Twin Peaks: Joining the Cool Kids

I'm so glad that I can finally sit with the cool kids at the lunch table. No more of this, "Who is Laura Palmer?" embarrassment or pretending that I know who BOB is. Yes, you can all welcome me into the group because I've experienced Twin Peaks for myself. After watching the series in only a few short weeks and finally ending today with Fire Walk With Me, I'm ready to talk.

Let it be known that I had certain expectations going into Twin Peaks. I expected scene after scene of oddity and visions of scary things that would have surely put me into a coma had I seen them when I was little. I expected an intriguing mystery and the signature style of David Lynch echoing off every wall in the room. Mostly however I expected the creepy--and I got it, sort of.

Here is what I think about Twin Peaks:

If I could play both Cooper's dream and the ending scene in the Black Lodge repeatedly throughout my day, I would be simultaneously happy and terrified.

I LOVE these parts--a little too much to be frank. I find myself alone in my bedroom trying to mimic the strange dance steps of the midget in the red suit.

I practice speaking backwards when I'm trying to fall asleep late at night. These scenes are the ones that slap you in the face and yell really loudly---LYNCH! I knew he was hiding somewhere.

To be honest even though it pains me a little to say this--I can really only say that I like Twin Peaks.

Like, I LIKE you Twin Peaks. (Yes that is a Pee-Wee's Big Adventure Quote, thank you very much)

But. And a big but, I love the episodes that David Lynch directs.

Anything else feels like a lack luster detective series in a sleepy town--which is exactly what Twin Peaks is. The difference is that when David Lynch is calling the shots, the lack luster detective series gets sprinkled with some very exciting and exotic spices. Don't hate on me. I can tell you're hating on me and it's fine. As with most things I experience, I'm late to the party so all the purists have a small right to call me out.

Here's the thing though. I have an outside point of view at all of this. I'm watching the entire series in a consecutive line and finishing with the film. There is some good and bad news because of this. The good news is that all those people crying that Fire Walk With Me is completely different from the TV show are wrong (it's exactly like it only with boobs) and the bad news is that I can understand why it got cancelled prematurely.

The fact is--the show felt just as I explained it above. Really amazing and awesome in some parts and episodes, and terribly boring and pointless in others. There feels like something was missing in Twin Peaks short running. The characters were there and they were great. The story however felt much too pulled in different directions--with only one story being very interesting and important to the ultimate question.

It IS the death of Laura Palmer that excites people the most after all.

It's that supernatural element that gets people amped up and curious about how things will unfold. Even when Laura's killer is revealed prematurely--we still crave what happens because we know that BOB is not finished yet. He didn't die--the idea of him and the vision of his face still exists. The Black Lodge still exists. So maybe that is what Twin Peaks needed in the end-- a little focus.

Still though, one cannot deny that I do love several aspects of both the show and the film. I love the quirkiness. The oddball aspect. I love Kyle Maclachlan

and the camaraderie happening between he and his police boys. I love the terrifying visions of BOB, lurking either just out of sight or completely in your face.

I love the little things---like those subtle David Lynch trademarks; a singer or performer in a bar, clueless detectives, and driving on long highways. I love the Log Lady with a deep and confusing passion.

Fire Walk With Me additionally paints a stunning portrait of Laura Palmer's last days. This film although received coldly by most--was the perfect thing to do with leftover Twin Peaks scraps. Like I said earlier, we all (probably) only cared about Laura Palmer. And even though Sheryl Lee is a terrible over-acter, her entire story and the eventual collapse of her mind and body is both horrifying and depressing. Plus, it brings back the creepy with the midget in the red suit and BOB and Mike. Plus there is cocaine and boobs. And a really, really scary "nightclub" that makes me cry.

So please do not take my thoughts as attacks against Twin Peaks. I do love it and I love this whole world that Lynch and Frost created. It gave me something to come home to at least, something to look forward to. Sure, it may not have lived up to my expectations, but in the end---I can go dancing with the midget in the red suit all I want.

That is all I really need after all.

I'll talk about Twin Peaks again and one of these days we can get together and swap theories and play truth or dare. Because there is A LOT to discuss obviously....and so much I still don't understand. Sigh.

Also, the next time someone makes me angry I'm going to be wishing that a BOB comes into your bedroom late at night. So be careful what you say.