Does Twin Peaks Allow Tattoos?

00:00 – 01:34 – The beginning 01:35 – 06:43 – Candy girls 06:44 – 08:17 – Translating ideas 08:18 – 14:51 – Señorita Dido 14:52 – 18:36 – Lynch’s lesson 18:37 – 37:09 – International pilot, the main idea 37:10 – 51:40 – Season 2 51:41 – 55:46 – Season 2 after solving mystery 55:47 – 57:27 – The film 57:28 – 01:01:50 – Series’ re-run Introductions 01:01:51 – 01:06:23 – Electricity 01:06:24 – 01:14:44 – Season 3 01:14:45 – 01:17:32 – Reality 01:17:33 – 01:18:23 – Give us Season 4

I would like to add two elements to the thesis: The name Argentina is derived from the Latin “Argentum” (Silver). The most electrically conductive element is silver, followed by copper (Cooper?) and gold. In fact its main river is called “Río de la Plata” which translates as “River of Silver”. And unbelievably Buenos Aires in Spanish means “Good Airs” or “Fair Winds”. So the location Buenos Aires, Argentina literally is a city that has good winds and the best electrical conductor!

Hard to ignore that Dido And Aeneas is one of the best known English language operas of all time. The words from Dido’s famous lament: “Thy hand, Belinda, darkness shades me, On thy bosom let me rest, More I would, but Death invades me; Death is now a welcome guest. When I am laid, am laid in earth, May my wrongs create No trouble, no trouble in thy breast; Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate. Remember me, but ah! forget my fate.” The ending line is reminiscent of Laura saying “I am dead, yet I live.” The line “death is now a welcome guest” is reminiscent of Jacoby’s theory that Laura allowed herself to be killed. If the Fireman is connected to cinema, and the Arm to TV, then perhaps Dido is live performing arts (live music and theater). Dido is, then, even older then the fireman, not his assistant, but his mother.

Laura isn’t evil though, she had a half to her that had evil done to her. This idea of Laura as good/evil is cultural, like television, it is unreal. “Fire walk with me” provides insight into how damaged Laura is after a lifetime of abuse, she didn’t “prostitute herself”, she was raped and trafficked and horridly abused WHILE UNDERAGE.

Although I am convinced that this interpretation is accurate, now that I know more about Transcendental Meditation I like to think of señorita Dido as a representation of Lynch’s mind. The monotonous and distorted hum of the gramophone would be the mantra with which Lynch meditates, transcends, and reaches the ocean of the unified field. That is why Miss Dido/Lynch’s mind gently sways to its sound and only stops when alerted by the appearance of an idea. An idea that the Fireman (the creative force?) gathers (the atomic bomb originating the evil and fear that plague the second half of the 20th century) and responds to by creating the Twin Peaks series, embodied in the golden orb containing Laura Palmer. Miss Dido, Lynch’s mind, receives it, accepts it, and sends it out into the world.

So then… Laura disappearing from the woods with Coop, and then coming back as Carrie Page… Twin Peaks the show is dead (over, canceled), but the actors live on in other shows. And they’re only marginally aware of their prior roles because they’re always pretending to be someone else. That’s kinda what I’m taking away here.

26:04 I think things like this point to how anyone can take an idea they had and make it fit. The ideas in this article try to combine Doylean and Watsonian explanations, but it doesn’t fit sometimes. For example, this piece of evidence cannot be used for this theory because it was an accident that Lynch later left in because he felt the ideas floating in the ether were pointing him in the direction of making Frank the killer (later named BOB) with this camera mistake (Frank seen in frame) and the previous footage he took of BOB at the foot of Laura’s bed after Frank was setting the stage. The allusions to TV weren’t in mind when these happy accidents came to be.

