[NOTE: I will reviewing the original run of Twin Peaks from 1990-1991. The prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) and The Return (2017) revival miniseries will likely get their own review. Also there will be some spoilers. So I recommend watching the show and then coming back to read the review. To sum it up, it's a fantastic TV show.]
Twin Peaks began in 1990 and was created by David Lynch (Eraserhead, The Elephant Man) and Mark Frost (writer on Hill Street Blues). To sum up Twin Peaks, it is one part murder mystery, one part quirky comedy, one part night-time soap opera satire, and one part supernatural horror TV show. Twin Peaks is considered one of the best and most influential television shows of all time. Twin Peaks has inspired many TV shows over the years, most notably The X-Files (both shows star David Duchovny, who played transgender DEA agent Denise Bryson on Twin Peaks), LOST, and also the teen drama Riverdale (which also stars Madchen Amick, who plays Shelly Johnson on Twin Peaks). The Twin Peaks pilot episode aired April 8, 1990 with a feature length 94 minute runtime directed by David Lynch himself. Its opening scenes are unforgettable and set the tone for the whole series. As Pete Martell (played by the late Jack Nance) goes fishing outside his cabin home at the Packard Sawmill, he discovers a body washed ashore, covered in plastic. Pete Martell rings the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department when Sheriff Harry S. Truman (played by Michael Ontkean) answers. Pete delivers his unforgettable line "She's dead. Wrapped in plastic", which was all over the TV commercials for the show. Lynch masterfully builds up the suspense and atmosphere over who the identity of the woman is, accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti's iconic score. We get sensitive Andy Brennan (played by Harry Goaz) crying before the body is identified, which I think in a lesser show that wasn't as well directed would ruin the tension of the scene as it's kind of over the top, but it works here to add some levity and tension break before the reveal. And then the reveal happens, and Dr. Will Hayward (played by Warren Frost) in a shocked tone lets out "Good lord it's Laura", followed by Harry Truman's "Laura Palmer". Angelo Badalamenti's score gets louder as Lynch has a close up shot on Laura Palmer's (played by Sheryl Lee) face. It is a close up shot that is both haunting and beautiful. What follows is a series of reactions from the town of Twin Peaks to the shocking death of Laura Palmer. Most effective is the reactions of her parents, Sarah Palmer (played by Grace Zabriskie) and Leland Palmer (played by Ray Wise). Sarah Palmer shouts for Laura, thinking she is still in bed asleep. Getting no answer she makes a few calls. She gets no answer when she decides to call Leland, who is at work at The Great Northern Hotel selling property to foreign investors. Leland is on the phone to Sarah when Harry Truman comes to visit him. Leland drops the phone, immediately knowing that it is about his daughter Laura. Sarah then breaks down, crying loudly. It is a harrowing scene. Ray Wise is terrific in this scene, and he is terrific in the whole series.
Season 1 is in my opinion a near perfect television season. The mystery behind who killed Laura Palmer was of course so gripping and compelling. But it was also the other plots and characters that helped make the show work. And also the town of Twin Peaks itself, and the dissection of a suburban quiet town being rocked by strange happenings. While I'm not the biggest fan of Josie Packard (played by Joan Chen), her storyline does involve Ben Horne and Catherine Martell. And of course the always underrated Jack Nance as Pete Martell. Ben Horne is one of my favorite characters on Twin Peaks. Richard Beymer relishes in playing Ben Horne, a businessman that is sleazy, scheming and at times repulsive. Ben Horne and Catherine Martell scheme a plot to get Josie Packard to sell the Packard Sawmill to Ben Horne. Piper Laurie is fantastic as Catherine Martell. Every scene between Ben Horne and Catherine Martell is in my opinion a joy to watch, as Richard Beymer and Piper Laurie have fantastic chemistry with each other. I also love Ben Horne's scenes with his brother Jerry Horne (played by David Patrick Kelly). Especially the scene where they both eat a bree sandwich and mumble delightful about how tasty the sandwich is. Shelly Johnson (played by Madchen Amick) is in an abusive relationship with psychopath drug dealer Leo Johnson, and I think it is an effective storyline that touches on how awful domestic abuse is. Eric DaRe is convincing as Leo Johnson, and Madchen Amick is also convincing as the abused wife Shelly. For most of Season 1 the focus is on Leo Johnson potentially being the killer, and Lynch and co. certainly make it convincing, as he's a piece of shit who beats up his wife. Why wouldn't he be a prime suspect in murdering Laura Palmer? Shelly Johnson is also in a love affair with local bad boy Bobby Briggs, who was the boyfriend of Laura Palmer. Bobby Briggs is a character who grew on me. At first he is a stereotypical jock type character, and I wasn't as convinced with Dana Ashbrook's performance in the first couple of episodes. But I found he got more comfortable in the role as the show went along. One moment that stood out to me is his therapy breakdown scene with Dr. Jacoby (played