Angelo Badalamenti's sweet theme begins as smokestacks billow, and a robin assures the viewer of the presence of love in a little town located through the pines, just this side of sanity...or reality. Either way you choose to look at it (and the choice is yours), every episode of this groundbreaking television show grabbed the viewer in its seductive and destructive web... and wouldn't let go. "Twin Peaks" began a string of weird television shows in the early 90's, but, unlike those later shows, "Twin Peaks" would be beloved and remembered long after it was off the air. "Twin Peaks" has earned a spot next to "The Twilight Zone", "Night Gallery", and "Star Trek" in terms of pioneering television and in terms of a cult following deserving of conventions and fanzines. I believe that F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper is one of the most enjoyable and inspiring characters in television history. His simple passions and quirky behavior was a welcomed sight in our living rooms every week during the shows very short run in the late 80's and early 90's. "Twin Peaks" started out on fire, gaining exposure during the pilot's multiple airings. The mystery of Laura Palmer's murderer practically invented conversations at the water cooler. However, the shows second season was scheduled to air on Saturday nights at 10:00, an advertiser's no-man's land. And, with the shows fan base out on the late weekend nights, the shows network decided to cancel it. David Lynch, the shows co-creator, directed a theatrically released film prequel to "Twin Peaks", showing all who missed the shows airings what really happened to Laura the week of her death, and, finally, her killer. As a huge fan of "Twin Peaks", I will tell you that the circle of events that occur within the story enable the viewer to relive the events over and over, each time around with more intensity than before. When you view the movie prequel, diving right back into the series becomes the natural path, allowing one to see things again for what they really are... or aren't. I highly recommend owning the entire series. Without a network messing up your viewing time, you can see the mystery unfold at your own pace. Viewing "Twin Peaks-Fire Walk With Me", along with the television pilot and the entire 29 episode series (about 33 hours all together), is the most fascinating and satisfying viewing experience that the entertainment industry has offered me so far. The music, costumes, editing, acting, and direction all received Emmy nominations, leading one to conclude that "Twin Peaks" not only satisfied the public, but the critics as well. An incredible achievement, "Twin Peaks" is my all-time favorite television show.
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rosenfield10-116 September 2004
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lostintwinpeaks21 June 2002Possibly one of the best TV dramas ever, "Twin Peaks" managed to be a challenging and unique (not to mention intelligent) piece of television.
Daring and provocative, it shattered the boundaries of most standard soap operas/TV dramas.
Terrified of it by a child (and in particular by BOB) I have since returned to it on DVD, only to find myself just as terrified and intrigued by it as I was when I was twelve years old and crouching behind my late grandmother's couch.
A piece of groundbreaking television history... WATCH IT -
paulklenk3 April 2007The opening credits and music grabbed me right away. That sad, cool, reflective music. The log being cut in the mill. The bird.
This is a show that you know, as you are watching it, that it is special and destined to become a classic. What a wonderful memory. One of my favorite moments in the first episode is Andy crying, and later telling the girl not to tell the sheriff. It really brought humanity to Laura's death.
Can't wait to one day own the whole series on DVD, and one summer night, start watching the episodes one by one.
Another amazing aspect of the opening episode is the many types of characters and settings involved, just within the town of Twin Peaks. The school, the lodge, the sheriff office, the lake, the railroad tracks. It was almost as if several shows and genres were evident in one episode. Something for everyone. But it still tied together so amazingly. -
HenryHextonEsq11 December 2000One of the truly great, original TV dramas, Twin Peaks was far from perfect; however, quite a few of its run of 29 episodes undoubtedly were. Speaking just after watching the finale, I'm torn between satisfaction at a superb final episode, and tenterhooks over what is a stark cliffhanger ending. The initial Laura Palmer murder case is unravelled expertly, by episode 16, with many great surreal and shocking moments, notably the scenes involving Bob. The show's brand of off-the-wall deadpan humour was perhaps at its best in the initial episodes, for example, Cooper's rock-throwing in the woods and Leland's bizarre, impromptu dance with Ben and Jerry Horne. The main characters were all well introduced; Kyle MacLachlan is on career-best acting form here as Agent Dale Cooper. Jack Nance is lovably gruff and likeable as Pete Martel, while Ben and Jerry Horne are wonderfully brought to life by fine writing, and acting from Richard Beymer and David Patrick Kelly. The strange spirit-like characters are introduced aptly; the Giant, the backwards-dancing Dwarf, One-armed Man, the bizarre Tremonds and killer Bob. Ray Wise deserves much credit for a sensitive portrayal of Leland. Once the initial mystery is more than adequately resolved, the focus was lost for a while. For around 7 episodes, the series comparatively treaded water: the comedy became more laboured and conventional, some tedious storylines dragged on and on - eg. Evelyn Marsh, Andy/Dick; the guiding hand of David Lynch was missing. These episodes are still very watchable; as other aspects of the mystery are mused over, but things move slowly. There is welcome characterisation of Major Briggs, but the acting and writing is at times more ordinary. While still a comfortably above-par TV show, the sublime atmosphere had been squandered to an extent. The arrival in the town of Windom Earle and, later, Annie Blackburn saw the stakes rise once more. Windom Earle is a truly sadistic, convincingly evil character, with a dry wit, wild expression and an effective penchant for disguise. His contribution to the series is immense, as a new focus is provided; climaxing with the stunning end to the penultimate episode at the Miss Twin Peaks Contest. Annie Blackburn also helps to enliven the programme, proving a subtle and effective character. Gordon Cole, played by David Lynch himself is a wonderful creation, up with Pete Martel, Albert Rosenfeld and Jerry Horne in the comic mould. I love that whole episode (c.25) where he enjoys life in the cafe, contemplating writing an "epic poem" about the wonderful apple pie and kissing Shelly in front of her boyfriend Bobby; "what you are witnessing is an intimate moment between two consenting adult human beings!" or somesuch quote.
