This is where experts go when they want to know more.
Pardon the humble brag here, but I consider myself a bit of an expert when it comes to Twin Peaks. Over the last quarter-century it has been a quiet, and at times not-so-quiet obsession of mine. I’ve pored over the series in its entirely dozens of times, I’ve read all the criticism and tie-ins, I’ve analyzed nearly every single aspect, no matter how minute, from the influence of film noir (video coming later this week) and the impact of Cooper’s romantic life, to water- and food-based symbology. I’ve named pets after characters, broken up with girlfriends who didn’t “get it,” written countless posts and even a book, I’ve given up part of my flesh for a tattoo, and I live in a small, logging-based, rural town in Washington State, despite the fact that I’m not a logger and I was born and raised clear across the country in North Carolina. I’m not fucking around here, Twin Peaks is important to me.
But for all my expertise, I am but a speck in the all-knowing eye of Joel Bocko, a devotee of the highest order who has applied his particular knowledge and insight to quite simply the most impressive piece of Twin Peaks criticism on the internet, a 28-part – that’s right, 28-part – video series entitled “Journey Through Twin Peaks” that is just that: an ideological and thematic exploration of the series and all its wonderful and strange nooks and crannies. I love these videos like they were a friend, and at the same time, I’m so damn envious of both Bocko’s intelligence and his editing prowess. Each chapter is as enjoyable as an actual episode of the show, but with all the intentional confusion avoided and in fact elucidated upon. Bocko knows all the secrets, all the stories, all the significance, and he’s sharing every single bit of it here. If you too want to consider yourself a Twin Peaks expert, you can’t until you have Bocko’s videos under your belt.
Now, being 28 parts, each running between roughly four and 15 minutes, there’s a lot to get through. That’s why I’m posting this on the Monday before next Sunday’s season three premiere on Showtime. There has never been a better time to sit with these, and there never will be. You can go in completely, one hundred percent blind, and in a fraction of the time it would take you to watch the series in full you can get up to speed and then some.
For the sake of space I’ve only embedded the trailer and chapter one below, but just hop over to YouTube for the rest. If I had three thumbs, they’d all be turned up but that still wouldn’t be representative of how highly I hold Bocko’s work. This is end-all, be-all stuff right here, and you simply have to see it. Start immediately.
Related Topics: David Lynch, Twin Peaks