by the great Russ Tamblyn) in that is shows that Bobby is insecure who really cared about Laura and knew she wanted to die. Dana Ashbrook is very convincing in that scene as his Bobby breaks down crying over memories of Laura. I am also fond of the love affair between Ed Hurley (Big Ed for short) and Norma Jennings. Everett McGill and Peggy Lipton have great chemistry with each other as Ed and Norma, and feel like they are meant to be together despite being married to other people (Ed with Nadine and Norma with Hank). Always enjoyed their scenes together, and they never felt too cheesy or sentimental. As I said most of that contributes to the performances and chemistry between Everett McGill and Peggy Lipton. Big Ed also plays a role in the investigation of Laura Palmer, as he is apart of the Bookhouse Boys with Sheriff Harry Truman, Deputy Hawk (played by Michael Horse), and James Hurley (played by James Marshall). Donna Hayward (played by Lara Flynn Boyd) is the best friend of Laura Palmer, who soon begins a romance with James Hurley, who Laura was having an affair with before her death. Together they do their own investigation into Laura's death. Let's cut to the chase; James Hurley sucks. He is a boring and dull character that is played with the emotional range of a tree by James Marshall. And I am not a fan of the relationship between Donna and James. If I was to pick a subplot that I feel is the weakest of Season 1, it would be Donna and James' storyline. But it is still better than James' Season 2 storyline. I'll get to that. Oh boy I'll get to that. Audrey Horne, daughter of Ben Horne, is a character who is quite mysterious at first as well as mischievous. The more we learn of Audrey, the more we see that she isn't the spoiled rich girl we initially thought, but someone who never got any real love from her father and deep down cares and wants to help people. Sherilyn Fenn is great in the role. Her relationship with Dale Cooper is also great. Every scene with them I found a joy to watch. Miguel Ferrer as abrasive FBI forensic analyst Albert Rosenfield is always a joy to watch whenever he shows up, and was a great foil for Harry Truman. One of my favorite recurring characters. I especially love his monologue in the second season that he gives to Harry Truman. Another character I would like to mention is Dr. Lawrence Jacoby. Russ Tamblyn is terrific as the eccentric therapist.
Standout scenes in Season 1 included Cooper's dream in episode 3 where he sees Mike/One-Armed Man (played by Al Strobel) explaining his former relationship with BOB and how he saw the light, as well as reciting the Fire Walk With Me passage. We see BOB speak for the first time, vowing to "kill again". And then we get our first look at the Red Room where Cooper is sitting down and has aged. We get introduced to The Man From Another Place/Arm (played by Michael J. Anderson) and a version of Laura Palmer. "The gum you like is going to come back in style" says The Arm in a strange and disjointed voice. "I feel like I know her, but then sometimes my arms bend back" says Laura Palmer in a disjointed voice. And then The Arm dances to a jazz instrumental. It is the first instance where Twin Peaks enters strange and weird territory, and that this wouldn't be your typical TV show. There is also the scene where we are first introduced to BOB (outside the accidental mirror reflection in the pilot episode) and he is hiding under Laura's bed and scares Sarah. It is a scene in the wrong hands might be cheesy and the idea of it is cheesy, but how Lynch directs the scene makes it genuinely creepy and kind of terrifying. But I think that is what I love about Twin Peaks. Many scenes in the show could came across totally cheesy and too over the top, but they worked because of Lynch and the other great directors/writers on the show. Leland Palmer jumping onto Laura's coffin at first is kind of funny. The idea of a man just jumping on a coffin. But then you think about the grief Leland is going through and Ray Wises' performance, and it's sad. Same goes for when he breaks down and dances in The Great Northern Hotel. Everyone, including Ben Horne and Catherine Martell is laughing at him, and maybe the audience laughs at first too, but then we see Audrey empathize with Leland and feel his pain, which then the audience starts to feel Leland's pain too. It's incredible. I also love the One Eyed Jack scenes where Cooper and Big Ed go undercover. Cooper pretends to be an accountant for Leo Johnson and confronts Jacque Renault (played by Walter Olkewicz) where he gets him to admit that he and Leo slept with Laura and gave her drugs. Also that Leo tied up Laura and a bird started pecking on her arm, which Leo then put a poker chip in her mouth and said "Bite the bullet, baby!". The way Jacque says it is so sleazy and disgusting, but also Walter Olkewicz in his short time on screen was extremely memorable and gave a great performance. And then Leland Palmer killed him because he thought he killed Laura. I love how that scene was shot. You don't see Leland at first, but black gloved hands and a pillow going over Jacque, and then when Jacque dies you see Ray Wise as Leland let out an inaudible cry. I said it before and I will continue to say, and that is Ray Wise is fantastic. Another stellar scene is where he confesses to the murder of Jacque Renault in Season 2 when he's briefly arrested. Just incredible acting.
