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Bonus Episode - David Lynch

January 18, 2025·1 hr 38 min·4 clips

David Lynch has died. The host says up front that this is not the bonus episode he wanted to record, but after Lynch passed, it felt like the one to do. Kate joins him for a remembrance that starts in a practical place: if Lynch still feels like an unopened shelf, where should someone begin? The talk keeps coming back to influence. They treat Lynch less like a riddle to solve and more like a working artist who changed how both of them watch things. One film becomes the hinge. The host sees it as the point where Lynch starts pulling back the pretty American surface, where roses and white fences stop looking so innocent. The names and sounds matter. Roy Orbison, Laura Dern, Kyle MacLachlan, and Dino De Laurentiis all help sketch the pattern of faces, music, and production history around the work. Wild at Heart gets a more uncertain reread. Both have spent less time with it than with much of Lynch's other work, so the conversation has a nice still-thinking-it-through feel. The comparison lands hard: Lynch's Wizard of Oz, run through Nicolas Cage, Elvis energy, Laura Dern, lush cinematography, and a story that is already overheating. Even the ugliness has a shape. Willem Dafoe's character comes up as one of those Lynch figures who is upsetting but not random, placed exactly where the larger design needs him. The ending turns back to listeners. After mentioning schedule shifts around chapter ten and a later wrap-up, the host asks people to watch Lynch's films or Twin Peaks. It feels less like homework than a genuine sendoff: go let the work get under your skin, then make something.

As heard by us

A memorial conversation that doubles as a practical map back into Lynch's films.

This episode uses a memorial conversation about David Lynch as a practical way back into the films. It starts with the question of where to begin when the work feels intimidating, and it keeps returning to what made Lynch matter to the hosts in the first place.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a light, humane entry into Lynch, this bonus episode is the one to press play on first.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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