Gadgets and Symbols in Twin Peaks (and our lives) • group discussion on objects & much more w/ the "Twin Peaks Grammar" Artists Love Twin Peaks podcast (+ guests Colin, Alison Ivy, Heather Jones, Tommy Jones, Steven Miller & Josh Minton)

Sometimes Anthony, the host of the "Twin Peaks Grammar" YouTube channel, provides an ornate, intense structure for our discussions and sometimes he takes a looser approach to see what bubbles up. This conversation heads in the latter direction - providing some visual reminders of various objects through three seasons and a film but letting the conversation flow where we want to go: not just toward analysis of tokens like the Owl Cave ring but also the process of tracking down props, the ways in which the show's iconography brings fans together, theories of who dreams this narrative, and how this may or may not relate to Carl Jung. Following quickly on the heels of the last group chat just a few weeks ago, this recording includes several of the same participants - Alison, Tommy, myself - along with some new or returning guests. Twin Peaks Blog author and location/prop hunter extraordinaire Steven offers insight into the real-life objects of the show and Dreamer's Diary podcast host Tommy is joined by his wife and co-host Heather. Colin returns to rep the Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast, where I've had several exchanges with him alongside appearances on this channel and my own podcast; likewise Josh and I have spoken across a couple different podcasts. Like last time, I joined late but on this occasion I stuck around until the end for some more deep dives down various rabbit holes with both Anthony and Tommy. (At which point I reference my montage integrating Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern in Blue Velvet and The Return, as well as the film/book A Dangerous Method - here's my review of that one.)

In addition to that video, Anthony also posted this episode in audio form on the Artists Love Twin Peaks feed.

Teresa With a T fan film added alongside Black Rose project (TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS update)

Josh Eisenstadt has decided to go forward with his fan film Teresa With a T, which we initially discussed (alongside some related Fire Walk With Me analysis) while recording Twin Peaks Conversations with him and Cameron Cloutier. I cut that material out of the episode since the project was in limbo but now that it's back on track, I've uploaded the "missing pieces" as their own audio-only video on YouTube. Although I just revised the master cross-post for the whole discussion (which includes the extra patron exclusive running nearly two hours), I also wanted to let readers of this site know this is out there through this standalone update. So here you go...

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS bonus podcast w/ Black Rose director Cameron Cloutier + Teresa With a T director Josh Eisenstadt (YouTube & extended PATREON)

Two years after his last guest appearance to promote the epic four-hour fan film Queen of Hearts, Cameron Cloutier is back on Twin Peaks Conversations with a new project that's just getting going (a fundraising campaign begins on May 14). Black Rose will combine a look behind the red curtains at One Eyed Jack's with a continuation of Annie Blackburn's story from the previous movie. We discuss this project and also spend time chatting with Cameron's collaborator Josh Eisenstadt who is considering a fan film of his own which would share sets, actors, and other resources with Cameron. Since Josh's concept is in flux at the time of this podcast, I didn't include any material about his specific movie*; instead, we discuss his history with Twin Peaks and its cast as a fan and friend - including his connection to Pamela Gidley who played Teresa Banks in Fire Walk With Me. Especially in the $5/month tier Patreon back half (actually nearly four times as long as the public YouTube portion) we dig into many different questions about the show, its creation, and its legacy, of which Josh has a wealth of knowledge. And Cameron sticks around after Josh has to go, talking Mulholland Drive, more details on his own upcoming production, and of course our favorite subject: will there be more Twin Peaks from David Lynch and/or Mark Frost?

PART 1 on YouTube

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

*Update 5/9

A week later, Josh ended up going forward with his project Teresa With a T, so I published the previously excised parts of our discussion on YouTube:

Like my December conversation with Rob King, this is a bonus episode of the Twin Peaks Conversations podcast, which ended its monthly run halfway through 2023. This won't be the last such episode.

