Thinking of Twin Peaks

Damn fine coffee…

I clearly remember the first time that I saw Twin Peaks, the T.V. series created by David Lynch and Mark Frost.

Despite being completely unprepared for it, I was pulled right in.

It was unlike anything that I had seen before.

I loved the mystery of it. The unexplained aspects. I don’t just mean the basic premise of an out of town F.B.I. Detective attempting to solve the mystery of who had killed a local homecoming queen. I mean the whole package.

From the opening credits of the pilot episode, my 13 year old self was completely hypnotised.

The setting of the quiet, picturesque town with all its unique, quirky characters and their memorable dialogues wrapped in lots of dark foreboding forest.

For all the dreamy slices of Americana on the surface, there was this eerie feeling that somewhere out of sight, something far more complicated and dark lay in waiting. The sense of unknowing was the allure. It could also also be very beautiful.

It was probably the first time that I had seen a show where the creators didn’t seem invested in making everything crystal clear. The viewer was required to do a bit of work themselves. This wasn’t just the passive entertainment that we were used to. This was something altogether different.

Oh, and the music, a special word for the music.

It’s hard to imagine the show making quite the same impression without the legendary Angelo Badelamenti and his contributions.

Here is some great footage of him describing how he came up with the hauntingly beautiful “Laura’s Theme”…

I guess one of my takeaways from the show was that what you chose to leave out could be just as important as what you chose to reveal.

Another memory that I have of Twin Peaks is that I couldn’t seem to find anyone in my class at School that was prepared to openly admit that that they watched and enjoyed it. It would generally be panned as weird nonsense.

Yet, at the same time, they would also be able to tell me everything that was happening in the show at the time. Maybe weirdness wasn’t quite the mainstream staple that it is today. Not quite OK to like. Or at least, not OK to admit to like.

Either way, Twin Peaks gave me the green light to believe that weirdness could be the way to go.

Yay weirdness.

Time for a rewatch.