Twin Peaks returns to Showtime, but does it deserve a reboot?

Photo source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_Peaks

This article is part of a series of investigations, reflections, and reminiscences by writers, artists, and musicians who were influenced by David Lynch’s seminal television show Twin Peaks. To read more, or to learn about participation, visit www.twinpeaksproject.com.


TIME TO RETURN TO TWIN PEAKS

Early this week, David Lynch and Mark Frost announced that they would continue exploring the forests of Twin Peaks on Showtime in 2016. Depending on the success of the Showtime series, further Twin Peaks productions would no doubt be discussed. Perhaps even a re-boot. This article was written three months prior to the recent Lynch/Frost news of a new series.

Twin Peaks has secured itself in the western TV canon for its chthonic descent into the self, into the Black Lodge, and into absurdity. Its recent Blu-ray re-release has the cult fav being watched by a whole new generation of fans. With recent cable TV masterpieces making television more relevant than film, it is time for a Twin Peaks reboot.

The Twin Peaks mythology has already reappeared in recent science fiction television, the JJ Abrams show Fringe featured mad scientist Walter wearing Dr. Jacoby’s glasses to better see the human aura. Walter and Jacoby were mates. Fitting too, for Fringe’s universe was also a descent into the mirror world;  a parallel universe opened by Walter’s genius.  In the Fringe universe, Walter used technology to open the door between worlds, however he was driven by fear, and love, the emotions used to open the doors to the White/Black Lodge. An ambitious reboot could pair Walter with Jacoby. Walter’s dual personalities would play right into the fold.

During HBO’s True Detective run this past winter, fans wished that Dale Cooper would show up, not just because True Detective took place in 1995, but because True Detective was the first show that was almost weird enough to match Twin Peaks. Fans cyber-pined for Cooper. Fans longed for one of the girls to be Ronette Pulaski. True Detective lacked Lynch’s absurd fingerprint, the humor, but hit the creepy unnerving horror with a bullseye. Lynch has his pulse on that emotion that lives right under our skin that makes us feel like prey, and True Detective nailed that emotion in spades.  Ledoux, and the King in Yellow were trolls waiting in the tree line to kidnap and eat the young.  It would be hard to name other TV bad guys that are as evil, and disturbing to watch as Bob/Leland and the Man from Another Place.

All great works of dramatic literature must be reinterpreted. The Performing Arts exists in the present. Poetry is translated, adapted, and retold. Novels are reimagined from different characters POV.  Films are remade. And every so often television is remade. Battlestar Galactica was brilliantly reimagined for a post 9-11 audience, with a boatload of strong female, and minority roles. BSG took a generally well received space western from the early 1980s, and transformed it into a discussion about politics, religion, ecology, and the human spirit.

The Lynch Problem (with apologies to Mark Frost) is the only problem with remaking Twin Peaks.  Why would anyone even attempt to recreate Lynch? It would be like the Gus Van Sant project to reshoot Psycho frame by frame. Why bother? Though Gus Van Sant, the artist, gains a great deal from following in the master’s footsteps, much like a poet translating Neruda, the audience does not.  If Twin Peaks were to be rebooted there would be the great sacrifice of Lynch’s voice.  Consider Lynch’s fetish for industrial settings. Consider Lynch’s blue collar workmen in the middle of a job, usually fixing a light.  Consider Lynch’s earnestness, his Boy Scout polish, if you will. Consider the humor of Andy and Lucy, the Horne brothers, Lynch’s own Gordon Cole; in a reboot the humor would be the hardest chord to strike.  Lynch’s visual style could be replicated. True Detective’s Cary Joji Fukunaga would make the Northwest look as fresh and luscious as Lynch did in 1990. And a script by Joss Whedon could give us laughs, and dramatic moments to undercut the weirdness, and terror. JJ Abrams, creator of Lost, and Fringe, could oversee such a project. He has a history of handling the cannon with care, while creating passion, and excitement for Star Trek, and Star Wars.  

Lynch and Frost didn’t come up with anything knew when they mined the Black Lodge for all of its creepy worth. This is ancient storytelling DNA. The chthonic themes give us the willies because it is dark underground, and at the genetic level we are coded to fear the dark. In our ancient past those that failed to fear the dark didn’t live long enough to pass on that gene. It’s Beowulf fighting for his life in Grendel’s mother’s lair, it’s Jesus and the Devil in the wild, it’s Luke in the cave on Dagobah,  it’s Brandon Stark entering the underground labyrinth of the Three Eyed Crow, it’s Rust Cohle in Carcosa hunting, or being hunted by the King in Yellow.

Consider what could happen in a reboot? Begin with Teresa Banks. There’s more to the Fat Trout Trailer Park than Lynch has shown us. How about Phillip Jeffries? What happened to him (and his wife--who was supposed to be Josie’s twin sister)?  Who are the other lodge inhabitants that Phillip Jeffries encounters at their meetings? Is that Jase Robertson at the meeting? If so, where are the other Duck Dynasty guys?  Cooper first encounters the Black Lodge’s influence here, following up on the disappearance of Chet Desmond, lead investigator for the Teresa Banks murder. And here the producers could give us more Cooper backstory! And Windom Earle! Told in Lost like flashbacks, the audience could watch the parallels between Cooper and Earle unfold. The story could build with more intense strokes.

Consider the fat that could be trimmed from season two, chiefly James and the Black Widow. There’s great potential with the Martel/Eckhardt plot knot, and the Jose storyline could be ironed out, not to mention exploring more of the psychic energy leaching out of Glastonbury Grove (little Nicky, Lana’s powers of love, etc).

The sacrifices of rebooting Twin Peaks would hurt. Who else could do Laura Palmer’s mother other than Grace Zabriskie, who is so otherworldly weird (and weird looking) in that role.  How about Pete’s earnestness?  Who else could do Lucy and Andy like Kimmy Robertson and Harry Goaz?  And no one is a better jackass than Dana Ashbrook’s Bobby Briggs.  But a firmly grounded project would be able to firmly ground the series in its own mythology. The White/Black Lodge doesn’t feel like the heart of the mythology because David Lynch and Mark Frost wrote their way into that plot. They improvised, and when they filmed what many hoped would have been an ending to Twin Peaks, they went back and told the beginning of the story. Furthermore, a  re-boot could make the James/Donna/Maddie story arc broader, deeper, and more terrifying, and less whiny. The body count would probably increase through today’s lens, and maybe it should. Kill Harold earlier! Knock off one of the expendable deputies!  But consider, what if we cared more for Ronette Pulaski? Who is barely more than a plot point in season one, or FWM for that matter. Who did Ronette hang out with? How did her parents deal with her coke snorting, wild ways? Ditto with Mike. How did they deal with his love affair with Nadine Hurley? Glastonbury Grove, the Bookhouse Boys and their round table of bikers, rednecks, and good old boys could be it’s own series, ala Supernatural, or better yet Buffy.

Plus more Major Briggs. More Log Lady. More weird.

Mostly a reboot of the show could answer the question: What happened to Agent Cooper? The question that has been on the lips of fanboys and girls since 1991. And with the talent lining up to work with cable television high concept shows, who knows, a reimagining could eclipse the original. You know you’d watch it. You're probably already thinking about who would make a good Cooper. I know you are. Let’s meet at the corner of Sparkwood and 21 and discuss it.