Wow. Every now and then, I discovered there has been something *really cool* that I've somehow missed, that's just passed me right by. I'm usually tipped off to them by mention of the props. A few months ago, it was Warehouse 13.
Today, I stumbled across the box set of Twin Peaks while perusing the shelves at my school library. Now I'm loving it. I recognize shots of my home state (Washington/Snoqualmie Falls) and I'm intently peering at everyone's hand to see if they're wearing a Black Lodge ring, even though I have no clue what that is.. :lol. Still making my way through the pilot.
Any other Twin Peaks fans here? (And please, no spoilers! Don't even tell me what the Black Lodge is.)
LOVE the show. Love love love it.
I will not spoil it for you, but I will WARN YOU STRONGLY that the show ends on a cliffhanger, and no, Fire Walk With Me doesn't really resolve the cliffhanger. It's very sad, but if you know it's coming, it's manageable. I think around Episode 14 is where the Laura Palmer story wraps up, so you COULD just quit there....but you'd miss the richness of the rest of it.
I have friends out in Sammamish. I visited them a few years ago and we did a little Twin Peaks driving tour. I've been to the "mill", seen the "Sheriff's office" from afar, had cherry pie and coffee at the "Double R" (actually the Mar-T diner), taken snaps of the falls, and just this past January had dinner at the "Roadhouse."
The show is just such a wonderful mix of elements, but it's painful to see how it didn't really "end" per se. That said, once you make peace with that notion, Fire Walk With Me is actually pretty terrific. I hear they're still in talks (as they have been for YEARS) about getting the tons of deleted scenes either re-edited into a "special edition" DVD or at least released as extras. So far, nothing, though.
As a side note, if you can manage it, try to find the Artisan DVDs of the first season. There are some great extras on it, and they have DTS sound (which I like better than Dolby).
Whatever you do, save Fire Walk with Me for the last thing you see, as it gives you some of the story that lead up to Laura Palmer's ending.
Also, The Lost Highway and Mulholland Dr. both are set within the TP universe (from what I've read).
Agreed on FWWM, but I never knew that Lost Highway and Mullholland Dr. take place in the same universe. There's nothing overt in Mulholland Dr. to suggest it, but I guess there's nothing to contradict it either. They do share similar sort of elements, but you could just chalk that up to Lynch's style.
Last bit of advice:
When watching David Lynch, you will most enjoy it and "get" it if you disconnect from your rational, literal self. While his films and TV shows do involve some symbolism and symbolic representation, they aren't really the "point" per se. I find I "get" Lynch best when I stop looking for some kind of literal meaning and focus more on how this or that moment/scene/thing makes me feel. My sense of how he conveys meaning is that he does it through visceral reaction and THAT's what the scene "means", rather than "Oh, well, the wings on the half-bird half-mutant frog represent freedom and...."
Twin Peaks is a lot more straightforward than his other stuff, but Fire Walk With Me gets closer to his style.
Anyway, you're in for a hell of a ride. Just enjoy it and do NOT invest in getting "answers" to the show's mysteries, or resolution of the plot. Twin Peaks was conceived of as a soap opera that was about exploring the lives of these characters, rather than about "Who Killed Laura Palmer?" Originally, I think Lynch didn't ever intend to reveal who killed her, and simply used that as the means to bring the characters all together in a single place and interact. Laura forms the nexus of these characters' interactions, but the identity of her killer (for Lynch, anyway) wasn't the point. The network apparently pressured him to reveal who it was midway through Season 2, though, which is why I say you CAN stop watching at that point (I think).
