Maggie, this was worth the wait. These two videos are the best take on Twin Peaks I've watched. You've made me reconsider the show completely and that's what I appreciates about you!
Is David Lynch making his protagonist basically comatose for the whole season infuriating? kinda. is it also maybe the funniest writing decisions ever put to the medium? yes yes it is
Also giving Kyle MacLaughlin something unique and unusual to do usually works out much better than anyone could have imagined. Him playing both Dougie and Evil Coop at the same time was much more fun to watch than regular Coop coming back and rehashing the plot of the original show for nostalgia.
It makes Cooper's eventual full return so worth it though. "I am the FBI!" I nearly jumped with glee! I would have been a lot less irritated with Dougie Jones if I knew ahead of time how long we'd have to live with him. Having every episode be the one we're you're thinking "Is this the one when real Cooper is back?" became very vexing.
@@MadGeorgeProductions By the second episode with Dougie, I was fully convinced that we would never see a full return of Agent Cooper. I though he would exist in the red room and maybe find ways to influence the real world, but never return the way fans were expecting. And although I was ultimately wrong, viewing the show with this mindset allowed me to really enjoy it. David Lynch doesn’t care what fans or studios want, he does what he wants and we’re all along for the ride, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
@@bigboncho absolutely correct. The reason The Return worked for me was because I got into the show in 2020 and seeing the return made me realize, Lynch is doing what he DOES lol That being said, I could see how it would hurt after 25 years.
Dale Cooper once said 'Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen.'. This was today's present for me. Thank you for another great video!
I really wish I liked Lynch's stuff more. It seems like something I should like and it's nice to hear about an artist in Hollywood that actually seems to be a good person so you can like his work without feeling dirty. But I have tried a few of his things and just couldn't get into them. Maybe I need to try again.
@@toddhollen his work can make you feel dirty because that's the artistic intent. Fire Walk With Me does so often, but that doesn't go behind go behind scenes. That being said, his work is very not for everyone and it's totally fine to not be into it.
@@toddhollen It took me a long time to come to an understanding with anything I've seen that Lynch has made other than Eraserhead, and the understanding was that 'coming to' an understanding is the closest you can get to truly understanding it, and sometimes that a-okay. I had to start thinking of it in terms of music - like the interpreted meaning of a song by an artist you like that they've never extrapolated on in an interview. Something that's concrete enough to have a 'vibe' or even the whisper of some themes but opaque enough to allow your imagination and personal experience to fill in the blanks. That's what I say to get my film-geek friends off my back for not 'getting' David Lynch, anyway.
It’s funny, but the moment that stuck the most with me from _Twin Peaks: The Return_ was the moment Bobby Briggs went into the station conference room and sees Laura’s photo. The way he burst into tears said so much to me about love and grief. It reminded me that _Twin Peaks_ was founded on tragedy. It struck me at the end of this video that Cooper’s choice to “save” Laura didn’t save her at all, in a sense. Saving her from being murdered is good, but a Laura who survives is a Laura who still has to struggle with trauma, abuse, and drug addiction. It says something about Cooper that he chose to save Laura from her death, but not from her life.
Yeah, that was my take as well. The focus of the show was Laura's death, but to truly save her would to be to stop everything that happened leading up to that death. That devastating scream to me meant she was being put back into the tragedy, not being saved from it. That's the moment that stuck with me the most.
Dana Ashbrook struck me as a bit of a prick who was just smearing his ego all over the screen but Im so glad I was wrong. In The Return he gives his character a level of grace that the kid always needed and made him 3 dimensional. That scene broke my heart and finally drove home for me that his character was much more than a pest.
Bobby Briggs was so good in The Return. You can see the tremendous amount of growth his character went through. He could have became a villain, instead he because a cop, so he still ended up a villain (ba-dum-tish).
actually Laura Palmer sacrificed herself purposely. Her parents were hosts to demons Joudy and Baal. The ones who escaped from the underworld during atomic tests - meaning Bob and the worm (who entered young girl's/sarah's mother/ mouth). Accoring to ancient Summeric prophecy Joudy and Baal were to create an entity who would end the world as we know it (Laura). Once Cooper reversed Lauras death/sacrifice Twin Peaks became more evil and corrupted place. That's all according to abstract of Mark Frost's "Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier" Also Joudy was investigated by David Bowie (played by Special Agent Phillip Jeffries) in Argentina as mentioned in "Fire walk with me".
@@Xondar11223344 totally appreciate the joke, but just want to add that his change in the series was fully based on growth and positive development (even if the police is a tenuous at best way to show that)
It took me a while to realize Lynch's surreal work were not meant as puzzles to be solved, but as metaphors, allegories, etc, for things so absurd and traumatic that we can't process
45:10 mentions how the black box is a metaphor for television, but another layer to it that I really really love is that they're literally sitting on a couch for hours on end waiting for agent Cooper to finally show up. Probably not too different from a good chunk of the audience T__T
À black cube, which is also a box, is a symbol for Saturn. Which also happens to be present in the red room in green... matrix green 😎 Saturn is referenced in many films, shows and songs. Why is that? And why is Venus there too? Could these questions and the entire show be explained by the appearance of the Freemasonry emblem in The Return? Does RR stand for Red Room? Is the bottom layer of the Twin Peaks cake actually based on esoteric knowledge hidden from humanity by secret societies for millenia? Answers to these questions and more will not be given. May the Force be with you young Jedi.
The link between the A bomb and the sheriff named Harry S Truman is probably just a coincidence right? It never ceases to amaze me how hardly ever reviewers bother to connect these dots of the true underlying concept, nor understand that the film and TV industry is run by secret societies such as Freemasonry, Skull and Bones, the Illuminati, Templars, etc... There's a reason they show the emblem of Freemasonry watching over the RR Diner in The Return. Surely TP isn't the purgatory of Harry S Truman? The one who let the evil genie out of the bottle. The owls are not what they seem. Bohemian Grove where all US President's must go has a 40 foot owl. The genius of TP is that it has many layers, something adepts of esoteric wisdom are well versed in. Ergo the viewer will only perceive the layer that matches their level of consciousness. Lynchs explanation of The Unified Field and his depiction of such as the purple sea in The Return isnt artistic license, its real. Lynch and Frost are trying to awaken people to actual truths about reality such as the soul trap reincarnation machinery set-up on this planet by beings that energetically feed off human emotion, especially negative emotions caused by trauma and suffering. The Wachowskis did the same with The Matrix and Jupiter Ascending. In short TP is esoteric wisdom about reality and the journey of the soul wrapped in layers of storytelling narratives and veiled allegories/commentaries about the entertainment industry and its consumers, etc. The reason they are allowed to do this is that there's no way to prove the deeper truth, no way to convince people of it, for they have to "see it for themselves". And guess what... the vast majority don't want to see it, don't care to see it, for they simply want to be entertained. Has one single reviewer mentioned what the fire in "fire walk with me" represents? It's a key part of the show yet again no reviewers ever touch it. I'm not Lynch and I'm not a Freemason so I'm just going to SPELL it out for you. Fire represents the eternal spirit of the Creator, which we who are ensoulled carry within us. In that sense we are all Laura Palmer on our own journey into Hell (lower material realms) to be tortured by Darkness and hopefully one day emerge triumphant over it on our journey of spiritual evolution which will inevitably lead to us escaping this false matrix and entering higher spiritual realms. Know Thyself. In a way TP is telling you other realms exist. There's a positive aspect and a negative aspect. And if you don't understand the game your in its going to be difficult to play the game and win. You might even end up being consumed by Darkness as food. Both are whispering in your ear so be careful which voice you listen to... and be careful you don't let the Darkness inside. And if you think the evil doppelganger is just a literary tool for the animal nature etc think again. Its there with us all the time on an etheric level. That's why this concept is so prevalent in film, TV and literature. Yet again one can only perceive these things through personal gnosis. Lynch doesn't believe his explanation of The Unified Field, he's experienced it... it's true that's my presumption but I'm confident it's true. After all he's an avid practitioner of TM. Anyway I enjoyed your deconstruction of TP at that level of the cake, i found it to be lucid, informative and entertaining. Good work 😊 I'm sure Lynch would be proud as its this type of thinking he's hoping to activate within people. 😇
By not attempting to "explain everything," Maggie actually gets into all the good stuff. Like the emotional devastation of that hit and run!! Can't get enough of these. If Maggie did an episode by episode breakdown of The Return, I'd guzzle it gratefully from a tap.
Fun fact, the actress who plays Candie, Amy Shiels, is the protagonist of her own little dimension of Twin Peaks. She's the voice of Tammy Preston in the audio books of Mark Frost's "The Secret History of Twin Peaks", and "The Final Dossier". Just a fun coincidence!
i like the scene where dougie takes down the gunman because when theyre interviewing one of the witnesses on the news she says something like "that douglas jones, he moved like a cobra!" and it lives in my brain rent free
Skylar was always the most human part of Breaking Bad for me. I was really disgusted to hear the actress suffered abuse from the fans. Now I understand the structures of toxicity that lead to that. Thanks Maggie
God I hated Skylar that’s cause the actress was fantastic she did her job right! I hated Tony soprano dude was the devil but who doesn’t wanna see the devil at work.
As someone who watched this show with my heart instead of madly scrambling to unpack the meaning behind everything I really resonate with and appreciate your analysis. I’ve never been particularly strong analytically and as a result I felt so damn stupid in the early stages of the show until it just clicked to watch it through an empathetic lens. Not that it was a conscious decision, the characters were just too beautifully human for me to fixate on the meaning of the garboogaloo beans
I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up at catherine coulsons final scene with Hawk. The line she delivers about "there's some fear in letting go" always stuck with me.
Cooper was separated into thirds similarly to how Laura was separated into thirds in the first two seasons. The mystery of Laura was sacred to the series because the more important question wasn't "Who killed Laura Palmer?" it was "Who WAS Laura Palmer?" As the series unfolded, the more Laura we knew as different aspects were explored through other characters. Donna - The good girl next door; trapped in a sappy yet scandalous first love with James; doing what she can to grow up faster; burdened with the emotional burden of being Harold's only confidante; losing her innocence Audrey - The dark pasted mysterious girl; the emergence and weaponsation of sexuality yet a childish naievetè; her bright optimism and belief that there is and should be good in the world; her dealings with the seedy underbelly uncovering her own father's complicitness in it all. Shelly - Her sense of insecurity within the home; the vulnerability of a young woman who delved too deep with no strong rock to lean on or space to come up for air; her insistence to see the good in the people she loves even if they don't show it, and how dangerous that can be. They're all women in their own right, but they are forever rippling out from the splash that Laura's death caused. They are just as much part of the world that made Laura's life and death the way they were. As the major cliffhanger of Season 2 hinged on the future of Cooper, why WOULDN'T we see the loss of Cooper ripple out into a triplet of overlapping circles?
When I finally watched Breaking Bad I was surprised how the two typically cited as badass Heisenburg moments ("You're goddamn right", "I am the danger") were both, in context, Walt posturing when he was in way over his head and soon after suffered a huge fall. So, yeah, people really missed the point huh?
I just want to point out that Chris Carter hired many Twin Peaks actors in the early seasons of The X-Files, then Vince Gilligan hired actors from The X-Files for Breaking Bad, which was a show critiqued by Twin Peaks: The Return. Everything came full-circle.