Spoilers ahead. Lynch was obviously inspired by the noirish mysteries “Vertigo” and “Laura.” The titular character of the latter film is named Laura. Her (assumed) murder propels the investigation. Her portrait hangs over nearly every scene, a haunting reminder of her demise, just like Laura Palmer’s picture in the high school trophy case is highlighted in nearly episode of TP. The detective in “Laura” falls in love with her memory. However, this 40’s Laura did not die, but instead, it was a woman who was nearly her double (or twin). In “Vertigo” the detective, Scotty, falls in love with a woman he believes to be named “Madeline.” Later, Scotty believed she was killed, but in fact, it was another woman, the real Madeline. The woman Scotty fell in love with was actually a near double named “Judy” (played by the same actress); she was complicit in the murder of Madeline. In TP, Madeline appears as the dead Laura’s cousin, a near perfect double (played by the same actress) and “Judy,” is a name given to a mysterious evil entity. Both Madeline and Laura were killed by Bob, who was influenced by Judy.

One thing that debunks everything (well maybe not I really I love these articles btw I feel like u actually explain twin peaks) is that Lynch straight up only got the idea of BoB because of a bad shot from his camera man lol. This just makes me think everything else he just basically winged until it kind of made sense but it didn’t. It does seem too random to be, well, just random though. So you’re probably right. But sometimes I think lynch just does things because he wants to and maybe in his head it makes sense to him or he really is just taking the piss.

I love this series and I gotta say, it’s insanely convincing. I’m 100% sure it is indeed a big metaphor for tv, duality, etc, just as you say, but honestly, whether it’s right or not, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your deep dive, well written, extremely well communicated thoughts and investigations into the show and it’s meaning. I feel like I could’ve watched an entire other 4-1/2 hour article on this because it’s just so interesting and so well done. Can’t imagine the work this took, so thanks for blessing us with such amazing content. This and the last one will likely go down as two of my favorite YouTube articles I’ve ever seen on the platform. And it’s not even close. Twin Peaks is my favorite show of all time and you’ve 1000% done it justice.

1) I don’t get why people wanting more would be a bad thing. That’s initially what Lynch wanted to do too. He would’ve loved Twin Peaks to be a neverending thing. He just didn’t like the first mystery, the murder of Laura Palmer, to be solved that early. 2) Putting Josie in the knob was Lynch’s own idea. To use it here as a proof of things going wrong and silly is a tad awkward. He felt sad about Josie having to die (which happened because Joan Chen wanted out of the show) so he wanted the character to stay in the show in some form and he came up with the idea of putting her in the knob. 3) I still think it’s not really about criticism of television shows and peoples’ tv perusal habits. I think the evidence for that is still quite far fetched and it’s a result of overanalyzing things. But I do agree with the thought of the characters of Twin Peaks being characters in a tv show, and that sometimes they might sense it. The Giant knows about the smiling bag because he comes from between our world and the tv world. He can see future episodes of the show, or at least glimpses of them. These things are about the town being an idea brought alive for a tv show, and not really about criticism of television.

After perusal twin peaks again after seeing your articles I really do see all the points matching up. It’s the theory that makes the most sense to me. I might not agree with all of it but… at least you have evidence and not just empty speculation. Idk why so many people hate on it. The time it must have taken to make all this is impressive enough. And I love the lynch voice, it always makes me giggle.

My only underlying question this. How is a question and an answer imbalance, while the question alone is balance? If anything, I would think that an answer, and resolution, would bring true balance in the end. There’s no point in a never ending mystery, there’s no point in consistently shedding light on the dark when it doesn’t actually fix anything. Maybe the grand scheme of infinite reality holds no real closure, but our lives are finite, and they eventually resolve, so why shy away from it

Okay, look, there’s some of this that’s interesting, there’s a LOT that seems like reading way too much into the tiniest possible connection (I’m not convinced on the significance of eye-crossing, for starters), but around 29 minutes, talking about the sound the Man from Another Place generates in the Red Room, and saying it’s the same sound we hear as coming from the basement of the Great Northern in S3? IT IS LITERALLY NOT THE SAME SOUND. Yes, they have similarities, but they also have major differences. The S1 sound has more of a rhythmic pulse to it, where the S3 sound is a different pitch and is also pretty much a sustained note all the time. They’re put side by side in this article, and you can hear that they’re not the same sound. Considering how much work and emphasis Lynch puts into the sound design, if he’d meant for the mysterious S3 sound to connect back to the sound from the Man from Another Place, he would have made it the same sound. But he didn’t.

