Return to Twin Peaks

I have now finally seen all of Twin Peaks (I never saw most of the second season), andwhile I want to avoid the obsessive fan culture that grows up around a project like this (just look at what exists online about this show), I have a couple of comments.

First, I was living in Seattle when Twin Peaks first appeared. That was an exciting time to be in Seattle—you could feel its importance growing as a vibrant creative scene (combined with a strong, high-tech economy) suddenly tipping over into the national consciousness. Weirdly enough, I think Twin Peaks was part of that. Even though only the exterior shots were filmed up there, it sent a message to America that the Pacific Northwest was an odd, interesting place. For us in Seattle, it was fun to go to Snoqualmie and see the locations (and eat pie and coffee at the Mar-T--the exterior of the diner in the show). This town was just outside Seattle (but enough out that it felt completely rural) and was a popular location for short hikes.

The other thing is to consider how odd a show it seemed at the time. Since then, there have been a lot of self-consciously mysterious or odd TV shows, but whoever in 1990 thought it was a good idea to give David Lynch his own show must have been fairly brave.

The show was designed to be a perpetual motion machine, but by the middle of season two, I started thinking—enough already. I’m sure other viewers did as well, especially after Leland was revealed as Laura Palmer’s killer. They did more-or-less manage to wrap it up in the final few episodes, so one isn't left with a feeling of incompleteness. There were loose ends that were never resolved, but nothing too important. Considering how it could have wrapped up, they did an OK job of it.

What sticks with me is the accumulation of bizarre details, some small, some large (like all the red room scenes).