Twin Peaks: The Return
RottenPop Revisits the Works of David Lynch
The long-awaited third season of Lynch's seminal series, Twin Peaks, finally arrived on May 21, 2017, exclusively on Showtime. This followed decades of speculation and theories about whether David Lynch had even wanted to return to Twin Peaks in the first place, a world he actually hadn’t ever strayed too far from personally. However, starting right after Mulholland Drive and up until The Return, Lynch had been working on short films and more artistic content for his website DavidLynch.com. While working on these experimental shorts and music videos, he was also still nurturing the script for Ronnie Rocket, a very personal project he had hoped to get off the ground since the late eighties.
Then boom. We are thrust right back into the world of grief, sorrow, sadness, absurdity, and utter hilarity. Right off the bat, we are reintroduced to old characters. We revisit former locales and landmarks. There are differences, of course; we are twenty-five years into the future. And we get that comforting yet frightening score from the legendary Angelo Badalamenti.
We revisit popular locales, now showcased in beautiful high definition. Everything in the town is more updated, fresh, yet still has that very familiar feel: The Double R Diner, the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Station, the Palmer house, and of course The Roadhouse. The latter becomes a place we visit almost every episode, featuring music from a slew of tremendous artists including The Chromatics, Au Revoir Simone, Hudson Mohawk, Sharon Van Etten, and Nine Inch Nails. Big names.
Returning to the mix is long-time Lynch collaborator and co-creator of Twin Peaks, Mark Frost. Frost had written a book about Twin Peaks that came out shortly before the release of The Return. Entitled The Secret History of Twin Peaks, it’s a fascinating read full of interesting tidbits and backstory.
The Return has been called a lot of things, and interpretations of its narrative are many. Just look at Reddit, and you'll see an almost endless amount of points of view, speculation on what certain elements could mean, and, of course, what message Lynch is trying to convey. Funny thing is, none of them are wrong. Lynch is such a fan of letting the audience mull things over in their own minds. He loves setting up a scene, manipulating the tone, the idea, and the narrative, then leaving key elements to be filled in by introspection and your emotional response. Beyond this, The Return functions as a brilliant, meta-commentary on television itself, and its relentless drive to entertain us with nostalgia. Having always respected Mark Frost and David Lynch's obvious knack for soap opera parody, a style they've honed over years, it’s particularly interesting when critics online frame The Return as 'taking the piss out of' this very cycle. Hollywood itself is deeply invested in constantly mining what's old to quench the public's entertainment thirst, trapping us in an endless cycle of memory.
I found The Return to be less of a send-off from Lynch and more a matter of just putting a pin into the Twin Peaks universe (ensuring it doesn’t stick so deep as to become permanent). It’s no secret that Lynch wanted to return to Twin Peaks, and it always seems like he has ideas floating around in his mind about where the show can go and what could be explored. Even after The Return, there was speculation about whether Lynch could perhaps return for a Season Four, and of course, he did his part in fanning those flames.
The cast is phenomenal. It’s a celebration of David Lynch through so many actors who were clawing at the walls trying to get into this production. Of course, we have the alumni – memorable actors like Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, David Lynch, Miguel Ferrer, Grace Zabriskie, Michael Horse, Kimmy Robertson, Harry Goaz, Mädchen Amick, Dana Ashbrook, Brent Briscoe, David Patrick Kelly, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Sherilyn Fenn, Catherine E. Coulson… the list goes on, but it’s essentially the entire cast we’d fallen in love with, albeit with a few omissions.
But we also have these fresh faces. The actors whom I believe Lynch had seen a future in, and had he made more films, I could have seen many of them going on to be full-time Lynchian players. We have cameos and new characters introduced by Laura Dern (a long-time collaborator in her first Twin Peaks role), Robert Forster, Chrysta Bell, Naomi Watts, Pierce Gagnon, John Pirruccello, Don Murray, Jane Adams, Jim Belushi, Patrick Fischler, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Robert Knepper, Amanda Seyfried, Tom Sizemore, and a whole lot more.
And the world is fleshed out now more than ever. But this wouldn't exactly be a full fan service treatment. Things have changed; time has moved on. Long-time favorite characters have grown or evolved, or passed. One of the biggest changes occurs with our main character following the events of the first season. Kyle MacLachlan returns in multiple roles, most prominently as the nefariously sinister Mr. C, a cold and sadistic version of the good agent Cooper, who's avoiding his tether to the Black Lodge. The other is Dougie Jones, a no-good insurance salesman possessed by all the decent and good parts of Cooper, not fully our White Knight, but with discernible shades of his former self. And there are small glimpses at our actual Cooper, stuck in the Lodge looking for an escape. It’s an incredibly dense role with a ton of stuff for MacLachlan to do, but proved to be a bit unpopular.
So, after everything this season puts you through – the profound grief, the bizarre humor, the terrifying darkness, and that utterly unhinged narrative – there's only one conclusion. Twin Peaks: The Return is nothing short of a modern masterpiece. It’s Lynch completely unrestrained, bending the medium to his will and delivering an artistic triumph that defies categorization. For its sheer ambition, its unflinching vision, and the unforgettable experience it carves into your mind, this is a five-star work, no question.
Release Date: May 21st, 2017
RottenPop Grade: ★★★★★ (5 Stars): "Show me the money!"
Director: David Lynch
Writers: David Lynch
Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Sheryl Lee, Laura Dern, David Lynch, Miguel Ferrer, Chrystabell, Naomi Watts, Grace Zabriskie, and Michael Horse
Studios: Showtime Networks and Lynch/Frost Productions
Country: USA & France
Genres: Dramatic Psychological Thriller
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