Watch Queen of Hearts: A Twin Peaks Fan Film on the YouTube channel "Annie Blackburn"

Cameron's main YouTube channel is Obnoxious & Anonymous - subscribe for updates on the upcoming May 14 campaign for Black Rose & possibly Josh's film as well

You can follow Cameron on Bluesky & Twitter as Obnoxious & Anonymous or Queen of Hearts & Facebook in Twin Peaks Worldwide

The Four Placements of FIRE WALK WITH ME by Julius Kassendorf (The Solute)

My video essay Dream Souls: David Lynch & Mary Sweeney

Four Great Scenes to Enjoy • group discussion w/ the "Twin Peaks Grammar" Artists Love Twin Peaks podcast (w/ guests Colin, Andrew Cook & John Thorne)

A couple weeks ago, Anthony - the host of the "Twin Peaks Grammar" YouTube channel - suggested a "scene analysis idea". What if a group of commentators got together, each picking a different scene, and each focusing on a particular formal element (editing, cinematography, performance, and so on). The idea stuck with me after I listened and I encouraged Anthony to pursue the concept. And so he did, as a birthday present to himself, featuring not just both of us - for the fourth time after his guest appearance, mine, and another group discussion - but also Wrapped in Plastic publisher (and my own frequent guest) John Thorne, Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast host Colin (with whom I've previously discussed Sarah Palmer and Ronette's angel, in addition to his project more broadly), and film/TV commentator Andrew Cook (with whom I've previously discussed Eyes Wide Shut and Southland Tales).

With links to the discussion timecodes (the clips themselves can be watched here and here), John selected the Winkie's diner exchange and trip out back from Mulholland Drive, Andrew the Tremond's Meals on Wheels scene from the original series of Twin Peaks, myself the Mike in traffic/Teresa flashback sequence from the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, and Anthony the nighttime Cooper/statue passage from Twin Peaks: The Return (Colin joined last-minute and took part in the commentary without picking a scene himself). Before each clip, we'd choose our focus and begin with observations on that before expanding to a broader back and forth. This was a great conversation, and hopefully a format that will be pursued in the future with other guests, scenes, and even concepts (I'd love to see this applied to non-Peaks work as well, even to scenes from films the guests aren't familiar with and are watching for the first time).

In addition to this YouTube video, Anthony has also posted this episode in audio form on the Artists Love Twin Peaks feed.

On a side note (mentioned at the end of the episode), this week I've been conducting a poll on Patreon for the $5/month tier to determine what film I'll cover for this month's reward. Based on suggestions from patrons, so far The Red Shoes is in the lead but others include Brick, City of Pirates, May December, Punch Drunk Love, Ruthless, and Trenque Lauquen. Make sure to jump in if you're interested, as the poll closes at noon on Friday.

Who Summons Ronette's Guardian Angel? • discussion w/ Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast

Visit/download the episode on Apple Podcasts

A year after my last visit to the Creamed Corn and the Universe podcast, in which we discussed Sarah Palmer from childhood to old age, I'm back to focus on another character: in this case, one who only appears for a few seconds in the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. Nonetheless, I consider those few seconds perhaps the most important in the entire fifty-hour story, so I was thrilled that Colin invited me back for this particular episode. We set the stage by talking about Ronette and her relationship to Laura before exploring the nature of Ronette's prayer and what it may have to do with her angel's appearance (as well as why the angel looks the way it does). And we examine how the angel's presence ripples out into the original series which takes place after the prequel as well as into the third season and its confusing timelines and universes (one of which may or may not bring Ronette back into the story as "American Girl").

Given its importance to my reading of Laura's arc in particular, the angel in the train car has come up in my climactic Journey Through Twin Peaks chapter as well as an extensive, in-depth podcast episode of my own - as well as some additional thoughts which don't really come up here, on how Cooper's big moment in the Lodge may echo Laura's in the train car (is Bob his version of the manifested angel?). For his part, Colin has already devoted an entire episode to Ronette herself with guest Cheryl Lee Latter, and he has plans for another on the angel Laura sees in the Red Room). Nonetheless, this exchange brought new ideas to light as Colin prompted me to wonder what it means for Agent Cooper's intervention to take Ronette's angel away - or at least to present a world in which that is a possibility.

Margaret "The Log Lady" Lanterman (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #45)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. There will be spoilers.

• indicates passages added or revised since 2017, if you want to skip directly to fresh material; this is a revision of an earlier piece written before the third season.