Ben Horne is well developed; the Civil War stuff fails to amuse quite as it should, yet once he is rehabilitated, the change in his character is refreshing and nicely handled. Twin Peaks is a beautiful series aesthetically, from the wonderful titles sequence, Angelo Badalamenti's stunningly evocative music scores to some wonderfully innovative photography and direction - usually in those episodes helmed by Lynch. Got to say the female quota of Twin Peaks is ample, with the beauty of Madchen Amick, Sheryl Lee, Lara Flynn Boyle and especially Sherilyn Fenn, adding poignancy. General negative comments seem irrelevant considering the overall quality of the series, but it's true tricks were missed. With the characters they had, some more imaginative situations and wit wouldn't have gone amiss. The comic possibilities of having Jerry Horne and, say, Gordon Cole interacting were unfulfilled. Some of the characters were bland - the spotless Norma Jennings, James Hurley, Audrey's boyfriend in the later episodes - and some failed to really work - Nadine I feel added little to the series.
The very final episode is, I would say, as good a series ending as they could have come up with; tantalisingly placed, as the battle between the good and evil forces in Twin Peaks is hotting up. I declare that there are some brilliant images and directorial touches in that final one. There were however loose ends untied; what happened to Leo, Audrey and especially Ben Horne and Doc Hayward? A moot point is the absurdity of its ill-availabilty on video; I wouldn't have caught it if it weren't for the Sci-Fi Channel UK. Got to say though, that while harbouring some fantastical elements, Twin Peaks is assuredly far from the realm of Sci-Fi. It is, to be pointless categorical, like a surreal soap opera with a strong flavour of its own. There are so many great scenes, moments, lines and nuances, coupled with a magnificently dreamy, tenderly moving atmosphere when at its best, that I must say Twin Peaks ranks pretty much up there with the finest TV dramas of all - Edge of Darkness & The Singing Detective. Majestic it is. Rating:- ***** (out of *****) -
pekinman13 June 2008I watched the entire Twin Peaks series (the pilot and 28 episodes) over a period of 4 days this week, imagine my state of mind. I hadn't seen it since the original broadcasts in 1990-91. I have thought of it often over the years and seeing it now has reaffirmed my initial response of almost 20 years ago; hypnotic fascination during Season One, hopeful interest at the beginning of Season Two, glassy-eyed boredom in the middle episodes of same, and, at the end, frustrated excitement and even anger that we have been deprived of the continuation of the series into at least a third season.
The first season of Twin Peaks is generally regarded as splendid, a magical, disturbing and moving recreation of a small community of us flawed and beautiful humans. The second season starts well but then chugs and splutters, the tires go flat in the middle episodes only to be pumped up and set back on the road going full-tilt only to crash into the wall of oblivion, not to be renewed for a third season.
It is amazing to me how obviously Lynch and his team dropped the ball after Laura Palmer's murderer was revealed. Once that was done the writers launch into the most sophomoric and tedious bilge about Ben Horne going cuckoo and reliving the Civil War in his office at The Great Northern Hotel, high school pep-rally stuff, and it killed the show dead. This sorry sub-plot was coupled with another one about the most uninteresting character in the series, pouty James Hurley and his Harley. I was tired of his James Dean imitation after episode one, but to be pummeled by two episodes about him and some rich bitch trying to frame him for murder is too much. The poor guy is too stupid for words, as Laura Palmer noted early on in her diary. These 4 middle episodes are pointless and hideously boring and were, I have no doubt, responsible for the loss of a substantial number of the loyal audience at the time. To add insult to injury we are also subjected to a new guest star in the form of the worst actor known to man, Billy Zane. This over-exposed, fatuous vanity-victim is brought in to relieve Audrey Horne of her virginity, then flies off in his private jet, piloted by his perfect self, to fight the ecology war in Brazil or something (burning tons of jet fuel in the process no doubt.) I was bored stiff by these three interminable, adolescent and totally non-Lynch-like sub-plots.
Things revive markedly as the writers got their heads together and made the wicked genius Windom Earl the centerpiece of the end of the season. We get to The Dark Lodge in the end. But this was truly The End as the show was canceled. I wanted to see The White Lodge where love triumphs over evil, as it is we are left with evil rampaging through Twin Peaks for eternity. I find that sad.
We'll never know how Agent Cooper deals with Bob residing in his head, or if Norma and Big Ed get married or if Ben was conked dead or just cuckoo (again) by Dr Hayward, or whether Audrey and Pete Martell were blown to jell-o in the bank vault or whether Leo's teeth hold out keeping the tarantulas at bay until Sheriff Truman and Andy come to his rescue and take him to the Home.
Why did David Lynch allow his 3/4 brilliant creation to dribble away like it did? Where was his commitment? I love his work but I will not forget how he left me in the lurch with the unfinished Twin Peaks, the short-lived prodigy of television, gone down in undeserved television ignominy.
What might have been if the commitment had been as strong as the initial vision. You're better'n that Dave. Dammit. -
MaxBorg8913 June 2007Nowadays it is commonly accepted that American television is becoming better than movies, with edgier stories and more complex characters, both in mainstream (CSI, 24, Lost) and cable shows (The Sopranos, Six Feet Under, Deadwood). Twenty years ago, on the other hand, such a thing was unthinkable, at least until Twin Peaks aired.
