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David Lynch is the master of complex themes and ambiguous imagery, and his television series Twin Peaks revels in this elusive quality.

From the first time someone asks “Who killed Laura Palmer” to the final reveal before the mirror, audiences have been dragged through a morally complicated universe wondering on the nature of good and evil.

Although the show relies on the concept of a “White Lodge” and “Black Lodge,” we are only ever given half of the equation, and the confusing layout of the black, or evil, metaphysical dimension appears to be more of a reflection of humanity than a realm of objectivity. This article will explore the use of morality within the show, especially with its deep connection to technology.

This article generally discusses the spiritual aspects of the new and original series of Twin Peaks. There will be spoilers.

The Lodges and the Other Realm

While the different lodges serve to denote aspects of the spiritual and moral fabric of the Twin Peaks universe, a thorough breakdown of how they work is not necessary to discussing how morality works within the show. Their complexity exists, in part, due to the limited nature of human understanding, but the general imagery and their effects on the human characters is clear. Before we discuss these effects, we should briefly establish the various aspects of the other realm(s).

Within the Twin Peaks universe, there are only two other realms discussed: the White Lodge and the Black Lodge. Although Major Garland Briggs (Don S. Davis) mentions that he was (possibly) taken to the White Lodge, the audience is never given a glimpse of it or, at least, specifically told that we are seeing into the White Lodge. Instead, we are only allowed to visit the darker side of things.

The main otherly location that appears within the show is dubbed the “Waiting Room” or the “Red Room.” It has the iconic zigzag floor and red carpets, and residents of the room tend to move in reverse with their words reversed once again to make them semi-comprehensible. It is uncertain as to what purpose the room serves, and it has very similar characteristics to the “Black Lodge” that can be accessed by moving through the curtains, suggesting that they are one and the same.

In the new series, Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) is able to travel “beneath” the Black Lodge to a realm with a purple sea. Within one of the structures is a ladder that leads up into a mysterious celestial realm. In another location is a fortress that, during the July 1945 atomic weapon test, served as a black and white theater world in which two characters were able to witness the release of evil spirits, including the main villain of the series Bob (Frank Silva). The response of the two mysterious characters was to create a golden mist that seemed to coalesce as the spirit of Laura Palmer.

There is no telling at this point in the series if the purple sea is connected to either of the lodges, but the celestial realm located above the one building does have the incorporeal spirit of Major Briggs floating within, possibly showing a link to the White Lodge.

Metaphysics and Physics

There is one certainty about the other realm: it is deeply related to human technology. Throughout the original series, the new series, and movie, there is a relationship between electricity and the spirits. Often, a buzzing can be heard when spirits manifest, lights tend to flicker, and appliances tend to struggle.

In the new series, Cooper is pulled from the other realm through what appears to be an electrical outlet as his doppelganger experiences car difficulties. At one time, the outlet seems to twitch in the same manner as the doppelganger’s cigarette lighter. Instead of switching with the doppelganger, Cooper switches with a decoy named Dougie Jones.

On its own, the relationship between the otherly outlet and the cigarette lighter suggest that electricity, or technology, links the two realms together, but there is little substance. However, the depiction of the 1945 atomic weapon test (code name “Trinity”) in Part 8 further elucidates this connection.

The real 1945 explosion was the first detonation of an atomic bomb, and the show used it to great effect. Four moments are inter-spliced: the explosion, a mysterious other worldly entity (“The Experiment” according to the show’s credits) that vomits forth dark spirits, a group of “Woodsmen” at a black and white convenience store, and two figures in a fortress above the purple sea. The explosion seems to have stirred up the “Woodsmen,” who are violent entities, and it also seemed to bring forth new violent entities.

At the same time, the pre-atomic world is depicted in black and white with the flames of the explosion adding in color. In a realm of binary (Black and White), the addition of fire seems to have transformed things greatly. It is possible that the black and white nature of reality was connected to the White Lodge and “goodness” and the creation of color is connected to the “evil” of the Black Lodge. However, it is also possible that the black and white represented an earlier understanding of reality that lacked complexity.

Twin Peaks refuses to answer the nature of these entities, and Mike’s changing nature throughout the original series shows that formerly evil entities can serve to undermine evil. The audience is left wonder how much of the other realm is independent from human existence, how much is a manifestation of the human psyche, and how much of it actually takes place.

Fire and Technology

While the exact nature of the lodges is not explained, the connection of fire (atomic bomb) with evil informs much of Park 11 when Hawk explains the imagery of his map. This is a reversal of the Prometheus myth, and it reveals a pessimistic view that technology has led humanity down a dark path.

In the original myth, Prometheus grants mankind fire, which has been interpreted as both a metaphor for technology and for the imagination. It is a great boon for mankind and brings them closer to the power of the gods, but it is an act for which Prometheus is greatly punished.

For centuries, technology has served mankind equally in terms of war and domestication, and it was often seen in mostly positive terms. However, artists began to turn on technology following the Civil War. As Mark Twain reveals in Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, the machine gun destroyed any honor or nobility that could be found in military conflict, which means that technology effectively destroyed romance. This pessimism grew following World War I, and science fiction became filled with authors who worried that technology had gone too far.

The advent of the atomic bomb, the fire of the gods, tilted the scale greatly to the possibility of complete annihilation, and our ability to destroy greatly outpaced our ability to save and preserve. But Lynch depicts two simultaneous results: the creation of many evil spirits and the birth of one good spirit. Although humanity now has the potential for great destruction, there is still the potential to use that technology in a positive way.

On the other hand, the transition from a black and white world to a color world parallels the transition from black and white to color television. Thus, the show could be providing a meta-commentary on the nature of evolving morality within art that parallels our evolving technological evolution.

Just like atomic bombs, television has the ability to greatly harm, but television also has the ability to help. It all depends on the user, and former Special Agent Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) can easily serve as someone who wants to control this power to serve his own corrupt ends.

Conclusions

Lynch is an expert at creating multiple layers of meaning within each scene. It is just as possible that everything discussed in this article is true just as it is all false. However, there is one key moment of the series: Major Briggs says that the White Lodge is connected to love.

Many characters search for the lodges to obtain power, but it seems that Major Briggs was able to fully understand what love means and obtain something more. Although the great Don S. Davis died years before the new series began to film, his character still plays an important role, especially in turning his son Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) into a good man.

Bobby was once a bad person: he sold drugs and even murdered a drug dealer. However, he was able to reform himself, join the Twin Peaks Sheriff Department, and help fulfill his father’s legacy. His name connected him to the evil spirit “Bob,” but his trajectory through the series is towards the good. With all the pessimism surrounding technology and the twisting, morally-dark paths that many of the characters take, there are some like Bobby who reveal the subtle power that love can have.

As the new series draws closer to concluding, anything can still happen. The entities could turn out to be aliens, or everything could be a hallucination. Regardless of these possibilities, most of Twin Peaks serves as a complicated commentary on morality and technology.