What a way to go out on a bang! The series finale to Twin Peaks is not only superb as an episode in tying together loose ends in an entertaining way, it transcends what are usually the limitations of the TV medium. David Lynch directed the episode, which is obvious from every single minute that was shot. It's a lot more like the most surreal art-film shot by a European cameraman than your typical prime-time network finale. We see finally, as has been hyped for the previous episodes, the Black Lodge, what could almost be considered the truest form of a haven for the dark side of the universe. Cooper finds that the map will show him how to follow Windam-Earl, who's kidnapped Annie, Cooper's new love, to bring the worst evil imaginable. Passing sycamore trees, we finally enter what is the ultimate labyrinth as dictated by Lynch and company, where we see old "friends" (the Man from Another Room, the room service man at the Great Northern, Laura, Mr. Palmer, the Giant, et all), and see the most frightening outcome imaginable.
In one of Lynch's most staggering displays of bravura directing, the Twin Peaks finale is alternately hysterically funny (the wrap-up of what happens at the bank), dramatically exquisite (the mess over at Donna's), plain goofy in its obviousness (Nadine's come around reminds me of the climax of Muppets Take Manhattan), and absolutely thrilling in how only Lynch and Frost can pull it off. Everything from the lighting- going so over-the-top with the flashing lights and the slow-to-fast pacing- to the sound design, to the completely out-of-this-world turn of performances by everyone in the Black Lodge, it all just clicks so well that it gives one who's already very used to Lynch's wild theatrics the chills. Indeed, the very end left me feeling the same way I did the first times I saw Lynch's best work in Eraserhead and Mulholland Drive: it makes total sense, even if it makes no sense all the same. And yet, the emotional impact is concise, direct, and with a punch that's undeniable. Meanwhile, it's all on TV, not in a cinema, where one would expect to see such artful craft and simple touches of visual wizardry.
Wow, Bob, Wow. That's all I could say once this ended.