Season 2 starts off great. Sure there is some pacing issues and storylines that aren't as compelling. The Audrey kidnapped and drugged storyline at One Eyed Jack I didn't find that compelling and kinda dragged on until it ended rather anticlimactically. I did like Michael Park's performance as Jean Renaut though, but Victoria Caitlin as Blackie I found quite poor and not that compelling. There is also the storyline with Donna and reclusive agoraphobic Harold Smith that I also didn't find all that compelling. I think Lara Flynn Boyd did her best to make does scenes watchable, but I found Lenny Von Dohlen's performance as Harold Smith to be very hammy and over the top. There was still the murder mystery behind Laura Palmer's death. And foreshadowing of stranger things to come. Like The Giant (played by Carel Struycken) giving Cooper cryptic clues to who the killer of Laura is. As well as Major Garland Briggs (played by Don Davies) getting more of a focus. One of his most memorable lines was "The owls are not what they seem" that he gave to Cooper. I also love the scene with Major Briggs and his son Bobby in the RR diner in the first episode of Season 2 where the Major says he had a vision that he saw himself seeing Bobby be in a state of "deep harmony and joy" in his future, which Bobby gets emotional hearing it. It's another scene that highlights that Bobby deep down isn't just a bad boy and has potential to do good (which The Return may answer that question). Leland Palmer gets more focus. He also has white hair and is more cheerful after spending most of Season 1 in emotional distraught over the death of his daughter Laura. One of my favorite scenes is him singing "Mairzy Doats" when entering Ben Horne's office, and then Ben and his brother Jerry start dancing. It's a wonderfully bizarre scene. As well as his renditions of "Get Happy" and "Getting to Know You". Ray Wise is incredible as Leland Palmer. He has so much range throughout both Season 1 and 2, as well as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (which I'll talk about when I review it). He pulls off the transformation from distraught grieving father to happy go lucky tremendously. Twin Peaks had started to lose ratings and ABC thought it was over the fact that Lynch and Frost had drawn out the "Who Killed Laura Palmer" mystery. So ABC pressured Lynch and Frost to reveal who the killer was. Which they did in the 7th episode of the season "Lonely Souls". It was revealed that BOB had possessed Leland Palmer. How David Lynch directed this sequence was breathtaking. It starts in The Roadhouse where Cooper and The Log Lady Margaret (played by the always fantastic Catherine E. Coulson) are sitting at a table. The always hypnotic, dreamy and beautiful Julee Cruise is performing on stage. And then there is a bright white light, and Cooper sees The Giant on stage. "It is happening again" The Giant utters. And then fade into the Palmer living room. Leland Palmer is fixing his tie in the mirror when we see BOB in the reflection. Maddy Ferguson (also played by Sheryl Lee), Leland's niece, comes into the living room and sees Leland/BOB. She tries to run, but Leland/BOB grabs her. What follows is one of the most disturbing sequences in television where Leland/BOB punches Maddy and also kisses/gropes her before killing her. The Leland scenes are filmed as normal, but the BOB scenes are slowed down with brighter lighting. Ray Wise is excellent in this scene. He is terrifying while possessed by BOB, but for a brief moment he snaps back into himself and cries for Laura, but then turns back into BOB again. Ray Wise's performance as Leland is one of the best performances I've ever seen, and this was another incredible example to his range as an actor. Sheryl Lee is also excellent in this scene as the terrified and innocent Maddy Ferguson. I never talked much about Maddy and Sheryl Lee's performance earlier. What I loved about Maddy is that she was the complete opposite of Laura and truly innocent, where Laura was more flawed and a tortured soul. You really feel for Maddy in this scene.
