TV Obsessive
In Our House Now: An Inquiry Into Twin Peaks: The Return
John: There are still new Twin Peaks audio podcasts popping up, but few imply the depth of exploration that is promised with In Our House Now: An Inquiry Into Twin Peaks: The Return. It’s a new podcast from John Thorne (co-creator of Wrapped In Plastic and Blue Rose Magazine, and author of The Essential Wrapped In Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks) and Josh Minton (co-creator of the Red Room Podcast and author of A Skeleton Key To Twin Peaks). After that mouthful, they brought in Twin Peaks superfan and comic book professional Jeff Lemire (Sweet Tooth, Animal Man, and Descender, among other projects) for a conversation focusing on “Memories.”
Before diving into the topic, Lemire begins by talking about his life during quarantine, the state of the comics industry, and the state of the comic book shops.
Thorne begins the discussion with some quotes relating to how memory is seen by Lynch. The hosts hypothesize how Lynch and Frost remembered the things that enthused them about Twin Peaks and gave that more importance when revisiting it for Season 3.
They then go into Lemire’s “baggage,” a term established in this podcast for the perspective you bring when watching Twin Peaks and how that shapes how you interpret it. After that, they discuss how The Secret History of Twin Peaks did or didn’t connect to the season, with particular nods to Major Briggs.
The hosts’ conversation sprawls satisfyingly everywhere. How Briggs and Bobby figure into memory. Characters that can’t connect to their past. Triggered and suppressed memories. Music’s use and non-use in The Return. If Cooper’s Memory is reliable. How memory can be a power or a weapon (my favorite quote of the episode). If characters are influenced by someone else’s memories. All the things forgotten and/or suppressed.
This whole episode ties in nicely to some of my own baggage, bringing back some memories of my work circa 2018 when I was exploring the concept of memory. So needless to say, this is catnip to me in particular. But you don’t need to be a deep diver to get things out of these podcasts. The information expects you to be fluent in the material, but it doesn’t condescend or academically shut people out of the conversation. This podcast is meant to speak to the themes within Twin Peaks and start a conversation. It’s off to a great start, and its most recent episode covered politics, another under-explored part of Twin Peaks’ foundation.
So far this show is every other week, which gets me excited. Regularly occurring content! Two weeks is just enough time to digest everything in here and brew another pot of coffee before pondering the next batch of questions.
Those are our recommendations this week! What are yours? Let us know in the comments!
