Coops

 Back when I was about 20, Twin Peaks hit. For some reason, we didn't get the series at first over in the UK - we had a version released to video and available at rental stores and then to sell through - it had the pilot episode and then the "25 Years Later" dream sequence from Episode 3 on the end, but I was sucked in instantly and already a fan before it came to BBC2 later that year. 

I bought everything I could to do with the magazine - I had Cooper's tapes in book form and on actual cassette, I had the "Welcome to Twin Peaks' guidebook, and even in the depths of S2, I was writing crazy long summaries of the episode using my work email account to anybody who would listen (not many people I suspect) I bought 'Wrapped In Plastic" whenever I could find it, I've owned the episodes on VHS, DVD and Blu-Ray, and when I first met Mrs M, our shared love of the show was an early common reference point. 

This year, to mark the passing of David Lynch, our local independent cinema ran S1 of Twin Peaks. There's only 8 episodes, it was over in the blink of an eye, and because it was in the Summer Holidays, we didn't manage to get to a single showing. 

They announced they were going to follow up with S2 over 8 weeks, and, although we weren't able to get to all of the showings, I made sure that we could get to see all of the Lynch directed episodes of the season which ended today with Episode 22. Seeing this episiode, which blew my mind back in 1991, on a big screen was just as extraordinary as I'd hoped. The first half of the episode feels like classic Lynch, lots of weird set pieces and long pauses with Agent Cooper being as enigmatic as he ever was. The second half, where Cooper follows Earle into the Black Lodge is superlative - whether its Jimmy Scott singing "Sycamore Trees", the various characters with their backwards speaking, Laura's chilling and terrifying scream, or Coopers footsteps echoing around the auditorium. 

Twin Peaks made me a David Lynch fan. I don't think there has ever been a film director like him, and it was a privilege to see this episode of television, which I reckon is the artistic highpoint of the medium, on the big screen. If you ever get the chance to do similar, snap it up. 

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