So the killer was revealed. The mystery was gone. How would it affect Twin Peaks? Well the next two episodes are still great overall, as Ray Wise is still in the show and the episodes center around him as BOB. The suspense and tension of when Cooper and everyone would find out he is BOB is incredible. There is an incredible scene with terrific acting by Ray Wise in episode 8 "Drive with a Dead Girl" where Cooper and Harry Truman confront Leland/BOB in the Great Northern Hotel about Ben Horne "being the murderer of Laura", which Leland at first dismisses but then starts getting emotional. He goes outside the room to cry, but then his crying turns to laughter. Cooper follows him, and Leland/BOB once again puts on the facade of being concerned about Ben being the "killer". The last shot is Leland/BOB's sinister stare at the camera. Episode 9 "Arbitrary Law" featured Cooper and everyone finding out that BOB is Leland. We call back to Laura Palmer in the Red Room whispering "My father killed me". Cooper still has everyone believing Ben Horne is the killer and has Leland as Ben's defendant, but then tricks Leland/BOB and locks him in a holding cell. Leland/BOB of course goes crazy, reciting the Fire Walk With Me passage and that he will "kill again". Now I do wish they dragged it out another episode or two as it is a bit rushed, but thanks to Ray Wise's performance the episode still works and is quite gripping. The final scene with him and Cooper is fantastic where BOB escapes Leland and Leland has to confront the horror that he killed his own daughter Laura (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me makes it even more dark and heartbreaking). Cooper then tells him to look for the light, and Leland reunites with Laura before dying. It is a bittersweet and also in a way beautiful scene, as at the end of day Leland didn't kill Laura by choice, it was BOB possessing him. Both Ray Wise and Kyle MacLachlan are incredible in the scene. And then the show starts to become uneven. The mystery was gone, and Leland Palmer is dead. BOB possesses an owl, waiting for his next move. David Lynch left the show as a showrunner due to being forced to reveal who the killer was and wrap up that whole storyline.
The show went through the motions for the next several episodes. Some bad subplots were made more of a focus. The Super Nadine (played by Wendy Robie) nonsense was still around, and just as ridiculous and stupid as ever. Then we get James Hurley leaving Twin Peaks and he comes across and has a love affair with a femme fatale type woman named Evelyn Marsh (played by Annette McCarthy) who is abused by her husband, but she and a person named Malcolm who pretends to be her brother plan to kill her husband, and James gets caught in the middle of it. It is a trainwreck and the worst storyline in Twin Peaks. The acting by both James Marshall and Annette McCarthy is horrendous. The storyline has nothing to do with the overall plot, and then it ends pretty anticlimactically. When the storyline ended I was glad to see the back of it. Another storyline that dragged out and I wasn't a fan of was the Lucy (played by Kimmy Robertson), Andy and Dick (played by Ian Buchanan) storyline on who Lucy will choose as the father of her unborn baby. I will say that Ian Buchanan's performance as pretentious and condescending Dick Tremayne grew on me and he was the best thing about that storyline. But it was very obvious that Andy was going to be the father, and the whole storyline was kinda pointless and just filler to give Harry Goaz and Kimmy Robertson more to do on the show. A storyline some don't like but I quite enjoyed (mostly due to the performance of Richard Beymer) was the Ben Horne Civil War storyline where in his head he was General Robert E. Lee. Audrey, Jerry, Bobby and Dr. Jacoby all get involved in the storyline. It is over the top and a bit silly, but I found it fun. Again mostly due to Richard Beymer, who is a delight whenever he is on screen. There was also David Duchovany's transgender character Denise Bryson showing up for a couple of episodes as the DEA agent that comes to Twin Peaks when Cooper is briefly relieved of his duties in the FBI. Denise Bryson was quite groundbreaking at the time, as there wasn't many positive trans characters on television. Duchovany is great in the role as well as his chemistry with Kyle MacLachlan's Cooper. Another great recurring character that appeared sporadically during Season 2 was FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole, who was played by David Lynch himself. Gordon Cole is hard of hearing, wears large hearing aids and talks very loudly, and often mishears what people say which results in very comic responses. David Lynch is great as Gordon Cole. Always loved when he showed up. I also loved his scenes with Shelly Johnson at the RR Diner where he is smitten with her and can also hear her perfectly. David Lynch and Madchen Amick had great chemistry together. But overall the show become directionless and uneven. It was like the writers and also Mark Frost were throwing things at the wall and seeing what would stick, and the absence of David Lynch (aside from his appearance as Gordon Cole) was felt.
