The highly anticipated third season of Twin Peaks premiered yesterday. While the reviews have been positive so far, the plot has already left many viewers confused to say the least.
If you’re hoping for a straightforward storyline to develop, you’ll be disappointed according to creator David Lynch. And if you want answers, you’ll have to come to your own conclusions.
“I always say, you can’t dig up a dead author and ask him or her about their book,” David tells TV WEEK. “You read the book and figure it out for yourself.
“And that is a beautiful thing, to see things like a detective think and feel and come up with your own conclusions.”
The success of the first and second series still shocks David.
“It was a big surprise that [season one and two of] Twin Peaks travelled around the world and people really liked it,” he says.
He hopes to honour the show’s legacy in the third instalment.
“Going back in, the rule was to follow the ideas, be true to the ideas, do it as good as you can, and when it’s finished, you release it.”
David Lynch in Twin Peaks.
If you’ve watched the first four episodes, you’re probably still feeling a little clueless, which is just fine. David explains that series three is all about playing the long game.
“It’s something that’s not finished until it’s finished,” he says. “ And just like anything, you watch it and you feel it and you go along and it adds up to something in the end and then you can think about that.”
If it makes you feel better, some of the cast members, including Kyle MacLachlan, had trouble keeping up with the story.
“It’s like everyone else, there are things I think I understand and then there are the things I don’t understand,” Kyle admits. “But David and I have worked together for so long that I’ve learned that I just create a reality that works for me and that will do it.”
Despite the ambiguity, or perhaps because of it, Kyle believes this latest Twin Peaks will be just as influential as its predecessors.
“I know it is doing the same thing as the original, it’s pushing the boundaries and is like nothing you’ve seen on TV,” Kyle says. “It has all the elements of the original, but is by no means a nostalgic return because it goes in a new direction.”
While Twin Peaks is a project that’s close to David’s heart, he insists it’s not about him, “it’s about the ideas”.
Kyle MacLachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper.
However, he finds it hard not to take the reactions to his work personally.
“For instance on Fire Walk With Me when it was booed, they are not booing me, they are booing the film,” he explains. “But at the same time, you can feel them, that they are booing you. So you do become attached personally to these things for sure.”
David also appreciates that leaving viewers to draw their own conclusions can be a frustrating experience for fans.
“The night the last episode was on television [25 years ago], a bunch of very angry fans toilet papered my house,” he laughs.
A slice of Cherry Pie anyone?
Yet, perhaps the greatest discovery for David while filming season three came from the most unlikely of places.
“On Twin Peaks this time, I discovered cronuts, and they are really good!” he enthuses. “A cross between a croissant and a donut… It’s incredible!”