Genuinely got sad when this video ended, similarly to how I felt at the end of The Return, oddly enough. I could listen to you talk about Twin Peaks all day.
00:00 Last time on Maggie Mae Fish's RUclips channel. 00:36 25 Years Later... The Return 10:13 The Coopers 18:26 Infinite Varieties of Male Combat 28:02 Triplets (Trippelgängers) 42:44 Twin Peaks & David Lynch 50:16 Infinite TV or your Favorite Show Takes Place in Purgatory
@@peachy_lili not much changed lol , finished as it started. Doesn't take much to point out that a certain escapist era of tv started having us follow male characters that come across as strong confident maybe a bit shady but are struggling with midlife crisis only to expose that they weren't the relatable but flawed character we thought they were but turned out to be psychopaths, its basic bait n switch. Yes alot of people unfortunately get caught up in the hype and entertainment elements and cant see the Forrest for the trees, 'wolf of wall street' is my pet hate for that but I think its either the writers fault or Scorsese tbf. most of those shows are going for a certain viewer but doesn't mean its alienating others for watching it, I'm sure theirs plenty shows that are probably more catered to a female audience that have plenty of faults but it doesn't mean men can't still enjoy them.
Totally nailed my own issue with Twin Perfect's take: his overly narrow argument that TP was ultimately a commentary of TV. It's about the human condition, and culture, and TV as his medium is simply wrapped up in it all.
Agreed. I couldn't understand how anyone so familiar with Lynch could possibly believe that Lynch, who practices Transcendental Meditation, was only commenting on the state of television and had no larger message about humanity's interconnectedness and empathy and all that jazz. Somehow Lynch separated himself from all that and used it only as fun imagery without any of the important stuff behind the images? Seems logical...if you're not anyone who understands criticism. I suppose Twin Perfect was taking a formalist approach, and that's fine, but he is so smug and convinced that he's "solved" it all and that there's nothing beyond formalism I guess.
@@BradsGonnaPlay I don't understand why people need to believe and say false things to critique twin perfect or whoever else for mansplaining it or whatever. If you disagree with something that's fine but why have this strong opinion when you clearly don't care bout what they actually said or covered? He calls himself fucking bob in the video for gods sake.
His theory was about violence on tv vs violence in real life and about creativity in general. Maggie’s video isn’t far off at all and is honestly much more arrogant in dismissing other interpretations than twin perfects. Not that that’s bad, just tired seeing one guy get shit on as smug and arrogant when it’s just his opinion and he heavily caveats his video at the beginning with it being his interpretation. Idk, I jus think it’s sad that on Maggie’s videos you can see comments saying “I’ve never watched twin peaks, but I get it all now. I have less interest in seeing it now, but I love the video essays” and I think that’s a very sad thing to see.
She isn't critiquing TP so much as describing her impressions of it while using _some_ critiques of Hollywood to elaborate. It's not film criticism, though. It is her personal, analytical interpretation of the story. Totally different things.
@@shaft9000 That's what criticism is: analyzing art, asking questions about it, giving your impressions of it and describing its connections to other bits of culture. And, if you're actually good at it, making more art in the process.
This analysis series has been absolutely incredible! You make some of the most insightful and original content on RUclips and your eye-opening analysis of the influences and implications of popular and acclaimed media is so needed by the RUclips film buff audience. Thank you for your efforts and incredible talent!
Twin Peaks: The Return is one of the most beautiful and most haunting media I have seen. It's emotionally distressing but comforting at the same time. At the time it was airing I had not seen many prestige tv shows, so those references went over my head. This was a great analysis.
Did we watch the same video? I can't say I've seen any of her other video's. But this one above really doesn't hold up if you've actually seen the shows she talks about. Even in the few minutes she talked about The Sopranos, there are many mistakes.
You forgot Peggy Lipton in mentioning those who have passed on since the show filmed. Don't blame you since it was an unusually high number of performers who died. Absolutely AMAZING video and analysis otherwise!!!
i like this video AND twin perfect's video!!! twin perfect released their video at a moment of crisis in my life when i needed all of the answers laid out for me. i felt it was lacking in emotional depth and missed a lot by refusing to explore the other themes in twin peaks. maggie mae's video brought emotional rawness into the reading at a time in life where i have space for that sort of thing. neither video explores disability and aging in the return. if i made a six-hour video about twin peaks, i'd probably talk about that. i hope if twin perfect and maggie mae read this comment, that they feel good about their work.
Twin perfect focuses only on one aspect of the meanings behind twin peaks, and that makes him be mistaken on a lot of stuff i think. But hes also right on a lot nonetheless
This is a goddamn weed day miracle. I love pedantic twin peaks navel gazing almost as much as I love watching M.M.F. point out the absurdity of the weird stuff I love.
When I watched this show I was perplexed. I could not understand it and went from back to back longing to understand it one of these days - or one of these years. Now, thanks to you I have a chance to rewatch it and find a kind of access to it. Thanks a lot, m'am. Many blessings!
the crosswalk scene with Lisa totally broke me as well, not just because of her incredible performance but because I went to high school at mount is high school in the background of one of those shots, and would run with the cross country and track teams across that intersection daily, there's an elementary school just down the road as well that I went to for a few years, but there's always kids walking across those streets with parents and like traffic guard parents who help kids across those streets... the scene felt to me like I was no longer watching a show and as if I had just witnessed an actual tragedy.
Thank you for the moment about Catherine Coulson. Her voice in the scene you highlighted reminded me of my Grandpa Bill. They were so weak that they couldn't project, but the love that made their voice powerful remained. Strength and weakness simultaneously. I wish I had more documentation of him, especially at the end. Thank you (and Lynch) for being empathetic creators, it's helped me today.
for me what was especially confusing and unsettling about the final episode is that odessa, texas is my home town. and there was no clear reason why he has to go find laura in odessa of all places. so there was a moment where i thought everybody watching was seeing their own place of birth or something as the ending. but that would be impossible. right?
I love that people truly believe there's something to "solve". Yes, there's little Easter Eggs that one can discovery. For instance Sonny-Jim. David Lynch's mother was called Sunny. He puts little pieces of bio and interests into sure, and you can find those things. But anyone that claims they've "solved Twin Peaks", well.... David is laughing at you. It's not to be solved. People have such a hard time grasping the concept of this, even though he's LITERALLY stated it. As he does with all his work. It's a personal project, and there's plenty of fun easter eggs to unravel and rabbit holes to go down into. But "solving" isn't a thing. It's fun to watch people think they've done it though.
David Lynch has actually stated, many times, that there is definitely meaning to his work. It's not just "all random". Hidden within these scenes, there are always certain views or themes for us to find and think about. Is the WHOLE SHOW (so every scene, detail, line of dialogue) meant to be solved? Not at all. But within the chaos there is always meaning for us to find. There are things to solve and revelations to be had. Just not the show as a whole. Only parts of it.
@@WhoopsieDayZ exactly. So while we shouldn't feel the need to solve anything, it does have a specific /certain meaning for Lynch. He just could give two shits if we ever know what the meaning is..
@@jaimebreen1165 Every David Lynch project has meaning to it. One that we, as the viewer, can figure out. Just because the creator isn't going on camera spoonfeeding it to us, doesn't mean it's not there. Twin Peaks for example isn't just some "random scenes" put together. There are clear themes and ideas present and most of it can easily be solved. Some of his movies (like Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway) aren't even that hard to understand if you try.
@@jaimebreen1165 That said, I completely disagree with most things said in this video above. This view on what Twin Peaks means is extremely short-sighted. It is very clear that this woman had a certain point to make and she tries to fit the whole show around her vision. It's tunnelvision. This becomes even more clear if you look at her view on shows like Mad Men and The Sopranos. The "Dougie" sideplot in The Return (for example) isn't that much a comment on "Toxic Masculinity" (a way of thinking I'm sure Lynch would very much dislike). The "Dougie" sideplot is all about mundane, everyday life and how we should cherish it. It's literally one of the main themes of classic Twin Peaks.
For me, the Lynchpin of the series (pun intended) is episode 8, 'Got a Light?' AKA, the black and white, almost wholly unrestrained surrealist one. It sits in the middle of the series, but outside of its main timeline and is full of references to origin myths (Genesis, Pandora's Box, etc). It's used as a very oblique origin story for how 'Bob' entered the series universe, with him somehow being let into the world during the USA's first atomic bomb test (codenamed 'Trinity'- remember all those triplets and trios?). Obviously it's easy to see this a simple criticism of militarism or the risks of blindly pursuing scientific knowledge or power without thought to the consequences, but when you consider David Lynch's biography, a more interesting possibility emerges. Lynch was born in January 1946. This means that the Trinity test, as well as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki most likely happened in the space between his conception and his birth. Lynch's life has existed for nearly exactly the same length of time as the evils of the atomic bomb, and he is drawing a very direct parallel between that evil being introduced into the world he lives in, and the evil he introduces into the worlds he creates- both began at the same time. Yet, just as in the legend of Pandora's box, at the same time as evil is introduced into the world, so is hope, a similar hope emerges from the darkness in 'Got a light'. The evil in Lynch's creations comes from him, but so does the hope and beauty. It's an origin myth for all those aspects, and for his work in general, a visual representation of the genesis of the creative process, and a tribute to the duality of human existence that is such a recurring theme in Lynch's work. It's his own, personal origin myth, one designed to tie his whole oeuvre together. That's my massively overthought fan theory, anyway. One great thing about surrealism is that you're actively encouraged to bring your own meanings and interpretations to the party. As well as... I dunno... your spot-on impressions of Hasan Piker, maybe.
Great video! Man, I love the Twin Peaks watch. In The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, written by David Lynch's daughter Jennifer Lynch, Bob writes "I DO NOT NEED THINGS, I WANT THINGS" so they were thinking about that stuff even back when the book was published in 1990!
Love these videos. I never saw the connections to Breaking Bad or Mad Men, but The Return being an answer to prestige drama makes sense. And nicely cyclical, since I know David Chase has cited Lynch as an influence on The Sopranos. When I commented on the last video I got replies from weirdo Twin Perfect fans. I wonder if that’ll happen again.
Twin Perfect wasn't wrong, they just also weren't... complete. The show is deep and he only saw a very surface level code, "this = this", without seeing any of the context - which is silly, since it's such a meta show. Maggie provides a huge missing piece to the picture Twin tried to paint.
These two videos about twin peaks were very thought provoking and helped me see twin peaks in a whole new light. The emotion rather than logic concept is something Id never thought of. The show is as much an experience as it is a story.
He makes a ton of the characters into audience surrogates in his theory and uses that as a vehicle to connect the human experience as he believes Lynch sees it to the show itself. Respectfully I gotta disagree with you and Maggie. I found it deeply compelling that he can extrapolate a lot about Lynch’s real life hobbies, habits, and relationships through the lens of the show. You can’t do that by “stopping at the TV screen.”