Thankfully the show got back on track in the last couple of episodes of Season 2. The show wrapped up or focused less on the more mediocre/bad filler storylines, and focused more on the more interesting storylines,like the mystery of The Black Lodge and the Windom Earle plot which both tied into each other. Windom Earle (played by Kenneth Walsh) is a former FBI Agent and former best friend of Dale Cooper. He plays a chess game with Cooper and other mind games. As well as tortures Leo Johnson, who was in a comatose state for the first half of Season 2 but then snapped out of it and attempted to murder Shelly. Bobby of course came to rescue and Leo fled, and soon found himself in the company of Windom Earle who put an electrified collar over his neck. For the first time in the show I sympathized with Leo Johnson. Yes he was a piece of shit, but seeing him get tortured against his will made me feel a little sorry for Leo. Not even Shelly and Bobby treated him as badly as Windom Earle did when he was in a comatose state. The character of Windom Earle I didn't know to make of at first. I really liked the build up to meeting his character. But then when he does show up he is very over the top and campy who wears different disguises. I did eventually get used to him in the last few episodes, and his character did become more interesting. There was also his plan for the Miss Twin Peaks pageant that also involved The Black Lodge. Although not every storyline in the last couple of episodes was solid. The show introduced love interests for both Audrey Horne and Dale Cooper, which the show teased that there might be a romance between the two. Although at the time Kyle MacLachlan was going out with Lara Flynn Boyle, who apparently got jealous of Sherilyn Fenn and put an end to the potential relationship between Cooper and Audrey. Kyle MacLachlan also said he was uncomfortable with the idea of Cooper dating Audrey, as she was a teenager and he felt the relationship worked better as platonic. Billy Zane played John Justice Wheeler, a business partner of Ben Horne who very quickly fell in love with Audrey. Heather Graham played Annie Blackburn, Norma's sister who Cooper quickly falls in love with Cooper. None of these relationship work, as there is very little chemistry. Also I never liked the idea of Cooper getting romantically involved with someone. I'd be fine if he got with Audrey as he had chemistry with Sherilyn Fenn, but I also liked that there relationship was platonic for the most part. Annie did serve more of a purpose than John Justice Wheeler, as Windom Earle took her into the Black Lodge. Still I disliked how forced those romances felt, especially Cooper and Annie.
David Lynch returned as a director for the season finale and at the time series finale "Beyond Life and Death", and it's an unforgettable piece of television that is both weird and wonderful. It starts with build up with Cooper and Harry Truman figuring out where the location of The Black Lodge is, and it is revealed to be near a circle located near sycamore trees in the woods. There is the Log Lady Margaret who helps through her log. And Ronnette Pulaski, who partied with Laura, Leo and Jacque the night Laura was murder, and also escaped BOB. She also was in a coma in Season 1 and woke up to a dream of BOB and a creepy screaming Laura. Another unforgettable sequence in early Season 2. There is also a funny scene where Pete Martell thinks the Log Lady stole his truck, screaming "Grand Theft Auto". But it of course was Windom Earle disguised as the Log Lady. Windom Earle takes Annie to the circle located near the sycamore trees, and a red curtain appears and they go into The Black Lodge. Cooper soon goes after them. And then things get weird and a bit confusing. We start with Cooper entering The Black Lodge and strobe lights flicker. Jimmy Scott sings the hypnotic jazz "Sycamore Trees", while we cut back and forth between a close up of Cooper's face, The Man From Another Place/Arm dancing and Jimmy Scott. It sets the mood and atmosphere for what is a truly memorable and unforgettable series of events inside The Black Lodge. I can't do this sequence justice, so I'm just going to briefly touch on some of my favorite shots/scenes from the episodes. Cooper finding evil doppelgangers of The Arm and Laura Palmer, and the shot of evil Laura screaming. That scene was creepy and unsettling. Sheryl Lee has a fantastic scream. Also BOB taking Windom Earle's soul, and him and evil Cooper laughing together. And then when Cooper gets out of The Black Lodge, we notice something strange about him. He is brought back to his hotel room by Harry Truman and is seen to by Dr. Hayward. He goes into the bathroom to "brush his teeth". Cooper looks in the mirror and smashes his head on the mirror, and BOB is in the reflection. "How's Annie" he repeats with a sinister laugh. That was the ending of Twin Peaks for 25 years. I could imagine how frustrating some people were by that cliffhanger.
Twin Peaks was and still is a groundbreaking television show. I think the rise of television shows becoming more compelling dramas, taking more risks and following less of a formula started with Twin Peaks. There was nothing else like Twin Peaks in 1990. It was a game-changer that will continue to stand the test of time in my opinion. David Lynch is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, and his directed episodes of Twin Peaks stand among his best works. I would also like to mention Mark Frost, who I think contributed to helping structure the story in television form, as Lynch was more familiar with film rather than television. Lynch brought the weird and the visual style, but Frost brought the experience of writing television. Together they made a truly unforgettable TV show.
