I’ve been meaning to post about Twin Peaks for a while, and what better time than now, when the long wait to get the second season on DVD is finally over? For my money, Twin Peaks is David Lynch at his finest, with the freedom to develop a plot over 10-15 hours instead of being limited to the confines of a movie. It also serves as the best vehicle to demonstrate that much of his genius has very little to do with plot at all – it’s about letting the bizarre and perfect strangeness of life unfold at its own pace. It is one of the best TV shows of all-time, and it frankly still astonishes me that something so strange was ever put on network TV at all.
The first season has been available for a long time, but until this year if you wanted to see the second, you had to find it on VHS (not an easy accomplishment). I first watched it in one long weekend. We rented the whole thing on tape and watched all 22 episodes. I also managed to finagle a copy on DVD from Spain, but it was an incomplete solution, so I’m happy that it is officially out now, in all its glory.
The first season is better, no doubt about that, but such a comparison doesn’t really mean a whole lot. They are different. The first is 7 episodes and a pilot, in all meaningful ways flawless, but also incomplete. The second is 22 episodes, with a number of meandering (even pointless) plots, and the ratio of pure brilliance to less-than-essential elements is far lower. Still, part of what makes Twin Peaks so fascinating to watch is the use of time. These 22 episodes are far more languorous and while it doesn’t always work (the horrible guitar-playing scene for example), the freedom to move slowly can be incredible.
For some interesting thoughts on it, check out a recent article from Slate.
I’ll resist the temptation to write a lengthy post musing on the meaning of the final episode. I will simply say that it was deeply disturbing, leaving me incredibly unsatisfied immediately afterwards, but feeling increasingly correct as more time goes by. I now believe that it is one of the best final episodes of any show – full of ambiguity, raising far more questions than it answers, suggesting something fundamental about human nature, destroying someone I had grown to love, but asking us whether it was worth it. It is truly maddening, which is really the point.
While I’m talking about Twin Peaks, let me post a few songs by a band named Logh who deliberately evoke some of what makes David Lynch so compelling. From their description:
You receive a fancy letter in the mail. An invitation to a cocktail party. A few days later you find yourself poolside with a colorful, yet not too colorful, drink in your hand. A bit too drunk, involved in a conversation a bit too deep about the new David Lynch movie; a documentary about the dark December days around a concert in Berlin, featuring a super group made up by Vangelis, Roy Orbison, Kate Bush and Jim O’Rourke.. Logh’s fourth record sounds somewhat like that. If you want it to.
A Sunset Knife Fight
Yellow Lights Mean Slow Down Not Speed Up
An Alliance of Hearts
Check out some more songs from them, and a bunch of other good bands, at Bad Taste Records.
Finally, for turning me onto this band, a hat tip to Hot Stof – where you can be guaranteed to discover at least one or two great new Scandinavian (and other) bands every week.