Reflections on seeing (most of) Twin Peaks 2017 in a theater
Metrograph in New York screened the entirety of Twin Peaks: The Return (labeled "Twin Peaks circa 2017") in three hour blocks across 2 days this past weekend. I had bought 2 tickets each to three key screenings back in June when this was announced: the screening with Part 1-3, the screening with Part 7-9, and of course the final screening with Parts 16-18.
In truth, I hadn't planned on marathoning the whole thing, because that's an insane thing to do + by the time I and my viewing partner K (not real name obviously) seriously considered doing the whole thing all of the screenings had sold out. When we arrived at the Metrograph, K was only planning to join me for the first screening and if they were able to watch everything else by the following day they would come for the final screening. After the first screening was finished I basically told them "You're gonna watch Part 8 and severely regret not seeing it in a theater" so we went to the box office and as luck would have it they had tickets to Parts 4-6 available (I think a few people decided after the first screening they didn't have the stamina, lol) so we nabbed them and buckled in.
Honestly, were it not for money or the fact that the seats at the Metrograph are extremely uncomfortable, we would have come back the next day for Parts 10-15. But we made due with streaming those episodes on our own time at home before returning for the finale.
Some other thoughts:
The lovely stickers that they had at the box office for everyone.
People timing bathroom runs for when music performances started.
The whole audience cheering and clapping at "fix your hearts or die."
Whispering to my viewing partner "Get ready" and hearing their flabberghasted reaction when Michael Cera showed up.
Dean Hurley shouting out George Griffith in the audience, and K revealing they had a pleasant chat with him outside in the lobby about the stickers without even realizing it was him.
The whole audience buckling in for Part 8, and wild applause at the end of it.
Dean Hurley casually revealing at the Q&A for the final screening that he was the voice of the fake Phillip Jeffries in Part 2 (after us over at the Twin Peaks wiki were trying to figure out who the voice was for literally over half a decade) as well as Johnny Horne's teddy bear (he even offered a little "Hello Johnny, how are you today?").
Cheers at "I am the FBI."
Applause after the Bob fight.
The whole theater being dead quiet for the final 10 minutes of the finale.
Me turning to K at the end to gauge their reaction, and they looked back at me in complete shock.
A rather spirited convo K and I had with another theatergoer after the show, where we talked about how the 2017 season didn't have as much pop culture staying power as the original, yet we're definitely starting to see some horror media that was almost certainly inspired by the 2017 season. I Saw the TV Glow and Who's Lila were two examples we discussed; K argued that The Mandela Catalogue is another example.
All-in-all, a unique experience that apparently won't happen again for a while: a rep from Metrograph frankly explained before one of the screenings that it doesn't sound like Paramount wants to license a screening like this in the near-future. So if any indie movie theaters near you announce they're doing this... JUMP ON IT! (And bring a seat cushion.)
