My Dear Wormwood

For Xmas, The Dulcinea gave me the super Twin Peaks Gold Box set.



It had been a few years since I'd watched the series on the old VHS copies from Bongo so having the entire series on DVD was a real treat. That I had forgotten so much was also really nice as quite a bit of the second season was new once more. Plus I fell in love with Mädchen Amick as Shelly Johnson all over again. One thing I noticed this viewing was how certain scenes stuck out and engendered a really visceral reaction from me. There were the usual creep-inducing ones such as Ronette's flashbacks to Laura's murder or when Sarah or Madeleine would see Bob in the Palmer home lurching about. But there were others such as this one of Windom Earle:.



It looks like he had started to take off his makeup/costume but didn’t finish. His teeth are black and it appears that there are traces of white grease paint on his face. Nothing surreal happens in the scene; it's just Earle talking to Leo. But, goddamn, was it spooky. And there's this one too:



This is the Giant waving his arms and mouthing "No, no!" to Cooper just after Annie announces that she has registered to be in the Miss Twin Peaks contest. There's just something about him. Instead of being calm, deliberate, and stoic, the Giant is now showing some emotion. It's not that this was truly a scary scene but his appearance just took me off guard. The show is winding down, Earle is looking unstoppable, and the mystery of the Black Lodge feels like it's reaching a peak. And out of nowhere a big lanky klaxon in a bow tie appears yet is strangely silent. I don't exactly know what it is about his visage that put the spook on me, but it did.

Being in a Twin Peaks frame of mind, I recently discovered an audio drama that's very much in the vein of TP. It's called Wormwood.



When a strange vision of murder sends him to a small town to investigate, Dr. Xander Crowe discovers that Wormwood is no ordinary town. Secrets lurk within every resident, from the innkeeper to the town librarian to the waitress at the diner. The seemingly idyllic surface of the town hides a mystery unlike anything he’s ever experienced. Navigating through this tiny, isolated town in the foothills of Northern California, Crowe finds himself drawn into a web of dark conspiracy, strange romance, and arcane mysticism. And now, as Crowe begins to unravel the mystery at the heart of Wormwood, he finds that his very presence there may not be a coincidence at all…

There's a lot of Twin Peaks just in this description. There are others such as Crowe working with the sheriff, the naïve & cowardly deputy, and a man named Hank having an affair. However, there are also lots of differences. For instance, Crowe is an unlikable misanthrope which stands in stark contrast to Special Agent Dale Cooper. Our "hero" also happens to have a deformed hand with some powers of its own. Twin Peaks begins with a murder but Wormwood begins with only a premonition of one.

Wormwood is a pro-am production. While it's not all professionals recording in a modern studio, it's also not merely some folks in their basement with a laptop either. The acting ranges from mediocre to great with most of it being good. I've mostly listened to it in my car so I'm unwilling to pronounce judgment on the sound quality but I will say it's been a bit tinny. My only substantive complaint so far is that certain parts do sound as if they were recorded in a basement. Exterior scenes are problematic as characters sound like they're in a room. Perhaps some padding on the walls would help. Unlike Twin Peaks, there is very little incidental music here. This isn't an issue most of the time but there are scenes which could use a bit of music to add some dynamics to them. Overall, though, Wormwood is a pretty smooth listen.

The plot (so far) is a fun and beguiling mix of soap opera, drama, and horror with a bit of police procedural thrown in for good measure. Episodes run about 20 minutes with #24 having been posted today. I, however, have just started 9 and am getting worried because of these LOST-like voices.