@@BradsGonnaPlay Overall he does an amazing job of mapping out the meta elements and he definitely opened up the show for me a lot (although I also cringed when he said that Curious George shit lol). What I'm getting at is that what the show describes/reflects goes beyond the people involved in the "transmission" (audience, Lynch, etc.). It's concerned not only with the pattern of character desposability on TV, but also with the way a broader cultural mentality of numbness and atomization informs and is perpetuated by this pattern. Also it's pretty wack to gloss over the show's extensive discussion of various forms of abuse. Laura Palmer isn't a "golden goose" because she's a cash cow for creamed corn audience fodder; Laura Palmer is an open wound -- a vitally tragic sliver of hope in a cynical zeitgeist because her entire identity as a cultural figure is being a Victim Who Mattered. Also, I'm not sure how productive (or even ethical) it is to use art to try to discern personal details about the artist. I think Lynch is more interested in conveying a sense of Self as defined by the unique qualities of one's perception and the way one constructs meaning rather than placing the focus on framing himself as a brilliant and mysterious auteur to be worshipped and studied.
@@alexzukoff first: sincerely, thank you for your well-thought out response. Second: I agree. I do think a lot of what he says is representative of nothing more than what the TV show means to the TV show itself. That being said I think that’s only one analytical tool for the shows reception and how it relates to the world at large. The various forms of abuse that are highlighted definitely make commentary on real world issues like emotional abuse, filicide, and the turmoil in the immediate family that arises because of it- but again, I think him delving into the the show’s “golden goose” theory and meta-narrative is just a unique vantage point for more analyses by other critics and *I think* he makes that point very clearly a few times in the 3 videos he made on the subject. Overall, I genuinely appreciate that you didn’t just lambast his work and seem to have a good-faith interpretation of it. He’s not like a friend or something, yet I can’t help but defend those videos. They just represent a very pure and unadulterated love of all things Lynch to me. Even if I disagreed with him vehemently, I couldn’t hate his effort and analysis. You’ve opened my mind a lot just in this little exchange here and I appreciate that :)
@@BradsGonnaPlay Likewise! I agree with everything you said here. To be clear I love the Twin Perfect videos, he helped me make a lot of connections in my interpretation. That said, I would steer people to Maggie first. I think she nails the emotional core of the show, and I think the lens she uses is sorely missing in criticism at large. But overall I think the videos work really nicely as counterparts. Thanks for a great discussion!
Dude that why do you hate hotdogs part really vibes with me. Went out to eat at buffalo wild wings with my friends who love the place, had a horrid experience. My order was completely wrong, the environment was loud and obnoxious and the staff were rude af. So when my friends invited me again, I said "No, that place is awful, I had a bad time last time and have no interest in returning" and what they took from that was that I just hated Wings. They repeatedly asked "why do you hate wings? Wings are good why don't you like them" Like what the heck. Also thank you for these videos, I loved them, and I now feel I have a truly grounded understanding of the franchise. I'm very grateful and appreciative of the effort you put in to these videos 💜
I've really appreciated this series, Maggie. As someone who has not seen ANY of the other shows that you referenced, I feel like you still helped connect what I was seeing on screen but not fully understanding to the strong emotions I feel when watching Twin Peaks. I had seen Twin Perfect's video a while ago and found it interesting, but it didn't provide any closure. I almost never watch TV, why would this show mean anything to me if that was all there is? You added the human element his analysis was missing and it was such a delight to watch, thank you!
The line about punching basically being the end of every super hero movie (and other genres of course) really makes me want a Squirrel Girl Movie. I love her so much, because even though she *COULD* just punch her problems away, a lot of the time she thinks about the problem and finds a better way to solve it.
This brought back all the magic of watching The Return again. Such a refreshing and powerful perspective on the series. I got a lot out of this, and might go back to watch season 3 yet again. Thanks Maggie!
One of your best videos so far, from a very demanding Lynch fan. And I'm not saying this because your take on Twin Peaks is close to mine, but because rather than trying to stitch the gaps together, you're peering into them to ask one new question for every answer you find.
David Lynch is my favorite working artist, so I am happy to find such a thoughtful analysis of Twin Peaks. I was surprised that Lynch's work as a painter was not mentioned. This is understandable given your methodology. However, I feel that it was a bit of a missed opportunity to not mention the "clear cube" @ 45:05 as one of the many references to the work of Francis Bacon. Much of Lynch's macabre style has debts to Bacon and the expressionists. But, you did prompt us to use this space to address further references we saw. Edward Hopper and Rene Magritte feature prominently in "The Return" also. (If I had any knowledge about how to produce my own video essay, I suppose this is what I would talk about.) I don't know how to do that, so... Everyone, go look at the paintings! They're like 'paused' movies, but better. (Finally, I wanted to point out that I read through all of the comments (725) before posting this just to make sure I wasn't reiterated another user and... yeesh, some people. Must be a goldfish.)
Thoughtful, intelligent analysis as always. Deeply impressed by the way you blend insight, awareness, a sharp academic eye, humour and empathy with your videos. I greatly enjoy your work and appreciate your hard work and your unique perspective. Thank you Maggie!
you got me to watch the entirety of twin peaks in between your first video and this one and honestly bless you because it was so good haven’t watched this yet but i’m excited and ily
I took an acting class with Brent Briscoe back in college in the '80s. He was a tremendous talent. I'm glad he had a pretty successful career as a character actor.
Your videos are so great! Getting an interview with Lisa Coronado was next level. I love watching your videos and hearing your breakdowns. I really didnt get the green hand punchy guy from the last season until your video, It really helped me understand his character and place in the story. Youre engaging and thought provoking and I look forward to more
I'm really glad I found your channel and watched these two videos of yours on Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks is one of my favorite pieces of media, and David Lynch is one of my favorite filmmakers. I love how he doesn't give the audience answers and instead encourages them to come to their own conclusions. I really enjoyed your analysis and it helped me put together some more of my own ideas/interpretations about the series.
Jumping up and down spinning in circles I was so excited and happy to see this analysis! I also recently rewatched all of the original series so that I could finally watched The Return and I was really struck by the similarities between Laura and Audrey and their relationships with their fathers. I watched the whole 'Twin Peaks Explained' video a while ago out of curiosity and I couldn't remember a lot of the details clearly after trying to take it all in, but I'm grateful you addressed the misogyny of removing the nuance from Audrey's relationship with Laura's case/the mystery. And reducing Leland to a simple 'vessel' and rending HIM the poor victim. On my rewatch I was stuck so much by the way that Audrey will play silly games, and seems like a classic example of a playful/flirty, perhaps even cruel and naive rich girl archetype. But there's a particular scene in s2 where Audrey is spying on her father's party and Leland comes in and begins to sob, and everyone at the party pretends he's doing a silly dance to ensure the investors don't realise what's happening in the town. And Audrey begins to cry as well. I think so many of the teenagers/younger characters in Twin Peaks (s1 & 2) are impacted by Laura's death and seeing the aftermath of such a horrific event and the way it is dismissed and treated by everyone in the town. Audrey is just a young girl trying to navigate learning that her father who she has known and loved and depended on for years is actually responsible for and eagerly participates in so much of the atrocities being committed in the town. And Audrey has to live with that realisation and still she's conflicted and still desires her father's approval. I think FWWM goes back to this theme, but I think also a massive theme of Twin Peaks that we get from I think Jean Renault (when he has Cooper hostage) is going back to Laura's murder being publicised, and how Twin Peaks was a 'nice town' until Laura died and Cooper came along. In that there were 'nice quiet people' and they were easily able to sell drugs and illegally basically put traffic young women. It's not that Twin Peaks was suddenly made 'bad' but that there are horrific things that nobody is willing to confront or admit to... and the duality/triplicate-ality? that exists means that many people you think you can love and trust can also be quite horrific, or even at times mundane, within the triplicate perception. And speaking specifically to trauma there's that complex relationship you have with people who have harmed you or been complicit. And so much of that does tie back to Laura. So I really loved the inclusion of Laura at the end and her scream. And seeing that even when you think you can resolve the trauma. Whether it's Dale hoping to be this grand, dramatic hero who can easily (as Dougie did) charge in and say the right words and suddenly be presented with a resolution, or Laura/Sheryl's character sorry I can't remember her name, in that last episode living a painful life. Where she is not a perfect easy-to-sympathise-with victim, where she isn't a clean, angelic figure, we see that upon her return to 'her' old house with Cooper there's no simple resolution to all of the pain that she's experienced and that has followed her. Also sorry this is so long, I recently watched The Return and I'm so excited to see people discuss it. There's so much to process and discuss, but I also found the scream/boy being hit scene to be incredibly horrific, and one of the most impactful scenes in The Return. I also liked that we saw once again the collective experience and the way that people are impacted by her scream and by that death. Within all of the silly and nonsensical, often heightened storylines and behaviour, I liked seeing weight and humanity given to a new and perhaps less 'consequential' character. With that sense that all of that pain and that weight matters. Just as Laura matters, we all impact one another, from the trailer park caretaker, to Audrey's son, to the woman and her son... Sorry for writing such a long comment, I've been thinking about Twin Peaks a lot lately and apologies if I just was repetitive or saying nonsense, but I really enjoyed the video
57:25 - And that right there is what people who "don't get" about David Lynch need to hear. He's not trying to confuse us. He's trying to illuminate something that can't really be fully grasped. When he's asked "Can you tell us what ____ means" and he says "no", he isn't being coy, but literal. He *can't* tell us what it means because the only way he could communicate it was through the medium of film. Don't believe me? Try to "novelize" any Lynch film (except for Dune). You might be able to tell the story of The Straight Story... but you couldn't communicate the actual meaning of the film (also he didn't write that one, just directed it). It's the experience of having a telepathic alien explain their philosophy to you, and I am SO glad that he is also a genuinely good person.
I don’t have any other Lynch fans in my life, so I’ve never had anyone to talk with in any detail about The Return. So Maggie, I feel like I just met a kindred mind when watching this video. The Return being a meta commentary on modern US culture - using modern tropes of TV shows - seemed to all be implied to me, since that’s what the original series did. I had no clue that fans of the original series generally missed this, but doing some quick searches it seems to be the situation. Hopefully more people will watch the show in the future and then watch this video before they watch anything else. Thank you so much, Maggie Mae Fish, for knowing that this video needed to be made and then taking the time to make such and then for taking the time to make such a needed and compelling video!
Genuinely wonderful video, Maggie. Your analysis is by far my favorite of any of the ones I've seen. Thanks for always engaging with cinema so thoughtfully.
omg thank you so much for this. I was so stuck in the "decoding" of the return, going over and over the mysteries that I didn't see the reflection of the real world in it
Having seen both of your videos as well as twin perfects videos, your videos are hands down more satisfying. You aren't condescending to me or the other viewers and don't suck all the fun and weight of lynch's works. Great job!
Thanks for yet another great video! As for the references, Dougie bears notable resemblance to the character of Chauncey Gardiner from the 1979 movie Being There, a simple man who's pretty much a blank slate on which other project their motives, desires and aspirations.
55:11 I don't think Cooper fails at the end. I think after he prevented Laura from being murdered Judy hid her in her own dream. But since it was Judy's dream it was more like a nightmare. I think Cooper's goal was to help Laura remember who she was so that she could acknowledge the terrible things that had happened to her. It's clear that living in a delusion wasn't doing Laura any favors. I think when Laura remembers who she is her scream is an acknowledgement of the bad things that happened her. From the moment Cooper enters the dream he begins to lose his grip on the situation. But because of the clues the Giant/Fireman gave him he was able to keep to the correct path. At the end just before he asks what year it is you can hear the noise the Giant/Fireman told him to listen to if you listen carefully. And that seemed to wake Cooper up. He seemed more like himself than he did through that entire sequence. And I think his question is what made Laura realize she was living in a timeless purgatory. I think it's very important to consider that when David Lynch was directing Kyle McLaughlin he told him that while he was in the Black Lodge he didn't perceive time passing at all. I think it was the same situation with Laura in Judy's dream. You can't counteract evil by punching it to death. That's just A cheap way to avoid counteracting evil. The audience wanted to know who killed Laura and to move on. By giving her life again David Lynch made sure that her pain couldn't be ignored.
