Twin Peaks: The Return Is More Relevant Than Ever

When Mike Al Strobel asked this question to Special Agent Dale Cooper Kyle MacLachlan in Twin Peaks The Return it quite likely echoed viewers thoughts. After all Mike asked that question while sitting in the Red Room the multidimensional waiting room that became the signature hangout during the original two seasons of Twin Peaks and the 1992 prequel Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me. In fact Cooper was wearing the exact same suit and tie combo and sat in the same chair as the original set.Before Cooper could respond Laura Palmer Cheryl Lee entered the room wearing the same black dress she had worn in the season two finale. Although MacLachlan and Lee have visibly aged in the two and a half decades since they shared a scene they slipped easily into their iconic roles. The duo performed a sort of greatest hit from their previous interactions citing iconic lines and recreating their iconic moments.

For many who tuned into the episode to watch the first two parts of Twin Peaks The Return on May 21 2017 callbacks like this were exactly what they wanted. The Return was a revival series and the revival series is designed to reference the source material whether its Fuller House recreating the opening credits of the original sitcom with older cast or the Mystery Science Theater 3000 hosts working with the Mitchell riffs. in his films. Production companies are reviving a series because they have a built in audience and name recognition. But we are witnessing a revival of nostalgia. Even when the series takes on a different tone as with the 2021 Punky Brewster series starring Soleil Moon Frye as a divorced mother of three the series gives us a sense of familiarity taking us back to a time when we were younger and things were better.But nostalgia wasnt what creators David Lynch and Mark Frost had in mind when they returned to Twin Peaks five years ago. Unlike nearly every other revival series The Return actively lobbied against nostalgia. Despite what her title suggested Return eschewed the comforts of familiarity and demanded that we acknowledge the aging process.

 Its not about the rabbit

Without a doubt The Return was immersed in moments of fan service. The chocolate bunnies that Cooper mentioned off the cuff in a season one episode became a major part of Agent Hawk Michael Horses investigation of Andy Harry Goaz and Lucy Kimmy Robertson who are now married. Almost every character in the original series appeared in at least one scene even if it was just one Skype conversation.But even in its moments of callbacks and fan service The Return has brought old age and the passage of time to the fore. Take in one of its most affectionate moments when the tragic romance of Big Ed Hurley Everett McGill and Norma Jennings Peggy Lipton is finally resolved. One of the most compelling parts of the original series was the pair a couple who never acted on their love for each other out of respect for their unloved marriages of other people.

Frost and Lynch created the moment Ed and Norma came together to maximize viewer satisfaction. When Otis Reddings emotional song Ive Loved You For So Long entered the soundtrack Norma and Ed finally shared a long awaited kiss. To highlight the moment the camera turns back to Normas co worker Shelley Medchen Amic smiling approvingly. His comforting smile spoke to all Twin Peaks fans.But Frost and Lynch werent just interested in giving fans warm feelings. His design of the scene never allowed viewers to forget that these two had grown old that they had spent most of their lives separated and wasted years that would have been given to each other. The camera focused on Ed for several minutes while he waited for Normas response allowing us time to study the wrinkles on his face and the scattered gray on his head. When old Normas hand slid into the frame to rest on his shoulder we reminded the scene wasnt about relive the emotions of the past. It was about spending the two of them together in their final years.

Not wrapped in plastic

Almost every part of The Return is there to make viewers feel the pain of the years. Nowhere was this more evident than in the treatment of the main character Dale Cooper. The original series established Cooper as a bulwark of good and a limitless source of strength who fought the citys primal evil by raising the thumbs and celebrating with every cup of coffee.The season two finale left Cooper trapped in Black Lodge while his doppelganger took his place so viewers werent surprised that the early parts of The Return kept him away from Twin Peaks. But when Cooper escaped from the Black Lodge he entered our reality as Dougie Jones a true shell of a man with no personality at all. Even those who appreciate Lynchs penchant for long jokes remember the interaction between a wounded Cooper gunshot and an old bell in the season 2 premiere were expecting the real Cooper to arrive at any moment.Despite those expectations viewers tuned in every week to be disappointed. For nearly 15 hours weve watched Dougie Jones navigate an insurance fraud case reconnect his wife and son and gain the trust of Las Vegas mobsters with no echo for the Cooper we love.

