Twin Peaks is back!

[rva_jeremy]

Any fans here who are excited?  This show kind of went over my head when it was originally out, but when I watched it as an adult I was floored by the themes and symbolism.  Really hoping this third season measures up!

[rva_jeremy]

OK, so after watching the two hour opener, here's what I have to say. This is just my subjective interpretation.

One of the reasons Twin Peaks got me the first time I watched it through is that it seemed to be the first show I'd seen that dealt with polarity in a really fearless way. A lot of shows have "the bad guys" but this show tried to have the bad guys cut across so many characters and situations that, not only was it difficult to tell what was actually going on, there was no way to really define the moral arc of the plot in a logical way; you are forced to feel it out. And in feeling it, in being unsettled and confused by it--as in a nightmare, or dream--you have to reckon with polarity in an entirely different way. And Lynch doesn't hold back on the STS stuff, especially the storyline of the doppelgänger Agent Cooper, which is, after all, his "shadow self".

The other thing is that the Black Lodge is totally Frost and Lynch's version time/space, if you ask me. In the new series they've upped the temporal distortions, so now it's not just backwards speech but subtle things like the speed of film changing, reversed blinking, the guy asking Cooper "is this the future or the past?", the spatial distortions, and other stuff I can't quite remember right now. But it definitely gave me the impression that, all this time, Lynch has been trying to find a way to convey the feeling of what another dimension would feel like if our dreams are any indication. I think it's masterful.

I miss the original series' use of suggestion to convey horror. The new series is pretty damn gory at times, and though I hate that stuff, in this case it feels like it's actually necessary in order for us to perceive the full scale of concepts and emotions that Frost and Lynch are trying to paint. That's why I think it's such a perfect reflection of polarity: because you really do get a sense that the dark stuff is there, at least in part, to provide contrast for what is sure to be some genuine beauty too.

I'm sure I'm erroneously superimposing the Law of One philosophy on this, but it really seems to fit a lot of the time!

[APeacefulWarrior]

I don't think there's any harm in "superimposing" philosophical themes onto a work, when you find them. Hell, there's another active thread at the moment where people are finding all kinds of deep insights in The Legend of Zelda!

As far as the show itself goes... I watched Peaks first-run, and have remained a fan over the years, but I'm honestly a bit dubious about this reboot. I'm going to wait for the new season to conclude and see what people think of it before I decide whether to watch it or not. I'm a bit burned out on modern updates to older shows\movies that just end up messing up the original.

BTW, did you happen to watch "Riverdale?" It's got VERY strong Twin Peaks vibes, although without the magical element.

[rva_jeremy]

Yeah see the "magical" element, or rather the ambiguity of that mysterious element is what I like! Haven't seen Riverdale but thanks for the suggestion. The new season is very much more like a David Lynch film than the old series. A LOT more graphic, and way more action and followable plot too. To me that's partially a downside but it's so good for what it is I hardly care much. Just Agent Cooper alone in this one... wow.

[APeacefulWarrior]

Yeah, Riverdale has sort of been my guilty pleasure this Spring. Although that's also in part because of their truly surprising willingness to completely and utterly subvert the Archie Comics universe, and building storylines specifically around NOT doing what one would expect of an Archie TV show. The whole Archie\Betty\Veronica love triangle isn't even a thing! And I find it really fascinating, watching them completely deconstruct and them rebuild that mythology from its constituent parts.

But the Twin Peaks influence is absolutely unmistakable. Although even then, they end up subverting that! For a show that could easily be mistaken (and enjoyed) as tawdry soap opera, it's got very smart plotting.

[rva_jeremy]

More evidence for my theory of Twin Peaks as a drama about polarity:
* the very name of the town, "Twin Peaks", brings to mind mountains most readily but could also be read as "dual extremes"--in other words, polarization.
* the opening credits focus a lot on the blade sharpening machines at the sawmill, which really makes me think about the way third density polarity hones us for the next grade
* the soap opera aspects used to really grate on me, but my current interpretation is that they illustrate that scale at which polarity often occurs, i.e. the weakly polarized drama between people in the town, with the contrast deepening and deepening the closer you get to time/space and discarnate forces (with the Bookhouse Boys somewhere on on the scale above the normal melodrama, showing STO polarity in strength)

Also, it should be noted that the series seems to be heading in a direction where "walk-ins" are a significant portion of the explanation for events.

[Infinite Unity]

I don't think there's any harm in "superimposing" philosophical themes onto a work, when you find them.  Hell, there's another active thread at the moment where people are finding all kinds of deep insights in The Legend of Zelda!  

As far as the show itself goes...  I watched Peaks first-run, and have remained a fan over the years, but I'm honestly a bit dubious about this reboot.  I'm going to wait for the new season to conclude and see what people think of it before I decide whether to watch it or not.  I'm a bit burned out on modern updates to older shows\movies that just end up messing up the original.  

BTW, did you happen to watch "Riverdale?"  It's got VERY strong Twin Peaks vibes, although without the magical element.

I believe you can find lessons, and depth anywhere you look to find it. The one mind designed and made all things.

[rva_jeremy]

So as I'm rewatching the original series, I totally forgot about the soap opera "Invitation to Love" that shows up every so often as something the characters follow. There's several interesting things about it. For one, it seems to be an even campier version of the soap opera aspects playing out in the lives of the characters. It is another example of how the central plot recapitulates itself across different levels. Folks feed off the emotional energy of the soap opera drama in a similar way that, it appears, the entities from the Black Lodge do (the garmonbozia or creamed-corn-looking stuff).

But I'm intrigued by the title, "Invitation to Love". I can't help but feel that, as a title summing up a soap opera, it is conveying the deeper significance of the drama that on the surface seems so superficial. That would be a good metaphor for third density experience, no?

[rva_jeremy]

OK, anybody watching now? I don't want to spoil it for everybody but episode 8 of the new season was hands down the most metaphysical TV I've ever seen.

[rva_jeremy]

Just want to throw out there, hopefully without spoiling too much for people who want to watch it: in Twin Peaks, nuclear explosions are a spiritual/interdimensional event. Pretty close correlation with the Confederation's stance on nuclear weapons.

[rva_jeremy]

Bump. It's been a year. Anybody checked this out?