If David Lynch were like every other retro revivalist out there, the new Twin Peaks would do its damndest to evoke the exact feeling origin Twin Peaks series did back in the 1990s. But he's not like everyone out there, as the actual nostalgia is very, very thin on the new 2017 incarnation of the classic series. It has some moments here and there, especially with the classic Badalamenti tunes, but on a whole, it's an entirely new thing.It's been 25 years since FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McLachlan) got stuck in the Black Lodge, where spirits and demons roam and speak in odd tones. In a room with red curtains and a wave checkered floor, Cooper has sat and his evil doppelganger has been free on Earth to do as he pleases, while everyone else has been wondering where did Cooper go. But now, like the lookalike of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) says, it is time for him to go, but the other one needs to come back. As far things go in Twin Peaks 2017, that's one of the very few things that are pretty clear, others not so much, as what the first 4 episodes do the best is presenting more and more questions. Or better yet, mysteries.
We meet old faces as well as new ones. Back in the town of Twin Peaks Deputy Hawk (Michael Horse) gets a message from Log Lady (Cathrine Coulson), that something is missing and only he can find it. Dr. Jacoby (Russ Tamblyn) lives in a forest, doing something with shovels. In New York, a young man (Ben Rosenfield) sits in a room, watching a giant glass cube, while it's been filmed by several cameras. Evil Copper (McLachlan) is doing his own thing, maiming people and trying to find a way to not to go back to the Lodge.
We see a lot of things. Some are done by the other evil spirits that have been free on Earth for a while, some of the people we know. We see Lucy (Kimmy Robertson) and Andy (Harry Goaz), who've lived their lives but still somehow managed to remain as they are, as things don't really change in Twin Peaks, they just take new forms. But yet, there's very little nostalgia about them, despite either could have been used as a direct nostalgia vehicle. Now in this new, even more, surreal environment, we fully understand how odd some of the people in Twin Peaks and in Lynch's world really is. The world is odd. Most people in it are odd, despite at times some of its inhabitants seem to realise that for a short while.
During the first four-episode, a lot of questions are presented. Very few things are answered either directly or indirectly. What we see now is a kaleidoscope, that keeps twisting and twirling, creating new shapes and in someone else's hands than Lynch, it could have plummeted like a burning eagle. This is what Twin Peaks 2017 is all about, mysteries and a quest to answer in them, to conclude what was started back in the 1990s. Lynch did not set out to do a nostalgia trip, he wanted to do something else, something that would be in part familiar, but in the end very different.
If you expect New Twin Peaks to be like the old, you will be sorely disappointed. It is something, that has the same DNA, but it's also something that has grown past that, just like Lynch himself has turned more surreal. He doesn't only take the old Twin Peaks series, he also uses the movie Fire Walk With Me on the mix. He hasn't always made a home run with his surreal material. but with Twin Peaks 2017, at least as far as the first 4 episodes go, he has surpassed himself.
Twin Peaks 2017 is something, that could have gone terribly wrong, but at least for now, I can say it hasn't. Lynch has opened a brand new door on an old frame and the world behind it still works. At times it's something that feels odd, at times gruesome. Then again it can be laughing out funny. It's interesting to see what is to come, as we might be on the verge of something truly great here.
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