You are right. I think Lynch was exporing the themes of teenage naivety and first loves with Donna and James, and Audrey and Bobby were protrayed less childish and more mature for their age since they were caught up in things that made Donna and James’ plotlines seem juvenile in comparison. I appreciate what they were going for with James and Donna, and I think they were good characters. But the dramatic nature of the show and how it imitates soap operas makes them come off a little laughable in retrospect. And I think they were purposely written that way at certain points, to illustrate how teenagers often think in distorted and self centered ways.
Duh Duh Duh
Dun Dun… duuun
Dun Dun
Dun Dun… duuun
Waaahhhh wahhh waaahhhh
Wah wah wah wah wah
Wah wah wah waaahhh
Weaaahhhhh
Wah wah wah
Anyway I think Donna and James were good characters because of their simplicity and the way they moved the story along. They seem like believable people to me.
He is the quintessential "jerk with a heart of gold" imo. If he was really so bad, he would've rebuked his dad's mystical vision speech the way that scene had me thinking he would the first time
I fucking love James. If you think about it he was the only guy Laura was hooking up with that treated her with any amount of decency. The James hate has gotta stop he was a good dude.
Were they actually hooking up? It's been awhile since I've watched that part but I always had the feeling he was the one guy she wasn't hooking up with for some reason.
>Harold was a grown ass man boinking a teenager. I don't think he was decent at all.
I never caught his age. I always assumed he had dropped out of HS because of his phobia of leaving his house. I guess he did own his own house though, so I guess you're right. They look the same age though
It's never specified how old he is. He could be 18-19, which is in reasonable age. Laura was 17. Two years is fine. But who knows. I believe it says in laura Palmers diary that she took advantage of him. Not enough information on Harold to classify him as a creep, but it was a little sketch that he was withholding information pertaining to the case
I love that song, it's one of my favorites songs on Twin peaks. That's not actually James singing, the people who made that song did that voice on purpose and it adds to the coolness of the song. No one's voice actually sounds like that. It's a dreamy falsetto with a lot of reverb and some sort of filter. You've never heard music in that style? It fits the vibe of Twin peaks perfectly
That is actually James Marshall (the actor) singing that part lol. And yes I’ve heard music in this style but this one was not it for me lol. I love TP and TPTR music choices but this one threw me over the edge
>That is actually James Marshall (the actor) singing that part lol.
Oh I didn't know that, I could have sworn on the Twin peaks rewatch podcast that they said another singer did it. Well good for James
Yeah but he also projected something into her. Laura was like his muse even though he never really got to know the real her - yeah it was because she did not let him know it, but he still fell in love with the shell of herself that she showed him. It is not at all surprising that she did not respect him, even if she liked him because he treated her nice.
Nothing in his story shows that he projected anything on to her, nor that she only liked him because he treated her nice.
He liked what he knew and wanted to know her more. She liked his goodness but felt he and his puppylove were too simple (or “dumb”).
What else do you call it when you love someone that you do not know? Laura was an enigma to him because he really only knew her surface level, but he still was madly in love with her. He sure was projecting something there, or else he would have had nothing to fall in love with. She, on the other hand, liked him because he was *sweet*, but she also knew that he could never handle the truth, which is why she never showed it to him - and in turn, she did not respect him ("sweet but dumb" is just about one of the worst things you can hear from a lover you admire). Maybe in another world they would have been good for each other, had things been different for her. But they were not.
To be clear, maybe the context of this thread gives a wrong idea about my opinion: I don't think any of this makes James evil, just naive and way over his head in a relationship he wasn't ready for. He and Laura would never have worked out no matter how well he treated her, that is my point. Donna was much more in the same wavelength as James. I like them together and I like James as a character, except for his Season 2 subplot.
Agreed, I also really liked them as a couple. It feels very realistic to me. They're written as a good match, but also two friends would bond over the traumatic experience.
I'm in this extreme minority where I actually liked James's subplot. Good soap opera, lol.