Created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, the series takes its name from a small American town where a grisly murder has been committed. The victim is local beauty Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee), a girl who seemed to have a perfectly normal life, only it turns out that's not the case: she had a lot of secrets, and in one of them lies the key to finding her killer. That assignment is given to Special FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Lynch regular Kyle MacLachlan), who quickly earns the trust and friendship of Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) and the rest of Twin Peaks'inhabitants thanks to his extraordinary deductive methods and fascination for the calm and peace around him. And he is going to need all the help he can get, as Laura's murder is just one of the many odd things causing trouble in the heavenly surroundings: there's Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer) and his dangerous connection with a casino/brothel known as One-Eyed Jack's; there's his daughter Audrey (Sherilyn Fenn), whose interest in Agent Cooper might put her in a worse situation than she thinks; there's the dispute over the Packard sawmill between Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) and Josie Packard (Joan Chen); and there are the bizarre creatures who populate Cooper's dreams, people like The Man From Another Place (a backwards-talking dwarf, played by Michael J. Anderson) or the terrifying Bob (Frank Silva), suggesting that most of the events in Twin Peaks may not have a rational explanation.
Back in 1990, a series like this had never been done before, so its success was a little unexpected (sadly, ratings dropped during the second season, leading to the show's premature cancellation). Now it can be seen as an anticipation of that great TV creation that is HBO: the dead interacting with the living (Six Feet Under), ambiguous characters and even more ambiguous relationships between them (Deadwood), a consistent balance between moving and funny, beautiful and shocking (The Sopranos), the seeds of all those elements can be found in Twin Peaks, a show that didn't hesitate when it came to playing with the format or crossing the line in terms of mature content (death, drug abuse, rape) or on-screen violence (the ending of Episode 8, where one of the villains is shown at the peak of his abilities, is still one of the most audacious scenes ever shown on mainstream television). More than any other series, it represents the seamless merger of big and small screen, a fact that is underlined by Lynch's decision to further explore the story in a feature film after the last episode had aired. Fans of the visionary filmmaker will find plenty of his recurring themes, some a direct reference to his previous works (the ugliness lying underneath the apparent perfection, as seen in Blue Velvet), others a hint of things to come (the duality of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, here embodied by Lee, who plays both the deceased Laura and her cousin).
As always with the Eraserhead director, the acting is exceptional: MacLachlan and Lee are the standouts, the former playing his best role to date, a cunning combination of palpable vulnerability and impeccable wit, the latter shining with a double performance that should have been the beginning of a great career (alas, apart from a minor role in John Carpenter's Vampires, she hasn't done much since). The supporting cast (Ontkean, Laurie, Lara Flynn Boyle and Ray Wise in particular) adds depth and emotion, making some episodes the most affecting ever seen on a TV screen. As for the guest stars, not all of them are well known, but every single one brings something special to the series: the most notable cameos include a then unknown Heather Graham, a pre-X-Files David Duchovny (a quite funny and ironic contrast to Fox Mulder) and Lynch himself as a half-deaf FBI Regional Chief (one of the show's best characters).
Those interested in American TV simply have to give Twin Peaks a look: it might be too weird or unsettling for some (but then again, that's always the case with Lynch's work), but it remains a landmark in contemporary television, and played a vital role in making the US small screen what it is today. -
Just caught up and watched this for the first time. Damn... this is a straight up masterpiece of television!
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Quinoa198414 April 2007Twin Peaks, much like David Lynch's own Mulholland Drive and Blue Velvet, among other great works of his, examines the main notion, idea and scope behind what it is meant to conventionally be. Twin Peaks is a murder-mystery show, yes, but this is not even scratching the surface as an identifying measure to say what the show is. Another explanation, as if it were possible, is that it is ABOUT mystery, and in the case of murder of life. That might seem a little too preachy or didactic, but as one goes deeper into the series, and deeper into the Black Lodge, and deeper into every single backwards-ass character on the show, a pattern emerges. Abstractions are Lynch's life blood, and even in the weirdest moments of the show he and Mark Frost, along with their writers and directors, make Twin Peaks a collection of abstractions, but at the same time making them as much as possibly within reach of human emotion. It's one of the rare times that the kind of artful penetration into what is essentially good, essentially evil, and even essentially gray-in-area in human beings that usually presides in cinema is let out, practically in each episode, like some kind of feverish worm that crawls in your mind and won't stop...Maybe it's the owls.
But aside from the many, many, many layers to the show, to the dynamics between FBI Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLaughlin in his most recognizable role) and those he relates to everyday as well as in his dreams and Tibetan-inspired visions (the classic being the quintessential dream with the garbled-talking little-person), the teenagers with their own plots of neuroses and dramas and higher ambitions and darker demons, as well as those you'd least expect- the quiet ones- not to mention the ones residing on top in the little crevices we dare not usually seek out in small towns (i.e. the prostitution ring fronted by Mr. Horne), it's just a damn-well entertaining program. It's a superlative crossbreeding of the kind of inimitable melodrama that has the immediate feel of a soap-opera, but far more intelligent in the scope of acting and writing, and the classic absurdities that come up in the best of Lynch's work. Meaning that it will work, more or less, for two different audiences.
Fans of Lynch's will drink it up like damn-good coffee the endless quirks that become commonplace, where characters in any other show would get little no-note roles like the secretary Lucy, or the psychologist Jacobi, or even a classic nut-bar like the Log-Lady, who has the claim that the log is really her dead husband. This, plus enough dream sequences, elaborate lighting and set-design schemes, and the outrageous characterizations make it vintage Lynch/Frost work. For the other crowd, those who don't usually watch Lynch's movies and are more of just the regular TV potatoes, the series has an appeal for its more genuine side, the one that stays true to the ideas and dramatic tensions behind the characters. Even when it gets too weird, and especially in season 2 the feeling starts to get stronger and more nagging, one can't really totally pull away from it, like as if some old man with an old storybook was reading out something almost certifiable, but intriguing all the same. Laura Palmer's death brings out what her life was all about, and really what anyone connected to her is all about; there's an appeal to find out what's behind the lives of others, especially when it balances out between light and dark tendencies.
