Twin Peaks has come and gone again
SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't seen Twin Peaks: The Return yet, and plan on it, you may not want to read this entire blog!
I am probably going to be writing a lot more about this as time goes by, but for now I just feel the need to put a stake in the ground.
Twin Peaks is gone. Again.
Back in 8th grade, I had become so obsessed with Twin Peaks, that it was almost like I myself had found a portal to another dimension and got sucked up into it. I "lived" in Twin Peaks. No really, I had an ID card (from the official fan club) and everything that included my Twin Peaks address! I watched each new episode religiously, and whenever possible would record the broadcast onto a VHS tape so I could watch it again and again. I even weirdly started keeping a notebook where I tracked how many scenes each character appeared in. Why? Who knows, it made only slightly more sense to me than the show itself!
My favorite characters initially were Nadine Hurley, the red-haired housewife with an eye patch and a hankering for silent drape runners; and Margaret Lanterman, aka The Log Lady. Like much of the television audience back then, I was first drawn in by the mystery of "Who Killed Laura Palmer," and like Special Agent Dale Cooper, decided to use any wacky clue or method I could think of to solve the riddle.
As viewership declined and the series fell out of favor with mainstream America, my devotion and interest only grew. After the series finale, which was unceremoniously dumped by ABC onto television during the summer of 1991, I became despondent and depressed. I couldn't believe that my access to this other world, that I had grown so dependent on seeing for an hour once a week, was being taken away! I even wrote to my local newspaper seeking answers. Lo and behold, I was informed right there in black and white newsprint that in fact there would be more Twin Peaks, in the form of a feature film, Fire Walk With Me.
By the time the movie came out, I had already spent countless hours devouring any news article or magazine cover featuring the film that I could acquire. I had pen-pals to trade theories and trivia with. I had dubbed off television promos and interviews with cast members. Despite the fact that the closest theatre showing it was nearly three hours away, I was there on opening day (or at least close to it).
Then... once again, it was all over!
It literally took years for me to move on and find other interests, other things to talk or think about other than Twin Peaks. For a short time, I ran my own little fan club and newsletter that I would send out to other fans who had kindly written me, including a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) and often times, a little cash to show they appreciated my work. Perhaps the highlight of my fandome when when I made my entire family take a vacation/pilgrimage to Snoqualmie, Washington, where much of the series and movie had been filmed.
Eventually, the memory of Twin Peaks faded into the background of my life. While I never truly forgot about Laura Palmer, Audrey Horne, Agent Cooper, Norma Jennings, or any of the other denizens of that wonderful and strange place, my thoughts of them became fewer and farther between. The passion would be reignited once in awhile, when a new home video release would materialize (VHS, then DVD, and ultimately, Blu-Ray) or a new article or book would be published.
But nothing had prepared me for the surreal sensation of finally returning to Twin Peaks, in this summer of 2017, via the Showtime Network! Just as Laura Palmer had said in the original series' confounding finale, "I'll see you again in 25 years," and so it was!
Now, all 18 hours of "The Return," as it was called, have aired and once again I am left with that mixture of happy and sad feelings that come with having something you love so intensely enter and then exit your life. I wonder now, how many times I will re-watch "The Return," how many theories it will inspire, how many conversations I'll have with others about those theories, and what this will mean for the cast members - some of whom haven't really worked much after the heyday of their initial Twin Peaks wave had crested.
All I know, is that I will have plenty more to say about it, so stay tuned for my ideas, thoughts, and reactions to all things Twin Peaks!
And now, here are a few of my favorite images from "The Return."
I am probably going to be writing a lot more about this as time goes by, but for now I just feel the need to put a stake in the ground.
Twin Peaks is gone. Again.
Back in 8th grade, I had become so obsessed with Twin Peaks, that it was almost like I myself had found a portal to another dimension and got sucked up into it. I "lived" in Twin Peaks. No really, I had an ID card (from the official fan club) and everything that included my Twin Peaks address! I watched each new episode religiously, and whenever possible would record the broadcast onto a VHS tape so I could watch it again and again. I even weirdly started keeping a notebook where I tracked how many scenes each character appeared in. Why? Who knows, it made only slightly more sense to me than the show itself!
My favorite characters initially were Nadine Hurley, the red-haired housewife with an eye patch and a hankering for silent drape runners; and Margaret Lanterman, aka The Log Lady. Like much of the television audience back then, I was first drawn in by the mystery of "Who Killed Laura Palmer," and like Special Agent Dale Cooper, decided to use any wacky clue or method I could think of to solve the riddle.
As viewership declined and the series fell out of favor with mainstream America, my devotion and interest only grew. After the series finale, which was unceremoniously dumped by ABC onto television during the summer of 1991, I became despondent and depressed. I couldn't believe that my access to this other world, that I had grown so dependent on seeing for an hour once a week, was being taken away! I even wrote to my local newspaper seeking answers. Lo and behold, I was informed right there in black and white newsprint that in fact there would be more Twin Peaks, in the form of a feature film, Fire Walk With Me.
By the time the movie came out, I had already spent countless hours devouring any news article or magazine cover featuring the film that I could acquire. I had pen-pals to trade theories and trivia with. I had dubbed off television promos and interviews with cast members. Despite the fact that the closest theatre showing it was nearly three hours away, I was there on opening day (or at least close to it).
Then... once again, it was all over!
It literally took years for me to move on and find other interests, other things to talk or think about other than Twin Peaks. For a short time, I ran my own little fan club and newsletter that I would send out to other fans who had kindly written me, including a SASE (self addressed stamped envelope) and often times, a little cash to show they appreciated my work. Perhaps the highlight of my fandome when when I made my entire family take a vacation/pilgrimage to Snoqualmie, Washington, where much of the series and movie had been filmed.
Eventually, the memory of Twin Peaks faded into the background of my life. While I never truly forgot about Laura Palmer, Audrey Horne, Agent Cooper, Norma Jennings, or any of the other denizens of that wonderful and strange place, my thoughts of them became fewer and farther between. The passion would be reignited once in awhile, when a new home video release would materialize (VHS, then DVD, and ultimately, Blu-Ray) or a new article or book would be published.
But nothing had prepared me for the surreal sensation of finally returning to Twin Peaks, in this summer of 2017, via the Showtime Network! Just as Laura Palmer had said in the original series' confounding finale, "I'll see you again in 25 years," and so it was!
Now, all 18 hours of "The Return," as it was called, have aired and once again I am left with that mixture of happy and sad feelings that come with having something you love so intensely enter and then exit your life. I wonder now, how many times I will re-watch "The Return," how many theories it will inspire, how many conversations I'll have with others about those theories, and what this will mean for the cast members - some of whom haven't really worked much after the heyday of their initial Twin Peaks wave had crested.
All I know, is that I will have plenty more to say about it, so stay tuned for my ideas, thoughts, and reactions to all things Twin Peaks!
And now, here are a few of my favorite images from "The Return."
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| The one-armed man and Agent Cooper in the Red Room, talking to the "Evolution of The Arm." |
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| Audrey dancing at the Roadhouse. |
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| Diane (or rather, her tulpa) in the Red Room. |
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