When Cooper finally woke up in the middle of Part 16 of the eighteen part series he reached Twin Peaks only to sit on the sidelines while the other characters including poor ineffectual Lucy took over the central threat. Even worse Parts 17 and 18 essentially featured Cooper undoing the entire series.At the end of the eighteenth part Cooper travels back in time to the night of Laura Palmers death where he rescued Laura thus erasing the sensational incident from the series. What followed was a re enactment of the opening scene from the first episode of Twin Peaks with one major difference. Instead of finding Lauras body wrapped in plastic old Pete Martell Jack Nance spent the morning as planned. The factory continued to operate local business leaders continued their schemes and the teenagers went to school. Laura is no longer important.But as Cooper was driving Laura away from where she was to be killed he heard a horrible scream and discovered she wasnt there. Cooper himself returned to the Red Room dressed in the same suit and tie and sitting in the same chair. Mike sat across from him again and asked the only important question Is it the future? Or is it past?

I cant go home

The Return echoed Mikes question with its infamous final scene. After a baffling interaction with the owner of what appears to be Laura Palmers childhood home Cooper and Laura in what appears to be the present are left baffled. What year is this? Desperately asked Cooper before Lauras mother Sarah Grace Zabriskie echoed down the street and Laura let out another of her characteristic screams.For those who came to The Return expecting familiarity and nostalgia the final scene only solidified their frustration. He gave no answers no explanations and ruled out the possibility of ever going back. Lauras death was avoided but she was basically erased from reality. Cooper ended the show not as a hero but as a failure losing more than he had in the original series.No doubt this ending angered some people. But for me and others those final moments were the perfect ending to a witty 18 hour story. After this story there can be no return no return home. There can only be the present the meaning we make of the here and now.

When the screen turned black and Lauras screaming burned our ears we were left confused and scared which isnt what many fans of the Twin Peaks revival series wanted. They wanted comfort and reassurance. Promise that no matter how bad things get in 2017 Agent Hawk is still on the case and Lucy is still confused by the phones. They wanted to know that good old Cooper could get out of Black Lodge and that Ed and Norma could be together at the end. They wanted an escape from the present and a trip to the past where some things remain the same even as our bodies age. Thats why so many revival series eventually return to fan favorites even when they initially try to do something different as well see next year when a team from The Enterprise team up with Captain Picard.But in the same way that Cooper made things worse when he returned to the fateful night of Lauras death the comeback insisted there could be no solace in the past. Lynch and Frost have digitally inserted 50 year old MacLauchlan into footage from Fire Walk With Me to depict him rescuing Laura literally changing the past rather than revisiting it. A nivel de trama Cooper no regresó a Twin Peaks tal como era sino a Twin Peaks tal como el lo pensó transformándolo en algo que el quería pero eliminando la agencia que Laura mostró en Fire Walk With Me y finalmente la deschaciend Yeah.

Rejecting nostalgia and a depressing ending The Return provided an answer to Mikes question. By ruling out the possibility of the past and failing to provide explanatory answers to understand Cooper and Lauras future Lynch and Frost leave us with the present. We only had feelings of dread and confusion when the series ended only feelings of joy and frustration when we saw Dougie Jones walking around Las Vegas only huge feelings of relief and sadness when Norma and Ed hug each other.In the end The Return indicates that only the moment matters and we give meaning to this moment yes we bring our memories of the past and our hopes for the future but mostly in our own existence. We share our confusion and frustration with one another acknowledging the loss and aging we have experienced. But we do it here and now together.Is it the future? Or is it gone? Nobody. Its the present Sometimes the present can be terrifying and frightening like the lights that go out in the streets of our hometown and become unknown. But sometimes it can be warm and inviting like a long awaited kiss.