The Log Lady, eccentric, mystical, compassionate, is the heart and soul of Twin Peaks.

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #22 w/ Lost Highway: The Fist of Love author Scott Ryan (YouTube & extended PATREON)

The same week that I published my belated April episode, a discussion with the hosts of Twin Peaks Peeks, (and before I posted or was even able to mention the long-delayed Lost in Twin Peaks season three finale coverage yesterday) I caught up with the episode that should have been released in May. Aside from John Thorne (who will make another appearance eventually, wrapping up this podcast run with a bonus), Scott is the first return guest on Twin Peaks Conversations. He's already written another book after his late 2021 appearance (which was to promote Your Laura Disappeared, his study of Fire Walk With Me). This time, the subject is David Lynch's own Twin Peaks follow-up, Lost Highway. Like the previous book, Scott's The Fist of Love offers the author's own experience with the film, picks apart the musical soundtrack, and engages with numerous cast and crew members in lively interviews. In this case, the interviews compose the vast majority of the book because Scott was a relative newbie to the film, engaging deeply with it for the first time unlike with Twin Peaks (which he'd been immersed in since its 1990 debut). Our conversation touches on this surreal introduction, as a middle-aged post-Return viewer in the twenty-first century, to a world that represents his Gen X nineties youth onscreen. The first part of the interview, public on YouTube as always, focuses on his own work...

PART 1 on YouTube

And on the $5/month Patreon tier, another hour and twenty minutes of dialogue (and disagreement!), we continue to debate the pertinence of Twin Peaks to Lost Highway, the flaws of season three, and how younger generations engage with Lynch and the culture in general.

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

While this is "officially" the end of Twin Peaks Conversations (I'm no longer promising the back halves as monthly patron rewards from June onward), I have several bonus episodes in various stages of planning. I've already recorded the first part of that John Thorne conversation, been in talks with Rob King to discuss his "Lynch and the West" book, exchanged messages with other potential guests, and kept in mind some people I'd like to reach out to when Journey Through Twin Peaks is more fully underway or even near conclusion. So, you'll be happy to know, we aren't quite out of those particular woods yet.

Purchase Scott's book Lost Highway: The Fist of Love 

Lost Highway Cast Panel (Natasha Gregson Wagner, Balthazar Getty with Host Scott Ryan) 2023 (video)

Listen to Scott on The Red Room Podcast & subscribe to The Blue Rose Magazine

Scott's appearance on the Twin Peaks Unwrapped podcast to discuss The Fist of Love

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #21 w/ Twin Peaks Peeks hosts Ashley Brandt and Mat Olson (YouTube & extended PATREON) premieres tonight

It's been two and a half months since the last Twin Peaks Conversations episode with Andrew Grevas, a rare lapse which will be corrected this week, as I finally publish the belated rewards for April and May patrons. (From June onward, the reward structure has been re-arranged.) As I near the end of this podcast run - although several bonus episodes are already in the works - I wanted to catch up with Peaks commentators I haven't spoken to in a while, and/or who hadn't offered much new work since The Return, to glean their perspective on the series six years later. In the summer of 2017, I was invited on to Twin Peaks Peeks to discuss Part 14 of the third season shortly after it aired. Several weeks later, the hosts Ashley Brandt and Mat Olson ended their coverage - which began two years earlier (when Ashley had yet to see the back half of season two or Fire Walk With Me) - on a note of disappointment with the finale. Since then, they've re-considered some of their objections while sharpening others, and we spend a good deal of time in the back part of this discussion digging into Parts 17 and 18. Bringing subjects like Neon Genesis Evangelion and Andrei Tarkovsky into the fold (partly to be sampled on their own feed with my encouragement), and reflecting on the passage of time since they began discussing Twin Peaks as relatively new and unusually young viewers, Ashley and Mat have a lot to say about The Return and its relationship to the prequel film and original series. Before we get to that, however, the public part of this episode dwells on their own origins in the Peaks fandom, the formation of their podcast, and initial impressions of the season they covered week to week.

