Twin Peaks is Coming Back: Hurray?

Word came trickling down the grapvine yesterday that Twin Peaks, the long defunked early 90s cult classic and frequently recommended netflix television show, is going to be returning to the small screen for a limited run on Showtime (in 2016).

The initial reaction on social media would most easily be described as euphoric, old and new fans of the show giddy at the opportunity to hear Kyle MacLachlan wax poetic about a cup of coffee.  I, for my part, think a return to Twin Peaks could be a lot of fun, but I worry.

Better fire up that percolator and find my black suit :-) #Twinpeaks

— Kyle MacLachlan (@Kyle_MacLachlan) October 6, 2014

Twin Peaks was a show that started off incredibly strange, then oddly fantastic, before gradually slipping too far into darkness and obscurity.  Americans were captivated by the show's quirkiness and mysterious nature.  As the second season got underway, however, the story began to meander deeper into its rabbit hole and viewers tuned out.  After just two seasons Twin Peaks was cancelled.  A much maligned feature film prequel/sequel Fire Walk With Me all but sealed the show's fate as a one-season wonder.

So now more than two decades later, Lynch, Showtime, and Mark Frost are going to try and go down the rabbit hole one more time.  But what for?

According to Showtime Networks President, David Nevins, it is about resolution.  “Twin Peaks needed to come back. It needed answers. It was never finished in the right way.”

That may be true, but giving answers is what killed the show twenty plus years ago.  After the murder of Amanda Palmer was solved, the show lost it's sense of direction.  Previous attempts at giving answers have been met with silence (the show's finale) or disdain (Fire Walk with Me).

The Twin Peaks I would like to see would be the one that Lynch intended the show us all that time ago.  Laura Palmer's death was the starting point for the series but it was only meant to be our entree into the world of that small town and its wonderously strange characters.  The murder mystery was intended to be the spice and the characters the meat, not the other way around.

Too much time has passed to simply pick up where the show left off.  A few characters should return, for continuity and context, but the central characters should be (mostly if not wholly) completely new.

There is nothing left to learn about the death of Laura Palmer, what interests me is the world of Twin Peaks.  New characters, a new story, a fresh start in a familiar place.  That is a show I would be interested in watching, not some retread or do-over of something that is best left in the past.

Move forward, explore new worlds, Twin Peaks.  I'm sure that even in the great unknown there is still some damn good coffee.