On top of this, the acting is par for the course top-notch. MacLaughlin, it seems could play this guy in his sleep after a while, and it doesn't take too long in the first season to get past his own odd-sense of awareness (and his regular reliance on dreams and visions) to get closer to solving the dreaded case of Laura Palmer. It's hard for me to think of any one performance that would be a bad one to knock-off, as even the more ludicrous ones- based on their characters- are played as believable as possible. Memorable guest appearances, however, are attributed to the likes of Michael Parks (known from the Tarantino/Rodriguez movies), David Duchovny (an excellent, far cry from Mulder) Frank Silva (as the one who, well, I won't say too much about him), and Lynch himself as the FBI regional chief who's a little hard of hearing. So much can be seen as the blackest of comedy, by turns very sudden and otherworldly and just plain strange (a signing and dancing Mr. Palmer and rows and rows of donuts just bits of what's in store), and it is often very funny. But there's also much in the way of what makes for the best TV: you want to keep watching each week, or now as is the case back to back on DVD, to see how this will turn out, however f***ed up it might get. Simply, it has something, if only in parts, for everybody/
So get yourself some pie and coffee, make sure to speak backwards and forwards again, and don't underestimate the power of a giant with some clues on hand. Twin Peaks is a world of secrets unveiled, and secrets that maybe shouldn't be unveiled yet sought after, and there's enough to keep fans talking for years to come as one of the great 'cult' show in modern TV. -
eugenia_loli25 July 2008Warning: *Some spoilers are discussed*.
"Twin Peaks", is a surreal thriller, serialized for the TV, by acclaimed writer and director David Lynch. The show is seemingly about the murder of teenager Laura Palmer, but eventually it becomes apparent that it's about good and evil and the duality of everyone, wrapped in a paranormal way. In many ways, "Twin Peaks" is a lot like "Lost": people who are not what they seem but are interconnected, deep mysteries, and paranormal elements that drive their fans into theory frenzy! "Twin Peaks" did it first: it put people into theory mode, it's just that unfortunately for it, the Internet was not widespread at the time, and so much of the glory was lost in localized conversations (aka the "watercooler show") rather than becoming an international phenomenon.
The first season was almost perfect. It was up to the point, interesting, haunting. I regard the second season being split into two phases: the Laura Palmer investigation, which is a continuation of the first season, and the aftermath after the killer is found. The first phase of the second season is not too bad, but it's apparent that things started to get a bit haywire with the writers, David Lynch having very little involvement with the show, and ABC trying to drive the project. For example, the Harold Smith outdoors-phobic and Japanese investor subplots where useless and silly. But you haven't seen silly yet.
In the second phase, 90% of the plot is downright silly. From the pregnant Lucy and her two silly men, to James and rich lady subplot which had nothing to do with anything else, to James in general being portrayed like a man whore having the hots of four women in 15 days time while at the same time he's supposed to be level-headed (remember, 1 episode is 1 day in the "Twin Peaks" world), to Josie becoming a maid (what the hell?), to Ben Horne becoming crazy and then sane again, to Leo getting controlled by a dog collar (!), to Nadine and mayor's stupid subplots, to David Duchovny guest-starring and appearing in woman's dresses. I mean, the consensus is that "Twin Peaks" lost its audience because the killer was revealed, but the truth is, it's lost its audience because the show lost the plot entirely, all by itself. I could barely sit through and watch the second season's second phase. I would pause it every 10 minutes and go eat something, or check out my email. I just couldn't sit through an entire episode anymore (except the last two where Lynch came back to direct).
The truth is this: "Twin Peaks" should not have had more than 16 episodes. It should have ended when the murderer is revealed, and should have replaced some unneeded subplots with some of the (rare) points found in the second phase, like the Lodges, Cooper getting possessed by BOB after Laura's murderer dies, the army's involvement & Major Biggs etc. And after the series' run, the three movies should have been created, just like Lynch wanted it. Only one movie was shot at the end, because by that time, the peaksmania had died down, exactly because of that disastrous second phase, and so the movie didn't do well in the box office. Maybe these movies should have been tele-movies.
In conclusion, "Twin Peaks" failed because no one could take the step "Lost" writers took with ABC in February 2007: to give an end to the series and not let it go on and on forever like that. If Lynch was to strike such a deal with ABC before he started shooting, then "Twin Peaks" could have become the ultimate series today (both TV and cinema). It's a shame really. -
jacquesf-124 March 2007Twin Peaks... a very famous series - that really deserves all the praise it gets!
The story begins as special FBI agent Dale Cooper (perfectly impersonated by Kyle MacLachlan) comes to the little town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of the local beauty queen, Laura Palmer.
As the series proceed, Laura's killer is eventually found and the main plot line turns and twists to eventually end in a place where you would never expect it to be...
Twin Peaks begins as a crime story with quite a lot of comical moments, the picturesque characters of this little town where everybody knows each other are very nicely sketched out and developed in a very interesting way, most of them having quite a lot of secrets, thus providing secondary story lines that come and go, more or less intertwined with the main one.
As the story proceeds, the comical tone slowly fades away, slight touches of sci-fi and paranormal events come in and as you grow more and more fond of all those lovely people of Twin Peaks, a much darker and intriguing plot comes to the surface, dipping the whole series into an ever more and more mysterious and sometimes even scary atmosphere...