Premieres at 8pm tonight, Sunday, June 18, 2023:

PART 1 on YouTube

On the $5/month Patreon tier, the exchange really soars, transforming at times into a reunion episode for master riffers who haven't gotten to riff together on mic for a while. In addition to Evangelion, the accessibility of Mulholland Drive and the importance of Laura Palmer are explored at length. This is definitely the underwater bulk of the iceberg, which you won't want to miss.

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

Listen to Twin Peaks Peeks

My video essay Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks (Side by Side)

Strike! by George R.R. Martin (Not a Blog)

Follow Mat on Twitter / Ashley on Letterboxd & Serializd / Ashley's cats on Instagram

500 Questions for Me • discussion w/ the "Twin Peaks Grammar" Artists Love Twin Peaks podcast

The YouTube video will be published and cross-posted here soon, probably later today...

(See below for audio podcast presentation)

In February I invited Anthony of the "Twin Peaks Grammar" YouTube and Twitter accounts onto my Twin Peaks Conversations podcast for a lively back-and-forth. He recently decided to return the favor. The result is a sprawling three-hour discussion which begins by focusing on my own approach to online commentary and concludes with a flurry of Twin Peaks topics - including several lightning round questions. In between we touch on the video essay format, questions of online identity, different eras of Twin Peaks fandom, and broad spiritual concepts as they do and don't apply to Peaks. It's telling that while I presume Anthony's title "500 Questions for Joel Bocko" is tongue-in-cheek hyperbole, I was not entirely sure about that initially. Although my laptop has trouble with video (I provided a logo to juxtapose with Anthony's livestream and the occasional video/image insert - update: although the video ended up being audio-only), there is a YouTube upload being made available on the "Twin Peaks Grammar" channel this weekend. Until then, or if you prefer to listen via an audio podcast app, the episode has already been published on various platforms as part of the "Twin Peaks Grammar"-affiliated Artists Love Twin Peaks:

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #20 w/ 25 Years Later publisher Andrew Grevas (YouTube & extended PATREON)

Andrew Grevas and his prolific fan analysis website 25 Years Later burst onto the scene in 2017, months before the launch of season three, as if fully formed overnight. In fact, Andrew's passion for Twin Peaks and his desire to write - and publish writing - about media more generally had been developing over several decades. To call his exposure to Peaks "precocious" would be an understatement; until I spoke to him this month, I'd never met anyone younger than me who had watched the series when it originally aired, but now I have. At five (!) years old, Andrew was exposed to the dark, spooky, enticing world created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. He remained haunted by the barely-remembered iconography of the show into adulthood, when he re-discovered the episodes after watching the film for the first time. No wonder one of the themes that fascinates him is the passage of time, a subject we discuss more extensively in the back part of this podcast. First we survey his own history with Peaks and then the formation of his website after years of writing about Lost and other subjects. Recently he's spun the core site off into several other loosely-affiliated components with different topics: TV Obsessive, Film Obsessive, and Horror Obsessive. He describes that process here as well.

PART 1 on YouTube

For the $5/month tier on my Patreon, we explore the following questions among many others... What does the fan community (as well as the world onscreen) tell us about the years gone by? What role do boomers, Gen X, and millennials play as both viewers and contributors to Peaks? How do Parts 8 and 17 play with history and nostalgia? For over an hour, we continue the discussion in this exclusive venue, situating Twin Peaks and particularly The Return in a larger context.

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

Visit 25 Years Later

Read Andrew's thread of favorite interviews

Follow on Twitter

(personal, 25 Years Later, TV Obsessive, Horror Obsessive & Film Obsessive)

The Singer (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #62)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. There will be spoilers.

• indicates passages added or revised since 2017, if you want to skip directly to fresh material; this is a revision of an earlier piece written before the third season.

In a town that buries so much of its truth, the Singer's voice provides a chorus that not only comments on the emotion of Twin Peaks but gives it form.