Janus is, by defenition, also the God of doorways and, therefore, boundaries. He is a liminal God: the point between two distinct sides, and, therefore, potentially the anthropomorphised version of “The Red Room” itself (and vice versa). Also: the colloquial appellation usually applicable to the design of chair Laura sits on in “The Red Room” is “Love Chair”.

During the first season, especially the pilot episode, i had a very visceral feeling that the show was toying with the conventions of concurrent or recent dramas. The incessant, repetitive music with bizarre transitions and the complete lack of self-awareness and poetic but unnatural eloquence from most of the characters made me realize that whoever created this show had a very deep appreciation of film as an art form. It wasn’t mocking dramas, exactly, though sometimes it did have fun with them, but it seemed like it was painting a decoy so conspicuously false that any attentive audience member would be compelled to scratch it away to see what was beneath. It was like a man in a very long and bumpy trench coat . It conspicuously feigned sincerity on one level, but beneath was a different kind of sincerity. I am a naturally very oblivious and forgetful person, and seeing these clues pointed out for me, where before I had cobbled some together into vague tones and themes, and given more solid associations was very nice on my decrepit brain. The third season i found myself saying “oh!! That sound!!! But where is it from????” Because my memory is so low-road it’s ridiculous

What I’m gathering is that, essentially, The Return is David Lynch saying, “Look at what you’ve done…” I watched Twin Peaks for the first time 12 years ago, and even after countless rewatches I am still impressed by its depth. Your interpretation/explaination don’t ruin it at all, i feel like even beyond this, there is still so much to unpack.

I would love it if you did another one of these analyzing the groundwork laid by Lynch, and giving your thoughts of where the show ultimately would have gone if Lynch had his way. My biggest question that your original article left me with was “if laura palmer’s murder was never meant to be solved, how could the show have ever ended?” I mean, Lynch would have to be insanely naive to plan a show designed to only succeed in its message if it never ends. He obviously would be aware that it would have to end eventually, and I find it hard to believe it wouldve simply ended on a cliffhanger never to be resolved at all. After all lynch knew the whole time who the killer was, and what he represented, and it wouldve been basically impossible to analyze the message of the show as you have without that info. It just seems odd to me. Why make a metatext that can only be unraveled by violating the very purpose of that meta? Seems to me either the show had to fall apart for the message to become aparent, or lynch would HAVE to reveal the killer somehow. I think the second is more likely since Lynch passionately argues the show didnt go as he wanted it to. That being the case, how would he have revealed bob? to what extent? would the ending have seen the show unravel itself as it did in season 3 perhaps? or would it have ended on a positive note. Given the fact that closure=bad A happy ending would only be possible without giving true closure, but that would render the metatextual narrative kind of pointless, as without the contrast of the show’s descent into consumability, alot of the clues lynch left would lack context for interpretation (and indeed we saw this to be the case.

As much as I love your work and investigation and always enjoy perusal, as I am now, you do sound like youre playing too much with words to force them to mean something they may not mean, like when people make conspiracy theory articles or documentaries : D And I really don’t understand why you have to try to do a weird Lynch impression when you quote him. I can’t see the humor there, because you’re not intentionally making fun of him but the mimicking sounds like it, so it doesn’t add up. Some things talked about here as symbolism were just happy accidents: Bob being reflected, flickering light in the hospital. He didn’t construct that shot intentionally to make him look like an Owl, unless you talk about his face turning to Owl at the bed side. He shot that bed scene without knowing why, until the Mirror accident happened and Lynch thought, “That’s it! This is what it’s supposed to be.” And you got Bob. So I think sometimes you’re going too meta for even meta’s sake. But I do very much respect your research and the amount of hard work you put in your articles, make them long and interesting. But think this way. When you like something in real life in a market and you go home and wonder why certain person acted that way, you will get more ideas, so you write a movie. Now what it means in real life has nothing to do with your story. So the idea of Meta has no meaning. So, like your research into Dido. It makes complete sense to symbolize the film making process, but has nothing to do with the story.