The finale also seems to point out the incongruity of revivals which end up retconning the series and ruinning the stories: If Coop saves Laura, there is no Twin Peaks. Great as usual, Maggie!!! Please give us your take on Inland Empire (since you mentioned it). Thanx!!!
For people who've seen the show and are seeking the deeper rabbit holes: Maggie's series definitely provides a lot of much needed cultural and emotional insight as well as the female perspective missing from the Twin Perfect video (and is imo a more fun watch and a better take on season 3), BUT the Twin Perfect video is still an invaluable resource for a lot of the weirder stuff from the first two seasons left out here like interpretations of the red room, garmonbozia, flashing lights, the ring, pale horse, the relationship between Mike, Bob, & The Arm, etc.
Fascinating. As a die-hard fan of Mr. Lynch (and fan of the other directors you appear to like) I found this as thought-provoking as it was entertaining. Having only stumbled across your channel recently I intend on looking back at some of your previous work and look forward to more in the future. Thankyou for your efforts.
I’ve read a lot of twin peaks theories but haven’t come across one like this! You make some incredible connections to other shows and have made some awesome theories for the themes in the return, criminally underrated video!!
They way i actually teared up a few times throughout this video 🥺 TP means so fucking much to me, and your analysis is so on point. I adore how your talking points address the greater ideas to film and the world itself rather than then minutia of theories and explanation of the TP world. I felt like a parody of myself when, while tearing up and feeling genuinely moved, the Streamer Maggie admitted to doing the exact same (fantastic comedic beat and timing btw!!). Thank you for these videos. Seriously.
Absolutely brilliant video, the most honest and actually rational (if it possible) take on Twin Peaks I've ever seen. TP is not a conventional tv show and does not deserve a conventional analysis.
This really deepens my appreciation for a show I already loved. I love the idea of Twin Peaks being art deconstructing art to uncover Truth. This is the best take I’ve heard, for sure.
Describing Audrey Horn as "just wanting to be the star of the show" or just wanting attention. I cannot. I simply cannot. Are you kidding me, Twin Perfect. The wild thing is that if you're gonna go with a TV archetype, Audrey is much more similar to typical powerful male archetypes - she's cunning, shrewd, intelligent, ambitious. Why not make that parallel rather than a comparison to traits more often put onto women in a negative way but that don't actually really apply to her.
I believe the comparison was between Audrey and Laura and in a meta sense about creativity and the story, characters needing to be part of the mystery like Laura is as she is the star of the show.
Yea the way this video frames that is unfair imo. Twin Perfect doesnt mean attention in a literal sense. He means in the same sense that Bob kills people *just* for our attention as an audience. Its on a meta level of these tv characters only surviving if they have attention from the audience. He could and maybe did make the same argument to explain why Harold so desperately wants to keep Lauras second diary. As long as he has that he has a reason to exist to us the viewers.
@@Tamacat388 The irony is that MMF is criticising Twin Perfect's take as flattening the character, while flattening his interpretation to make it seem as sexist as possible. That's not the impression I got watching it. 'Wanting attention' was part of the meta reading, Audrey essentially making herself a major character through her actions. That doesn't replace or reduce her character traits in my view. Recently rewatched TP and these essays. Good times
It was roughly a year ago that I watched your first video on Twin Peaks. Despite the quarantine fueled fugue state I was in at the time, so much from that video has stuck with me in the intervening months. I went into The Return with the framework that had been teased in the last video. Now that I've finally finished the return, I was so excited to get to watch this as well. And, I think it's maybe one of the best I've seen from the channel! The sections at once stand on their own and are in conversation with each other. The way you've crafted the argument feels emmotionally true and honest, and that's something I respect (something I struggle to do in my own writing). Further, while it's in no way something unique to this video, I'm ever blown away by your ability to unduludate between text and context. It feels kind of like watching a juggling performance -- the second one ball stops being in the air, the next one has immediately taken its place. Also, I just always love the words you use to describe things. (okay okay, one last thing (and I realize it's maybe a minor feat), but the way you subtitle scenes and otherwise use on-screen text for clarification is stylistically amazing and informationally appreciated!) Now, since I'm having fun already (and whatever who cares), I just want to chime in to the Funny Games connection. I agree (and maybe everyone does too, idk) that the choice of Watts and Roth as actors seems intentional. Tying the choice to the series' presentation of violence makes sense. To me, it also creates a direct thematic resonance with the framing question of "but who is the dreamer?" Funny Games is a film interested in the implications of media and in direct contention with the kind of morality that a Don Draper-like character can represent (i.e., one which excuses violence by way of ancillary justification). One of the final scenes of Funny Games features the characters calling into question fiction's divergent-ness from reality. This moment feels similar to what you talk about in your last section. I would also be inclined to draw a parallel between the bonus 18th episode and Funny Games' gruesome ultra-long take scene. There is in both a negation of placation (maybe not the right word; they don't let the audiences off the hook). I'll leave it there for now. Point is, Funny Games is a special interest of mine and I jump at any chance to talk about it (even to myself in a RUclips comments section). Anyways, thanks for the awesome video, it made my day. You rock!
*The Scream* of *The Victim* may seem like a jungian/platonic attribution but setting it up as a set of stark narrative elements (as Lynch does) and delivering the words so perfectly slapped! I got chills all over again, cathartic and inspiring.
By far the best Twin Peaks analysis. It doesn't try to come up with one theory that fits all the things of the show, but it gives historical context to relate to the themes of the show. NOW THAT'S SOMETHING INTERESTING TO THINK ABOUT
Honestly loved this so much, it was fantastic. I did however find it hilarious that similar to The Return, Maggie discussed Audrey in terms of original two seasons, but spoke more briefly on her in the return and then let her disappear abruptly. Felt thematic
My neck hurts from agreeing so much. Was a real treat seeing you talk about one of my favorite shows. Simpsons and Star Trek are probably tied with it for first. Others have covered those back and forth though, Twins Peaks has shockingly little good RUclips analysis.
This proves that Twin Peaks can be about anything you want, be it a self aware tv show, a satire about the patriarchal dramas we've been enjoying since ancient Greece, or both.
The secret meaning of this video? It's actually about Maggie showing how many fits she can pull off. Spoiler: it's all of them. All the fits. Also watching this analysis right after seeing We're All Going to the World's Fair was a real one two I tell ya.
Thanks very much being a friend to me today Maggie here at my work. Even though utube is a one way chat I felt I was in conversation with you. Iv thought so much of the same as you but couldn't put it together as beautiful as you did here. TwinPerfect stopping at the TV gutted his own analysis of meaning and made him obviously not a fan of David's. Lynch would never devote that much life-force and creativity to simply make an satirical point. Reminds me of Keifer Sutherlands character focusing on surface details and missing the donought...keep your eyes n hearts on that n not the hole. You added a new thought aswell about that scream of the mother linking up to Laura's/Carries scream (and Audry waking up) all being connected in time. Thanks for that. Beautiful analysis ✌️
Also got to point out the genuis touch of the way you pointed out you could have ended on the "Goodnight Hawk" section. How that would have been a perfect neat ending then went on to do another section, which was exactly the structure of the end of The Return. That was a clever meta touch you did there. 👏
Perhaps Maggie and Twin Perfect are two people who came to different conclusions and although we may appreciate one more than the other, it's on us to treat them like people and not corporeal representations of their takes.
Absolutely. The visceral hate that guy gets for what amounts to the work of a doctoral thesis is just awful. Love it or hate it, the implication that it’s some massive 6 hour waste of time is a hateful opinion on something very clearly borne out of love
It would be great to see Maggie’s take on all of this without her need to bring up twin perfect at all. Even though it’s not a complete one-for-one comparison, acknowledging the other essay makes this one feel like an angry rebuttal instead of an independent review. It didn’t need to be mentioned, did it?
in the last section, by "episode 15" of course i mean "episode 17." it's 4/20, so chillllllll
Hope y’all in Yankee Doodle-land have a very happy 420.
CANCELLED!
How dare you
Maggie, this was worth the wait. These two videos are the best take on Twin Peaks I've watched. You've made me reconsider the show completely and that's what I appreciates about you!
I'm shocked by how good the mustache looks on you.
"Mom whose scream will affect the whole world" should be an oscar category. (And Toni Collete is owed one for "Hereditary")
Obligatory, Toni Collete is phenomenal comment.
Also the lady who did the scream for the Ring Waiths in LoTRs.
Is David Lynch making his protagonist basically comatose for the whole season infuriating? kinda. is it also maybe the funniest writing decisions ever put to the medium? yes yes it is
Also giving Kyle MacLaughlin something unique and unusual to do usually works out much better than anyone could have imagined. Him playing both Dougie and Evil Coop at the same time was much more fun to watch than regular Coop coming back and rehashing the plot of the original show for nostalgia.
It makes Cooper's eventual full return so worth it though. "I am the FBI!" I nearly jumped with glee! I would have been a lot less irritated with Dougie Jones if I knew ahead of time how long we'd have to live with him. Having every episode be the one we're you're thinking "Is this the one when real Cooper is back?" became very vexing.
@@MadGeorgeProductions By the second episode with Dougie, I was fully convinced that we would never see a full return of Agent Cooper. I though he would exist in the red room and maybe find ways to influence the real world, but never return the way fans were expecting. And although I was ultimately wrong, viewing the show with this mindset allowed me to really enjoy it. David Lynch doesn’t care what fans or studios want, he does what he wants and we’re all along for the ride, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
@@bigboncho absolutely correct. The reason The Return worked for me was because I got into the show in 2020 and seeing the return made me realize, Lynch is doing what he DOES lol
That being said, I could see how it would hurt after 25 years.
“Are you awake?”
“Yes.”
“Finally.”
One of my favorite exchanges in tv or cinema. (Also this isn’t the exact dialogue this is just from memory.)
Dale Cooper once said 'Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don't plan it. Don't wait for it. Just let it happen.'. This was today's present for me.
Thank you for another great video!
I wish Big Money Salvia were here to subvert this otherwise heartwarming comment.
@@fuzzydunlop7928 Bouncing on my boy's third eye to this
Your interview with Lisa Corinado really makes my day. Everything I hear about Lynch makes me think he's one of the nicest people imaginable to meet
I really wish I liked Lynch's stuff more. It seems like something I should like and it's nice to hear about an artist in Hollywood that actually seems to be a good person so you can like his work without feeling dirty. But I have tried a few of his things and just couldn't get into them. Maybe I need to try again.
@@toddhollen his work can make you feel dirty because that's the artistic intent. Fire Walk With Me does so often, but that doesn't go behind go behind scenes.
That being said, his work is very not for everyone and it's totally fine to not be into it.
I always liked what Jack Fisk said about Lynch: "It's a good thing David has his art or he'd kill somebody!"
@@toddhollen It took me a long time to come to an understanding with anything I've seen that Lynch has made other than Eraserhead, and the understanding was that 'coming to' an understanding is the closest you can get to truly understanding it, and sometimes that a-okay.