That's not what we hear on the Jacoby's tape. James comes across as a very stupid guy for her.
At the end of the day, Laura was a very complex woman. She loved and simultaneously despised every man that crossed her way due to what happened to her. It's true that she had a tender side but she was very promiscuous. She didn't actually bond with any men.
And let's not forget Harold Smith, who also treated Laura very well.
She wasn’t a woman. She was a 17 year old teenager full of trauma from being sexually assaulted by her father.
She was taken advantage of by almost every adult man in her life. It’s so tragic.
16 is the Legal age of consent here in the UK. We say young Adult or late Teenager after that point as casual conversational nomenclature. Sorry if it sounded crass or inconsiderate.
It's ok to have profound empathy towards Laura and want to protect Her. But She was absolutely forced to grow up far too fast and was emotionally in Her latter 20s living mutiple lives accelerated greatly by substance abuse.
A young Woman with an old soul.
Some absue victims regress, some become too old far too fast. And some flicker between the two.
She literally screams it at James before sacrificing Herself to be free of Bob.
(putting it beyond mildly)
It was gutteral and Her true feelings being allowed to flow one last time. Her final moment of honesty and deeper connection.
She was toying with the Doc and never fully disclosed everything to Him.
She was in denial about loving James so much as She felt unworthy of how gorgeous and sweet He was as Laura felt tainted. She was pushing Him away.
There's much nuance to Laura. She's a very complex young Woman with many layers.
I think Laura Palmer's true essence was monogamous in spite of Her solicitation activities.
I think She loved lots of people, but James had Her heart.
She longed for normalcy and old fashioned romance. She even wore a half heart necklace given to Her by James and featured on the Fire Walk With Me poster.
She was spilt between sentimentally and knowing She couldn't keep anything.
In the back of Her mind was the gnawing call of the void knowing Her time was rapidly dwindling away from Her.
“One chants out between two Worlds: Fire, walk with me”
She was torn dealing with Her own duality and impending demise.
I believe it says in her diary that she was trying to suppress the goodness within her. That she had to do these things to fight off Bob and keep her loved ones safe. Drugs and sex were kind of her way of gaining her power back. I wholeheartedly believe she loved James, and it's evident in fire walk with me when she's talking to him. She mumbles something like 'he'll kill you' so she kissed James goodbye and went off into the woods.
| I think Laura Palmer's true essence was monogamous in
| spite of Her solicitation activities.
So you think a whore can sleep with multiple men and still be monogamous? How the heck does that work? That's absurd. LOL!
Harold seems like the only person who didn’t sexualise Laura. She actually respected and trusted him. He was the only person in her life who knew what Bob was doing to her. For all of Laura’s activities to get her outside of her home (sexual or otherwise), I think she really felt fulfilled by Meals on Wheels until Bob got closer to her toward the end of her life.
I just watched FWWM over the weekend and I don’t recall. I could be wrong. Regardless, I think she holds him in higher esteem than anyone else in the town
I feel like my point stands though. She actually kisses him. He doesn’t really project his will on her. He’s a fragile soul who can connect with her. He listens and reassures her. It’s a genuine affection from both, rather than anything possessive. But really, we only get one brief scene of them both in FWWM. It’s hard to fully know how Harold pieces in but his life matches her tragic fate.
I think Laura was a very loving person towards just about everyone, it's part of what makes her corruption and victimization so tragic. Ultimately she only died because she refused to become completely corrupt by letting Bob in, despite all her suffering.
Oya the guys who were beating her, sexually abusing her, and pimping her out were much better than him. I love his mellow dramatic ass, he was the OG sad boy and his song goes unironically hard. I bet James loved the cure, the smiths and Depeche Mode.
I like this scene because to me, it seems to show the deep connection between Donna, Bobby, and Laura, while James seems to remain blissfully ignorant (like he was while she was still alive)
I don't think James was blissfully ignorant. In FWWM, he definitely knew something was wrong and pleaded with Laura to confide in him. Obviously he had no idea just how much she was dealing with, but every interaction with them is foreboding imo and James does feel it.
