[S3E8] (SHOTP) BOB's "Birth" circumstances and some observations

You should have no worries about your English, you conveyed your ideas very well (and analyzing surrealist film is a challenge in any language).

I have very similar thoughts regarding last night's episode. We definitely witness an important story unfold, and there were some relatively concrete clues about the sequence of events, the connections between seemingly incongruous elements, and the meaning of it all. However, you bring up a relevant point in that we have been provided with conflicting evidence (or, it at least seems that way on the surface), and that we cannot truly be certain of anything yet. For example, imagine trying to interpret Mulholland Drive having only seen the first half. There would be plenty of things you would feel certain must be true. You saw them play out in a fairly straightforward way, so how radically could the understanding of these events possibly change?

Twin Peaks is indeed to be analyze like a work of art. There is meaning, both narratively and emotionally, but this is the type of work that must be experienced, fully, before it can be understood. Remember, this was never the murder-mystery caper the original pilot once made it seem. The viewers who tried to "solve" case using straight-forward clues and concrete interpretation were the ones who became most frustrated with the series. Frost and Lynch always made a point to let the story flow organically, a style that led to some unfortunate shortcommings, but also some of the most creative and deeply impactful art ever on television. Think about all of the times a line, visual, or character had been explained to mean one thing, only to be brought back later in the story playing an entirely different role. Even when Frost and Lynch did have an end goal in mind, they had no qualms with repeatedly reinterpreting the meaning of their choices. We've spent 27 years learning about this world, but maybe the symbolic language no longer means what it used to?

We've already gone from a soap opera parody / detective procedural with a quirky ensemble cast; to a sometimes slap-stick comedy, sometimes supernatural mystery, exploring a spooky town haunted by literal manifestations of both good and evil forces; to a to a to an intimate horror story surrounding a father and daughter, exploring the psychological projections of their shared subconscious, and how the dual nature of the mind enables a person to simultaneously experience two disparate realities. The Return and TSHoTP have already expanded the scope of this story far beyond anything approached in the original series/the Secret Diary/FWWM/the Missing Peices. This new vision has gone through 25+ years of "evolution", and, so far, it has only revealed the tiniest glimpse at what is hiding behind the curtain.

To be clear, I am in no way saying that meaning can't be drawn from these first eight hours. Half the fun of this show is in connecting the dots and trying to make logical sense out of what we've seen. There are definitely conclusions to be drawn, all I am saying is that they shouldn't be considered finite. Setting one's mind around a single, clear, interpretation can leave one closed-off to subsequent developments or less literal, yet more powerful, messages.

/r/twinpeaks Thread Parent