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Twin Peaks: The Return (Episode 8)

/ Twin Peaks Watch

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Yeah, I don’t even know…

What does one say about this episode? It was clearly conceived by Mark Frost — big on Twin Peaks mythology — but I can’t help but wonder if the script was five pages long, and the rest was up to Lynch. Actual mythology aside, the episode was certainly the most Lynchian, avant-garde art movie style since the third episode.

And I absolutely loved it.

Reading too much into anything right now is pointless, and I’m not sure if many questions will ever properly be answered. Nor if they should be answered. On face value, certain things can be considered on the nose, but I truly think there are too many layers to even start speculating what something like the inclusion of the first nuclear bomb explosion means. The birth of evil? That seems to be rather banal, and I highly doubt it was the actual intention of the scene. Did it open a rift between this world and the Black Lodge, letting a new type of evil in? Or was it simply David Lynch just liking the imagery? Stranger things have happened.

If the explosion launched Bob into the world (and into Sarah Palmer?), and The Giant sent Laura as a countermeasure, it all is still more complex than good vs. evil. Laura would have lost the battle, and quite likely was infested with Bob at any rate. Nothing in this episode explains much of anything, other than perhaps — perhaps — The Giant is an inhabitant of the White Lodge.

Frost and Lynch would not have glossed over a major plot point of the original show, where Leland remembered having seen Bob as a child. That would have been right around when Sarah Palmer (I assume it was her) had a bug crawl into her mouth. Again, making heads or tails from this is a lost cause, at least for now.

That potentially Lynch has created his own version of a shared universe, meanwhile, seems increasingly plausible. Not the Marvel of DC kind, but rather some bizarre parallel world type. Laura was in Mulholland Drive, and one can compare that movie’s monster behind the diner to The Woodsman here. Maybe. Either way, there certainly were a lot of visual and audible similarities with Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.

All in all, though, once again, as abstract and strange and who knows as this all is, the overall story is fairly easy to follow. Falling into the trap of reading too much into things can dilute the overall point of the nuclear bomb, worlds potentially connecting, Bob being born or reborn… As far as understanding the gist of what’s going on, just grab on to what you see, and that’s really all you need to know. Details may or may not come later; getting into the nitty-gritty will likely require re-watching the entire season.

I love mythology, and this episode seriously creeped me out. That’s what’s important to me.

By Remi,


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