Out of curiosity, how does your interpretation deal with the “coincidence” of Laura’s boyfriend Bobby being friends with a guy named Mike? When I heard about Killer BOB and one-armed Mike, the first thing that came to mind was “Is this related to the Bobby and Mike introduced in the broadcast pilot?”

When you spoke about the edition and Big Ed having coffee and his reflexion on the glass, I thought you would speak more about edition, for exemple when an episode finishes on the RR and Shelly is serving coffee and the people is edited. Or the windows missing in the plane going to South Dakota. Yes. Edition is Magic. Why Magic in the end of the episodes?

The problem is that Lynch is like a bad boy/girlfriend. “Are you mad at me? Why?” “If you don’t know then I won’t tell you.” The explanation is obvious to those who already know how the explanation is to be found. Everyone else? I guess they’re stupid. Auteurs always think that they are so clear – and that any confusion or questions are, I guess, the ruiners of art AND the artist, AND the questioners. The people that make the show possible – the audience, by showing up – are rotten eggs as a result.

Between this and the previous article I think you do a fantastic job analyzing the show, appreciate all the effort. When you discuss The Return as a tulpa Twin Peaks, I am reminded of the concept in optics of a virtual image, where the real rays that emerge from an optical device are traced backward to perceived or apparent origins of ray divergences. Because the rays never really converge, a virtual image cannot be projected onto a screen, but to a user of a mirror this doesn’t matter because we see the virtual image and take it as real.

I think that the sound mentioned at 30:18 involving Ben might be slightly deeper than eluded to in this article. My thinking is that S1 Ben reveling in the “pleasures” and being driven by selfish gain is similar to the audience. After the whole civil war saga he changes his ways embracing the good and the love intended in Twin Peaks. By S3 he takes the good of the everyday mundane and the extreme TV violence of his grandson Richard in his stride, striking a balance explaining the sound. Ben got Lynch’s message!

My feeling is that cooper didn’t cross between his original universe and the ‘real’ world. He invaded another TV show. Actors move on to new jobs and new characters but sometimes their earlier work looms so large it cannot be left behind. Cooper sought to find what he thought would be an older Laura Palmer who had taken on another identity and lived out the 25 year gap. What he actually found was 50 year old Sheryl Lee in her current job on a modern cable series like ‘Breaking Bad’ or ‘Sons of Anarchy’, depicting a far sleazier sort of person than TV had allowed in the past. That character, Carrie Page, needed to get away and Cooper came along at just the right moment. They ended up in Snoqualamie, WA, which looked somewhat familiar to Cooper but the town had no place for these people tied to a production that had visited briefly decades ago to gather B-roll footage and move on. They were no longer in a TV series known to either of them and had no past here. Their sole remaining hope is to drive to Los Angeles, CA and hope to find work as stunt doubles for Kyle McLachlan and Sheryl Lee.

I don’t know if this has already been mentioned in the comments, but the Saturn globe in the Red Room is a souvenir from the 1939 World’s Fair. The RCA pavilion at the Fair introduced television to the the U.S. population through its “Radio Living Room of Tomorrow” exhibit and is generally considered an important touchstone in the development of television in the United States.

You know what? If he makes a season 4 (though I sincerely doubt he ever would) my hope is that it would be the “true” Twin Peaks. A version where he never had to compromise his vision. Where the audience doesn’t get their way. Where the spirit in the air/Bob/the arm/Judy/whatever doesn’t win. I genuinely want to know wat that would look like. It kind of breaks my heart we never got to see what a 25 year run of Twin Peaks under David Lynch’s benevolent rule would have looked like. I think it could actually work well as a continuation of where we left off. Laura may be dead and Twin Peaks destroyed, but the evil in the airwaves won, which means it’s going to seek out new victims. Thus, a new story. Similar, but not identical, since we obviously already know the story of Laura Palmer and Dale Cooper and most of the cast is too old now. But since we returned to ground and went back in time before, I don’t see why we can’t have a fresh start with a new story and the same ideas. Not like anyone got it the first 5 times he beat us over the head with it (and I never would have without this guy).