I had to start thinking of it in terms of music - like the interpreted meaning of a song by an artist you like that they've never extrapolated on in an interview.
Something that's concrete enough to have a 'vibe' or even the whisper of some themes but opaque enough to allow your imagination and personal experience to fill in the blanks.
That's what I say to get my film-geek friends off my back for not 'getting' David Lynch, anyway.
It’s funny, but the moment that stuck the most with me from _Twin Peaks: The Return_ was the moment Bobby Briggs went into the station conference room and sees Laura’s photo. The way he burst into tears said so much to me about love and grief. It reminded me that _Twin Peaks_ was founded on tragedy.
It struck me at the end of this video that Cooper’s choice to “save” Laura didn’t save her at all, in a sense. Saving her from being murdered is good, but a Laura who survives is a Laura who still has to struggle with trauma, abuse, and drug addiction. It says something about Cooper that he chose to save Laura from her death, but not from her life.
Yeah, that was my take as well. The focus of the show was Laura's death, but to truly save her would to be to stop everything that happened leading up to that death. That devastating scream to me meant she was being put back into the tragedy, not being saved from it. That's the moment that stuck with me the most.
Dana Ashbrook struck me as a bit of a prick who was just smearing his ego all over the screen but Im so glad I was wrong. In The Return he gives his character a level of grace that the kid always needed and made him 3 dimensional. That scene broke my heart and finally drove home for me that his character was much more than a pest.
Bobby Briggs was so good in The Return. You can see the tremendous amount of growth his character went through. He could have became a villain, instead he because a cop, so he still ended up a villain (ba-dum-tish).
actually Laura Palmer sacrificed herself purposely. Her parents were hosts to demons Joudy and Baal. The ones who escaped from the underworld during atomic tests - meaning Bob and the worm (who entered young girl's/sarah's mother/ mouth). Accoring to ancient Summeric prophecy Joudy and Baal were to create an entity who would end the world as we know it (Laura). Once Cooper reversed Lauras death/sacrifice Twin Peaks became more evil and corrupted place.
That's all according to abstract of Mark Frost's "Twin Peaks: The Final Dossier"
Also Joudy was investigated by David Bowie (played by Special Agent Phillip Jeffries) in Argentina as mentioned in "Fire walk with me".
@@Xondar11223344 totally appreciate the joke, but just want to add that his change in the series was fully based on growth and positive development (even if the police is a tenuous at best way to show that)
It took me a while to realize Lynch's surreal work were not meant as puzzles to be solved, but as metaphors, allegories, etc, for things so absurd and traumatic that we can't process
heart
This is the most succinct analysis of lynch I’ve ever heard
45:10 mentions how the black box is a metaphor for television, but another layer to it that I really really love is that they're literally sitting on a couch for hours on end waiting for agent Cooper to finally show up. Probably not too different from a good chunk of the audience T__T
À black cube, which is also a box, is a symbol for Saturn. Which also happens to be present in the red room in green... matrix green 😎 Saturn is referenced in many films, shows and songs. Why is that? And why is Venus there too?
Could these questions and the entire show be explained by the appearance of the Freemasonry emblem in The Return? Does RR stand for Red Room? Is the bottom layer of the Twin Peaks cake actually based on esoteric knowledge hidden from humanity by secret societies for millenia?
Answers to these questions and more will not be given. May the Force be with you young Jedi.
The link between the A bomb and the sheriff named Harry S Truman is probably just a coincidence right?
It never ceases to amaze me how hardly ever reviewers bother to connect these dots of the true underlying concept, nor understand that the film and TV industry is run by secret societies such as Freemasonry, Skull and Bones, the Illuminati, Templars, etc... There's a reason they show the emblem of Freemasonry watching over the RR Diner in The Return.
Surely TP isn't the purgatory of Harry S Truman? The one who let the evil genie out of the bottle. The owls are not what they seem. Bohemian Grove where all US President's must go has a 40 foot owl. The genius of TP is that it has many layers, something adepts of esoteric wisdom are well versed in. Ergo the viewer will only perceive the layer that matches their level of consciousness. Lynchs explanation of The Unified Field and his depiction of such as the purple sea in The Return isnt artistic license, its real. Lynch and Frost are trying to awaken people to actual truths about reality such as the soul trap reincarnation machinery set-up on this planet by beings that energetically feed off human emotion, especially negative emotions caused by trauma and suffering. The Wachowskis did the same with The Matrix and Jupiter Ascending.
In short TP is esoteric wisdom about reality and the journey of the soul wrapped in layers of storytelling narratives and veiled allegories/commentaries about the entertainment industry and its consumers, etc. The reason they are allowed to do this is that there's no way to prove the deeper truth, no way to convince people of it, for they have to "see it for themselves". And guess what... the vast majority don't want to see it, don't care to see it, for they simply want to be entertained.
Has one single reviewer mentioned what the fire in "fire walk with me" represents? It's a key part of the show yet again no reviewers ever touch it. I'm not Lynch and I'm not a Freemason so I'm just going to SPELL it out for you. Fire represents the eternal spirit of the Creator, which we who are ensoulled carry within us. In that sense we are all Laura Palmer on our own journey into Hell (lower material realms) to be tortured by Darkness and hopefully one day emerge triumphant over it on our journey of spiritual evolution which will inevitably lead to us escaping this false matrix and entering higher spiritual realms. Know Thyself. In a way TP is telling you other realms exist. There's a positive aspect and a negative aspect. And if you don't understand the game your in its going to be difficult to play the game and win. You might even end up being consumed by Darkness as food. Both are whispering in your ear so be careful which voice you listen to... and be careful you don't let the Darkness inside.
And if you think the evil doppelganger is just a literary tool for the animal nature etc think again. Its there with us all the time on an etheric level. That's why this concept is so prevalent in film, TV and literature. Yet again one can only perceive these things through personal gnosis. Lynch doesn't believe his explanation of The Unified Field, he's experienced it... it's true that's my presumption but I'm confident it's true. After all he's an avid practitioner of TM.
Anyway I enjoyed your deconstruction of TP at that level of the cake, i found it to be lucid, informative and entertaining. Good work 😊 I'm sure Lynch would be proud as its this type of thinking he's hoping to activate within people. 😇
By not attempting to "explain everything," Maggie actually gets into all the good stuff. Like the emotional devastation of that hit and run!! Can't get enough of these. If Maggie did an episode by episode breakdown of The Return, I'd guzzle it gratefully from a tap.
How much money do I have to pay for this
Uf uf uf great idea
i mean, she does explain alot :P
so real
Yes please!
Fun fact, the actress who plays Candie, Amy Shiels, is the protagonist of her own little dimension of Twin Peaks. She's the voice of Tammy Preston in the audio books of Mark Frost's "The Secret History of Twin Peaks", and "The Final Dossier". Just a fun coincidence!
i like the scene where dougie takes down the gunman because when theyre interviewing one of the witnesses on the news she says something like "that douglas jones, he moved like a cobra!" and it lives in my brain rent free
Skylar was always the most human part of Breaking Bad for me. I was really disgusted to hear the actress suffered abuse from the fans. Now I understand the structures of toxicity that lead to that. Thanks Maggie
God I hated Skylar that’s cause the actress was fantastic she did her job right! I hated Tony soprano dude was the devil but who doesn’t wanna see the devil at work.
As someone who watched this show with my heart instead of madly scrambling to unpack the meaning behind everything I really resonate with and appreciate your analysis. I’ve never been particularly strong analytically and as a result I felt so damn stupid in the early stages of the show until it just clicked to watch it through an empathetic lens. Not that it was a conscious decision, the characters were just too beautifully human for me to fixate on the meaning of the garboogaloo beans
I'd be lying if I said I didn't tear up at catherine coulsons final scene with Hawk. The line she delivers about "there's some fear in letting go" always stuck with me.
Cooper was separated into thirds similarly to how Laura was separated into thirds in the first two seasons. The mystery of Laura was sacred to the series because the more important question wasn't "Who killed Laura Palmer?" it was "Who WAS Laura Palmer?" As the series unfolded, the more Laura we knew as different aspects were explored through other characters.
Donna - The good girl next door; trapped in a sappy yet scandalous first love with James; doing what she can to grow up faster; burdened with the emotional burden of being Harold's only confidante; losing her innocence
Audrey - The dark pasted mysterious girl; the emergence and weaponsation of sexuality yet a childish naievetè; her bright optimism and belief that there is and should be good in the world; her dealings with the seedy underbelly uncovering her own father's complicitness in it all.
Shelly - Her sense of insecurity within the home; the vulnerability of a young woman who delved too deep with no strong rock to lean on or space to come up for air; her insistence to see the good in the people she loves even if they don't show it, and how dangerous that can be.
They're all women in their own right, but they are forever rippling out from the splash that Laura's death caused. They are just as much part of the world that made Laura's life and death the way they were.
As the major cliffhanger of Season 2 hinged on the future of Cooper, why WOULDN'T we see the loss of Cooper ripple out into a triplet of overlapping circles?
When I finally watched Breaking Bad I was surprised how the two typically cited as badass Heisenburg moments ("You're goddamn right", "I am the danger") were both, in context, Walt posturing when he was in way over his head and soon after suffered a huge fall. So, yeah, people really missed the point huh?
Of course this comes out on 4/20
Yup lol
Is that the weed number?! I'm calling the police
My first thought when I saw the premiere notification
I just want to point out that Chris Carter hired many Twin Peaks actors in the early seasons of The X-Files, then Vince Gilligan hired actors from The X-Files for Breaking Bad, which was a show critiqued by Twin Peaks: The Return. Everything came full-circle.
@Paul Gauthier My dad was a huge fan of The Prisoner, and it's been on my watchlist for years.
Hawk, Ben Horne, Windom Earle, Major Briggs all show in X Files, for a few examples!
@@thebasedgodmax1163David Duchovny
I bonded over Twin Peaks with a dear friend that passed away a few years ago. That scene between Hawk and Margaret really hits different now.
I’m still doubling down that watching these video essays then Watching the show is the best option.
Omg samesies!
Also omg hiii fancy seeing you here! You're awesome!
it is probably not the best option but it is also far from the worst one.
Wow! Jessie is here! I love your stuff. Does your presence here indicate that you plan to do some Twin Peaks videos?
Just sayin' I wish I watched all of Jessie's stuff before getting into Star Trek, that would have been the better option.
I was having the same thought... I think that you're onto something.
Genuinely got sad when this video ended, similarly to how I felt at the end of The Return, oddly enough. I could listen to you talk about Twin Peaks all day.
00:00 Last time on Maggie Mae Fish's RUclips channel.
00:36 25 Years Later... The Return
10:13 The Coopers
18:26 Infinite Varieties of Male Combat
28:02 Triplets (Trippelgängers)
42:44 Twin Peaks & David Lynch
50:16 Infinite TV or your Favorite Show Takes Place in Purgatory
00:00 MEN!!...huh I'm I right.
00:36 MEN!!...HUH AM I RIGHT!!
And so on...
