Twin Peaks

Recently Netflix started streaming episodes of Twin Peaks.  This news was cause for celebration as far as I was concerned.  During most of its brief run, Twin Peaks had been my favorite TV show.  But most people didn’t share my enthusiasm.

The years have not been kind to Twin Peaks’ reputation.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say Twin Peaks has become something of a cautionary tale.  Back in the days when Lost was frustrating its fans with bizarre clues to mysteries it seemed it would never answer, I commonly heard the phrase “They better not pull a Twin Peaks!”

“Pulling a Twin Peaks” basically consists of making shit up as you go along.  Creating a mystery that can’t possibly satisfy the audience because the details haven’t been worked out in advance.

I don’t think that’s an entirely fair criticism of either show.  Although to varying degrees, I would say both Twin Peaks and Lost frustrated and disappointed viewers, it seems to me that the central mysteries were worked out in advance.  It’s all the rest of the stuff that was built up around those central mysteries that didn’t always pay off.

What? You didn't get that the backwards-talking dwarf was representative of Mike's missing arm?

Twin Peaks was the brainchild of maverick film director David Lynch and TV writer Mark Frost.  It’s an odd marriage.  Lynch is known for his surreal cinema.  Critics of Lynch claim that his films make no sense.  But fans of his work (such as myself) enjoy piecing together the non-linear narratives into a dream-like experience which can be interpreted in many different ways.

Frost, on the other hand, was a TV writer best known for his work on Hill Street Blues.  He brought a much more traditional TV sensibility to the show.  Frost can probably be credited with making Lynch’s weirdness palatable to the masses.

Twin Peaks started as a movie based on the life of Marilyn Monroe.  The movie never came together, but Lynch was taken with the idea of a woman in trouble.  Lynch’s agent pushed Lynch and Frost to take that idea and develop it into a TV show that would explore Lynch’s vision of America in the same vein as Lynch’s acclaimed film, Blue Velvet.

Like Blue Velvet, Twin Peaks would examine the darkness that lies just below the surface in small town America.  At first glance, the town of Twin Peaks seemed perfectly normal.  But upon further inspection, viewers would discover the dark secrets of its inhabitants along with their eccentricities.

To say that Twin Peaks was unlike any other show on TV at the time is a massive understatement.  It was unlike any other TV show before or since.  Although many shows after Twin Peaks have been influenced to varying degrees by its revolutionary cinematic style.

The cover of Rolling Stone at the height of Twin Peaks mania

Part of what made Twin Peaks unique was the changing tone.  Viewers never knew what to expect.  The show melded influences as varied as horror, comedy, soap opera and police procedurals.  Sometimes, it was hard to know whether or not a scene was intended to be taken seriously or played for laughs.  And any time the viewer got too comfortable in the cozy rural setting, Lynch would would pull the rug out from under them with something creepy or downright horrifying.

Bob still creeps me out to this day.

The central mystery to Twin Peaks was of course “Who Killed Laura Palmer?”  It was a hell of a hook.  And the nation’s fascination with the mystery made the show into an overnight phenomenon for a little while.  Lynch had no intention of solving the mystery until the end of the show.  The idea was that over the course of the show, the Laura Palmer mystery would recede into the background while other stories about the citizens of Twin Peaks would creep into the forefront.

The problem with that plan was that viewers were so hooked on the Laura Palmer plot line that they got frustrated when it was not the focus of the show.  Also, to be fair, most of the other plot lines were no where near as strong as the mystery of who killed Laura Palmer.  The drama at the lumber mill was so full of double crosses you couldn’t keep straight who was betraying whom or why.

Then you had some dopey (presumably comedic) plot lines like waitress Shelly Johnson and her high school boyfriend Bobby taking care of Shelley’s brain damaged husband.  Or middle aged Nadine waking from a coma with super strength and no memories of anything after high school.  This story eventually lead to the painfully unfunny bit where she joined the high school wrestling team.

Dude, she's in high school!

Perhaps the most popular B-story in the series was the relationship between Kyle McLaughlin’s Agent Dale Cooper and Sherilyn Fenn’s Audrey Horne.  However, McLaughlin objected to an actual romantic relationship between the straight-laced federal agent and a high school girl.  It was a valid objection.  But when he put a stop to the storyline it killed the most promising story arc outside of the Laura Palmer mystery.

As fans became frustrated, the show’s ratings began to drop.  This was exacerbated by ABC moving the show around their schedule making hard for fans to find.  Eventually, ABC demanded that Lynch reveal the killer’s identity in hopes that fans would be satisfied.  Lynch objected, but acquiesced.

The killer’s identity was revealed in a horrifying murder that mirrored Laura’s death.  It’s a brilliant scene as only Lynch could deliver.  Unfortunately, one the killer was revealed, the remaining plot threads weren’t strong enough to hold on to viewers’ attention and the ratings continued to fall just as Lynch feared they would.

Laura Palmer's prom picture ended almost every episode.

However, I have to give credit to Lynch and company.  Watching the show now with full knowledge of the killer’s identity, you can see that the clues were there all along.  Sure, there were a lot of red herrings.  And while there were aspects of the show which were clearly improvised, the Laura Palmer mystery holds up pretty well.

Unfortunately, things get worse from there.  In a bid to get renewed for a third season, the show ends on one hell of a cliffhanger.  Since the show did not get renewed, the cliffhanger would never be resolved.  This has been a source of frustration of Twin Peaks fans for decades!

The final fate of agent Cooper will probably never be revealed. Sorry about that.

To make matters worse, Lynch actually got the opportunity to make a Twin Peaks movie after the show’s cancellation.  But Fire Walk With Me barely touched on the show’s cliffhanger.  Instead, it was a prequel to the show depicting the final days of Laura Palmer in grisly detail.  If you watch the movie, it will forever change the way you see the TV show.  The tragic history which was hinted at in the show looms larger once you’ve witnessed it in the movie.

Someday, I’ll have to do a write-up on Fire Walk With Me separate from the show.  It really was a separate entity in many ways.  And while I think it is an underrated film, I can see why it was unsatisfying to the majority of Twin Peaks fans.

If you’re such a fan, I hope you’re enjoying re-watching the series as much as I am.  This alone has made my Netflix subscription fee worthwhile this month.  And if you never saw Twin Peaks or you’re one of the fans who got frustrated and left, I encourage you to give it a try.  It’s not for everyone.  But if it hooks you, you’re in for a treat.

Until next time, the owls are not what the seem.

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