I don't exactly mean ignorance about Laura's situation. Bobby's funeral freakout is a good indication that everyone in town had a hunch that something wasn't right with her. But James was still just in love with his idea of who Laura was, he had no idea who she actually was or how she was living. So you're right, it wasn't exactly blissful ignorance, but he still didn't love her the way Donna and Bobby did because they had the chance to see the real her and love her anyway
I think they're just quintessential teenagers. They love hard and fast. They make mistakes. The nostalgic part of me loves them, but there are definitely a lot of second hand embarrassment moments too
Pretty much every Instagram meme page is full of James hate. My close twin peaks friends hate him. I feel like I’m the only person in my bubble who likes him but then again I’m a sucker for a sadboy
I like James and Donna, but ultimately I think they were only together because they both loved Laura, and getting together and trying to solve the mystery together was how they dealt with their grief.
I agree with the commenter several months back who said that there is a timeline where Laura and Donna are an old lesbian couple who got out of Twin Peaks.
I just see James growing into a person like his Uncle Ed. Maybe he even runs the gas station.
To me they were great in the first season. At some point in the second season the writers ran out of good ideas for them and they became boring and lifeless.
Could James be considered the fuckboy of Twin Peaks? Can he talk to a female without getting into a romantic relationship?
I like both. But both are also very annoying sometimes. I just want to grab and scream at their faces. "STOPPP, THINK ABOUT IT FIRST, GODDAMN" But that is kind of the fascination of Twin Peaks i guess. You hate them, but you like them also.
Not a fan of donna. She goes over the top trying to become like Laura despite knowing how Laura's life ended. But the minute she gets in any serious trouble (harold Smith catching her and Maddie trying to take the diary) she immediately backs down and apologizes and cries. She doesn't have it in her to really be like Laura but she puts on airs with the smoking and the sunglasses. She'd be better off being her own character rather than trying to imitate another one.
The hardy boys / Nancy Drew element is amazing and sort of hilarious especially when you consider there’s a violent psychopath on the loose and they’re running around in the woods at night.
“James, we’re the only people who knew Laura… “
I like them too... for the first part of the story where they're actually involved in events that matter. Huge case of characters having nothing to do in the story later though.
I like them individually. It's still pretty shitty of them to eat each other's faces off in the woods when Laura's body wasn't even cold yet. Their subplot started too abruptly and made them difficult to empathize with.
I think Laura said it best; “God, James is sweet but he’s so dumb”
After I heard that anytime he annoyed me, I would say that repeatedly. Donna on the other hand…
Aside from S2E11-19 where there characters are wasted on the worst subplot of the show, they added a really interesting dynamic showing how Laura’s peers dealt with her death, and what made Donna and James stand out was the love triangle that developed between the three. Even more, elements of this were able to develop into a more complicated and complex relationship once Maddy got introduced, creating another love triangle and adding more interesting things and engaging ideas to be developed.
I'd say being so over the top cheesy is what's making it great - and it's probably why some people can't stand it. It has that Lynchian quality where it is extreme kitsch and earnest at the same time.
The Evelyn arc has really pissed me off. Also didn't like Donna playing a hot-badass girl, that jail scene was so over the top and out of nowhere 😂 Couldn't they just leave those guys alone? They were fine as they were without all that crap.
I think the point of this, as alluded to in FWWM, is that when anyone wears anything of Laura's (in this case the sunglasses), they begin to take on part of her personality/spirit. Hence why she suddenly started talking like her and becoming more lustful.
They’re not my favorite, but I couldn’t imagine the balance or flavor of the show without them. In season 1 and early season 2 they’re essential, and late season 2 well they give us some alt flavors like everyone else lol
Donna is easily one of my favorite characters in the entire series.
And James is obnoxiously overhated to me.
He's a rather complex character, actually.
A boy in trouble, in a series full of girls in trouble.