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #19 w/ "Twin Peaks Grammar" (YouTube & extended PATREON)

A new presence in the Twin Peaks community both as a commentator and a viewer (he only discovered the series, all at once, in 2020), Anthony has adopted the account name "Twin Peaks Grammar" across Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram (on podcast platforms, he hosts audio versions of his videos with the name Artists Love Twin Peaks). He diagrams sentences - from Peaks itself as well as texts by its analysts - to explore what the words refer to, and he takes a similar approach to his conversations with authors and filmmakers. Describing himself as a point guard (I've also compared him to a conductor), Anthony is modest about his own observations, but his inquisitive, dialectical nature yields many insights. Accordingly, after a more conventional start in which I explore his background and interests, much of this podcast - one of my longest episodes, with nearly two hours reserved for patrons - consists of Anthony asking me questions. This takes the form of both a lightning round (I timed myself with a stopwatch to keep under a minute) and a much more open-ended approach in which my answers turned into monologues on topics like the state of cinema, the evolution of an obsession, and why I became so absorbed in Peaks at the particular moment of 2014. We also maintain a back-and-forth on perennial subjects like Diane, tulpas, and what Mr. C means for Cooper. First, though, how did Anthony immerse himself in the series and what led him to his particular lens? Here is the public kickoff to our discussion, already over an hour...

PART 1 on YouTube

For the $5/month tier, the Patreon back "half" is actually another hour and fifty minutes. This is where the approach gets more experimental and wide-ranging, starting with the quick rundown of questions about the series, turning back into an inquiry of Anthony with some conversational flow between us, and then ending as I ponder the bigger shape of my engagement with Twin Peaks.

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

Listen to his podcast Artists Love Twin Peaks

TP Grammar on YouTube

...interviewing Robert Kersz (Frame Into Focus), Cameron Cloutier (Queen of Hearts) (w/ follow-up), Jeremiah Beaver (Take the Ring), John Thorne (Ominous Whoosh) & John Bernardy (Blue Rose Task Force) w/ John Thorne (videos)

Follow him on Twitter & Instagram

My video essay Take This Baby and Deliver It to Death

My first review of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me

Carl Rodd (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #70)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. There will be spoilers.
• indicates passages added or revised since 2017, if you want to skip directly to fresh material; this is a revision of an earlier piece written before the third season.

•Grouchy but gregarious, Carl is much more attuned to his surroundings than he would like to be - and very late in life, he's made his peace with this by helping others.

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #18 w/ Blue Rose Task Force host John Bernardy (YouTube & extended PATREON) premieres tomorrow

John Bernardy and I first crossed paths in 2015-16 when the Sparkwood & 21 podcast covered the original series with spoilers (an approach that John himself would eventually adopt for season three). Both of us wrote feedback from the middle of the second season on and were eventually interviewed by hosts Em and Steve. From then on, John proceeded to develop a number of in-the-weeds theories inspired by The Secret History of Twin Peaks and eventually season three, culminating with his "Navigating Between Worlds" series of essays. In 2022, he premiered the episodic rewatch podcast Blue Rose Task Force which is currently at about the spot he began writing in to Sparkwood & 21. Like that podcast, he considers the entire series when discussing a given episode, although in his case he can consider everything The Return brought us. In addition to this work, John meticulously covered dozens and dozens of Peaks podcasts on the 25 Years Later website - echoed later when he recorded a Blue Rose Task Force episode surveying the podcast scene as of 2022. In this conversation, we spend the public part discussing his dualistic theory of the third season as well as his approach to his current podcast...

PART 1 on YouTube

(premieres at 8 pm Monday, February 6)

On the Patreon back part - about twice as long as what I'm publishing on YouTube - we dig into the whole history of Twin Peaks fandom through John's eyes - stretching from his viewing of the series in 1990 to his current work as apart of the community he waited decades to join...

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

(also premieres at 8 pm Monday, February 6)

Listen to Blue Rose Task Force: A Twin Peaks Obsessive Podcast

(including reading of his "Navigating Between Two Worlds" essay)

& read his work on 25 Years Later

PODCAST: John's interview episode on Sparkwood & 21 (and my own)

Twin Peaks Grammer interviews John Bernardy & John Thorne to compare their theories (video)

FBI Agent Phillip Jeffries (TWIN PEAKS Character Series #80)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. There will be spoilers.

• indicates passages added or revised since 2017, if you want to skip directly to fresh material; this is a revision of an earlier piece written before the third season.