@@joeodonnell921 are you ok? lol watch the rest of the video
@@peachy_lili not much changed lol , finished as it started. Doesn't take much to point out that a certain escapist era of tv started having us follow male characters that come across as strong confident maybe a bit shady but are struggling with midlife crisis only to expose that they weren't the relatable but flawed character we thought they were but turned out to be psychopaths, its basic bait n switch. Yes alot of people unfortunately get caught up in the hype and entertainment elements and cant see the Forrest for the trees, 'wolf of wall street' is my pet hate for that but I think its either the writers fault or Scorsese tbf. most of those shows are going for a certain viewer but doesn't mean its alienating others for watching it, I'm sure theirs plenty shows that are probably more catered to a female audience that have plenty of faults but it doesn't mean men can't still enjoy them.
Totally nailed my own issue with Twin Perfect's take: his overly narrow argument that TP was ultimately a commentary of TV. It's about the human condition, and culture, and TV as his medium is simply wrapped up in it all.
Agreed. I couldn't understand how anyone so familiar with Lynch could possibly believe that Lynch, who practices Transcendental Meditation, was only commenting on the state of television and had no larger message about humanity's interconnectedness and empathy and all that jazz. Somehow Lynch separated himself from all that and used it only as fun imagery without any of the important stuff behind the images? Seems logical...if you're not anyone who understands criticism. I suppose Twin Perfect was taking a formalist approach, and that's fine, but he is so smug and convinced that he's "solved" it all and that there's nothing beyond formalism I guess.
That’s… literally covered in his video. Like a lot, over and over again and also tied into his thesis
@@BradsGonnaPlay I don't understand why people need to believe and say false things to critique twin perfect or whoever else for mansplaining it or whatever. If you disagree with something that's fine but why have this strong opinion when you clearly don't care bout what they actually said or covered?
He calls himself fucking bob in the video for gods sake.
His theory was about violence on tv vs violence in real life and about creativity in general.
Maggie’s video isn’t far off at all and is honestly much more arrogant in dismissing other interpretations than twin perfects. Not that that’s bad, just tired seeing one guy get shit on as smug and arrogant when it’s just his opinion and he heavily caveats his video at the beginning with it being his interpretation.
Idk, I jus think it’s sad that on Maggie’s videos you can see comments saying “I’ve never watched twin peaks, but I get it all now. I have less interest in seeing it now, but I love the video essays” and I think that’s a very sad thing to see.
No one here in the comments or otherwise has actually seen twin perfects video, they just read the title and the thumbnail.
This is a masterpiece of film criticism. You are a gift to the world, Maggie.
And so is David Lynch.
Perfect pairing, honestly
She isn't critiquing TP so much as describing her impressions of it while using _some_ critiques of Hollywood to elaborate.
It's not film criticism, though. It is her personal, analytical interpretation of the story.
Totally different things.
@@shaft9000 That's what criticism is: analyzing art, asking questions about it, giving your impressions of it and describing its connections to other bits of culture.
And, if you're actually good at it, making more art in the process.
This analysis series has been absolutely incredible! You make some of the most insightful and original content on RUclips and your eye-opening analysis of the influences and implications of popular and acclaimed media is so needed by the RUclips film buff audience. Thank you for your efforts and incredible talent!
Twin Peaks: The Return is one of the most beautiful and most haunting media I have seen. It's emotionally distressing but comforting at the same time.
At the time it was airing I had not seen many prestige tv shows, so those references went over my head. This was a great analysis.
wow Log Lady's inclusion in adds a powerful sense of rawness and hyperealism to the twin peaks return series
Maggie is IMHO the best film critic on this site. If not just the best, period.
Did we watch the same video? I can't say I've seen any of her other video's. But this one above really doesn't hold up if you've actually seen the shows she talks about. Even in the few minutes she talked about The Sopranos, there are many mistakes.
You forgot Peggy Lipton in mentioning those who have passed on since the show filmed. Don't blame you since it was an unusually high number of performers who died. Absolutely AMAZING video and analysis otherwise!!!
Peggy 💙💙💙
i like this video AND twin perfect's video!!! twin perfect released their video at a moment of crisis in my life when i needed all of the answers laid out for me. i felt it was lacking in emotional depth and missed a lot by refusing to explore the other themes in twin peaks. maggie mae's video brought emotional rawness into the reading at a time in life where i have space for that sort of thing. neither video explores disability and aging in the return. if i made a six-hour video about twin peaks, i'd probably talk about that. i hope if twin perfect and maggie mae read this comment, that they feel good about their work.
I thought they were compatable
Twin perfect focuses only on one aspect of the meanings behind twin peaks, and that makes him be mistaken on a lot of stuff i think. But hes also right on a lot nonetheless
They are saying similar things, just one is more technical and this more rooted in the emotions. I love them both.
This is a goddamn weed day miracle. I love pedantic twin peaks navel gazing almost as much as I love watching M.M.F. point out the absurdity of the weird stuff I love.
I just got home from work to this part and thought the exact same thing. As far as Wednesdays go, this is a damn good one.
damn. I've never read something more relatable
gosh i love listening to mmf talk about films and television. makes me feel so smart lol
When I watched this show I was perplexed. I could not understand it and went from back to back longing to understand it one of these days - or one of these years. Now, thanks to you I have a chance to rewatch it and find a kind of access to it.
Thanks a lot, m'am.
Many blessings!
the crosswalk scene with Lisa totally broke me as well, not just because of her incredible performance but because I went to high school at mount is high school in the background of one of those shots, and would run with the cross country and track teams across that intersection daily, there's an elementary school just down the road as well that I went to for a few years, but there's always kids walking across those streets with parents and like traffic guard parents who help kids across those streets... the scene felt to me like I was no longer watching a show and as if I had just witnessed an actual tragedy.
Thank you for the moment about Catherine Coulson. Her voice in the scene you highlighted reminded me of my Grandpa Bill. They were so weak that they couldn't project, but the love that made their voice powerful remained. Strength and weakness simultaneously.
I wish I had more documentation of him, especially at the end. Thank you (and Lynch) for being empathetic creators, it's helped me today.
The “Want, not need” scene always stuck with me. God Returns in such a good show! The chocolate bunnies is also such a great standout scene
for me what was especially confusing and unsettling about the final episode is that odessa, texas is my home town. and there was no clear reason why he has to go find laura in odessa of all places. so there was a moment where i thought everybody watching was seeing their own place of birth or something as the ending. but that would be impossible. right?
I love that just as Twin Peaks is a show reflecting on the state of popular media of its time, MMFs criticism references Twitch streaming.
You brought such newness to the series for me and presented it with such care and love and brilliance. I adore this.
I love that people truly believe there's something to "solve". Yes, there's little Easter Eggs that one can discovery. For instance Sonny-Jim. David Lynch's mother was called Sunny. He puts little pieces of bio and interests into sure, and you can find those things. But anyone that claims they've "solved Twin Peaks", well.... David is laughing at you. It's not to be solved. People have such a hard time grasping the concept of this, even though he's LITERALLY stated it. As he does with all his work. It's a personal project, and there's plenty of fun easter eggs to unravel and rabbit holes to go down into. But "solving" isn't a thing. It's fun to watch people think they've done it though.
I thought Sonny Jim was a reference to this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_Jim
But with Lynch... who knows! That's what makes it so great.
David Lynch has actually stated, many times, that there is definitely meaning to his work. It's not just "all random". Hidden within these scenes, there are always certain views or themes for us to find and think about. Is the WHOLE SHOW (so every scene, detail, line of dialogue) meant to be solved? Not at all. But within the chaos there is always meaning for us to find. There are things to solve and revelations to be had. Just not the show as a whole. Only parts of it.
@@WhoopsieDayZ exactly. So while we shouldn't feel the need to solve anything, it does have a specific /certain meaning for Lynch. He just could give two shits if we ever know what the meaning is..
@@jaimebreen1165 Every David Lynch project has meaning to it. One that we, as the viewer, can figure out. Just because the creator isn't going on camera spoonfeeding it to us, doesn't mean it's not there. Twin Peaks for example isn't just some "random scenes" put together. There are clear themes and ideas present and most of it can easily be solved. Some of his movies (like Mulholland Drive and Lost Highway) aren't even that hard to understand if you try.
@@jaimebreen1165 That said, I completely disagree with most things said in this video above. This view on what Twin Peaks means is extremely short-sighted. It is very clear that this woman had a certain point to make and she tries to fit the whole show around her vision. It's tunnelvision. This becomes even more clear if you look at her view on shows like Mad Men and The Sopranos.
The "Dougie" sideplot in The Return (for example) isn't that much a comment on "Toxic Masculinity" (a way of thinking I'm sure Lynch would very much dislike). The "Dougie" sideplot is all about mundane, everyday life and how we should cherish it. It's literally one of the main themes of classic Twin Peaks.
For me, the Lynchpin of the series (pun intended) is episode 8, 'Got a Light?' AKA, the black and white, almost wholly unrestrained surrealist one. It sits in the middle of the series, but outside of its main timeline and is full of references to origin myths (Genesis, Pandora's Box, etc). It's used as a very oblique origin story for how 'Bob' entered the series universe, with him somehow being let into the world during the USA's first atomic bomb test (codenamed 'Trinity'- remember all those triplets and trios?). Obviously it's easy to see this a simple criticism of militarism or the risks of blindly pursuing scientific knowledge or power without thought to the consequences, but when you consider David Lynch's biography, a more interesting possibility emerges.
Lynch was born in January 1946. This means that the Trinity test, as well as the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki most likely happened in the space between his conception and his birth. Lynch's life has existed for nearly exactly the same length of time as the evils of the atomic bomb, and he is drawing a very direct parallel between that evil being introduced into the world he lives in, and the evil he introduces into the worlds he creates- both began at the same time. Yet, just as in the legend of Pandora's box, at the same time as evil is introduced into the world, so is hope, a similar hope emerges from the darkness in 'Got a light'. The evil in Lynch's creations comes from him, but so does the hope and beauty. It's an origin myth for all those aspects, and for his work in general, a visual representation of the genesis of the creative process, and a tribute to the duality of human existence that is such a recurring theme in Lynch's work. It's his own, personal origin myth, one designed to tie his whole oeuvre together.
That's my massively overthought fan theory, anyway. One great thing about surrealism is that you're actively encouraged to bring your own meanings and interpretations to the party. As well as... I dunno... your spot-on impressions of Hasan Piker, maybe.
Great video! Man, I love the Twin Peaks watch.
In The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer, written by David Lynch's daughter Jennifer Lynch, Bob writes "I DO NOT NEED THINGS, I WANT THINGS" so they were thinking about that stuff even back when the book was published in 1990!
Love these videos. I never saw the connections to Breaking Bad or Mad Men, but The Return being an answer to prestige drama makes sense. And nicely cyclical, since I know David Chase has cited Lynch as an influence on The Sopranos.
When I commented on the last video I got replies from weirdo Twin Perfect fans. I wonder if that’ll happen again.
i'm here for the twin perfect NEEKs
Dude, Twin Perfect solved the show - get over it. Just because you didn’t figure it out doesn’t mean you should be jealous.
@@gt6808 please tell me this is ironic. there is no way to solve a lynch project
@@gt6808 "Solved" yet left out everything mentioned in these two videos, that makes sense.
Twin Perfect wasn't wrong, they just also weren't... complete. The show is deep and he only saw a very surface level code, "this = this", without seeing any of the context - which is silly, since it's such a meta show. Maggie provides a huge missing piece to the picture Twin tried to paint.
