THE TAO OF TWIN PEAKS

Dickerson offers a spiritual reflection upon and analysis of cinema titan David Lynch’s television series Twin Peaks.

Upon its 1990 debut, Twin Peaks upended primetime television, infusing a lurid murder mystery with surrealism and metafiction. As audiences clamored for (and the network demanded) the answer to “Who killed Laura Palmer?,” Lynch (who co-created the show with Mark Frost and directed key episodes) focused less on the “whodunnit” than on ambiguity, mood, and a philosophical exploration of the duality of human nature. In this light, Laura Palmer’s story becomes more than a mystery to solve; the character functions as the contradiction around which the story’s forces of light and darkness revolve. The symbolism is at first subtle, then pervasive: The Red Room floor’s zigzag chevron pattern serves as a metaphysical divider, the Black Lodge produces evil doppelgängers, and the town of Twin Peaks’ idyllic Americana hides a persistent darkness its inhabitants have always known of. By focusing less on closure and more on the recurring patterns, Lynch’s work engages with contradictions, inevitability, and cyclical processes—core tenets of Taoist philosophy. In addition to the series, Lynch’s music, recurring motifs in his other movies, and personal beliefs reflect the Taoist principles found in his work, which provide a lens through which one can interpret it. Dickerson, an accomplished filmmaker, author, and professor, approaches Twin Peaks with reverence and intimacy, reflecting on his personal encounters with Lynch and even using the director’s typewriters. The result is rooted not in detached scholarship but devotion; the author is a fan-critic passionately extracting meaning from one of modern pop culture’s densest works. At times, the book blurs analysis and authorial intent, but Dickerson’s sincerity and engagement with ambiguity make this forgivable. Leiker’s black-and-white illustrations effectively complement the text.

Lynch’s influence will endure as long as there are thinkers willing to dive so deeply and devotedly into his work.