Just noticed that in season 3, Cooper wasn’t meant to go in the 3 “portal”, and went to the 15 one instead. 3-15 = 315 =Coopers Hotel Room. Plus the big Fish on the wall. Gordon’s driving it resembled a Dog and a Deer, and Leland killed his nice by smashing her face against a deer painting on the wall. In season 3, at the end, fake Laura was wearing a necklace with a horseshoe pendant. All these details. God knows how mayn we else we have missed. Lynch was really ahead of his time. ♥

With the updated viewpoint you have given me I have come to some similar, yet different, conclusions. Mind you these are petty details. Firstly, I think the owls are the audience. What do owls do? They watch at night and say “who, who, who” all the time. When Twin Peaks first came out it aired at night, and the main thing that the audience kept asking was “Who killed Laura Palmer.” Who, who, who. Secondly, I think that the creamed corn represents spoon feeding. That’s what is done with creamed corn, it is spoon fed (like Leo Johnson) to mindless folk. The audience wanted to be spoon fed the mystery. It is no mistake that mini-David Lynch takes the creamed corn away. It’s David Lynch saying he’s not going to spoon feed the audience. Lastly, I think the young couple at the beginning of The Return are meant to show the influence of the internet. The view through the glass box of the outside world is through two windows, they see the world through Windows. They end up getting consumed by the glass box (their computers) leaving only butts in a seat (often a description of an audience).

Señorita is a spanish word, and spanish is commonly referred to as “latin”. This means the name Dido is to be read as it would in Latin, “Dee-doh”. Who was Dido? Carthage’s last queen, later hypostatized, after death, as phoenician goddess Tanit, a.k.a Athena, the one literally born out of Zeus’ own head. Yeah, the Fireman is Zeus, while Judy is Ishtar/Isis/Venus/Babalon/Freya/Lady Liberty.

I’m rewatching this as I am getting ready to show my new SO the show for the first time and I had a revelation. Another interpretation of the S3 ending is that Dale (the twin peaks fans) are bringing Laura who isn’t Laura (a new audience) to Twin Peaks; we are inflicting the horrors of this show onto someone new and turning them into a sort of sacrificial lamb

50:58 elk are also sometimes spiritually tied to being patient and perseverant symbols, which could further emphasize Lynch’s point about the impatient attitude of the audience. just an interesting tid-bit also at 46:56, dharma in buddhist teachings means “cosmic law and order” and is an 8 sided wheel laying out the path to achieving enlightenment, it can also represent reincarnation, and sometimes it is portrayed as a /golden/ wheel. much like the golden circle of tv that mr. lynch is telling us about. perhaps if we broke down all of the lessons he is trying to teach throughout twin peaks we would come to a solid 8? just a thought…

People keep flaming you in the TwinPeaks subreddit, but I mean with what we know about Lynch’s storytelling combined with just the sheer amount of “oh duh” evidence….It’s def a story about telling stories. A culmination of every story telling technique passed down thus far which is why Cooper ‘s investigative techniques are so eclectic and eccentric. I mean it’s not the ONLY interpretation, but I mean like you said, it’s the ONE. Twin Peaks was Laura’s story originally. A story about a story. A dream within a dream.

So much of this reading is convincing (this article is actually more helpful than the big four-hour epic in making the case), but it feels incomplete because it’s still a very left-brained approach to a profoundly right-brained artist. Laura is more than just a symbol of narrative mechanics insofar as she is also a vessel for the experience and aftershocks trauma, Lynch’s primary preoccupation as a filmmaker. I think any successful reading of TWIN PEAKS has to start there and can then work into the meta stuff.

INLAND EMPIRE next! I feel it very much is a companion/continuation of these themes and those you mention in Mullholland, about overcoming the commodification of female abuse and suffering for our entertainment, by making us super conscious of how the dreams shape reality AND reality shapes dreams so powerfully, and that inexplicable psychic bridge built between creators/actors in the media we consume and the values and actions we take in the real world.

