‘Twin Peaks 3×08’ Review
Going into this episode of Twin Peaks, there was a buzz around it. Something special was going to happen, and of course fans were excited. Would this mean that Agent Cooper (Kyle Maclachlan) was finally going to wake up in the body of Dougie? Was Sherilyn Fenn finally returning as Audrey Horne? Welcome to Twin Peaks, where nothing is as you expect it.
With the Evil Cooper out of jail, where would this episode go? The answer to that is to give us a performance from Nine Inch Nails, then show us the genesis of true evil, born out of the greatest evil ever created by human hands.
To probably everybody’s surprise, instead of another episode of Dougie drinking his coffee and Evil Cooper being evil, we take a trip back to 1945 and the Manhattan Project. This of course was the test detonation of the Atomic Bomb. Why is this event significant? Well it seems to be the moment that Bob (or true evil) was born onto the Earth. Now, in saying that I will say that it is my interpretation of what I saw. The fact is though there can be different interpretations based on your own thoughts. This is what David Lynch wants to happen… so it is going to happen.
What Lynch gives us is pure Lynch, so pure that it is mind-blowing. The best way to watch this episode is to stick a good pair of headphones on, and sit as close to the television as possible. I will warn you though, that will be a hard thing to experience, because Lynch puts your senses (audio and visual at least) through hell.
To build up the birth of evil, he literally throws everything at the screen. It is an explosion of pure force both in your ears and through your eyes, and it is all force. If anything, you could argue that it is the power of the Atomic Bomb ripping reality apart and letting forces in that aren’t meant to be a part of this world.
After the audio and visual bombardment, we skip to the 1950’s where we see the purity of suburbia once again attacked by the darker side of life. It is no mistake really that the “evil” on show this time are vagrants, and they are asking for something simple as a light for their cigarette. Attacking the peaceful and pure suburban people in the middle of the night, they have a message, and for those listening it has an instant effect. There is also a poem that will stick in your head, as it does the victims.
The question is though, what does this have to do with Twin Peaks and the answers we are all looking for? The answer to that is quite simple. It has everything to do with what is to come. My view is that it explains how Bob first comes into this world. We even get shots of a convenience store which is attacked by the vagrants. If you remember, Leland Palmer made reference to it and it is the meeting place of the spirits of the Black Lodge.
Another thing to notice is that not everything was dark in this trip to the past. In fact, in this black and white episode of Twin Peaks, we see a golden ball. In this golden ball we see the image of Laura Palmer who is then released into our world. If she represents all that is pure at that point, then it makes sense that Bob was so infatuated with her, and the corruption of her soul.
While I can fully understand that some people won’t like this episode, I loved it. What it is though is an experience that is mean to completely mess with your head. You have to be a fan of Twin Peaks to even have a chance of understanding what you are seeing, and it is as “Lynchian” as you can get. It is not a welcoming episode, but could be compared to walking into a black hole where there is no chance of light ever escaping.
For all those that argue that horror is dead, watch this episode of Twin Peaks and see that David Lynch doesn’t agree with you, if anything he just gave it the biggest shot of adrenaline and put it on television. If any other show wants to see if it can top this, I’d love to see them give it a try.
***** 5/5
Twin Peaks airs in the UK on Mondays on Sky Atlantic.