I can’t stand this bloody series. ‘It’s art for the sake of art’. ‘This is really Lynch’s gift to all subsequent media’. ‘There is so much we owe to this series.’
What the hell. It’s just random pieces of script written by monkeys on a typewriter, slapped together. No part of the story is ever finished. ‘Ah but that’s where the depth resides!’. Rubbish. Anybody can write a story that doesn’t properly finish.
Oh I know I will introduce 20 new characters, this will add so much depth. Yeah, they have no motives, no character development BUT I will add this random surreal thing that happens to them, for additional depth. But what happens to X? Who knows! And to Y? You have to guess! And to Z? No one can tell!
Maybe using steel-faced actors will improve the plot? I know I will cast myself in one role with quirky details because it’s so fun. Yeah I don’t know how to act, why? Is it necessary?
And the goddamn music is unsufferable. ‘You can’t separate Lynch’s work from Badalamenti’s music’. Yeah I know they’re both shit. Oh and the effing gigs in the sequel of the series. Aaaaaah!
But at least there is some symbolism! Yes, what is it? Who fucking knows!
This is some interesting context, which I was aware of but never properly considered. I think this has given me a better appreciation of Lynch. I saw Twin Peaks well after it was made. I also saw it after having been exposed to a lot of alternative cinema. I think I missed the chance to love it, both from a era of film perspective and from a gateway into more weird stuff perspective.
I think Twin Peaks suffers from the Seinfeld problem. It was SO influential there are now pieces of it in almost everything that even remotely shares a genre with it. And if you grew up watching all the stuff it influenced, going back to watch the origin, that sparked the imaginations of all those creators, can seem kinda hokey, trite, and underwhelming.