And there suddenly comes the final episode. Of course, everyone expects the final episode to be something special, but no one could expect THIS! I will not get into the details of the story so as not to include any spoilers, but the final episode is a must see! It is a must see! Never ever in my life have I witnessed such an ending!!! surprising, unhappy, happy, good, bad... the ending of Twin Peaks is far beyond that. The only word I can find to describe it is ABSOLUTELY AND UTTERLY NEGATIVE, not leaving the faintest little spark of hope... I was still schocked by the end even a couple of hours after having seen it and still feel somewhat uneasy just recalling it... I admire the person (D. Lynch and M. Frost) who got the idea and - most importantly - had the guts to write a finale like that...
See if you have the guts...
See how far you can go...
See if you can cope with Twin Peaks...
A must see! -
TheLittleSongbird15 November 2014After hearing nothing but great things about Twin Peaks(although there were criticisms of the second season not being as good and some being underwhelmed by the ending) I finally checked out the show and the film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me as somebody who appreciates David Lynch hugely and love almost all his films, and it was time well worth spent. It's true that the first season is better than the second, but that is not to knock the second season because it is still great, if not as well paced and maybe the main plot line was wrapped up a little too quickly(the only negative personally against the series), but the first season is a masterpiece and some of the best television has ever seen. There have been criticisms about the reveal of the final episode being underwhelming, initially it is a head-scratcher but I am with those who considers the episode on the whole one of the scariest episodes seen on television.
Twin Peaks looks incredible, quite easily one of the best-looking TV series personally watched; the photography is so good that you have to check that it's for a television show and not a film and the costumes and sets are colourfully surreal and positively eye catching. Twin Peaks is also one of the best scored television series, the music enhances the atmosphere so well and better than a lot of other shows and it really haunts the mind, again like the visuals it can easily be mistaken for a score written for a film. The dialogue is very thought-provoking with moments of tension and a lot of hilarious humour that has David Lynch's style of humour all over it. The episodes are all compelling and multi-faceted in atmosphere, even the weakest episodes are much better than a lot of TV shows today at their best and worst, while the show tackles a very dark subject with subtle horror, genuinely disturbing scenes like the entire ending, quirky humour that at its best is side-splittingly hilarious and a real emotional wallop.
The characters are not only interesting with more than one dimension to them but more than memorable as well, Agent Cooper and Ben Horne being especially so, sure a few appear, disappear and re-appear but you never forget them. Twin Peaks is superbly directed and acted throughout, with the performances Kyle MacLachlan in his most famous role(perhaps) is at his best and the same can be said for Richard Beymer. Sheryl Lee and Sherilyn Fenn are poignant, Ray Wise is much more sensitive than he is in the film and one mustn't forget the scene-stealer that is Piper Laurie nor Frank Silva as one of the most frightening characters television has ever seen. Strictly speaking the acting is outstanding all round, you'd be hard pressed to find a television series with no actor is bad and with this level of consistency. To conclude, at its best Twin Peaks really is one of the greatest television series ever. The film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me is not as good but is still very good and undeservedly under-appreciated. 10/10 Bethany Cox -
Coventry3 July 2017How does one begin to describe the series that is his absolute favorite and of which he firmly believes that it remains the most genius and unique piece of television heritage of all times? Perhaps with the obvious statement that every single episode is a mini- masterpiece; - a true feast for all senses that puts you in a kind of magical trance throughout its running time and even long after it's finished. I recently finished watching the series integrally for the third time. The first time was when it first aired on Belgian television in the early nineties. Since I was only 11-12 years old around then, many of the surreal aspects and expressionist trademarks were incomprehensible for me, and I also vividly remember that my parents strongly disapproved of me watching a show that dealt with prom queens being murdered and midgets talking backwards! And yet, even though I didn't capture perhaps half of what was going on, I principally remember that I was lured to the screen as soon as I heard the ominous tunes of Angelo Badalamenti's fantastic theme music and gazed at the show in sort of hypnotized state. The second time I watched the whole series was around 10 years ago when I insisted to introduce "Twin Peaks" to my then-girlfriend who never heard of it. She wasn't very enthusiast and gave up after only six or seven episodes of the first season. The relationship didn't last, not coincidentally I reckon, but I did complete the series on my own and became even more obsessed with the events and the many versatile and intriguing characters that live in the titular northwest lumber town. My third viewing naturally got inspired by the news of the new season – "Twin Peaks" is back after 25 years – and the hope that it'll quickly become available here in Europe as well. I'm not in the habit of writing user comments for TV- series, but I felt it was appropriate to make an exception for the greatest one ever made.
"Twin Peaks" is the brain child of master filmmaker David Lynch, and anyone even remotely familiar with his repertoire ("Eraserhead", "Blue Velvet", "Lost Highway") knows that his imagination is unlimited as well as unpredictable, and that his style is inimitable as well as astounding. Even though "Twin Peaks" is far more accessible than the vast majority of Lynch's movies, overall weirdness and unworldly atmosphere remain primary factors in the pilot feature film and all 30 episodes. "Twin Peaks" is at its most brilliant when it's surreal, but the series is equally brilliant when the events are more rational. The basic premise is the search for the murderer of the 17-year-old local beauty Laura Palmer. When her body is discovered, wrapped in plastic nearby a lakeside shore, the sleepy and seemingly idyllic little lumber town is turned upside down and the darkest secrets of several eminent and less eminent town inhabitants gradually come to the surface. The local Sheriff's department, led by Harry S. Truman (that choice of name alone is awesome), receives the help of the slightly eccentric but mainly amiable and coffee-worshiping FBI agent Dale Cooper. How can the solving of only one simple murder case keep you glued to the TV- screen for one and a half seasons, whereas other detective/thriller series solve similar crimes in less than one hour almost every week? The short and simple answer would be that "Twin Peaks" is unlike every other show and every episode brings forward new surprises, unexpected revelations, enigmatic sub plots and dark new edges of familiar characters. The murdered Laura Palmer is a perfect of this herself. When her body is found, we – as well as most of the townsfolk – assume that she was regular teenage girl with normal interests and worries, but a few episodes later it becomes painfully clear that Laura was everything but a prototype teenager. This goes for practically every character and event in "Twin Peaks"; - nothing or nobody is what they seem, making this the most unconventional soap opera ever made. Even when the murder of Laura Palmer is resolved (allegedly the main reason why the viewing rates dropped significantly and the show got canceled), and the story primarily revolves on the cat-and-mouse game between Dale Cooper and his old nemesis Windom Earle, "Twin Peaks" continues to spawn creative and compelling inside stories.
