In Twin Peaks, the peaceful, pastoral town rests near the Black Lodge, a world populated by strange, often malevolent beings.Ĭooper’s odyssey at the beginning of Part 3 takes place almost entirely in the Black Lodge - assuming the Black Lodge is another dimension, rather than simply a location within that dimension - where Cooper has been trapped for 25 years, since his villainous doppelgänger took possession of his body in the real world. In Blue Velvet, the sweet and innocent suburbs lie atop a dangerous, sexually charged criminal underworld. Lynch’s works place a greater importance on images and sound design than plot scenes that may seem nonsensical are meant to provoke an emotional reaction, rather than necessarily advance a story.Īnother recurring theme in Lynch’s work is the idea of multiple worlds existing alongside each other: A “real,” typically happy world where events are literal, and another, more metaphorical world.
The term “motion picture” seems archaic today, but it’s an apt way to describe Lynch’s works, where every frame feels like its own work of art. To begin to understand Lynch, it is helpful to know that before he got into filmmaking, he was an aspiring painter. However, while not everything Lynch creates makes narrative sense, it’s all weighted with symbolic value.
The opening of Part 3, a roughly 20-minute sequence light on dialogue but full of imagery, is a perfect example of Lynch’s style, and what can make his works so difficult to digest. In particular, the scenes in the unearthly dimension called the Black Lodge, which are typically the most iconic parts of the series, can also be the most frustrating. In an era of television where narrative is king, it’s easy to paint the new Twin Peaks episodes revealed so far as a bunch of random sequences, tied together by a thin plot. The works of David Lynch have developed a reputation for being difficult to understand, and this penchant for impenetrability is alive and well in the new episodes of Twin Peaks, which have featured, among other things: A talking electric tree, a humanoid abomination breaking out of a glass box, and now Dale Cooper emerging from an electrical socket in a trail of black smoke.