30 years ago today, Twin Peaks premiered on ABC on American network television and changed the face of the medium forever. At the time it was must watch television but, being only 9 years old, I didn’t catch it until I went to university in 1999.
David Lynch's visuals are very haunting without the sound but when you lay in Angelo Badalamenti's unforgettable score and the sound effect mix something magical, almost operatic happens. The sound and images truly complement one another, so much so that several images have been seared into my consciousness; the swinging traffic lights, the dark trees swaying in the breeze, the beautiful waterfall and the hues of brown that permeate the show. There is a poetry and synergy between the images and music that I haven't seen in any other TV series since.
The show itself moved at a leisurely pace, especially when compared to many modern shows, but it was never a slow show, there was always a sense of something lurking just beneath the surface; it could be something terrible, exciting or indeed magical - whatever it was it was never something boring... There was a wonderful dream-logic reality which meant that anything could happen at any point of the show. You want a backwards talking dwarf? Check. You want a unicorn? Check. You want a mysterious giant? Check. How many other shows could do that yet still make a sort of sense?
This unnerving other-worldliness of the series was hinted at in the pilot with the red room shown briefly, but it was really cemented in episode 2 when we meet the sinister backwards talking dwarf in a room of red curtains and chevron flooring.... All this added to the unnerving peculiarity of what could have become just another also-ran police procedural. However after the scene with the empty bottle in the forest and Buddhist philosophising you know you are watching something that is unique and special, how many other shows features FBI Agents trying to work out a murder's identity by trying to break a bottle with a stone?
Throughout the course of the entire show light and dark contrasted heavily, often within one episode, for example the cliffhanger of season 1 when Cooper is shot and the oldest waiter in the world serves him (slowly) whilst he is bleeding to death on the floor, Cooper waits patiently and politely for the waiter's return.
This weirdness continued with the introduction of the giant, a figure famous across nearly all cultures. The duality between the giant and the dwarf made you consider dualities further and adds to the light / dark dynamic... Were humans just the playthings of creatures and being from another realm?
When the killer was revealed in episode 14 the question of personal responsibility and whether we are responsible for our own actions Is asked. Is our life predetermined? Are we merely puppets in a greater play or do we have to accept personal responsibility for our actions, even when we may have no control over them?
The series undoubtedly dipped after the reveal of the murderer of Laura Palmer, with the introduction of the pine weasel and Benjamin Horne's spiritual epiphany, but after a few episodes it found its feet again with the introduction of antagonist Windom Earle, further lore reveals with the Black and White lodge and a look at Agent Dale Cooper's past.
The original series reaches a crescendo with episode 29, when David Lynch returned to helm the arthouse horror final episode which ended with the possession of Agent Cooper, apparently lost in the Black Lodge with Bob possessing the body of Cooper and repeating "How's Annie?"
There was a high level of expectation and hype surrounding the series after the 25 year wait. However the new series defied expectation and forged its own path, free from most of the shackles of its past and as a result, was the finest mixture of art and television I have ever seen.
Twin Peaks: The Return was a sublime limited series. Each episode was like a mini movie with gorgeously framed shots and haunting imagery that would stay with you long after the episode had ended. The story meanwhile moved at a deliberate, some would say, glacial pace, especially for those who didn't like the Dougie Jones portions of the story, yet the story was multilayered and open to interpretation. Even now I am still working through theories and ideas in my head and, through Facebook groups, building and developing my understanding of the world Lynch and Frost created.
A couple of years on from The Return and 30 since the original, the series still haunts my dreams and I hope that this mercurial series is remembered for the masterpiece it truly is. It’s cultural impact was huge as it encouraged a darker look at Americana and conspiracy theories on television (look at X Files, Millenium, Carnivale, American Gothic etc) and even in video games it influenced Zelda in the Gameboy classic Zelda: Link’s Awakening.
There are very few shows that have such long tail and profound impact on pop culture as a whole but Twin Peaks is to television what Star Wars was to film and on it’s 30th anniversary it is to be lauded and celebrated.