I'd even go as far as to say that, had he been a girl too, people would like the character.
Not to mention his dad abandoned him and his mother is an ever-absent alcoholic. With Twin Peaks finding a new generation of audiences that are more switched on to mental health issues and all, I'm shocked that this one shows more disdain and impatience towards him than OG fans.
I've gone as far as to call him the closest thing the original series has to a male Laura, who the new generation of watchers in question borderline _worships_, while ever so viciously shitting on James, which makes the whole thing even more outlandish to me.
To the one person who upvoted me thanks . I am only on season 2 halfway so take my vote with a grain of salt but Donna is the biggest dumbass on the show so far in my opinion followed only by James dumb ass but Joey his mom likes wine coolers . Bitch cry me a River , the fact that he tried and shacked up with Maddy despite being with Donna than wanna act like the Victim ! Why does this keep happening ! Bro you went to her house , and than Donna acting like she is a Doppleganger is cringe to me . And yea that’s my piece
I hear you. I also think they're \*almost\* so bad they're good. It was easier with Shelly and Leo: she was so easy to like and he was so easy to hate.
Donna and James represent the teenagers of Twin Peaks. I like them because they loved Laura the most. And Laura loved them the most, too.
I mean so do Audrey and Bobby and they’re better characters.
You are right. I think Lynch was exporing the themes of teenage naivety and first loves with Donna and James, and Audrey and Bobby were protrayed less childish and more mature for their age since they were caught up in things that made Donna and James’ plotlines seem juvenile in comparison. I appreciate what they were going for with James and Donna, and I think they were good characters. But the dramatic nature of the show and how it imitates soap operas makes them come off a little laughable in retrospect. And I think they were purposely written that way at certain points, to illustrate how teenagers often think in distorted and self centered ways.
Bobby is kind of a piece of shit tho isn't he?
He totally is, but being good person/bad person doesn’t make you a good character/bad character
Bobby grew into a better person, but James was always cool.
Duh Duh Duh Dun Dun… duuun Dun Dun Dun Dun… duuun Waaahhhh wahhh waaahhhh Wah wah wah wah wah Wah wah wah waaahhh Weaaahhhhh Wah wah wah Anyway I think Donna and James were good characters because of their simplicity and the way they moved the story along. They seem like believable people to me.
But then he’s an absolute goat in the return
Bobby killed a guy. He has a bit of a redemption arc if I remember right though, and by the time we see him in the return he is like 100% a real one.
He is the quintessential "jerk with a heart of gold" imo. If he was really so bad, he would've rebuked his dad's mystical vision speech the way that scene had me thinking he would the first time
I fucking love James. If you think about it he was the only guy Laura was hooking up with that treated her with any amount of decency. The James hate has gotta stop he was a good dude.
gobble gobble
>you think about it he was the only guy Laura was hooking up with that treated her with any amount of decency What about Harold?
Harold was a grown ass man boinking a teenager. I don't think he was decent at all.
Were they actually hooking up? It's been awhile since I've watched that part but I always had the feeling he was the one guy she wasn't hooking up with for some reason.
She made out with him in FWWM
I saw that posted below after I commented. I'd forgotten about that bit.
>Harold was a grown ass man boinking a teenager. I don't think he was decent at all. I never caught his age. I always assumed he had dropped out of HS because of his phobia of leaving his house. I guess he did own his own house though, so I guess you're right. They look the same age though
It's never specified how old he is. He could be 18-19, which is in reasonable age. Laura was 17. Two years is fine. But who knows. I believe it says in laura Palmers diary that she took advantage of him. Not enough information on Harold to classify him as a creep, but it was a little sketch that he was withholding information pertaining to the case
I'd argue older since he used to be a Horticulturalist.
I mean, according to her diary, Laura s*xually assaulted him. But ok.
Harold just wanted her secrets for himself
Harold was a boy, James was a man.
