Evil Cooper
and his accomplice are speeding away from the prison they were incarcerated at
when an act of betrayal sets off a series of confounding and ominous vignettes
on the history of how the true evil of the Black Lodge was born into our
reality. The bulk of the episode could
double as an expressionist silent film, eschewing dialogue to allow the images
and their unspeakable implications to wash over the viewer’s subconscious. Lynch’s sound design is impeccable, with a
furious mixture of music and sound effects becoming the audible symbol of
entities born from the void, including a disturbing and wonderful performance
by Nine Inch Nails.
The creation
of Bob, perhaps precipitated by mankind’s haphazard entry into the nuclear age,
uses Lynch’s long time refutation of polite suburbia to make its case. Evil was born not from the use of the weapon,
but from the moment it was manufactured and tested. The inception of the idea was enough to
conjure insatiable hate into the world.
Interpreting signs and visions, whether supernatural or mundane, will
always be tainted by the wickedness of the soul and it seems that this is
Lynch’s thesis: The word of Gods, and the men that hear them.
Using
thrilling homages to both Malick’s Tree
of Life and Kubrick’s 2001: A Space
Odyssey, Lynch creates a world of his own design that, while clearly
influenced by the two icons, is truly a thing that only he could have
constructed. Tunnels of fire and blood
flood the optics, punctuated by Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima to creating a skin crawling
experience that never retreats. Haunted
chambers filled with broken cacophonies of jazz and prayer are explored, with
their denizens taking note of the nuclear door’s opening and each of them
making a play to influence the coming darkness.
Viewers looking for answers will find none; however, astute observation
will yield a trove of minable details that are bound to keep even the most avid
fans embroiled in discussion for the endless two weeks before the show
returns.
 |
| Please. Tell me you brought coffee. |
The final
segment involves a phantasmagorical assault on a sleepy New Mexico town that
brings a level of gravity to the narrative.
Ebon ghosts stalk the streets, crushing the skulls of the unsuspecting
while unleashing hypnotic recitations of profane poetry across the airways. The price for dangerous knowledge is made
clear through a skin crawling sequence in which the episode’s title “Got a
light?” will become a phrase forever etched into the viewer’s psyche. The threads of Bob and Laura Palmer are karmically
entwined, leaving the central mystery intact, allowing the entire episode to
serve as a means of feverish exposition.
This is a
once in a life time experience.
Nothing
on the small screen has ever come close to this level of artistic expression
and time will tell if the Heavens can be breached once again when the series
has concluded.
Score
-Kyle Jonathan