What's immediately obvious right off the bat is a shift in tone towards the darker compared to the original series. Lynch obviously pulls from many of the movies he's made since then, and the supernatural angle that was very present in some episodes of Season 2 has been very in focus so far. The fact that it runs on Showtime now and not ABC probably has a lot to say for the higher presence of gore and nudity too, which again contributes towards the darker tone.

I do like, however, how Lynch continues to juxtapose the frivolous with the more serious, such as with the lady who calls the police to report about the smell from her neighbor's apartment. Scenes like that remind me a lot of the elderly waiter from the original series, for example. A lot of the humour here seems a lot more deadpan and cynical in comparison, though.

In terms of the plot, some of what we've seen so far reminds me a lot of the circumstances around Major Briggs' "alien abduction" in season 2. I was never quite clear on what happened there, so I'm hopeful that we may see some clarification related to that in coming episodes.

I have to say I really like Kyle MacLachlan in the role of evil Cooper/BOB. The scene where he killed Darya was extremely tense and chilling, and a lot of his scenes have a vague No Country for Old Men vibe to them.

On a different note, does anyone know or have any interpretations as to what was up with the black ghost-thing in the jail cell next to the high school principal's? Didn't get that at all, especially since most other things have seemed to tie in to the original series or the general plot in some way, although it's a very real possibility it's just Lynch trying to mind**** us.