As always, sleeping on an episode allows things to settle in my mind. I start to appreciate the impressions that linger, as opposed to wondering about the payoffs that I want to see.

The show seems to be about two main things right now. Firstly, continuing the exploration from the original series, is the surreal nature of violence. Where does it originate? Lynch and Frost do not concern themselves with the political or religious motivations that occupy our social media feeds. Working heavily with metaphor and symbolism, they attribute the hate and rage to forces outside of everyday human experience. These forces are supernatural in nature, as opposed to being a part of human psychology. The two violent deaths that occur in episode 6 are different kinds of bad dreams. The car accident shows us bystanders frozen in reflection, powerless to act, mystified by the senselessness of what they have just witnessed. The assassination shows us a ruthlessness that is animalistic and bizarre. Sadly, both of these sensations are all too resonant to our times.

The second theme, special to this series, is the theme of aging and time. Agent Cooper's existential crisis is frustrating for viewers who want to see him back to his old self, waxing poetically about Douglas Firs, etc. However, this is a highly evocative way to express the feelings of getting older, looking back on your old self, and struggling to capture the energy of the person you once were. Why don't words come easier? Why is it a struggle to move the way I once did? What are the core elements that still make me ME?

In a way it's like Lynch's version of Duck Amuck, the old Looney Tune where the animators wondered how much they could mess with an iconic character and still have you recognize who he is. What are the necessary elements to create an Agent Cooper ... coffee, intuition, badge? And of course, this leaves Lynch and Frost on the sidelines, proclaiming, like Bugs Bunny did, "Ain't I a stinker?"