Few twentieth century TV series have been as closely examined as Twin Peaks has been.
Because it is so mysterious, evocative, experimental, and elliptical, David
Lynch and Mark Frost’s series has invited deep, deep, deep analysis since the
days before the Internet was ubiquitous. In an Internet-mired age, the analysis
has gotten deeper than ever. A fan recently posted a four-and-a-half hour (!) video analysis of all three seasons and
the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me
feature film that has received more than 600,000 visits as of this writing.
So what can Julie Grossman and Will Schiebel’s 88-page
monograph on Twin Peaks for the TV
Milestones series possibly bring to the conversation at this analytical
oversaturation point? Well, without necessarily being essential, the book does
accomplish a few things. Most obviously and fundamentally, it is the first
printed book devoted to the analysis of Twin
Peaks published since season three aired in 2017, so for those who can’t be
bothered to wade through all of that Internet material, it is the handiest and
most encompassing look at the Twin Peaks
phenomenon to date.
More importantly, TV
Milestones: Twin Peaks takes the novel tack of separating the series from
its most high-profile creator. While that looooong video analysis makes a point
of examining the series nearly as the sole product of David Lynch’s
imagination, Grossman and Schiebel are refreshingly intent on questioning his
auteur status. This does not just involve folding the criminally underestimated
Frost back into the conversation but also looking at other key collaborators,
such as the series’ actors and authors of its tie-in books such as Jennifer
Lynch and Scott Frost.
In light of a lot of the excessively thorough Internet
analyses, I also appreciated Grossman and Schiebel’s more traditionally general
approach. They provide a fairly basic view of Twin Peaks’s authorship, approach to genre, treatment of women, key
performances, and presence across media that may not be revelatory, but at
least the authors never indulge in the kind of “this is the definitive
explanation of Twin Peaks that will
force you to never see the series the same way ever again” self-congratulations
of too many Internet denizens. Such analyses usually don’t hold up to complete
scrutiny anyway. In comparison, TV
Milestones: Twin Peaks is limited, but you still feel like you’re in pretty
good hands with Grossman and Schiebel, who cover the series effectively enough
while still leaving ample room to dream.
