre. For his part, Ken disagrees with Roger Ebert, takes a swing on the gym set from “Twin Peaks: The Return”, and declares that it’s his party and he’ll cry if he wants to.

Yes, it’s true that this tight 36-minute summation of “The Elephant Man” contains lawyerly allusions to bailments, interpleader, replevin, strict liability, trover, and usufructuary rights. However, like the mentions of “Batman Begins” and “Star Trek”, they appear only in passing. “Wrapped in Podcast” remains primarily a forum for discussing David Lynch, so this detailed examination of “The Elephant Man” is worth your while, if only for the revelation that Lynch makes a cameo in the film.

Ken’s Beverage Corner is about property law, though, so there’s that.

Contrary to what the hosts seem to think, Episode 25 of “Wrapped in Podcast” is not actually about “The Greatest Showman”. Instead, J.R. Parker, T. Kyle King, and Ken Walczak discuss David Lynch’s first film as a professional director, “The Elephant Man”. They also speak a fair degree of legalese.

Based on the life of Joseph (often mistakenly called “John”) Merrick, “The Elephant Man” was nominated for eight Academy Awards and led directly to the creation of a new Oscar category. In Part One of their review of the triumphant 1980 masterpiece Mel Brooks chose Lynch to make, the “Wrapped in Podcast” gang (minus the salutary non-lawyer influence of regular panelist Jeff Fallis) expresses amazement that the movie was even made.

J.R. praises Lynch’s decision to film “The Elephant Man” in stock black and white, identifies Bytes as a precursor to BOB, and attempts (then abandons) a John Hurt impersonation. Kyle believes the word “understanding” invariably implies misunderstanding, spots the juxtaposition of natural free animal man and expendable mechanized human cogs, and thinks “The Elephant Man” in many ways seems like a movie from much later in Lynch’s career. Ken contributes biographical background on Merrick, links the film to “Freaks”, and hears what he calls “Industrial Cacophony No. 1”.

In a 66-minute discussion eschewing their usual scene-by-scene treatment, the podcasters make mention of Jeffrey Beaumont, Dale Cooper, Harry Crews, Boyd Crowder, “Dune”, golf carts, the Industrial Revolution, Jack the Ripper, Hannibal Lecter, “The Lion in Winter”, maternal impression, the Minions, moral line-drawing, Jack Nance, open flames, Laura Palmer, Karl Pilkington, the Puritans, R2-D2, “Time Bandits”, Universal Studios, Victorian hospital security, voyeurism, the War Doctor, Western capitalism, worker’s compensation, and zoning. Don’t be an animal; be a human being who’s listened to the latest installment of “Wrapped in Podcast”!

In Episode 23 of Wrapped in Podcast, we conclude our discussion of Twin Peaks: Tamara Preston's Livejournal, discussing Chapters 17 (Ray Monroe), 18,(Today), and our final thoughts on Mark Frost's coda to Twin Peaks: The Return. Thanks for listening!

In Episode 22 of Wrapped in Podcast, we continue our discussion of Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier by Mark Frost, specifically, Chapters 9 (Back in Twin Peaks), 10 (Miss Twin Peaks), 11 (Dr. Lawrence Jacoby), 12 (Margaret Coulson), 13 (Sheriff Harry Truman), 14 (Major Briggs), 15 (Phillip Jeffries), and 16 (Judy).

In Episode 21 of Wrapped in Podcast, we continue our discussion of Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier, Chapters 5 (Jerry Horne), 6 (The Double R), 7 (Annie Blackburn), and 8 (Windom Earle).