"A comedy that sometimes turns into arthouse horror." That's how Sween described the third season of Twin Peaks to me the other day, and it's so perfectly adequate. Both of us bailed on the original version of the show somewhere in the second season, and neither of us could follow the plot of the third season for more than an episode or two - and it sounds like we're really not alone, as even the people I know who genuinely love Twin Peaks seemed to mostly take a "who gives a shit?" approach to the story here in the long-awaited third season. This show - and this season, really, in particular - is the completely unique creation of David Lynch, for better and for worse. Lynch has his staunch supporters; I'm personally more intrigued by the idea of Lynch doing what he does than I am by the art he actually makes. (But Mulholland Drive, at least, has only grown stronger and better in my memory; a rewatch is in order!)
I really don't have much to offer in the form of any analysis or introspection.I've seen plenty of people debating what even "happened" in the finale, and whether or not the show even took place in our reality - or which portions of it did. I don't care about any of that, really. I'm just glad that when I lost the narrative thread on this show, I wasn't alone. The plot's beyond the point of it all.
If that sounds just pretentious as all hell to you - hey, great. Yes. You're not wrong. Probably don't watch this. But as lost as the show left me, often for entire episodes at once, I can't deny that I never really lost interest in watching it. The nightmares and dreamscapes were its bread and butter, as far as I'm concerned, which left me far more invested in the episodes full of weird, crazy, dark shit than I ever was in the events unfolding day by day.
Did I love this? Oh hell no, not at all, really. But I appreciated it, I'm glad it existed, and I'd so much rather see something unabashedly weird like Twin Peaks than something vanilla and formulaic and predictable, like Legion, that sort of apes Twin Peaks without daring to get half as weird or bold or unsettling. Good work, Showtime.
Did I love this? Oh hell no, not at all, really. But I appreciated it, I'm glad it existed, and I'd so much rather see something unabashedly weird like Twin Peaks than something vanilla and formulaic and predictable, like Legion, that sort of apes Twin Peaks without daring to get half as weird or bold or unsettling. Good work, Showtime.
Wow, this is good timing. Just jumped back into season one of Twin Peaks over the weekend... AND I'M LOST! Glad to know I'm not alone in not understanding this show, but I get barely get through one season groping in the dark for a narrative. Let alone pushing through for two more seasons.
ReplyDeleteI dunno... I feel like I just want to bail on this show. I'm really not a David Lynch fan. Aside from Elephant Man (which I immediately gravitated towards -- it's also likely the least Lynchian of his films) and Mulholland Drive (a film that took me three attempts to get through, and while I hated it at first... I think it might be slowly becoming one of my favorite films now), I really struggle with his material.
Should I get to this? Well, based on your take... I throwing it to the back of the list. Which most likely means I'll never get to it. But I applaud the fact that we live in a world where people give the crazy coot money to do whatever he pleases in an effort to make his art.