The Dangers of Getting What You Asked For: Double Time in Twin Peaks: The Return. Issue 1 (9th July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lash, Dominic
• Is Part Of: Open screens. Volume 3:Issue 1(2020)
• Publication Date: 2020-07-09
• Subjects: David Lynch -- Twin Peaks -- double -- time -- anticipation -- memory -- uncanny -- nostalgia -- confusion; Motion pictures -- Periodicals; Television broadcasting -- Periodicals; Motion pictures -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Television broadcasting -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; 791.43
• DOI: 10.16995/os.21
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2516-2888

Abstract

Abstract : The third season of Twin Peaks is chock full of uncanny, disturbing – and disturbingly humorous – doubles, most notably of its central character, played by Kyle McLachlan. This article argues that the series itself is also a kind of double, because it takes advantage of the almost unique situation in which a beloved show is continued after a quarter-century absence to superimpose itself on the new versions of Twin Peaks its fans have fantasized in the interim. Through close readings, I critically examine the ways that The Return does this and explore the different – and often mutually incompatible – interpretive strategies that it thereby encourages. I argue that the series ultimately achieves a paradoxical fidelity to its predecessor precisely through the liberties and calculated risks that it takes with its own heritage.