I could easily write a full-length review for each episode or an extended essay on every single supportive character of this show, but nobody like to read that much, right? I'll narrow it down to stating that every tiniest detail is worth discovering and every resident of Twin Peaks is worth getting acquainted with. There's a fantastic balance between nightmarish imagery and comical reliefs, there's the ideal mixture between surrealism and straightforward action/suspense and there's the underlying yet omnipresent ambiance of good versus evil. The episodes directed by David Lynch himself, six in total including the pilot film, are undoubtedly superior to the rest, but every director or cast member that worked on "Twin Peaks" truly surpassed him or herself. Same goes for the downright stellar ensemble cast. Most of these actors and actresses will be forever linked to their characters here, and they can be proud of it too! I'm in love with every woman that lives in Twin Peaks! Since age 11, I had a crush on Donna, Shelly, Audrey, Nora, Laura, Maddy, Josie, Annie, as well as a peculiar fondness for Nadine and the Log Lady. As for the men, well, I'd sure love to have a cup of coffee and a chat with the entire Sheriff's department, the Bookstore Boys, the Northern Hotel management and even the unreliable crooks. The show is more than 25 years old and still doesn't look the least bit dated. Can't wait to see the 2017 season! -
montferrato24 May 2010I have purchased recently in DVD the complete series. I felt it was a duty to watch such a famous show. I was not disappointed. The show has a great quality, and it is weirdness and original sense of humor are just great. However, the show should have ended when the killer of Laura Palmer is found and discovered. The whole second season is actually very bad. There is an abuse of stupid humor and stupid sub-plots in the second season: 1. It is abusive to show us so much the idiotic problems of Lucy Moran and the dim-witted deputy Andy, and the addition of the clothes salesman is not much better. 2. Windom Earle is not at all a good character. It is much of a buffoon, and it is just ridiculous to show him always disguised in fancy dress in a small village. All population in Twin Peaks must be not very clever, because in just 24 hours, a guy like Windom Earle in such a small place as Twin Peaks would have been spotted and discovered very easily. It is just pure buffoonery.in 24 hours everybody would greet Windom: hey, Windon, good morning, again in fancy dress??What a bad ass you are, man¡¡¡ 3. James Hurley is a terrible character. The guy makes no sense at all and it is almost revolting to listen to his utterly idiotic and brainless dialogs. By far the worst character in Twin Peaks. What a disgusting stereotype¡¡¡ 4. The Japanese businessman stunt makes no sense whatsoever, and it is a very poor conception. 5. The reappearance of Andrew, and the fact that Josie ends up as a maid are also ridiculous and inconceivable. 6. The madness of Ben Horne trying to recreate again the American Civil war is just awful. I just couldn't watch it and had to use the remote control of the DVD to go to the next scene. 7. The affair of Audrey Horne with the rich guy in the private jet before flying to Brazil is also grotesque.
And the highly praised end of the series, the final episode, is actually not as good as many say. It is so obvious that they ran out of ideas that the only option possible was to give a shocking and dark end just to make you think and leave the viewer with a sour feeling. However, it is not good enough, and it is not up to the high standards of the first part of the series. I also must say that I was quite disappointed at the sci-fi and paranormal stuff. The character of Bob, that evil spirit that takes over their hosts and commits murders is quite ridiculous. I find pitiful the constant use of a mirror in which we see the "diabolic face" of Bob laughing like a madman. That is not scary. That is just grotesque. Even Low budget horror movies have far more acceptable approaches and far more interesting characters. To know that Laura Palmer was actually killed by an evil spirit who is always behaving like a jester, buffoon or joker and laughing in mirrors (maybe scary for children, because it makes me laugh) is really very bad. We deserved another killer. We deserved a really scary killer, and not just a grotesque and playful demon who lacks ability to scare and convey fear. Bob is ridiculous. Bob lacks a convincing evil background, a personality, and a history. Bob is a very weak stunt, and a very poor attempt at trying to convey "something too scary to be fully explained". Bad. This being said, I would daresay that the series are too overrated. It is good television, it is a good show, and some parts of the first season have an outstanding quality. Indeed very good television and art in its purest form. However, they did not manage to develop properly the wonderful ideas they had, and the show lost quality at full speed. -
lincolnhawk-873772 September 2020I remember Twin Peaks being on TV when I was growing up but didn't watch it; I decided recently to give it a shot, mainly because of the many references made to it in other shows, or in reviews of other shows. I assumed that for a thirty-year-old show to still be referenced so heavily it must have been of considerable quality. I have watched so many recent lazy, unoriginal, formulaic TV shows that I figured going back in time might provide more entertaining viewing. I was right, but it was not all GOOD entertainment. The first few episodes had me intrigued; the feel of the show and some of the characters was just so refreshingly "off" that it was oddly fascinating. It was really the bizarre grieving of the Palmer parents that did the trick for me; the mother and her stop-start wailing and the father sob-dancing, it was just so off-the-wall I loved it. You also had Agent Cooper coming to town and being awestruck by the natural beauty, staring in childlike wonder at the trees, overly appreciative of every little thing in every interaction he had with the local folk, not the standard big-shot FBI character that has been done to death. The first dream scene with the dancing dwarf was entrancing, watching the little guy move in such mysterious ways, I was sold. I thought that the show would be saturated with off-beat touches like this throughout the two seasons and kept watching each episode, hoping to not be disappointed. It was like Lynch had taken the standard soap opera, pushed it down a flight of stairs and when it stumbled back to its feet it was never quite the same, permanently touched in the head.