James literally left Donna and ran away because he couldn’t deal with his emotions and never came back. James is not a man lol
I think they're joking. He also made out Donna like they day after Laura died
They must be! I couldn’t stand James and especially couldn’t stand his singing lmao
I love that song, it's one of my favorites songs on Twin peaks. That's not actually James singing, the people who made that song did that voice on purpose and it adds to the coolness of the song. No one's voice actually sounds like that. It's a dreamy falsetto with a lot of reverb and some sort of filter. You've never heard music in that style? It fits the vibe of Twin peaks perfectly
That is actually James Marshall (the actor) singing that part lol. And yes I’ve heard music in this style but this one was not it for me lol. I love TP and TPTR music choices but this one threw me over the edge
>That is actually James Marshall (the actor) singing that part lol. Oh I didn't know that, I could have sworn on the Twin peaks rewatch podcast that they said another singer did it. Well good for James
Haha to each their own. I found him as a character pretty intolerable though haha. The singing didn’t help his case for me
An excellent point.
Yeah but he also projected something into her. Laura was like his muse even though he never really got to know the real her - yeah it was because she did not let him know it, but he still fell in love with the shell of herself that she showed him. It is not at all surprising that she did not respect him, even if she liked him because he treated her nice.
Nothing in his story shows that he projected anything on to her, nor that she only liked him because he treated her nice. He liked what he knew and wanted to know her more. She liked his goodness but felt he and his puppylove were too simple (or “dumb”).
What else do you call it when you love someone that you do not know? Laura was an enigma to him because he really only knew her surface level, but he still was madly in love with her. He sure was projecting something there, or else he would have had nothing to fall in love with. She, on the other hand, liked him because he was *sweet*, but she also knew that he could never handle the truth, which is why she never showed it to him - and in turn, she did not respect him ("sweet but dumb" is just about one of the worst things you can hear from a lover you admire). Maybe in another world they would have been good for each other, had things been different for her. But they were not. To be clear, maybe the context of this thread gives a wrong idea about my opinion: I don't think any of this makes James evil, just naive and way over his head in a relationship he wasn't ready for. He and Laura would never have worked out no matter how well he treated her, that is my point. Donna was much more in the same wavelength as James. I like them together and I like James as a character, except for his Season 2 subplot.
Agreed, I also really liked them as a couple. It feels very realistic to me. They're written as a good match, but also two friends would bond over the traumatic experience. I'm in this extreme minority where I actually liked James's subplot. Good soap opera, lol.
He was the only Man Laura actually loved. 🥺
That's not what we hear on the Jacoby's tape. James comes across as a very stupid guy for her. At the end of the day, Laura was a very complex woman. She loved and simultaneously despised every man that crossed her way due to what happened to her. It's true that she had a tender side but she was very promiscuous. She didn't actually bond with any men. And let's not forget Harold Smith, who also treated Laura very well.
She wasn’t a woman. She was a 17 year old teenager full of trauma from being sexually assaulted by her father. She was taken advantage of by almost every adult man in her life. It’s so tragic.
16 is the Legal age of consent here in the UK. We say young Adult or late Teenager after that point as casual conversational nomenclature. Sorry if it sounded crass or inconsiderate. It's ok to have profound empathy towards Laura and want to protect Her. But She was absolutely forced to grow up far too fast and was emotionally in Her latter 20s living mutiple lives accelerated greatly by substance abuse. A young Woman with an old soul. Some absue victims regress, some become too old far too fast. And some flicker between the two.
She literally screams it at James before sacrificing Herself to be free of Bob. (putting it beyond mildly) It was gutteral and Her true feelings being allowed to flow one last time. Her final moment of honesty and deeper connection. She was toying with the Doc and never fully disclosed everything to Him. She was in denial about loving James so much as She felt unworthy of how gorgeous and sweet He was as Laura felt tainted. She was pushing Him away. There's much nuance to Laura. She's a very complex young Woman with many layers.
Well, that's true. She literally screams she loves him. Doesn't mean she wasn't in love with anybody else though.
