Andrew Grevas
Lindsay and Aidan, the hosts of podcast Bickering Peaks, joined me for the 2nd ever interview here on “25 Years Later”. We talk about their show, how they got into Twin Peaks initially and preview the upcoming return of the show, as well as talking Lynch films in general. It’s a fun read and I’m happy to announce that after this interview, both Lindsay and Aidan agreed to join the writing team here at “25 Years Later” so be on the lookout for their upcoming articles! Hope you enjoy.
How did this podcast come to be and how did you each get into the show?
Lindsay: This is a complicated answer…I was first exposed to the show in 1990 when I was all of 5 years old. My parents watched the first season when it was replayed over the summer. I used to sneak out and watch TV shows I wasn’t supposed to watch from behind the sofa in the living room, and this was probably how I came to see it for the first time. A few scenes and images are kind of seared into my brain from that time–Leland falling onto Laura’s casket, BOB behind Laura’s bed, the Red Room scene from Cooper’s dream–and it must have terrified me something fierce because I ended up totally unable to return to watch the series in full for nearly 20 years, which is when I borrowed the Gold Box Edition from my parents.
Aidan: I heard about the show from Lindsay.
Lindsay: The podcast all came together really quickly. I had been re-watching the series and had just read The Secret History of Twin Peaks, and I ended up going down this rabbit hole of Twin Peaks theories on YouTube and via a bunch of different podcasts coming up with new ideas and getting pumped for the new series. So then I had this idea that maybe Aidan and I could do the same thing. I called him at work and he agreed that it sounded like a good idea, and I think we purchased a microphone that night and started looking into podcasting, which we knew nothing about at the time. I believe we recorded our first episode about two days later, and released it a very short period of time after that. In the back of my mind, my goal all along was literally to record a conversation about Twin Peaks with Aidan that would convince our friend Jennifer to watch the show…and it worked, so everything beyond that has been icing on the cake.
This has obviously been an exciting past few years for the Twin Peaks fan community. What has your involvement with fellow fans been like since starting your podcast?
Aiden: Well Lindsay was already involved in the fandom through her fanfiction and on various message boards over the last few years, but that was the extent of it. After the first few weeks of the podcast we started our Facebook page. Then John Bernardy contacted us via Twitter on our personal accounts and convinced us to start a Twitter for the podcast, which we did in January, and that’s where it really seems to be happening. We’ve met and talked with so many amazing fans on “Twin Peaks Twitter” – new fans, fans who were around for the original airing, fans of every age group from all over the world. They’re all amazing and we love sharing and debating our theories, our reminiscences of favorite scenes, every part of it. We’ve also been incredibly lucky to have some amazing guests on our show who have shared their expertise and ideas along the way, and who also happen to save us from sounding like complete stupidheads. We’ve both been part of other fan communities before but never one as vibrant and welcoming as the Twin Peaks fandom.
For those that have never heard your show before, what makes Bickering Peaks a fun listen in your opinions? Any favorite episodes or memories from the show so far you’d like to share with us?
Lindsay: Our bickering, for sure (though we don’t bicker nearly as much as our name might attest…) It probably helps that we do this in our spare time naturally and are always, always having these weird conversations. Plus we’re married, so we kind of play off each other and feel totally comfortable sharing our craziest, least-thought out ideas (which we’re sure people listen to and mock endlessly–we really encourage feedback and debate, especially on Twitter!) We come at this from a bit of a literary perspective, too, as we’re both writers and I think that makes our take a bit more unique: there are podcasts out there that are strictly recaps and others that go into deep analysis and many that fall in between. We’re in-betweeners, in that we recap and analyze as we go, and we dedicate special episodes to various aspects of Twin Peaks, like the music or the ancillary novels or the Big Questions, where we feel free to go a bit deeper with our analysis. We think that makes us unique–there’s something for everyone, we hope, whether you’re an original fan or a new one!
Aidan: My favorite bit so far has been all the smart guests on our show who expose both of us to new ways of interpreting the show, or point out some tiny but amazing detail we’d missed in all our previous watches. The Twin Peaks community is so supportive, interacting with them is definitely at the top of my list.
Lindsay: Aidan already mentioned the fantastic guests we’ve had on, which I agree with. I also love our special episodes. It’s freeing to be able to talk at length about one specific aspect of the show. Those are all faves of mine.
Shifting gears to the return of Twin Peaks. What new cast members are you the most interested in seeing in the return of the series?
Lindsay: There are the obvious “WTF?” cast members that we’re just interested in seeing how they fit in and whether they will feel natural in the world of Twin Peaks (Matthew Lillard, Michael Cera, etc.). Then there are the musicians, which have always been big in Twin Peaks and the other works of David Lynch. Aidan is particularly interested in frequent Lynch collaborators like Naomi Watts and Laura Dern.
What were your thoughts on The Secret History of Twin Peaks and how much of its presence will be felt, if any, in the new episodes of the series?
Lindsay: It’s interesting that David Lynch hasn’t read it and that he views it as Mark Frost’s understanding of the world of Twin Peaks. We both thought that was very telling, and we want to see how that will work. In the past we’ve really praised the great creative cycle Lynch and Frost worked in: Lynch providing the specifics of a scene or character that in turn prompts Frost to expand the world in some way, which Lynch then re-examines in his own unique way, which sets it all off again and again. To that end TSHOTP is interesting mostly for all the continuity “errors” or other ways it disagrees with the series. Is it setting up an alternate universe? A giant retcon, either within the show or from without? Time travel? Alien subterfuge in memories? The theories are practically infinite at this stage, and trying to line them up with what we see in the new season will be part of the fun! Ultimately, we think it’s meant to be a primer, to get us thinking in new ways about this world, which is what it seems to have done, if you go by the online discussions that have been happening since it came out last October.
What’s one prediction each of you have for the new series?
Aidan: The most obvious one: Michael Cera is playing the child of Lucy and Andy. If he’s not, I will cry a little.
Lindsay: The only thing I’m predicting is that this will be it. It will have a closed ending – well, as closed as Lynch and the world of Twin Peaks allows for. No massive cliffhangers, but a sense of catharsis like at the end of Fire Walk With Me. That’s what I’m hoping for.
I’m personally not big on “ranking” David Lynch’s films but what would you consider to be your top 3 or 4?
Aiden: We both love Mulholland Drive, it’s probably our number one. Beyond that we don’t agree, so:
Lindsay: My dad is a big David Lynch fan so I grew up with a lot of his films, like Dune and The Elephant Man (fun fact: this was the only film my mom ever walked out of the theatre from–my dad took her on a date to see it, and to hear her tell it now it’s amazing that my brothers and I were even born because she almost didn’t go out with him again after that!) But my favorite of Lynch’s films are his more surreal ones–Eraserhead, Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway. I love it when his films get in your head and won’t let go. The theorizing that comes after the film is the best part for me.
Aidan: Fire Walk With Me is definitely my second favorite, if only for the way it paints Laura in such an amazing light. The Fan Edit that’s floating out there is actually my favorite version of the film, because it expands on Laura’s suffering, as well as the Red Room/Philip Jeffries mythology parts, which are definitely a huge part of Twin Peaks‘ appeal to me. Inland Empire and Lost Highway were also pretty good, but I was too freaked out by Eraserhead to enjoy it, and Blue Velvet didn’t seem as good the third or fourth time I watched it. Also, having just watched Dune for the first time, it was pretty terrible.
Thanks again to Aidan and Lindsay for a fun conversation. If you haven’t checked out their show before you can find it at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/bickering-peaks-a-twin-peaks-podcast and be sure to look out for their upcoming work here on this site. Thanks for reading!