However, I found that the spell cast upon me in the first few episodes quickly wore off. I start like this to establish that I initially LIKED the show; I didn't come into it wanting to slam it and tear it down, which is what the 10-star reviewers tend to dismiss any negative reviewers as being guilty of. Unfortunately, those genuinely fascinating moments are very few and far between. If the creators had had an off-the-wall, fully formed, single season show in mind and executed it efficiently, it would've really worked for me. The plot would have been tighter, the characters would've remained fresh and the story would've been more cohesive and engaging. Instead, they had this half-formed, quirky spin on a soap opera-slash-murder mystery and dragged it out over two seasons and thirty episodes. By doing so, the refreshingly quirky characters become tired and varying degrees of annoying; it would be like taking some of the bit-part Seinfeld characters like The Wiz or Kenny Bania and giving them hours of dedicated screen time over a two year period, essentially draining them of any comic value through over-saturation. And THAT applies to the few GOOD characters; ones like James, Donna, Josie (to name but a few) become sickeningly irritating. James Marshall plays James Hurley and brings a whole new level to the term "wooden"; he makes Keanu Reeves look animated and layered. Lara-Flynn Boyle plays his girlfriend Donna and was also relatively lifeless, yet these two had massive chunks of screen time over the two seasons, despite bringing virtually nothing to the plot. This was filler of the worst kind. Marshall was inexplicably given a dedicated "road trip" story line which made for truly nauseating viewing. It shows the inadequacies of the creators of the show, incapable of recognizing that they had cast someone with zero charisma or screen presence and then giving him MORE screen time the deeper they went into the show. He should've been killed off as quickly as possible. Much of the casting was truly dire. Eric Da Re as Leo Johnson was terrible, one of the least menacing bad guys of all time. The only satisfying thing about his involvement was when he became a spoon-fed, Frankenstein-like idiot after a shooting. I'm still confused by Harry Goaz's acting as Deputy Andy; I have no idea if this was entirely intentional bad-acting or not. If it was, it became incredibly annoying and distracting extremely quickly. Joan Chen as Josie Packard was comparable to James Marshall in her lack of screen presence and charisma and to Goaz in her total lack of acting ability, to the point where you wonder if it was an intentional gimmick in both cases. Michael Ontkean as Sheriff Harry was another dead-eyed fish of an actor; so many of the main characters were horribly miscast. On the flip side, there WERE some standouts. Piper Laurie as Catherine Martell, Laurie being a legitimate movie actor, most memorable to me in The Hustler opposite Newman. MacLachlan played his role to a T, like Paul Gross in Due South, examples of perfect casting, whether you like the shows or the characters or not. Madchen Amick lit up the screen every time she graced it. Sherilyn Fenn was fantastic; she was the femme fatale that all the men fall for and was entirely believable, whereas Marshall was supposed to be the male equivalent, the ladies' man and was utterly implausible in such a role. The casting was all over the place and added to the overall mess of the show as it inexorably wore on.
The longer it went on, the more it became apparent that Lynch was simply "winging it". He clearly had only a loose semblance of an underlying plot and this became painfully evident once it dragged its way into Season 2. TWENTY-TWO episodes, at least 90% of which was filler. When you have so much filler, you bury any of the good. The theme music that was initially catchy and something you looked forward to hearing becomes maddening when it is filtered heavily throughout every episode for THIRTY episodes. I'm not sure if the 10-star reviewers are writing reviews on a recent revisiting of the show or their memory of when they viewed it decades ago. I know from personal experience that such memories can be exceptionally deceiving. The mind filters out the best moments - for me it would be Leland grief-dancing - and puts a golden haze on the show. I strongly suspect that this is the case; many such reviewers simply refer to their favourite characters like Log Lady, the gimmickiest of characters. I urge 10-star reviewers who are reviewing based on old memories to go back and watch the series again, particularly the second season. Sit through the "plot" lines of thirty-five year old Nadine developing superhuman strength and believing she is a high school student after a head injury again and tell me that is great television. Relive James' road trip if you can. Watch episode after episode after episode of Harry Goaz's' bizarre and deeply confusing performance. For me, it all became sadly tragic that Lynch managed to turn the initial refreshing parody of a soap opera into the banal reality of one. -
mullerjoseph555 September 2004This is one of the shows that I started watching because many people, whose opinions I valued, stated, repeatedly, that I "absolutely must see this." Let me say that I was pretty much hooked from the first scene when they discover the body. The one deputy crying at the body was both touching and kind of funny. It perfectly introduced the entire series which is serious and ridiculous all at once. There is so much to talk about this incredible series which burned too bright to burn for very long.
For starters, Agent Cooper is the single greatest character ever captured on film (go ahead, try and think of a better one). He's brilliant, genuinely caring, incredibly funny, exuberant to the nth degree, unbelievably likable, but also with a sordid past which haunts him. Nobody, but nobody, could have delivered the pie and coffee compliments with so much gusto.