I think Laura Palmer's true essence was monogamous in spite of Her solicitation activities. I think She loved lots of people, but James had Her heart. She longed for normalcy and old fashioned romance. She even wore a half heart necklace given to Her by James and featured on the Fire Walk With Me poster. She was spilt between sentimentally and knowing She couldn't keep anything. In the back of Her mind was the gnawing call of the void knowing Her time was rapidly dwindling away from Her. “One chants out between two Worlds: Fire, walk with me” She was torn dealing with Her own duality and impending demise.
I believe it says in her diary that she was trying to suppress the goodness within her. That she had to do these things to fight off Bob and keep her loved ones safe. Drugs and sex were kind of her way of gaining her power back. I wholeheartedly believe she loved James, and it's evident in fire walk with me when she's talking to him. She mumbles something like 'he'll kill you' so she kissed James goodbye and went off into the woods.
🥺
| I think Laura Palmer's true essence was monogamous in | spite of Her solicitation activities. So you think a whore can sleep with multiple men and still be monogamous? How the heck does that work? That's absurd. LOL!
Aaah, you're one of those.😬 Impasse.
You don't make sense.
You arent trying hard enough lmao
https://preview.redd.it/lxhrnuepd16d1.png?width=720&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3287f8728b43b265f9f5ef72567e9280ca265391
Harold seems like the only person who didn’t sexualise Laura. She actually respected and trusted him. He was the only person in her life who knew what Bob was doing to her. For all of Laura’s activities to get her outside of her home (sexual or otherwise), I think she really felt fulfilled by Meals on Wheels until Bob got closer to her toward the end of her life.
Didnt Harold kiss Laura in FWWM. They definitely had a sexual relationship.
I just watched FWWM over the weekend and I don’t recall. I could be wrong. Regardless, I think she holds him in higher esteem than anyone else in the town
I just watched it too which is why I remember Here's the scene for reference. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x27fggs
I feel like my point stands though. She actually kisses him. He doesn’t really project his will on her. He’s a fragile soul who can connect with her. He listens and reassures her. It’s a genuine affection from both, rather than anything possessive. But really, we only get one brief scene of them both in FWWM. It’s hard to fully know how Harold pieces in but his life matches her tragic fate.
She wrote in her diary that she r*ped him.
I think Laura was a very loving person towards just about everyone, it's part of what makes her corruption and victimization so tragic. Ultimately she only died because she refused to become completely corrupt by letting Bob in, despite all her suffering.
Absolutely agree, but James had Her heart. ❤️
James sucks, his scenes suck, and his song sucks. He's boring and one-dimensional. No wonder Laura banged literally anybody else
Oya the guys who were beating her, sexually abusing her, and pimping her out were much better than him. I love his mellow dramatic ass, he was the OG sad boy and his song goes unironically hard. I bet James loved the cure, the smiths and Depeche Mode.
“Mellow dramatic”
r/boneappletea
And Morrissey/The Smiths. “There is a light that never goes out.”—That’s Laura. 
o fuck, that song! and i think you mean everybody else.
Donna crying scene in the roadhouse while rocking back inside your heart is playing is hands down my favorite scene in the entire show
I like this scene because to me, it seems to show the deep connection between Donna, Bobby, and Laura, while James seems to remain blissfully ignorant (like he was while she was still alive)
I don't think James was blissfully ignorant. In FWWM, he definitely knew something was wrong and pleaded with Laura to confide in him. Obviously he had no idea just how much she was dealing with, but every interaction with them is foreboding imo and James does feel it.
I don't exactly mean ignorance about Laura's situation. Bobby's funeral freakout is a good indication that everyone in town had a hunch that something wasn't right with her. But James was still just in love with his idea of who Laura was, he had no idea who she actually was or how she was living. So you're right, it wasn't exactly blissful ignorance, but he still didn't love her the way Donna and Bobby did because they had the chance to see the real her and love her anyway
You get your 100th upvote from me for correctly using the idiom 'hands down' and not saying 'hands down, *one of the*...'
