This week, all of my entertainment (television, video games, and novel reading) had a somewhat unintentional Twin Peaks theme. I didn’t watch Twin Peaks when it came out, even though I somewhat inexplicably watched Fire Walk With Me at least twenty times. I assume I never actually watched the series because, back then, you either watched a television show when it came on or you didn’t watch it. I suppose I could have recorded it on VHS, but we only had one of those in the house, and it was filled with my mother’s All My Children episodes. I know I’m dating myself here, but accessing television shows used to be so much harder. You couldn’t just buy a DVD of your favorite season or stream them from Amazon or Netflix. So, I never watched Twin Peaks, but from my multiple viewings of Fire Walk with Me, I knew it was a show that I would probably dig.
The series has been around for a while now on Netflix and Amazon, so I finally decided to give it a go. I love it, of course. It’s totally quirky and right up my alley. I hadn’t gotten too far into my marathon viewing before I started to want to play Deadly Premonition again. Deadly Premonition is a fantastic Japanese psychological horror game that didn’t really get a lot of attention. The game is not technically based on Twin Peaks (but, of course, the game is totally based on Twin Peaks.) Some of the attention it did get came from it’s initial price point. Deadly Premonition was initially released for only $20 on the Xbox (and, I think on PS3, but I didn’t have a PS3 then). I see now it’s available for about $60 on Amazon, but that looks to be from a private seller. But, at $20, Deadly Premonition was a steal, even if it was somewhat criticized for graphics and mechanics. The game was released in 2010, and my Xbox tells me that is also the last time I played it, which means I haven’t played it since before I became interested in game studies. As such, I decided to start it over from the beginning. When I initially played the game, many of the game’s elements struck me as overly silly, but now I see they are really the trademarks of a JRPG. For some reason, this made the game feel even creepier the second time around. I also found the controls to be less aggravating this time around, but that’s probably because I’ve played it before. I haven’t had a chance to play too much of the game yet, but I am excited to continue (along side watching Twin Peaks) because Deadly Premonition really nails the combination of creepy and quirky.
In addition to watching Twin Peaks and playing Deadly Premonition, I picked up Pines by Black Crouch, a novel that I didn’t initially realize was based on Twin Peaks. I’ve actually had my eye on Pines for a while, but decided to read it now because it’s going to be a “Major Television Event” this winter. Pines achieves that same quirky, small town feel as Twin Peaks, but veers off in a more sci-fi direction (or so I assume, given I haven’t’ finished Twin Peaks). As Crouch writes, “Pines is not Twin Peaks, not by a long shot, but it wouldn’t be here without it.” I thought it was a great read, and Pines really tied together this Twin Peaks themed week for me. Pines is the first in a trilogy, so I look forward to continuing with the story, while watching Twin Peaks and playing Deadly Premonition. (I should warn those who may be interested, though, that while I love Crouch’s writing, he can be very violent. So reader discretion and all that).
It’s sort of fun to find yourself immersed in entertainment all influenced by one show. Deadly Premonition was already one of my favorite games, and it’s been sitting there in my pile of shame for years, mocking me for not finishing. I look forward to playing it through with a much more critical eye than I had the first (partial) play through.
