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Firewall & Iceberg Podcast, episode 78: 'Falling Skies,' Tracy Morgan & more

Alan and Dan also review 'Jon Benjamin Has a Van,' 'The Nine Lives of Chloe King' and episode 2 of 'Twin Peaks'

By Alan Sepinwall Monday, Jun 13, 2011 4:04 PM

The

I'm back on the East Coast, and the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast is back on its usual Monday schedule. It's a busy show (and one that was a bear to record, thanks to a far-worse-than-usual Skype connection), with reviews of three new shows, another "Twin Peaks" discussion, and lots of mail. The run-down:

"The Nine Lives of Chloe King" -- 01:00 - 11:25
"John Benjamin Has a Van" -- 11:30 - 17:30
"Falling Skies" -- 17:30 - 27:40
Listener Mail: Tracy Morgan -- 27:45 - 34:40
Listener Mail: Statutory Romance in genre fiction -- 34:40 - 39:50
Listener Mail: Second-position casting -- 39:55 - 43:20
"Twin Peaks" "Traces to Nowhere" -- 43:30 - 01:01:00
 
As always, you can subscribe to The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast over at the iTunes Store, where you can also rate us and comment on us. Or you can always follow our RSS Feed, download the MP3 file or stream it on Dan's blog.
 
And as always, feel free to e-mail us at sepinwall@hitfix.com and/or dan@hitfix.com if you have questions you want answered on the show. Please put the word "podcast" in your subject line to make it easy to track them down amid the hundreds of random press releases we get every day.
Alan-sepinwall-sm
Alan Sepinwall
Sr. Editor, What's Alan Watching
Alan Sepinwall has been reviewing television since the mid-'90s, first for Tony Soprano's hometown paper, The Star-Ledger, and now for HitFix. His new book, "The Revolution Was Televised," about the last 15 years of TV drama, is for sale at Amazon. He can be reached at sepinwall@hitfix.com
Related Searches: Firewall & Iceberg, Alan Sepinwall, Twin Peaks, Falling Skies, The Nine Lives of Chloe King, Jon Benjamin Has a Van

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  • Default-avatar

    ed w

    I'm fine with Dan eating during the podcast but he should announce what he's having. And of course when possible he should have pie while discussing Twin Peaks.

    June 13, 2011 at 8:06PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Gizmo_bigger_talkback_profile

      dan Ed - Wanna know the truth? Two Rolaids. We had a technical snafu, I ducked to the kitchen to grab a couple antacids and we started as I was still crunching away.

      I know... That takes a way the mystique.

      Sorry. It was a piece of cherry pie. And it was damn fine.

      -Daniel

      June 13, 2011 at 9:06PM EST
  • Default-avatar

    MatthewL

    Here's a general rule - don't start a podcast with comments about how "we somehow sound better when we're not in the same room," or "technology is not our friend." Because then you're just inviting Skype to curse you.

    I can see I'm going to be bothered by the episode numbering during your discussions of Twin Peaks. I've never accepted the supposed episode titles, since everything I've seen says they were invented much later (if I remember correctly, they're actually translations of titles created when they aired in Germany, I think). I believe the actual titles of the episodes are "Pilot.""Episode 1," "Episode 2," and so on. (That's certainly how they're titled on my DVDs.) Which means that while this week's episode may be the second of the show, it is actually called "Episode 1."

    I couldn't help feeling like you were perhaps slightly tough on the episode. It's by no means a perfect episode, but there's a lot of really good stuff in it, a lot of which you discussed - pretty much any scene with Cooper for a start (gravity boots, Audrey, the percolator, the Log Lady), but also some of the more horrific moments - Mrs Palmer seeing BOB, or or Leo and the bar of soap. If you remember Howard Hawks' rule of thumb for a good film, "Three great scenes, no bad ones," then I personally feel that this episode more than exceeded that test. It doesn't have that touch of genius that makes Lynch's episodes so great, but as a "move the story from point A to point B" episode, it's certainly very solid and enjoyable.

    Regarding Sheriff Truman, I think his inability to see the reality is part of the point. He is too close to everything that happened because he has this perception of who people are - witness his insistence in the pilot that what Cooper was saying was impossible because "you didn't know Laura." He needs the outsider to break down his worldview and see Twin Peaks for what it is - that's kind of the point of the show. And the comparison to Dr Watson in the episode is apt - while the Rathbone films have created this perception of Watson as a dope, he's not. He's a medical doctor for crying out loud. It's just that even someone of above average intellect looks stupid standing next to Holmes. Same thing here - Truman is a good, solid sheriff for what is usually required in Twin Peaks, but this is so outside of his experience that he is slightly out of his depth, and now he's standing by Cooper so he does come across as less skilled than he actually is.

    I liked your discussion for why The Killing didn't succeed in terms of giving Rosie Larson the position she needs as the victim. I'm a few episodes behind, so I haven't seen these later ones where she apparently comes to prominence, but I did see an website ad for the show the other day with Rosie Larsen's face, and I realised I had completely forgotten what she looks like. That's something you're never allowed to do with Twin Peaks, even if only because of the end credits.

    I vote for two podcasts next week, partly because I enjoy your discussions and so bonus episodes are always exciting, and partly because you really need to allow plenty of time for the discussion of next week's episode (arguably the best the show ever made). I don't know if anyone listens to the Extra Hot Great podcast, but in this week's show, they discuss next week's episode and add it to their Canon list of great television episodes.

    June 14, 2011 at 9:22PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Harry_lime_talkback_profile

    odessasteps

    I would have guessed Alan liked the Middleman because it was originally a (pretty funny) comic book.

    June 17, 2011 at 4:35PM EST Reply to Comment

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