Let me start off by saying that the original Twin Peaks is my very favorite TV show.
I am a huge fan of David Lynch. He's the type of director that you either love or hate.
Some of his movies for me have been masterpieces, and some weren't so great. One thing they all have in common is that they are generally hard to figure out, being full of mystery and intrigue.
Sometimes the mystery is what the hell is going on in this movie?
The original Twin Peaks TV show aired in 1990. The world wasn't ready.
However, a cult following was formed and before long Twin Peaks had achieved it's fan base.
David lynch directed some of the first season and parts of the second, however, he is known to be widely dissatisfied with the general way the second season went down.
Twin Peaks is a show about a small town and it's charming cast of characters.
More than that though, Twin Peaks is a show about a mystery.
Who killed Laura Palmer?
Throughout those 30 episodes you will come to understand the dark secrets hidden in this quiet unassuming town. You will come to know Dale Cooper, the confident but unassuming detective sent to solve this terrible murder.
Twin Peaks is full of beautiful imagery, powerful messages, and absolutely amazing music.
The second season does drag on a bit, as it wanders away from the original intent of the show for a while. It does get back on track near the end.
At this point, if you haven't seen the original Twin Peaks, you should go do so now because from this point forward there will be spoilers.
Near the end of the original TV show, Laura Palmer, or her doppelganger says....
I'll see you again in 25 years.
The show is now very clearly about the forces of good versus the forces of evil.
The Black Lodge vs. White Lodge.
Source: Giphy.com
True to his word, David Lynch did return us to Twin Peaks in 25 years by creating a season three which was set to wrap up the mysteries that left us feeling somewhat unsatisfied at the end of season two.
Namely, will Dale Cooper ever get out of the lodge?
Will Bob, his evil doppelganger, ever be brought to justice?
Will we be able to solve the riddle of the Black Lodge? What is the White Lodge up to?
What is the deal with Garland Briggs? Who was he really?
Of course at this point we know who killed Laura Palmer. What we don't know, and what we never even thought to ask, is why did they kill her?
We are led to believe that it was simply because evil kills. Bob is pure evil.
However, with the introduction of season three we are now given more leeway to reconsider that simple thinking process.
So what is Twin Peaks - The Return all about?
Well, we know at the end of season two that Dale Cooper has been trapped in the Black Lodge, and that his doppelganger Bob is now out and about in the real world making trouble.
Source: Giphy.com
Twin Peaks - The Return goes about getting Dale out of the Black Lodge to settle things with Bob. This is not an easy task. Bob is incredibly powerful.
It takes a long time for Dale Cooper to finally wake up because he is trapped in the body of yet another doppelganger named Dougie. It seems that Bob is able to create fake versions of people. These versions are called tulpa.
From the website: http://twinpeaks.wikia.com/wiki/Tulpa
Tulpas were conjured duplicates of individuals. The tulpas were manufactured from a seed and organic material from the template – such as hair – and they could retain memories from their templates.
Confused yet?
While the first two seasons of Twin Peaks were fairly straight forward despite all the of the mysteries, the third season brings us back into the real David Lynch. Like the movie Fire Walk With Me, the third season of Twin Peaks is pretty freaking surreal.
The concept that we are presented with is not Who Killed Laura Palmer? anymore.
It is perhaps....
Who is Laura Palmer?
What is Laura Palmer?
Source: Giphy.com
We are introduced to the concept of Jowday, also known as Judy, in the movie Fire Walk With Me.
Phillip Jeffries, played by David Bowie, claims that he is following a lead on her.
In season three we come to understand that Judy is an extreme negative force in the universe and probably responsible for the creation of Bob. She may have created all of the evil entities in the Black Lodge, though not all of the entities in the Black Lodge appear to be evil.
It should also be stated that there appears to be an evil version of Laura Palmer as well. Did Jowday create that evil version?
At this point it is left to speculation.
What would happen if evil Bob were to breed with evil Laura Palmer?
If you haven't watched all of Twin Peaks - The Return you should do so now, because at this point there will be spoilers.
What happens at the end of Twin Peaks - The Return?
Is everything wrapped up nice and pretty with a tiny little bow?
Well that's not exactly how David Lynch works.
The end of season three has an awakened Dale Cooper going back in time to save Laura Palmer, which he is able to do. She no longer suffers her original fate. There is no longer a dead body washing up on the shore. All of the horrifying incidents are wiped out. Or so we think.
Just as Dale Cooper is taking her to place of safety she appears to be transported to a different dimension. Dale Cooper and Diane follow her, but they are known by different names there.
Richard and Linda.
Diane leaves Dale in a motel room, appearing to have completely been absorbed by her Linda personality, while Dale remains himself.
He then seeks out Laura Cooper, managing to find her working at a diner. However, she is not there so he has to go to her house to grab her. There is a dead body in her house. Seemingly unaffected by this, she agrees to go with him to "her mother's" house. This is a different dimension though. Here Laura is known as Carrie Page. She does not remember being Laura Cooper, if she ever was.
Source: Giphy.com
When they arrive at Laura Palmer's old house, it is occupied by someone else. She does not know Sarah Palmer or Laura Palmer. Dale Cooper is taken aback, and has to agree to leave.
As he and Carrie Page, who is the original Laura Palmer, stand on the street together looking at the perfect White House where she lived in another dimension, he suddenly asks her....
What year is this?
At this which point she stares at the house and then begins screaming.
Thus ends the show.
It is incredibly surreal.
It gives us something to think about though.... why did some extreme negative force want so badly to kill Laura Palmer?
Who is Laura Palmer?
This is the reason I love Twin Peaks.
Is season three as good as season one? Well..... it's a lot more out there, as it were.
It is definitely worth watching as it does wrap things up nicely. However, if you're not prepared to think things over then you may want to hold off on this one until you are.
It is not a show to watch if you've been drinking or can't focus all your mental energy on what's happening on the screen.
