Twin Peaks: the return
A RED-CURTAIN CALL WORTH THE WAIT…
David Lynch’s belated third series is well worth the wait.
TWIN PEAKS: A LIMITED EVENT SERIES 15 SHOW EXTRAS 2017 Out NOW DVD, BD, Digital HD EXTRAS Featurettes, Stills
I’ll see you again in 25 years,” murdered homecoming queen Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) told Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) in the concluding moments of Twin Peaks’ original run. Farewells don’t get much more prophetic. Whether by coincidence or design, this hyper-anticipated return trip to David Lynch’s weird world of Log Ladies, body-snatching evil entities and damn fine cups of coffee arrives almost exactly a quarter century after the cruellest cliffhanger in TV history. The result, miraculously, is worth the wait.
Faced with the Kobayashi Maru of writing assignments – how do you follow up a show whose ambiguities and unanswered questions are integral to its enduring allure? – Lynch and Peaks co-creator Mark Frost respond with the unexpected. Eschewing the self-aware satire of daytime soaps that defined the show’s first two seasons, Twin Peaks: The Return (renamed A Limited Event Series for home-ent) is a direct descendant of sombre, unsettling
Peaks prequel Fire Walk With Me (1992). But far from 18 hours of relentless psychological horror, Season 3 showcases the entire spectrum of Lynch’s talents, from scenes of deeply uncomfortable domestic abuse and ethereal terror to tender romance and slapstick comedy.
Indeed, after an 11-year absence from the (big) screen (his last movie was 2006’s Inland Empire), Lynch is operating at the height of his powers here. The perfect marriage of his film and TV work, The Return is a thrilling hybrid – designed for episodic consumption, but with little to distinguish each ‘chapter’ other than a musical epilogue at the Roadhouse. The original Peaks proved one of the most innovative and influential TV shows of the last 30 years; there’s every reason to believe this brazenly idiosyncratic update will have the same impact.
COOP DE GRACE
Early Peaks was powered by a compelling hook: ‘who killed Laura Palmer?’, and The Return is similarly driven by a single question: ‘What the hell is going on?’ The story, in a nutshell, is a western. There are two men with Dale Cooper’s face, and our world is only big enough for one of them. Around these doppel Coops orbit dark forces, taking Twin Peaks to more sinister and surreal places than ever before.
It also goes to more locations than ever before. Extending the show’s scope beyond the borders of the titular Washington logging town, Lynch revels in America’s mythical expanse, embarking on excursions to New
York, Las Vegas and unseen worlds. The expansion proves thrilling, the options limitless as new characters are constantly introduced, albeit at the expense of more time with returning favourites. Even Angelo Badalamenti’s haunting piano riffs and dream jazz, once omnipresent, are now sparsely deployed for maximum impact. Lynch isn’t interested in giving viewers what they want, only what they need.
That 25-year passage of time is integral to the show’s narrative, and results in a series of perfect payoffs, whether pathos-filled or punch-the-air brilliant. Bad boy Bobby Briggs (Dana Ashbrook) gets a superb makeover, now reformed and working for the sheriff’s department, while there’s a full-circle rekindling of Ed (Everett McGill) and Norma’s (Peggy Lipton) frustrated romance. But what truly impresses is the new: Laura Dern’s acerbic Diane, Tim Roth and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s eternally bickering assassins, scene-stealing gangster brothers the Mitchums (Jim Belushi, Robert Knepper); Lynch and Frost have lost none of their capacity to create endearing oddballs. At the heart of everything is Kyle MacLachlan, who dazzles as the terrifying Mr. C and sweet-natured simpleton Dougie Jones. So good is MacLachlan in these polar opposite roles that you (almost) forget how much you miss the real Coop.
BEST OF A BAD BOB
The show’s most audacious hour comes approximately halfway through. Effectively an origin story for the demonic BOB, chapter eight is Lynch at his most experimental and primal. Conjuring some nightmarish visuals – soot-covered woodsmen croaking “gotta light?”, a monstrous beetle worming its way into a young girl’s mouth as she sleeps – it’s an episode designed to infiltrate the subconscious, and ranks among the most startling TV of the decade. Whatever Lynch puts in his coffee has lost none of its potency over the years.
As may be clear, The Return is an uncompromising piece of work – alienating to anyone not on its wavelength, even fans of the original series. There are frustrating dead ends, redundant plot threads, red herrings, unanswered questions… For anyone hoping that, 25 years after that head smashing cliffhanger, the series’ many mysteries would be comprehensively resolved by The Return, brace for bitter disappointment. In what can only be a colossal in-joke, it doesn’t even address the question that echoes in those final moments: “How’s Annie?”
But tidy conclusions aren’t Lynch’s MO, and there are just enough breadcrumbs to ensure questions aren’t all you’re left with come the ending. The most important question, however, is: does The Return satisfy as a continuation of one of the most revered TV shows of all time? The answer is a resounding yes, if you’re willing to embrace this drastically different vision of Lynch’s weird world. Once again, the owls are not what they seem. Jordan Farley
‘Lynch isn’t interested in giving viewers what they want, only what they need’