•Clad in a leisure suit, sporting a pompadour, and eventually whispering through a tin machine, the rambling Jeffries appears to be traveling through space and time.

Heidi (TWIN PEAKS Character Series Bonus #22)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. There will be spoilers.
• indicates passages added or revised since 2017, if you want to skip directly to fresh material; this is a revision of an earlier piece written before the third season.

Heidi’s response to both awkward and pleasant situations is to giggle, and this reaction has served her well for years.

A Collection of Minor Characters in TWIN PEAKS (2nd Preface to TWIN PEAKS Character Series)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. This entry is a preface surveying characters who won't get standalone treatment. There will be spoilers.

If you want to focus on new material only, • indicates additions to the original entry.

When crafting character studies, I knew I had to draw the line somewhere. Twin Peaks includes many who leave a strong mark, sometimes in just a few seconds, without uttering a single line of dialogue. Others play a crucial role in a particular scene, maybe two, but are never seen again. My cut-off rule for standalone character studies was: "speaks in three scenes" (for the original series and film) and "at least ten minutes" (for the new series). Nonetheless, I wanted to pay some sort of tribute to the remainders. I have gathered one hundred eight of them here on a roughly chronological list - actors, episodes, writers/directors, and a brief notation on their role, relevance, or trivial interest.

On Friday and Monday I will follow up with the elite of the also-rans: in the latter case, the top thirty Return runners-up ranked purely based on screentime; in the former case, thirty favorite "hidden" characters from the original series and Fire Walk With Me, ranked by me to form a subjective top thirty (written before the third season, it includes a couple characters whose profiles were boosted by the new episodes, and will also get standalone entries in the official series). So if you don't see your favorite cameos today, stay tuned.

The curtain rises on the characters of Twin Peaks...

(by the way, major kudos to this dugpa thread for identifying many of the bit players!)

(Extremely) Brief Appearances in TWIN PEAKS (1st Preface to TWIN PEAKS Character Series)

The TWIN PEAKS Character Series surveys one hundred ten characters from the series Twin Peaks (1990-91 on ABC and 2017 on Showtime as The Return), the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992), and The Missing Pieces (2014), a collection of deleted scenes from that film. A new character study will appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday although patrons will have immediate access to each entry a month before it goes public. This entry is a preface surveying characters who won't get standalone treatment. There will be spoilers.

There are many faces and voices in Twin Peaks, dozens (even hundreds) we see or hear for just a few seconds. Sometimes we can't place them afterwards (and sometimes they're even hard to represent in pictures - hence Andy's two medical phone calls); on other occasions they're among the most memorable icons of Twin Peaks even if we only glimpse them for a moment. (Update: The masked mystery man in the woods, initially overlooked, was added in August 2024. Incredibly, I also forgot to include the bird from the opening credits but in April 2025 I added this very first "character" we see.)

The character series is a meal of many courses, and there are naturally appetizers. You can scroll through the columns I've lined up here but probably the best way to explore is to click on an image and linger for a moment. Together they form a running Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sideline to the full Twin Peaks narrative, from pilot to season three finale, as seen by the shooting stars who crossed the horizon so briefly.

Who were these people? Did they frequently interact with the more familiar folks we see alongside them? Or did they just lightly glance off the massive narratives of Cooper, Laura, Audrey this one time...do they view those legendary characters as mere bit players in their own dramatic lives? What are their stories? From next week on, starting with a line or two and eventually reaching dozens of pages, we'll be diving into individual narratives. Today, however, your imaginations will have to fill in those gaps.

