Twin Peaks: May the Giant Be with You

 "There are things in life that exist, yet our eyes cannot see them.

I finished blogging the first season in... April 2024. Wow. No wonder I'm finding it tricky to reacquaint myself with the sheer multitude of characters and the even greater multitude of plot threads... but this, of course, is the now sadly departed David Lynch (he directs personally here). Best not to try to keep track to closely, but rather to just let it wash over you. And this first episode is a long one. In a very long season...

So again there's the log lady and the wonderful look of the show, with the limited palette of colours focusing on browns and oranges, and the unique texture. And yes, there's the weirdness. We begin with an unsettlingly long scene with the recently shot Agent Cooper. Yes, obviously the giant gives us lots of dreamlike weirdness alongside cryptic clues, most strokingly "The owls are not what they seem". And he's back for more weirdness and clues at the end.

But even more weird, for me, are the deliberately lingering moments with the incredibly old room service man. Everything about this sequence is designed to be a little unsettling, a little off. 

And yet... the weirdness co-exists with himour (Albert's humour), lots of melodrama, and lots of real feeling. Yes, Leland's behaviour is weird, albeit changing, but we feel the reality of unbearable grief. The Major's dream, recounted to Bobby, may be weird and surreal, but it's the only way this emotionally constipated man can express his love for his son.

And yes, Audrey, investigating at One Eyed Jack's, has to use a very theatrical type mask (imagery again) to hide from her own father and avoid a very creeply act of almost incest. But she's in way over her head. It's moving, at the end, to see her admit this, but face her face with courage.

Elsewhere... well, I'm not going to even try and say anything about the progression of the plot. But even this is absurd, with a bit of slapstick involving Andy and a plank of wood. And I love Agent Cooper's little poirot moment in which she reveals that there was, yes, a third man on the night Laura died...

I'm loving this. Twin Peaks, I've missed you.