What the beginning would have probably looked like.

After last week’s groundbreaking episode, it seemed like Lynch/Frost and co. couldn’t possibly top themselves. Well, grab your oven mitts and metal buckets full of rocks, because Twin Peaks has already shattered the mold again, and it’s a whole new ballgame.

Think about it. What better way to transcend the limits of television than by simply not making television? Some will insist that no new episode of Twin Peaks aired on Sunday. Might I suggest that your mind is small, and that you are perhaps a bigot. Like all the naysayers this season, you are missing the entire point: the lack of Twin Peaks this week was the new episode of Twin Peaks. You just don’t get it. I’d feel sorry for you, but you probably can’t even make it through Inland Empire, so, honestly, did you ever really have a chance?

Whereas some saw no episode 9, I witnessed an hour of television unparalleled in the annals of TV. Here, Lynch has brilliantly deconstructed himself, reverting to a minimalism so minimal as to be bordering on non-exist-ent. This operates in stark contrast to the everything-including-the-kitchen-sink approach of episode 8, instead recalling the sparse but profound work of someone like Bergman. Such a bold artistic move highlights Lynch’s versatility and range.

The fact that no characters appear in this episode of Twin Peaks — and the fact that Twin Peaks itself does not appear — is Lynch’s reminder to us that nothing exists, as all life and its perceived phenomena are in actuality illusions and thus we merely wander in a dream of our own making. By stripping away the illusion, Lynch shows the void beneath. In this, the audience itself becomes the dweller on the threshold, peering into the dark chasm behind creation and realizing that Twin Peaks needs us to witness it in order for it to become real. But if there’s nothing to witness, do we exist? Who is dreaming us? The chalkboard has been erased; we cannot navigate the map if we ourselves are that map, and the map has no edges.

Which is not to imply the episode is devoid of meaning. If anything, it is loaded with clues meant to hint at a deeper intention. The vacuum of all content and form recalls the kabbalistic state of nothingness before God breathes life into his divine creation, birthing the universe. This alchemical concept is of tantamount importance to occultists.

Clearly, Lynch and Frost are making another reference to Jack Parsons, who is the key to understanding all of Twin Peaks. I’m somewhat of an expert on Parsons after barely paying attention to a YouTube video about him posted by right-wing Christian evangelists, and now I understand that he was a devil worshipper bent on blowing up the world by creating the atomic bomb so that we all might be enslaved to Hell. It was Parsons who spoke that famous Bible quote “And behold a pale horse, and the name of him who sat on it was Death, destroyer of worlds” when he witnessed the detonation.

It’s scary to believe that this is real history, but Lynch wants us to look underneath the surface and not take the world around us for granted. He continues to reveal himself as not only an artist, but a genius beyond measure. Lynch knew, before he and Frost even started writing this season, what would happen on July 2, 2017. This is all part of the plan, and the code herein is meant solely for those advanced enough to crack it. Break the code, solve the crime.

7/2/17.

7 + 2 + 1 + 7 = 17, the number of episodes this season.

1 + 7 = 8.

EPISODE EIGHT JUST AIRED LAST WEEK.

And “goddam” is “mad dog” spelled backward. (See what happens when you pay attention?).

If you didn’t like this episode, you’re forever one of the sleeple. I hope your fantasy is comforting.

As for me, I have awakened.