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #17 w/ Twin Peaks: Evangelion hosts Craig & Vinny (YouTube & extended PATREON) premieres on Wednesday

The idea of a Twin Peaks fan watching Neon Genesis Evangelion for the first time while an Evangelion fan watches Peaks for the first time is already intriguing enough - but Craig and Vinny of the Twin Peaks: Evangelion podcast have taken the concept much further. Craig, an anime skeptic, begins his journey not with the original Evangelion series but with the Rebuild films, while Vinny, a David Lynch novice, jumps right into The Return without ever having viewed seasons one and two of Peaks. Their takeaways are absolutely fascinating, including perspectives on characters they meet long after most viewers were introduced, speculation about parts of the show they missed, and - when they eventually get back to the earlier material - surprised reactions to what built the material before they came in. Both hosts are joining me on my own podcast this month, now that their own project is concluded (along with viewings of some additional anime/Lynch pairings and other fun exercises like casting Twin Peaks characters/actors in Evangelion). We discuss how they initially approached each series, how their expectations were met or defied, and whether or not this has reshaped their perception of broader genres or mediums. We avoid Evangelion spoilers for much of the first half, until I give fair warning. (UPDATE: This cross-post was intended for 8am Sunday morning but went up at 4pm due to a publication mishap; apologies for the confusion.)

You can bookmark and refresh this page within the next few days (or keep an eye on my YouTube channel) for the upcoming premiere...

PART 1 on YouTube

(premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 21)

For my $5/month patron tier, we dig deeper into connections between the two shows, discuss why the hosts placed the respective feature films in different parts of their parallel watch-throughs, and explore the impact of the show's finales (meaning both the last parts they watched as newies, and the more conventional endpoints they reached as veterans with recently released material).

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

(also premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 21)

Listen to Twin Peaks: Evangelion

(& follow them on Twitter: @TPEvangelion & Instagram: @tpcolonepodcast)

My video essay Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks (Side by Side)

All of my own work on Neon Genesis Evangelion & Twin Peaks

including a brand new review of Evangelion 3.0 + 1.0 as of Wednesday, December 21

TWIN PEAKS CONVERSATIONS #16 w/ The People's Joker director Vera Drew (YouTube & extended PATREON) premieres on Wednesday

In one of the more unusual Twin Peaks Conversations episodes, my guest is someone whose work does not directly relate to Twin Peaks but who has many Peaks reflections to offer nonetheless. Emmy-nominated editor, comedian, and newly-minted feature director Vera Drew debuted The People's Joker at the Toronto International Film Festival this fall, where it became a cause celebre - a subject of controversy, enthusiasm, and immense curiosity. A surreal, subversive riff on the Batman universe (particularly modeled after Todd Phillips' 2019 Joker, which we also discuss), The People's Joker is part superhero genre parody, part reflection on the 2010s comedy scene, and large part trans coming-out story. It's all surprisingly autobiographical for a film which features battles between Lego comic book characters, satirically dystopian visions of a society in which comedy is banned, and trips through an afterlife/alternate dimension with a magical puppet granting final wishes. In our freewheeling conversation, Vera and I discuss what is and isn't drawn from her own life in the film, the unique production process conducted during the Covid pandemic, and the whirlwind twists of fate that led to a media breakthrough and studio backlash (The People's Joker is currently in distribution limbo as Vera and her representatives push its case as a fair use work). We also dig into what David Lynch and Twin Peaks have contributed to her sensibility and aesthetic over the years, kicking off the podcast with this subject before shifting to her early and recent film/TV/online work. You can bookmark and refresh this page within the next few days (or keep an eye on my YouTube channel) for the upcoming premiere...

PART 1 on YouTube

(premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 7)

In the second, longer part of the discussion, exclusive to the $5/month tier, we focus more exclusively on Peaks topics, including Vera's original experience with the series, her fascination with The Return and frustrations with Part 18, and much more. We even take a side trip to the world of another cinematic influence on The People's Joker, Richard Kelly's Southland Tales (which I'll further discuss on another podcast very soon).

Listen to...

PART 2 on Patreon

(also premieres at 8 pm Wednesday, December 7)

Watch the trailer for The People's Joker & her original announcement

(and follow Vera on her YouTube channel + Twitter, Instagram & Tumblr)

There's a Podcast All Right - Denise Bryson w/ Vera Drew

(her guest appearance on another Twin Peaks podcast)

My video essay series Journey Through Twin Peaks

My podcast Class violence in 4 films: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, Joker, Parasite

Peter Watkins' film La Commune Paris, 1871 Part 1 & Part 2

Stay tuned for my Patreon podcast conversation w/ Andrew Cook on Southland Tales

(coming later this week or next - will be linked here when available)