These two videos about twin peaks were very thought provoking and helped me see twin peaks in a whole new light. The emotion rather than logic concept is something Id never thought of. The show is as much an experience as it is a story.
39:20 "he stops at the TV screen"
I literally screamed "YES" at my tv!! really enjoyed his analysis but this was my #1 issue
He makes a ton of the characters into audience surrogates in his theory and uses that as a vehicle to connect the human experience as he believes Lynch sees it to the show itself.
Respectfully I gotta disagree with you and Maggie. I found it deeply compelling that he can extrapolate a lot about Lynch’s real life hobbies, habits, and relationships through the lens of the show. You can’t do that by “stopping at the TV screen.”
@@BradsGonnaPlay Overall he does an amazing job of mapping out the meta elements and he definitely opened up the show for me a lot (although I also cringed when he said that Curious George shit lol). What I'm getting at is that what the show describes/reflects goes beyond the people involved in the "transmission" (audience, Lynch, etc.). It's concerned not only with the pattern of character desposability on TV, but also with the way a broader cultural mentality of numbness and atomization informs and is perpetuated by this pattern. Also it's pretty wack to gloss over the show's extensive discussion of various forms of abuse.
Laura Palmer isn't a "golden goose" because she's a cash cow for creamed corn audience fodder; Laura Palmer is an open wound -- a vitally tragic sliver of hope in a cynical zeitgeist because her entire identity as a cultural figure is being a Victim Who Mattered.
Also, I'm not sure how productive (or even ethical) it is to use art to try to discern personal details about the artist. I think Lynch is more interested in conveying a sense of Self as defined by the unique qualities of one's perception and the way one constructs meaning rather than placing the focus on framing himself as a brilliant and mysterious auteur to be worshipped and studied.
@@alexzukoff first: sincerely, thank you for your well-thought out response.
Second: I agree. I do think a lot of what he says is representative of nothing more than what the TV show means to the TV show itself. That being said I think that’s only one analytical tool for the shows reception and how it relates to the world at large.
The various forms of abuse that are highlighted definitely make commentary on real world issues like emotional abuse, filicide, and the turmoil in the immediate family that arises because of it- but again, I think him delving into the the show’s “golden goose” theory and meta-narrative is just a unique vantage point for more analyses by other critics and *I think* he makes that point very clearly a few times in the 3 videos he made on the subject.
Overall, I genuinely appreciate that you didn’t just lambast his work and seem to have a good-faith interpretation of it. He’s not like a friend or something, yet I can’t help but defend those videos. They just represent a very pure and unadulterated love of all things Lynch to me. Even if I disagreed with him vehemently, I couldn’t hate his effort and analysis.
You’ve opened my mind a lot just in this little exchange here and I appreciate that :)
@@BradsGonnaPlay Likewise! I agree with everything you said here. To be clear I love the Twin Perfect videos, he helped me make a lot of connections in my interpretation. That said, I would steer people to Maggie first. I think she nails the emotional core of the show, and I think the lens she uses is sorely missing in criticism at large. But overall I think the videos work really nicely as counterparts. Thanks for a great discussion!
@@alexzukoff totally! And of course no worries, we’re just both taking part in exactly what these two videos promoted: deep thinking and David Lynch 😂
Dude that why do you hate hotdogs part really vibes with me. Went out to eat at buffalo wild wings with my friends who love the place, had a horrid experience. My order was completely wrong, the environment was loud and obnoxious and the staff were rude af. So when my friends invited me again, I said "No, that place is awful, I had a bad time last time and have no interest in returning" and what they took from that was that I just hated Wings. They repeatedly asked "why do you hate wings? Wings are good why don't you like them"
Like what the heck.
Also thank you for these videos, I loved them, and I now feel I have a truly grounded understanding of the franchise. I'm very grateful and appreciative of the effort you put in to these videos 💜
I've really appreciated this series, Maggie. As someone who has not seen ANY of the other shows that you referenced, I feel like you still helped connect what I was seeing on screen but not fully understanding to the strong emotions I feel when watching Twin Peaks.
I had seen Twin Perfect's video a while ago and found it interesting, but it didn't provide any closure. I almost never watch TV, why would this show mean anything to me if that was all there is? You added the human element his analysis was missing and it was such a delight to watch, thank you!
The line about punching basically being the end of every super hero movie (and other genres of course) really makes me want a Squirrel Girl Movie. I love her so much, because even though she *COULD* just punch her problems away, a lot of the time she thinks about the problem and finds a better way to solve it.
Then there is One Punch Man.
This brought back all the magic of watching The Return again. Such a refreshing and powerful perspective on the series. I got a lot out of this, and might go back to watch season 3 yet again. Thanks Maggie!
One of your best videos so far, from a very demanding Lynch fan. And I'm not saying this because your take on Twin Peaks is close to mine, but because rather than trying to stitch the gaps together, you're peering into them to ask one new question for every answer you find.
David Lynch is my favorite working artist, so I am happy to find such a thoughtful analysis of Twin Peaks. I was surprised that Lynch's work as a painter was not mentioned. This is understandable given your methodology. However, I feel that it was a bit of a missed opportunity to not mention the "clear cube" @ 45:05 as one of the many references to the work of Francis Bacon. Much of Lynch's macabre style has debts to Bacon and the expressionists. But, you did prompt us to use this space to address further references we saw. Edward Hopper and Rene Magritte feature prominently in "The Return" also. (If I had any knowledge about how to produce my own video essay, I suppose this is what I would talk about.) I don't know how to do that, so...
Everyone, go look at the paintings! They're like 'paused' movies, but better.
(Finally, I wanted to point out that I read through all of the comments (725) before posting this just to make sure I wasn't reiterated another user and... yeesh, some people. Must be a goldfish.)
we had a line about him being a painter but ended up cutting it for time :)
50:07 Perfect in-character use of the word "jebaited." Mad Respect, Maggie. You're killing it. Keep killing it.
Edit: Nice stache btw.
Thoughtful, intelligent analysis as always. Deeply impressed by the way you blend insight, awareness, a sharp academic eye, humour and empathy with your videos. I greatly enjoy your work and appreciate your hard work and your unique perspective. Thank you Maggie!
you got me to watch the entirety of twin peaks in between your first video and this one and honestly bless you because it was so good haven’t watched this yet but i’m excited and ily
I took an acting class with Brent Briscoe back in college in the '80s. He was a tremendous talent. I'm glad he had a pretty successful career as a character actor.
Your videos are so great! Getting an interview with Lisa Coronado was next level. I love watching your videos and hearing your breakdowns. I really didnt get the green hand punchy guy from the last season until your video, It really helped me understand his character and place in the story. Youre engaging and thought provoking and I look forward to more
Raced to the comment section to call you… a master of your craft. Objectively this is the best video essay I’ve seen. God I love Twin Peaks
You opened my favorite show for me from a perspective I've never seen. I feel like I've been blind all my life. Thank you.
I'm really glad I found your channel and watched these two videos of yours on Twin Peaks.
Twin Peaks is one of my favorite pieces of media, and David Lynch is one of my favorite filmmakers.
I love how he doesn't give the audience answers and instead encourages them to come to their own conclusions.
I really enjoyed your analysis and it helped me put together some more of my own ideas/interpretations about the series.
LORD! this twin peaks 'mini-series' is fantastic! I absolutely love your take on it!
Jumping up and down spinning in circles I was so excited and happy to see this analysis! I also recently rewatched all of the original series so that I could finally watched The Return and I was really struck by the similarities between Laura and Audrey and their relationships with their fathers.
I watched the whole 'Twin Peaks Explained' video a while ago out of curiosity and I couldn't remember a lot of the details clearly after trying to take it all in, but I'm grateful you addressed the misogyny of removing the nuance from Audrey's relationship with Laura's case/the mystery. And reducing Leland to a simple 'vessel' and rending HIM the poor victim. On my rewatch I was stuck so much by the way that Audrey will play silly games, and seems like a classic example of a playful/flirty, perhaps even cruel and naive rich girl archetype.
But there's a particular scene in s2 where Audrey is spying on her father's party and Leland comes in and begins to sob, and everyone at the party pretends he's doing a silly dance to ensure the investors don't realise what's happening in the town. And Audrey begins to cry as well. I think so many of the teenagers/younger characters in Twin Peaks (s1 & 2) are impacted by Laura's death and seeing the aftermath of such a horrific event and the way it is dismissed and treated by everyone in the town. Audrey is just a young girl trying to navigate learning that her father who she has known and loved and depended on for years is actually responsible for and eagerly participates in so much of the atrocities being committed in the town. And Audrey has to live with that realisation and still she's conflicted and still desires her father's approval.
I think FWWM goes back to this theme, but I think also a massive theme of Twin Peaks that we get from I think Jean Renault (when he has Cooper hostage) is going back to Laura's murder being publicised, and how Twin Peaks was a 'nice town' until Laura died and Cooper came along. In that there were 'nice quiet people' and they were easily able to sell drugs and illegally basically put traffic young women. It's not that Twin Peaks was suddenly made 'bad' but that there are horrific things that nobody is willing to confront or admit to... and the duality/triplicate-ality? that exists means that many people you think you can love and trust can also be quite horrific, or even at times mundane, within the triplicate perception. And speaking specifically to trauma there's that complex relationship you have with people who have harmed you or been complicit.
And so much of that does tie back to Laura. So I really loved the inclusion of Laura at the end and her scream. And seeing that even when you think you can resolve the trauma. Whether it's Dale hoping to be this grand, dramatic hero who can easily (as Dougie did) charge in and say the right words and suddenly be presented with a resolution, or Laura/Sheryl's character sorry I can't remember her name, in that last episode living a painful life. Where she is not a perfect easy-to-sympathise-with victim, where she isn't a clean, angelic figure, we see that upon her return to 'her' old house with Cooper there's no simple resolution to all of the pain that she's experienced and that has followed her.
Also sorry this is so long, I recently watched The Return and I'm so excited to see people discuss it. There's so much to process and discuss, but I also found the scream/boy being hit scene to be incredibly horrific, and one of the most impactful scenes in The Return. I also liked that we saw once again the collective experience and the way that people are impacted by her scream and by that death. Within all of the silly and nonsensical, often heightened storylines and behaviour, I liked seeing weight and humanity given to a new and perhaps less 'consequential' character. With that sense that all of that pain and that weight matters. Just as Laura matters, we all impact one another, from the trailer park caretaker, to Audrey's son, to the woman and her son...
Sorry for writing such a long comment, I've been thinking about Twin Peaks a lot lately and apologies if I just was repetitive or saying nonsense, but I really enjoyed the video
57:25 - And that right there is what people who "don't get" about David Lynch need to hear. He's not trying to confuse us. He's trying to illuminate something that can't really be fully grasped. When he's asked "Can you tell us what ____ means" and he says "no", he isn't being coy, but literal. He *can't* tell us what it means because the only way he could communicate it was through the medium of film. Don't believe me? Try to "novelize" any Lynch film (except for Dune). You might be able to tell the story of The Straight Story... but you couldn't communicate the actual meaning of the film (also he didn't write that one, just directed it).
It's the experience of having a telepathic alien explain their philosophy to you, and I am SO glad that he is also a genuinely good person.
