Wot’s all this then?! Back to the Double R is frightfully delighted to kick off a special feature to honor the Dark Holiday: Goodnight, Ladies, our three-part dissection of the legendary graphic novel From Hell, penned and penciled by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell, respectively. Part 1 sets the stage with an ominous walk on the beach and a fathomlessly disquieting architectural tour of The Smoke. Draw the shades and join us…

If it’s a group of tortured souls trying to make sense of colliding realities—and it is—then this must be Back to the Double R’s adventures in the “Inland Empire”! In this episode, we get lost in Lynch’s most recent (for now) controversial masterpiece of mood and multiverses. As DL goes lo-def with LD, we get taffy-tangled in the high concepts, haute couture, and hothouse dreamscapes of this challenging but immensely rewarding Tinsel Town ouroboros. You have already started to listen!!

A very ominous Twin Peaks Day to all and sundry! Back to the Double R is delighted to be back… to the Double R!… after an eventful few weeks. To celebrate our second anniversary (!!) we diving into one of the most unusual David Lynch projects*, the 1999 biopic, “The Straight Story.” (*Or is it?!? Tune in to find out!) In this literal Disney film, there’s nary an inter-dimensional doppelgänger to be found. Instead, we follow Alvin Straight’s journey by lawnmower to see his estranged brother one last time. Hop on your John Deeres, dears, and let’s ride!!!

One of the biggest revelations I discovered when reading Clare Nina Norelli’s 33 1/3 entry on Badalamenti’s Soundtrack from Twin Peaks is that aside from the partnership between Lynch and co-creator Mark Frost, the first creative Lynch chose to enlist in bringing Twin Peaks to life was Badalamenti. This is a backwards way of working on a film or television project, where the score is usually one of the last things to be completed.

In these darkest nights, when the veil is thin, the music of the master transports us to places we never knew existed, beyond us, inside us, waiting for us, someplace else and everywhere. Our end-of-the-year tribute to the sonic hypnosis of the herald Angelo unexpectedly became a remembrance of life and work. In this episode, we sink into the unparalleled soundtrack to Twin Peaks, exploring this transcendent work along with Clare Nina Norelli’s insightful analysis in the 33-1/3 book series. We are all listening and traveling together.

Angelo Badalamenti, March 22, 1937 – December 11, 2022

Please, baby, please! It’s a special extra-spooky Back to the Double R as we enter the mind of a young David Lynch via his first feature film! This 1977 debut turned out to be a Rosetta Stone for the challenging and unconventional filmography to come, so it’s both a trick and a treat to pull it apart in the context of Twin Peaks. Give it a watch—IF YOU DARE—and join us as we descend into the fractal nightmares of Eraserhead!

We love a good symbol of individuality and belief in personal freedom! We’re one step ahead of the Wicked Witch and pedal-to-the-metal for points West. If you haven’t seen “Wild at Heart,” we have just the ticket for you: Give it a watch, then come join us at the 4-top as we revel in one of Lynch’s warmest and most optimistic tales… of murder and crime and betrayal. We’re really out in the middle of it now, and we’d love to have you along for the ride!!

Welcome to our first installment of Back to the Double R’s Wide World of David Lynch just under the July wire. We are leaving the regular rhythms of our weekly TV episode coverage and pulling back to gaze upon the Lynchverse in all it’s weird glory and horror. (Note! Here be spoilers for “Twin Peaks” the TV series!) How better to kick off this trip than with a spin down the Lost Highway? This 1997 neo-noir mind-trip has deep roots in “Twin Peaks,” and vice versa, but it puts a grown-up twist on things that will surely leave you grasping at what you think is reality. We’re so glad to be back at the 4-top and we hope you’ll join us, now, and in the future/past…

We are leaving Twin Peaks, it’s true, but not to worry! Come July, we’ll see you out on that Lost Highway. For now, kick back and enjoy the final (weekly) episode of Back to the Double R, chock full of flashbacks, final thoughts, and one master theory that will knock your socks off. And of course, our very fond farewell to the angel of the Road House herself, the one and only Julee Cruise. We wanted you to stay forever and ever…

Wait… WHICH circle is almost complete? In honor of concluding our epic rewatch journey that took us across 48 episodes with you—plus books, movies, and Bowie songs—we set out to revisit the place it all started: the pilot episode. But there was one last surprise lurking at the end of this re-rewatch! In the infamous “International Pilot” everything’s as squirrelly as a pine weasel at a fashion show. Come join us for a trip back to February 24th, 1989 (and February 24th, 2021!)—we promise it’ll end differently this time!