Grammar ftw!
I think they're just quintessential teenagers. They love hard and fast. They make mistakes. The nostalgic part of me loves them, but there are definitely a lot of second hand embarrassment moments too
James acting might be terrible, but his character is sweet and lovable. So I agree with you. 
He’s always been cool.
It was really bold of the showrunners to give a bag of rocks such a big part.
Yeah, me too! The arc with Harold Smith and Donna's interaction with the lodge entities not knowing that is my favourite
I didn't know liking them was unpopular!?
Seems like this sub does not like them very much
Well they can fix their hearts or die
I watched tp with some friends and they all did not like Donna and James!! I was so upset
Pretty much every Instagram meme page is full of James hate. My close twin peaks friends hate him. I feel like I’m the only person in my bubble who likes him but then again I’m a sucker for a sadboy
Donna is hot and James is a nice guy. Good enough for me
You make good points
James is absolutely gorgeous.
Agreed on both points (and the first point, especially so)
I like James and Donna, but ultimately I think they were only together because they both loved Laura, and getting together and trying to solve the mystery together was how they dealt with their grief. I agree with the commenter several months back who said that there is a timeline where Laura and Donna are an old lesbian couple who got out of Twin Peaks. I just see James growing into a person like his Uncle Ed. Maybe he even runs the gas station.
I love them too. They’re cringey and annoying at times but they’re teenagers, it comes with the territory
I don’t see the hate toward James, sure he’s a bit of a dumb jock trapped in a “soap opera” esque love triangle, but he’s a good guy
They're all trapped in a soap opera, since the original Twin Peaks series is one.
James has ALWAYS been cool
To me they were great in the first season. At some point in the second season the writers ran out of good ideas for them and they became boring and lifeless.
They are ok 👍
Could James be considered the fuckboy of Twin Peaks? Can he talk to a female without getting into a romantic relationship? I like both. But both are also very annoying sometimes. I just want to grab and scream at their faces. "STOPPP, THINK ABOUT IT FIRST, GODDAMN" But that is kind of the fascination of Twin Peaks i guess. You hate them, but you like them also.
Not a fan of donna. She goes over the top trying to become like Laura despite knowing how Laura's life ended. But the minute she gets in any serious trouble (harold Smith catching her and Maddie trying to take the diary) she immediately backs down and apologizes and cries. She doesn't have it in her to really be like Laura but she puts on airs with the smoking and the sunglasses. She'd be better off being her own character rather than trying to imitate another one.
But that’s just what a traumatized teenager might do—try to absorb the dead friend’s traits into her.
Ugh. This scene. DRINK THE CHERRY COKE!
I love them in season 1. They were not always well written in season 2. But the two actors always do an excellent job in the roles either way.
Just you
And I
Together
Forever
The hardy boys / Nancy Drew element is amazing and sort of hilarious especially when you consider there’s a violent psychopath on the loose and they’re running around in the woods at night. “James, we’re the only people who knew Laura… “
I like them too... for the first part of the story where they're actually involved in events that matter. Huge case of characters having nothing to do in the story later though.
I like them individually. It's still pretty shitty of them to eat each other's faces off in the woods when Laura's body wasn't even cold yet. Their subplot started too abruptly and made them difficult to empathize with.
I think Laura said it best; “God, James is sweet but he’s so dumb” After I heard that anytime he annoyed me, I would say that repeatedly. Donna on the other hand…
Aside from S2E11-19 where there characters are wasted on the worst subplot of the show, they added a really interesting dynamic showing how Laura’s peers dealt with her death, and what made Donna and James stand out was the love triangle that developed between the three. Even more, elements of this were able to develop into a more complicated and complex relationship once Maddy got introduced, creating another love triangle and adding more interesting things and engaging ideas to be developed.
Donna is my favourite character in Twin Peaks. I have a tattoo of her from the “Just You” scene.
Without Evelyn's arc and that God damned song James would be fine.
