Twin Peaks is one of the many seminal works of filmmaker David Lynch, who passed away last week at the age of 78.
Like many of Lynch’s works, "Twin Peaks" told a story that was, on the surface, harrowing and bleak: a murder in a small town augurs the return of a mysterious ancient curse that reveals the seething amoral underbelly of the community. But, as terrifying as that sounds, I’m willing to bet that for those of you who love Twin Peaks, hearing that music is a source of comfort.
When people talk about "Twin Peaks," they usually don’t talk about the story — which are often horrific and supernatural. Maybe some of the most hardcore David Lynch fans would tell you the story isn’t what matters — it’s the feeling. Like the best artists, Lynch’s work does more than engage your mind. It makes your heart beat to a different rhythm — and it reverberates long after the story ends.
So how did he do it? Jason Woodbury, a writer, musician, and cultural commentator on shows like the Transmissions podcast from Aquarium Drunkard, is a lifelong Lynch fan and joined The Show to discuss.

Full conversation
SAM DINGMAN: So what do you make of that idea, Jason? That, that there was and is a David Lynch feeling?
JASON WOODBURY: Yeah, I mean, it's funny because the term Lynchian is, has been coined to describe his signature appeal, right? The thing that only he could do. But I often think that when people talk about Lynchian, they, they sort of miss some, some of the qualities there because as you mentioned, “Twin Peaks” is certainly a show laced with dread, but it's also laced with so much humor and love and joy and kindness and really, really quixotically funny scenes. So it's a very layered, multi-dimensional feel that I think that he created.
And it's funny because since David Lynch passed away, I, I've been rewatching “Twin Peaks” with my wife, Becky, and we even, you know, when you're binging a show, eventually you start skipping the theme song, but when it comes to “Twin Peaks,” you can't skip the theme song. It's, it's, it's part of the meditative, it, it gets you ready for what you're, what you're about to see.
DINGMAN: Yeah, it's kind of the emotional ramp into that world.
WOODBURY: And it, it's so beautiful, so beautiful. It's a very beautiful melody, yeah.
DINGMAN: Yeah, well, much like the theme song, there are just countless really illustrative moments from his work, and, and we could talk about so many of them, but you've identified a few that in your mind really illustrate this idea of, of the, the special sauce of David Lynch. Let's hear one clip now from, I believe it's “Mulholland Drive.”
[MOVE CLIP]
DINGMAN: Chilling. Tell us about that clip, Jason.
WOODBURY: Well, I mean, probably one of my favorite things about the work of David Lynch is how often his projects feature mysterious characters who you don't know what they are, but you get the sense that they are agents of some sort of far off, beyond, cosmic force, right? Like Lynch is like, he's this guy who can center the cosmic in the most sort of mundane.
The character that we just heard speak is, is sort of dressed as like a vintage Hollywood cowboy, and he's talking to Justin Theroux's movie director character and, and sort of grilling him in this like mysterious, this, this, this cadence that just makes you wanna know what's going on. And that's something that I think threads all through his work, is this sense of mystery, the sense of forces beyond us, playing on or with us even, you know, and I think that's really essential to Lynch's worldview.
DINGMAN: Yeah, that, that makes me think of my favorite line from Blue Velvet where Kyle McLachlan's character is talking to Laura Dern, and she basically says to him like, “why are you so mixed up in this criminal investigation?”
And he says, “I'm seeing something that was always hidden. I'm involved in a mystery. I'm in the middle of a mystery.”
And she, and she says, “you love mysteries that much?”
And he's like, “oh yeah.”
WOODBURY: Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. And I think, you know, the, the writer Christine McKenna and her Lynch biography “Room to Dream,” she says Lynch's work “resides in the complicated zone where the beautiful and the damned collide.” And that is obviously a mystery-laden zone, if there is one, you know.
DINGMAN: Yes, well, speaking of the damned, I also want to talk to you about the role of horror in his work, and we've got another clip here. This is from “Twin Peaks: The Return.”
[MOVIE CLIP]
DINGMAN: OK, the dark within, let's talk about it.
WOODBURY: Yeah, yeah, well, I mean, I think so if you're looking for sort of an interesting introduction to to David Lynch and you're new to his work, you might want to watch episode 8 of Twin Peaks: The Return,” which that clip is from ‘cause it's almost a little mini-movie within the show itself that is related to the plot, but you could watch it without having to know anything. And I think it would give you a very good feel for David Lynch.
That's obviously a terrifying clip, and it's, it's set in this small town and this is some sort of infernal. You know, a cosmic entity, a woodsman, a demon, maybe, and he's taken over a small town radio station and is broadcasting this sort of cryptic message that is casting a spell over things.
But yeah, you know, I think that like Lynch is defined by that understanding of dualities and opposites, right? Good and evil, spirit and matter, you know, love, lust, all these things. And he's not afraid to go very, very, very into the realm of horror, and he's not thought of as a horror director all the time, but you could make a good case for a lot of his films as being horror films, at least at certain points, you know, and who doesn't feel like life is a little bit like a horror film sometimes, you know what I mean? There's a lot of reasons to feel that way.
DINGMAN: Yes, but I would also say those opposites are often at play not just in his oeuvra but within individual works. If we count all three seasons of “Twin Peaks” as one work, he's also operating at the other end of that emotional spectrum, which, which brings us to this last clip I want to play. This is from the original run of “Twin Peaks.”
[MOVIE CLIP]
DINGMAN: Jason, in closing, let, let's, let's talk about the, the wonder of pie and coffee and dessert to David Lynch.
WOODBURY: Yeah, I mean like “Twin Peaks” is a very breakfast- and dessert-coded program, and I think that, that's really what makes Lynch so so powerful is that just as he could express the the depths of human depravity and darkness. And, you know, these inexplicable grotesque scenes of an ear in the. in the grass or whatever.
He also just loved absolutely this sort of wholesome middle American mid-century idea of just like, you know, offering a stranger a slice of pie, seeing everybody as a potential friend, you know, doo-wop in the air, this sort of. You know, Lynch is from the time where the teenager was invented as an archetype, you know, and I think that that just like a sort of innocence really pervades his work and gives it an undergirding that makes even those darkest moments, you know, it, it kind of cast light on them in this weird way.
I think Lynch was all about accepting the darkness within ourselves, but also, and I think this is crucial, really accepting the possibility of our own goodness, too, and our goodness to other people, and our ability to see others, not through the lens of fear, but through a lens of love. And I think that, that is a, you know, so central to his work, and it's certainly something I've been reflecting on since his passing.
DINGMAN: Yes, a timely message if ever there was one. Well, that is Jason Woodbury, who is, among other things, the host of the Transmissions podcast. Jason, thank you so much.
WOODBURY: Thanks so much. Everybody here at 850 West Lincoln, where I'm recording. This is an absolute monument to Lynch. I'm looking at Sam Means' signed “Eraserhead” poster over there. So, we, we send love from 850. Thanks so much, Sam.