TWIN PEAKS (why it is and will always be my favorite series)
Of course, as any sane person would, I will start from the beginning.
Around 2017, if I can recall correctly, I saw myself using the services of Netflix through a friend's account I had acquired some time before, and in the process of doing so, I recall an encounter I had with an ominous title on screen that caught my attention. The title spelled TWIN PEAKS, and it included on its cover the face of a young blonde girl. In retrospect it seems strange how the title initially caught my eye, as I had felt as if I had seen or heard that title before. Now I will clarify by saying that I have no clear memory of me seeing such a show in my past or even childhood, yet it for some reason seemed familiar, and it was this same familiarity that dawned on me. Once again, strangely enough, I had felt as if I had seen or heard of it before, which I do not recall at all.
This same sense of familiarity was what caused me to click on it to see what it was about, and to my young mind, I was unable to grasp the set of images I was being presented on screen. Mind you, this one was The Return, and because of this I was even more baffled than normal, as little did I know, I needed to have watched the previous seasons in order to have the context necessary to understand, and at the time I had thought The Return was a remake instead of a continuation of the story. This experience of confusion led me to quit watching it after episode 3.
Years went by, and a couple of months ago, I somehow came across a reference on the internet that reminded me of the show, which led me to actually look into the franchise as a whole, as I was baffled by idea that I could not understand a piece of media. This led me to make the decision to watch the show from the start, and this experience quickly became one of the finest examples of the importance of trusting one’s intuition when one feels drawn to certain things. I unknowingly managed to acquire the key to the very entrance of a world both wonderful and strange that would forever leave a beautiful mark, a scar of some sort, on my psyche for the rest of my life.
The premise of the show revolves around the murder of a young woman named Laura Palmer, who was beloved by the community of a fictitious town in the state of Washington called Twin Peaks. This, to my understanding was due to the fact that Laura somewhat symbolized the beauty and purity of the town. Now the show wastes no time in disproving this by showing us the other side of the coin presented to us at the start as well as delving into many other mysteries lurking in the shadows as well as the ones present right in front of us. To put it simply, the show looks to explain to us that there is “more than what meets the eye.” Now this summary does the show no justice whatsoever. The show is just that and much more at the same time. It would be an understatement to say that I am simply scratching the surface. But that is up to each individual person that may feel compelled to watch the show firsthand and uncover all the layers the show has.
Now of course, with that out of the way, I’ll carry on with the heart of it all. So here it goes. A love letter to Twin Peaks:
Twin Peaks drew me into its world by presenting a mystery that needed to be solved, the coldness of a crime drama drew me in, but the warmth of Twin Peaks made me stay. The show is more than a piece of media that sits on a murder mystery. It is a show that is a lot of things at the same time. It goes beyond the norm of what a show usually is or what we generally think it should be. I was drawn to the show by the mystery and happily stayed for that damn good coffee and piece of pie. The show filled me with a sense of unexperienced nostalgia and offered me a hug full of warmth with no strings attached. It allowed me to escape into a world far more exciting than my current reality and it additionally offered me something far more valuable than just an escape, but lessons for life, and I am extremely grateful for that.
As cliché as it may sound, it showed me the importance of focusing on the journey rather than the destination, on top of so many other things. Twin Peaks is the the purest manifestation of "maybe the real *blank* was the friends we made along the way". The show, by its mere existence, enforces at each second the importance of enjoying the small things in life, of paying attention to the small intricacies of existence for the purpose of remaining interconnected with the world as a human being. It, whether consciously or not, references the concept of Synchronizität or Synchronicity, concept coined by the founder of Analytical Psychology Carl G. Jung.
The universe of Twin Peaks feeds the hunger that I’ve always had for the mysteries pertaining to things beyond the physical and tangible world in a metaphysical manner, as well as touching on topics on human nature and, most importantly, on the human mind. The show made its presence known in my life the second time around at a very interesting stage of my life. Right when I had gotten deep into Jungian psychology, it decided to “peak” my interest, *chuckle*. It faithfully touches upon topics of an esoteric nature as well as concepts that are very intimately close with Jungian psychoanalysis as whole (as mentioned before). It is the old tale of Good vs. Evil but taken to a level that could only be accessed and displayed on the screen with a mind as unique as David Lynch’s. The very concept of Twin Peaks as a whole is the most mind-bending, abstract, and complex yet simple and straightforward in-your-face piece of media I have ever encountered in my 22 years of life on this plane of existence.
You see, David Lynch’s works offer a freedom to the viewer that is not given by any other director/writer. And that is the freedom of interpretation. Yes, there may be elements in the show that have a particular significance, like, e.g., the Black/White Lodge or the existence of Bob, but the overall meaning and interpretation of all these things put together as a whole are completely up to the viewer. Or are they? That, beloved reader, is the magic of Twin Peaks. It's telling a story, a specific one, or our own interpretation of one.
“In the world of Twin Peaks, we are the dreamers that dream, and therefore, it’s our dream, and that’s that.”
Now, on that note, to me, the absolute significance of Twin Peaks resides in showing us the importance of acknowledging the very presence of evil in front of us that we try so hard to ignore or disregard and of facing it head-on for the ultimate purpose of being able to consciously fight it to allow ourselves to enjoy the good that is also present in our day-to-day lives. It is my conviction that its purpose is also to emphasize the importance of enjoying the coffees and pies of life, to enjoy the small things in our lives that sum up to form the vast amount of beauty manifested every single day we wake up from slumber.
To put it simply, it all comes down to delving head deep into our darkness in order to find our light and to do so externally as well. Darkness caused Laura’s death, and her death shined a light onto that darkness, enabling us to see truth in its most crude form so we could face it head-on and liberate ourselves in the process. To me, this is why Twin Peaks will forever be my all-time favorite piece of visual media of all time.
Sincerely,
Just another proud member of the Bookhouse Boys.
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