If so, David should always turn off The Wizard of Oz movie when Dorothy arrives at Emerald City, so the mystery can live is his brain… Jesus, that doesn’t make sense, even him needs to know if she is gonna leave Oz! Also, it’s not the audience’s fault that his dream was hijacked, we would love to see Twin Peaks as he intended. Why is he so mad at us if we all (he included) grew up perusal things with begnings and endings??

When Lynch says “an idea comes and you must be true to that idea / everything comes from an idea”…I don’t think a specific metaphor or an allegorical message is the only form an idea can take. Why does the idea have to be a hidden element? Lynch’s ideas come in the form of stories, of abstract structures, of shots, of music, of moods, of feelings. None of the quotes you use to support Lynch saying “everything is driven by an idea” actually support the notion that that idea must be some kind of message communicated to the audience. This is a crippling assumption.

Great explanation and spot on, just think there might be more to the ending. Remember that the red room scene with Laura and Cooper was filmed in reverse and looking through that lens is different. Laura is heard in the wind then the scream and lights out. Maybe Laura was reinserted into the story and is back in the red room with the now balanced Cooper. The scene was filmed in reverse so she actually walks backwards to leave the room. This works with Hawk’s search and sighting of the curtains directly before (no explanation for this) as well as the Log Lady telling him to stop by after for coffee and pie, balance for a balanced Cooper who exited the red room. The credits roll playing music in reverse as a clue. Time works differently there. Maybe there is still the original mystery and it all exists, before and after, light and dark.

Hello, Twin Perfect! I don’t know if you read these hundreds of comments, but I’ve got a couple of questions for you if you do! At the end, Laura/Carrie screams, the lights on Laura’s home go out, and darkness falls, as though Twin Peaks no longer exists, as suggested in your article. But what do you make of some internet theories which posit that Laura/Carrie’s scream is her releasing the power that the Fireman gave her, destroying Judy and Judy’s influence within the house with that power? Also, When James stops his bike at the traffic lights, Laura screams at him that she loves him, but runs off and leaves him anyway. Do you think this is because she wants to be with him, but as a self-aware character, she knows she MUST die for the story to proceed? 🙂

I love that David Lynch honestly thought the show would have run for twenty five years if Laura’s killer was never found. Does he honestly think that people would have stuck around longer if the series meandered and procrastinated its way around avoiding solving the premise of the show? Especially considering the time it was airing.

“People would rather play games, do crossword puzzles, watch tricks than face reality and deal with hard questions. It’s a form of intellectual escapism. Decoding puzzle-films is a way of flattering themselves that they are smart and hip and “with-it.” These movies are for teenagers who are too young to understand much about life or for adults too intimidated by the complexity of adult life to want to grapple with it. Most of my grad students can’t understand meanings that won’t stand still. They try to nail everything down.” – Ray Carney

Genuinely just want more and more of these articles, they are so well done. really fun way to revisit the series as someone who has watched it multiple times. Thanks for all your hard work, also, GREAT editing. Wouldn’t be against you checking out some of Lynch’s other work more directly in the future if that’s something you would be interested in.

I believe that in Season 3, Lynch understood that his Twin Peaks is not only about Laura… so he goes with all the Coopers and Vegas and other mysteries… only to end the season with his opinion on Laura-Twin Peaks-Cooper situation. Season 4 is possible as long as there are ideas and mysteries to build with existing and new characters. The new “dimension” season 3 ended on could be an interesting setting to show Twin Peaks as “same-not-same-not-same”…

One thing I see missed, especially for those who didn’t like the movie, is this: everything BUT the movie, is hearsay, but the movie IS the PROOF. I had no idea what happened at all to anyone till I saw the movie. Since I was 3 and a court case went to hell b/c everyone was ignoring the proof, I have automatically ignored ALL hearsay. So, S1 & S2 told me absolutely nothing at all. BUT, the movie proved everything they said, so then I had to re-watch it. Add that to the things everyone missed.