Why Twin Peaks’ Return is the Most Inspiring Shit I’ve Ever Seen (NO SPOILERS)

David Lynch is a legend. Famous for movies like Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, he’s always been an inspiration to me.

I was bummed when he stopped making movies after one of his less fruitful efforts, Inland Empire (2005). Ten years passed, no new movies surfaced. Lynch entered his 70’s, and I began to wonder… will he ever make another movie?

It’s not like older people can’t make great art. Thomas Pynchon’s latest book, “Bleeding Edge”, was incredible, and he’s 80. But this is different - the 10 years without any news about a new movie, it felt like one of Lynch’s film scenes, slowly meandering on, with no end in sight.

Twin Peaks: The Return

Then the rumors began. Twin Peaks was coming back, then it wasn’t. Then, it was again.

Lynch held out and demanded twice as many episodes, and twice the budget, as Showtime's original offer. They caved. And that decision led us to sit down 25 years after the end of the original Twin Peaks, revisiting the quaint yet fucked up world in the middle of nowhere, northwestern USA.

I don’t want to discuss the contents of the show in this post - if you liked the old Twin Peaks, you will love this one - but rather to explain just how inspiring this is to me.

Growing up, I quickly realized that I wouldn’t make the sort of art that other people made. By high school I was already deep into weird, progressive musical ideas, fucking with odd rhythms and dissonant harmonies, non-repetitive song structures.

I didn’t think I was better than anybody else - just, my passion wasn’t in line with anything popular that I heard.

David Lynch represents the idea of an artist who can create such vivid artwork, such beautiful and expressive art, that he’s able to smash through the barriers of what people previously deemed “mainstream” or acceptable.

Twin Peaks feels like a show from an alternate universe, where our culture is obsessed with something different. It isn’t about sex, violence, or cheap thrills, even if there are a few of those scattered throughout. It’s a pure vision of artistic intent, one that leaps so far beyond the “overton window” of art as to disregard it entirely.

And it worked! It’s a critical success and enough of a commercial one that Showtime is open to another season if Lynch and crew decide to do it.

Avoid the Consensus Reality

The term “consensus reality” refers to ideas that we simply do not challenge. For example, we all agree that you should look both ways before you cross the street. The idea of “it’s crazy to cross the street without looking” is part of our consensus reality.

But the consensus can be debilitating, even rotten. When the consensus is that “The only way to survive is the safe way, getting a full time job and doing what they say.” - that’s a shit one. When the consensus is “You can’t make the art you love - be realistic, and make stuff people want to hear/see” - that’s a shit one too.

With Twin Peaks, Lynch and his team prove that the consensus reality of “Nobody wants to watch experimental film” is flat out wrong. From the flip side, he challenges artists to make art so good that it breaks the consensus too.

Twin Peaks demonstrates that your weirdness isn’t what stops you. If you can create amazing artwork and put it in front of the right people, you can have a great life and contribute to society while being true to yourself.

This is really important for unestablished artists - people like you and me, who are still getting our footing, learning how to earn a living and find an audience. Don’t give up.

It’s the most inspiring shit I’ve seen in a long time. I hope it inspires you too. Let’s get weird.