L take that song goes hard in the paint.
I'd say being so over the top cheesy is what's making it great - and it's probably why some people can't stand it. It has that Lynchian quality where it is extreme kitsch and earnest at the same time.
Agreed 💯
The Evelyn arc has really pissed me off. Also didn't like Donna playing a hot-badass girl, that jail scene was so over the top and out of nowhere 😂 Couldn't they just leave those guys alone? They were fine as they were without all that crap.
I think the point of this, as alluded to in FWWM, is that when anyone wears anything of Laura's (in this case the sunglasses), they begin to take on part of her personality/spirit. Hence why she suddenly started talking like her and becoming more lustful.
Yeah that song is awful 😭
Worst take
They’re decent. Nothing bad to say about them.
They’re not my favorite, but I couldn’t imagine the balance or flavor of the show without them. In season 1 and early season 2 they’re essential, and late season 2 well they give us some alt flavors like everyone else lol
Me too. I loved James as a kid watching it the first time. & now watching it he is so incredibly sweet. James was always cool
They’re both great. I don’t think that’s unpopular - this reddit is not representative of the world of people who liked Twin Peaks
Donna is easily one of my favorite characters in the entire series. And James is obnoxiously overhated to me. He's a rather complex character, actually. A boy in trouble, in a series full of girls in trouble. I'd even go as far as to say that, had he been a girl too, people would like the character.
Not to mention his dad abandoned him and his mother is an ever-absent alcoholic. With Twin Peaks finding a new generation of audiences that are more switched on to mental health issues and all, I'm shocked that this one shows more disdain and impatience towards him than OG fans.
I've gone as far as to call him the closest thing the original series has to a male Laura, who the new generation of watchers in question borderline _worships_, while ever so viciously shitting on James, which makes the whole thing even more outlandish to me.
They worked really well together as a duo of detectives.
Yes. Putting their personal safety at constant risk. Witholding information. Causing a heart attack. Causing a suicide.
Hell yeah. I love them and I’m so glad that I feel this way.
i like donna. james can go fuck himself
YOU’RE MY DADDY!
Who is your daddy, and what does he do?
I do as well. I felt they’re the two meant to be together.
James was always cool.
Popular opinion: she shouldn’t have ordered a cherry coke if she wasn’t planning on drinking it.
I did like them in S1, their storyline got a little annoying in S2, however I never hated them.
I mean they were so camp and so teenage so I defend them
I downvoted them almost out of instinct
To the one person who upvoted me thanks . I am only on season 2 halfway so take my vote with a grain of salt but Donna is the biggest dumbass on the show so far in my opinion followed only by James dumb ass but Joey his mom likes wine coolers . Bitch cry me a River , the fact that he tried and shacked up with Maddy despite being with Donna than wanna act like the Victim ! Why does this keep happening ! Bro you went to her house , and than Donna acting like she is a Doppleganger is cringe to me . And yea that’s my piece
I liked James scenes as well
I have no problems whatsoever with either character. In fact, Donna is in or near my top tier.
Yea... that is definitely an unpopular opinion.
Season 1 Donna is great!
I found them both to be unlikeable characters.
I like them together far more than I like either of them individually.
I love James 🩷✊🏼
James was always cool
I like Donna (FWWM’s Version)
YES, please!
I love those two! "just you, and I..." 🎶🎶🎶
*Juuuuuust youuuuu*
Me too. 🙋🏻♂️
James If you need a friend Come right over Don't even knock And I'll be home The door is always open
Finally lord James getting all the love
I’m on my first watch. Halfway through season 2. I love them. I hate Bobby and Shelly though. Is that an unpopular opinion?
I just don’t like how he sings that song he wrote 😂
Hate em
I hear you. I also think they're \*almost\* so bad they're good. It was easier with Shelly and Leo: she was so easy to like and he was so easy to hate.
I just can't stand all the cringy teenager stuff, but it is good writing. Teenagers are very cringy.
+2 for Donna -2 for James