The dust is still settling from Agent Cooper’s epic gamble as we find ourselves in an entirely new place that looks eerily familiar. In our hands, a volume of only modest heft, emblazoned with a promise we can only hope is a lie (or at least a carmine-colored shipment of herring for the Icelanders partying down in the lobby). Does it augur more answers than questions? Or is it like the show itself, a puzzle within a puzzle within an etcetera? Turn the page with us and see, as we dive into The Final Dossier…

Here we are at last… but where is here? Or, for that matter, when is now? What? Wait, where’s Audrey? Holy hopscotch, this is one wild way to wrap up the epic more-than-television TV show that we all love like a mystery that just won’t quit. Join us for the last episode of Twin Peaks—which, we emphatically note, is not the last episode of Back to the Double R! This is Part 18: What is your name? and you know just where to click…

Let the metaphysical fireworks begin! After traversing a long road that reaches all the way back to the 1980s, we have finally arrived: the showdown. Cooper. Mr. C. Bob. Freddie’s glove! All bets are off and anything can happen, so watch out for flying chunks of evil and butterfly effects. This is Part 17: The past dictates the future!

At laaaaaast and not a minute too soon! Nothing like seeing that razor-sharp version of the real-deal Agent Dale Cooper slicing through problems like a shark fin through dark waters! So many threads are coming together in this episode we ALL get new suits (and matching scarves). There’s hell to pay in this episode, to be sure, but we’re in heaven! Yank out your IVs, people, and meet us at the airport, because this is Part 16: No knock, no doorbell!

Glory be and hallelujah! Could it really be true? Do our eyes deceive us? God—or your personal deity and/or void of choice—bless Dr. Amp and his golden shovel, for it seems to have let two of the purest hearts in TV Land finally become the OTP we’ve longed to see. And that’s just for starters! We’ve got mysteries galore, and, of course, one of the sweetest goodbyes in television history. Holy smokes, but things are gettin’ twisty here in Part 15: There’s some fear in letting go….

Now here’s an episode not to be trifled with! The origin of the Blue Rose is revealed, Andy meets a Fireman, and Sarah Palmer takes a bite outta slime! Among other twists! There’s so much going on we might need to swing by Gordon’s room for a belt to clear our heads. Rock-a-bye, baby, because this is a great big tidal wave of Part 14: We are like the dreamer!

The more we learn, the less we know? Sometimes it feels like that, but this week is generously sprinkled with some cozy comforts, so we’re not complaining. Where the sporting rules of The Farm may bewilder us, seeing Norma in the corner booth at the best li’l diner in all of TV Land feels just like coming home. Are you ready to order? We can definitely recommend the Part 13: What story is that Charlie?

Paging Sherilyn Fenn! Sherilyn Fenn please report to our teevees!! At long last, everyone’s favorite feisty femme fatale has returned to the saga of Twin Peaks! OR HAS SHE?!? It’s a wild week, with that obscure entrance, plus bullets and burgers flyin’, mysterious keys making their way home, a fuss at the checkout counter, and poor Jerry Horne. Write your numbers on your arm and join us for The Return, Part 12: Let’s rock….

Twists and turns worthy of a whirling vortex! Sometimes, just when things look bleakest, they take a miraculous turn for the better. Also, sometimes, they, uh, get bleaker. Tough times for some, this week, and tougher still for ol’ Bill Hastings. Come see what all the fuss is about as we get sucked into Part 11: There’s fire where you are going…

Film class is back in session! And we here at Back to the Double R have cooked up something special—Special #7, that is, our hot take on David Lynch’s alt-universe-Audrey-in-Hollywood mind-melter Mulholland Drive! We’re seeing some powerful flashbacks and false memories from that little town up north, to say nothing of a very ominous ten-gallon hat and the maestro’s utterly undrinkable espresso. Grab some Raisinets and settle in! It’s gonna be a wild ride!