10 Things We Learned From Twin Peaks: The Return Part 8

8. We Have Witnessed The Creation Of A World

Evil Coop Woodsmen
Showtime

We encounter a vast desert scape after Mr Cooper reawakens. A graphic - JULY 16, 1945 WHITE SANDS, NEW MEXICO 5:29 AM (MWT) - appears on the screen.

We hear a countdown from ten and then: a nuclear test explosion, soundtracked, notably, by Penderecki's Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima. The mushroom cloud swells in parallel with the strings. Lynch takes us inside of it. We see grainy film. White dots elongating into daggers dance in a black void, like weaponised stars. Black, sperm-like organisms shake in the inverse to that image. More doubling. Actual intercourse between worlds. Those stars/daggers then flicker furiously, as if powered and illuminated by electricity. We then enter a cosmological wormhole, firing through nebula of blue, orange, purple.

And then: the convenience store alluded to in the original series (and shown, internally, in The Missing Pieces) appears. Those blackened entities dart around and within haphazardly, not adhering to known laws of physics. Through the darkened windows we see tin cans piled on top of one another.

This sequence, as politicised as it is spiritual as it is completely without precedent in television, all but confirms that the evil inherent to nuclear weaponry has created both copious amounts of garmonbozia - and a gateway allowing that evil immediate access to the pain and suffering of humankind.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!