"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Jean is a transitory villain, more material than BOB, less evil that Windom.  I like the showdown at Dead Dog, and sympathize with Jean.  He's is a business where he has to kill people sometimes in order to keep his position on the food chain.  It's a hard life, he has to make hard decisions, and his bitterness toward Cooper is understandable. 

We learn a lot about the character of Cooper through the OEJ storyline, too.  When he's around, people die, and he struggles morally with that. 

Moreover, when Cooper came to Twin Peaks, he upset the light/dark balance of the town, and was punished for it in the end.  Who is who's nightmare?  That's always subjective

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

No one is 100% good or evil.  Isn't that what Twin Peaks is about? 

Who's to say Jean didn't struggle with his decisions?  What if he felt he had no other choice?  He had a record (we see his mug shot), so it's not like he could just drop everything and live the straight life.  I'd wager the father of the Renaults is to blame, they're all f*cked up.

He was willing to die as long as he took Cooper with him. I think it's beautiful.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Renault is a murderer, but he only targets his enemies for what he sees as a problem i.e. with cause. He does not murder ‘civilians’ or for sport or perversion. So, he gets very limited props for not being a complete human monster.

Geez 12, are you a defense attorney?

I didn't say he was good.  I just think the writers do a great job of making 3-dimensional people.  It's easy to make someone an evil cliche, or a innocent cliche.  All I'm saying is Jean is evil enough to be a villain, but not corny and over the top like BOB and Windom. 

Calling someone a "good" or "bad" person is pretty unhelpful because, as has been noted, it collapses a bunch of possible motives, influences, and impusles into a specious, subjective dichotomy.

But I digress...

I think the OEJ segment is just fine.  It was great when it had Audrey in it, less so when it was left up to Hank and Ernie... but the conversation at dead dog farm really rectifies the whole thing.  If you're looking to axe parts of the show, there are much more worthy candidates for oblivion.  Keep it.  Kill Evelyn.  :)

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Talking of Season 2 filler, what would you think of a re-edited Season 2 (or second part of season 2), cut down to the main plot. You know, cutting out Evelyn/Little Nicky, just a lot of the acknowledged poor storylines from Season 2. I know some of you would hate the idea, but I've seen Season 2 twice now, and I know there's some great stuff in there, but I can't be bothered to watch a lot of it again. Maybe I'll just have to watch it with the fast-forward button to hand.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

What would be missing from the Fan Edit?

Evelyn and James

Little Nicky

Super Nadine

Weasel Cam

You're My Daddy!

Civil War Ben

What else?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

Hopefully no one picks the One Eyed Jacks/Jean Renault storyline.  You need it to get Coop off the hook for going into Canada to get Audrey.  And you need it cause it is one of the first times we see Coop as a vulnerable, falliable person.  The stuff about him possibly bringing the nightmare to Peaks is really great.

Making a fan edit like this seems lame though.  Don't you have a chapter forward button on your dvd player?  Sometimes you need the bad to realize the good.

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper

I think the OEJ stories were okay, as long as they weren't treated like filler. They did relate to Twin Peaks and Laura. I disagree about Ernie, I liked his character. I liked it being rooted in reality too. I think that's what Twin Peaks needed. Devoting a plot to the Black Lodge (and discovering it), looking back, was not a good idea. It was stupid to bring the Black Lodge itself into reality, rather than it being related specifically to Cooper and dreaming, the subconscious. Having a map to locate it and the Owl Cave thing was pretty silly wasn't it!?

I wasn't happy with the Civil War storyline and Ben though. Seemed a bit feeble. By that point the second season was dragging.

There would be, like, nothing left if you edited out everything the fans had beef with- which is almost never agreed on.

C'mon, guys. Don't you ever get up to use the  bathroom during the parts you don't like, or do you just go in your pants when TP is on?

"Harry, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it, don't wait for it, just let it happen. Could be a new shirt at the men's store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot, black coffee. Like this."  -Dale Cooper