I can’t believe the quality of these videos!! Even as we talk about other characters Maggie is portraying characters flawlessly
I don’t have any other Lynch fans in my life, so I’ve never had anyone to talk with in any detail about The Return. So Maggie, I feel like I just met a kindred mind when watching this video. The Return being a meta commentary on modern US culture - using modern tropes of TV shows - seemed to all be implied to me, since that’s what the original series did.
I had no clue that fans of the original series generally missed this, but doing some quick searches it seems to be the situation.
Hopefully more people will watch the show in the future and then watch this video before they watch anything else.
Thank you so much, Maggie Mae Fish, for knowing that this video needed to be made and then taking the time to make such and then for taking the time to make such a needed and compelling video!
Genuinely wonderful video, Maggie. Your analysis is by far my favorite of any of the ones I've seen. Thanks for always engaging with cinema so thoughtfully.
I get so caught up in the narrative that I really missed everything about the meta narrative. This is so well put together!!
omg thank you so much for this. I was so stuck in the "decoding" of the return, going over and over the mysteries that I didn't see the reflection of the real world in it
Having seen both of your videos as well as twin perfects videos, your videos are hands down more satisfying. You aren't condescending to me or the other viewers and don't suck all the fun and weight of lynch's works. Great job!
Any day we get a new mmfish video is a good day.
Thanks for yet another great video! As for the references, Dougie bears notable resemblance to the character of Chauncey Gardiner from the 1979 movie Being There, a simple man who's pretty much a blank slate on which other project their motives, desires and aspirations.
55:11 I don't think Cooper fails at the end. I think after he prevented Laura from being murdered Judy hid her in her own dream. But since it was Judy's dream it was more like a nightmare. I think Cooper's goal was to help Laura remember who she was so that she could acknowledge the terrible things that had happened to her.
It's clear that living in a delusion wasn't doing Laura any favors. I think when Laura remembers who she is her scream is an acknowledgement of the bad things that happened her. From the moment Cooper enters the dream he begins to lose his grip on the situation. But because of the clues the Giant/Fireman gave him he was able to keep to the correct path.
At the end just before he asks what year it is you can hear the noise the Giant/Fireman told him to listen to if you listen carefully. And that seemed to wake Cooper up. He seemed more like himself than he did through that entire sequence. And I think his question is what made Laura realize she was living in a timeless purgatory. I think it's very important to consider that when David Lynch was directing Kyle McLaughlin he told him that while he was in the Black Lodge he didn't perceive time passing at all. I think it was the same situation with Laura in Judy's dream.
You can't counteract evil by punching it to death. That's just A cheap way to avoid counteracting evil. The audience wanted to know who killed Laura and to move on. By giving her life again David Lynch made sure that her pain couldn't be ignored.
The finale also seems to point out the incongruity of revivals which end up retconning the series and ruinning the stories: If Coop saves Laura, there is no Twin Peaks. Great as usual, Maggie!!! Please give us your take on Inland Empire (since you mentioned it). Thanx!!!
For people who've seen the show and are seeking the deeper rabbit holes: Maggie's series definitely provides a lot of much needed cultural and emotional insight as well as the female perspective missing from the Twin Perfect video (and is imo a more fun watch and a better take on season 3), BUT the Twin Perfect video is still an invaluable resource for a lot of the weirder stuff from the first two seasons left out here like interpretations of the red room, garmonbozia, flashing lights, the ring, pale horse, the relationship between Mike, Bob, & The Arm, etc.
Really enjoyed to hear your insights.
And absoluetly loved the twitch stream parody.
Keep up the great work!
Fascinating. As a die-hard fan of Mr. Lynch (and fan of the other directors you appear to like) I found this as thought-provoking as it was entertaining.
Having only stumbled across your channel recently I intend on looking back at some of your previous work and look forward to more in the future.
Thankyou for your efforts.
I’ve read a lot of twin peaks theories but haven’t come across one like this! You make some incredible connections to other shows and have made some awesome theories for the themes in the return, criminally underrated video!!
Between this and Cheyenne Lin's breakdown of Breaking Bad, this has been a great week for videos essays on the ~complex men~ of the late aughts
This is the best video I’ve ever seen about the series. Thank you for making it.
They way i actually teared up a few times throughout this video 🥺 TP means so fucking much to me, and your analysis is so on point. I adore how your talking points address the greater ideas to film and the world itself rather than then minutia of theories and explanation of the TP world.
I felt like a parody of myself when, while tearing up and feeling genuinely moved, the Streamer Maggie admitted to doing the exact same (fantastic comedic beat and timing btw!!).
Thank you for these videos. Seriously.
Finally! We've waited so long for this. Thank you for your great work, Maggie!
This was a fun and brilliant analysis. Thanks so much to all involved with producing this!
Absolutely brilliant video, the most honest and actually rational (if it possible) take on Twin Peaks I've ever seen. TP is not a conventional tv show and does not deserve a conventional analysis.
Oh my god he had a Hulk Hand. He literally punched the embodiment of violence with a Hulk Hand
This really deepens my appreciation for a show I already loved. I love the idea of Twin Peaks being art deconstructing art to uncover Truth. This is the best take I’ve heard, for sure.
Describing Audrey Horn as "just wanting to be the star of the show" or just wanting attention. I cannot. I simply cannot. Are you kidding me, Twin Perfect.
The wild thing is that if you're gonna go with a TV archetype, Audrey is much more similar to typical powerful male archetypes - she's cunning, shrewd, intelligent, ambitious. Why not make that parallel rather than a comparison to traits more often put onto women in a negative way but that don't actually really apply to her.
I believe the comparison was between Audrey and Laura and in a meta sense about creativity and the story, characters needing to be part of the mystery like Laura is as she is the star of the show.
Yea the way this video frames that is unfair imo. Twin Perfect doesnt mean attention in a literal sense.
He means in the same sense that Bob kills people *just* for our attention as an audience. Its on a meta level of these tv characters only surviving if they have attention from the audience. He could and maybe did make the same argument to explain why Harold so desperately wants to keep Lauras second diary. As long as he has that he has a reason to exist to us the viewers.
@@Tamacat388 The irony is that MMF is criticising Twin Perfect's take as flattening the character, while flattening his interpretation to make it seem as sexist as possible. That's not the impression I got watching it. 'Wanting attention' was part of the meta reading, Audrey essentially making herself a major character through her actions. That doesn't replace or reduce her character traits in my view.
Recently rewatched TP and these essays. Good times
It was roughly a year ago that I watched your first video on Twin Peaks. Despite the quarantine fueled fugue state I was in at the time, so much from that video has stuck with me in the intervening months.
I went into The Return with the framework that had been teased in the last video. Now that I've finally finished the return, I was so excited to get to watch this as well. And, I think it's maybe one of the best I've seen from the channel! The sections at once stand on their own and are in conversation with each other. The way you've crafted the argument feels emmotionally true and honest, and that's something I respect (something I struggle to do in my own writing). Further, while it's in no way something unique to this video, I'm ever blown away by your ability to unduludate between text and context. It feels kind of like watching a juggling performance -- the second one ball stops being in the air, the next one has immediately taken its place. Also, I just always love the words you use to describe things. (okay okay, one last thing (and I realize it's maybe a minor feat), but the way you subtitle scenes and otherwise use on-screen text for clarification is stylistically amazing and informationally appreciated!)
Now, since I'm having fun already (and whatever who cares), I just want to chime in to the Funny Games connection. I agree (and maybe everyone does too, idk) that the choice of Watts and Roth as actors seems intentional. Tying the choice to the series' presentation of violence makes sense. To me, it also creates a direct thematic resonance with the framing question of "but who is the dreamer?" Funny Games is a film interested in the implications of media and in direct contention with the kind of morality that a Don Draper-like character can represent (i.e., one which excuses violence by way of ancillary justification). One of the final scenes of Funny Games features the characters calling into question fiction's divergent-ness from reality. This moment feels similar to what you talk about in your last section. I would also be inclined to draw a parallel between the bonus 18th episode and Funny Games' gruesome ultra-long take scene. There is in both a negation of placation (maybe not the right word; they don't let the audiences off the hook). I'll leave it there for now. Point is, Funny Games is a special interest of mine and I jump at any chance to talk about it (even to myself in a RUclips comments section).
Anyways, thanks for the awesome video, it made my day. You rock!
Hasan always got that big ass plate of food, A+ video
This is genuienly brilliant and beautiful, i love this interpretation of Twin Peaks
*The Scream* of *The Victim* may seem like a jungian/platonic attribution but setting it up as a set of stark narrative elements (as Lynch does) and delivering the words so perfectly slapped!
I got chills all over again, cathartic and inspiring.
By far the best Twin Peaks analysis. It doesn't try to come up with one theory that fits all the things of the show, but it gives historical context to relate to the themes of the show.
NOW THAT'S SOMETHING INTERESTING TO THINK ABOUT
Honestly loved this so much, it was fantastic. I did however find it hilarious that similar to The Return, Maggie discussed Audrey in terms of original two seasons, but spoke more briefly on her in the return and then let her disappear abruptly. Felt thematic
My neck hurts from agreeing so much. Was a real treat seeing you talk about one of my favorite shows. Simpsons and Star Trek are probably tied with it for first. Others have covered those back and forth though, Twins Peaks has shockingly little good RUclips analysis.
"Nothing personal." "...Started to feel a little personal, not gonna lie."
I love* Maggie's takes. She's so thoughtful and takes the time to expand on ideas that I likely would've just glossed over.
This proves that Twin Peaks can be about anything you want, be it a self aware tv show, a satire about the patriarchal dramas we've been enjoying since ancient Greece, or both.
Bookmarking this for once I finish watching The Return, loved the first part of your analysis!
The secret meaning of this video? It's actually about Maggie showing how many fits she can pull off. Spoiler: it's all of them. All the fits.
Also watching this analysis right after seeing We're All Going to the World's Fair was a real one two I tell ya.
Thanks very much being a friend to me today Maggie here at my work. Even though utube is a one way chat I felt I was in conversation with you. Iv thought so much of the same as you but couldn't put it together as beautiful as you did here. TwinPerfect stopping at the TV gutted his own analysis of meaning and made him obviously not a fan of David's. Lynch would never devote that much life-force and creativity to simply make an satirical point. Reminds me of Keifer Sutherlands character focusing on surface details and missing the donought...keep your eyes n hearts on that n not the hole. You added a new thought aswell about that scream of the mother linking up to Laura's/Carries scream (and Audry waking up) all being connected in time. Thanks for that. Beautiful analysis ✌️
Also got to point out the genuis touch of the way you pointed out you could have ended on the "Goodnight Hawk" section. How that would have been a perfect neat ending then went on to do another section, which was exactly the structure of the end of The Return. That was a clever meta touch you did there. 👏
Perhaps Maggie and Twin Perfect are two people who came to different conclusions and although we may appreciate one more than the other, it's on us to treat them like people and not corporeal representations of their takes.
Absolutely. The visceral hate that guy gets for what amounts to the work of a doctoral thesis is just awful. Love it or hate it, the implication that it’s some massive 6 hour waste of time is a hateful opinion on something very clearly borne out of love
It would be great to see Maggie’s take on all of this without her need to bring up twin perfect at all. Even though it’s not a complete one-for-one comparison, acknowledging the other essay makes this one feel like an angry rebuttal instead of an independent review. It didn’t need to be mentioned, did it?
Awesome video. When you pair it with the twin perfect breakdown, it really makes it almost crystal clear