However, he is just the brightest star in the sky. There are so many crazy, yet somehow believable characters that grace Lynch's universe. The swift descent of Ben Horn into madness is sad, pathetic, surreal and hilarious. No other series would have dared contain a man believing that he was General Lee commanding the south at Gettysburg (it also provides the funniest line from the show, when Audrey Horn is talking to his psychiatrist and he remarks that "What he (Ben Horn) needs now is our sympathy, understanding and a confederate victory."). All of the characters create a amazing tapestry where one is genuinely anticipating which character is going to lose it somehow (but one never anticipates correctly). In this reviewers opinion, the plot takes a backseat to the characters which are too strange, or too ordinary but never dull, to exist in any other show anywhere (minus James, who gets irritating right when he starts singing and never stops). Fantastic actors all around with more career launching cameos than any show or movie ever.
Sadly, the second season is not as good as the first, plot-wise, but still is as quirky and entertaining with an unbelievable ending to the series. Many have criticized the show for being excessively intellectual, but I never found the show pedantic or hopelessly cryptic. Rather, it seemed as though David Lynch just decided to employ every weird idea that popped into his febrile mind for the sheer joy of it.
To finish, one needs to watch this show. It's not uniformly brilliant and sometimes just plain weird, but always rewarding and truly one of the landmarks of American television. Go get a nice piece of cherry pie, a cup of coffee, take four days off work and start watching it. -
Ducksnrabbits14 February 2024If you come to Twin Peaks expecting a small town mystery drama, you'll sort of get that, but there's a good chance you won't like it much. If you approach it as a pitch-black comedy disguised as a whodunnit, you'll have a better time. If you don't think the universe is an absurd, confusing place on some level, Twin Peaks just isn't going to make a lot of sense to you.
On several fundamental levels, Twin Peaks is just true to life. Characters and audience get caught up in a mystery about something bad happening to a beautiful girl, and in a bunch of interpersonal subplots, and most of it just doesn't matter. It doesn't even really matter who killed Laura Palmer. The more interesting question is why, and what her death means for her-where did she go when she died? Where did she really live in the first place? What is any of this stuff that seems like reality but mostly plays out arbitrarily and performatively like an episode of "Invitation to Love"? What is base reality? These are the show's real mysteries, and it's preposterous to think they've just been tacked onto the relatively superficial mystery of who killed Laura Palmer to make a buck.
Yes, much of the acting is stylized, and the stylization references 20th century tropes that kids today might view as so dated they're unworthy of comment. That's partially because Twin Peaks and other genre-bending satires broke that stilted culture, and for that we owe it a debt of gratitude. At the same time, Film Noir and live theater both retain a kind of hyper-staginess in their forms, and aren't for everyone. If you're struggling to get past this element to get into the show, it helps to imagine you're giving yourself over into the hands of the director, and it's all a function of the director's care and vision, and not sloppiness or unskillfulness. You gotta trust.
Much of TP's comedy comes from the incongruities of real life. Absurd lightness smashes up against tragic catastrophe. It's baked goods one moment, and death the next, and then it's squeaky curtain runners the next. This is life. TP is uncomfortable for some because it doesn't declare a clear genre, so we don't know what to expect or how we're supposed to feel about anything. This is also life. Is your life a light romantic comedy, or the prelude to stormy tragedy? Nobody knows. We pretend we know, but we don't. Genres are nice because we get to escape that uncertainty, but they're nonsense and lies, mostly. TP teaches us that defaulting to dark comedy is a reasonably safe way of being in the world when you don't know what's coming (and you don't).
Yes, the characters do silly things-eccentric things, dumb things, spastic things-just like people do in real life. Cooper is our hero because he doesn't discriminate, and social constructions are just that, to him. He sees through them, all the way into the bizarre nature of the show's base reality. Talking to a log isn't any weirder than half the things most people do on a daily basis. Lots of people operate under a 99% impression that they are perpetually 18 years old. What's another 1%, really? None of it matters, especially once you pan out into the context of the greater mysteries.
At the same time, some of the characters come off as eccentric in their kindness and decency, their good intentions, open-mindedness and sense of justice. These things do matter enormously in the world of TP. The fact that they come off as quirky is more a testament to the normalization of arbitrary conventions to the point of societal insanity. But in the ominous context of a reality beyond anyone's grasp, and which may very well be a bad one from our perspective, goodness holds up its weird little candles.
Yeah, season 2 drags in the middle, but there are still a lot of enjoyable goodies, even then. Again, it's true to life, wherein we slog through long stretches of banality, where depressing things happen to characters we sympathize with, where the bad guys seem to get the upper hand for awhile, and when we don't feel like we're making much progress towards getting to the bottom of any fundamental mysteries. Just gotta make the most of the little treats, like Duchovny in drag, until the process starts to unlock some answers. TP's base reality is interesting, and worth the effort by the end of season 2. And then in season 3 it gets bananas interesting.
"The buck stopped here." -
The series opens with the body of local beauty Laura Palma being discovered and one could be forgiven that this was going to be another routine murder mystery. There are the expected strange clues such as a letter hidden under the girls nails linking it to a previous crime... which might lead one to think it is a serial killer drama. The local sheriff's department call in the FBI and Agent Dale Cooper is dispatched to town; he is to become the series' protagonist. He starts out investigating the death as he would any other but it isn't long before things turn strange; he has a strange dream that is some how more than a dream and people see a strange man know as Bob. As the investigation continues we learn more about Laura's life and discover that she wasn't as innocent as people thought and was mixed up with some dangerous people; that doesn't mean it was one of them who killed her though. The series is about much more than a murder investigation; it also follows the lives of those affected by it and those around them. There are many subplots involving the personal relationships of the people and their general lives.
This series deserves to be considered a cult classic; creator David Lynch does a great job bringing his strange world to the screen; nothing here is quite normal... even the things that appear to be are just slightly off; for example even though the film is set in the present (at the time it was made) it has a '50s feel to it; as though the town was somehow in the wrong time! The acting from the main cast was spot on; especially Kyle MacLachlan who plays Agent Cooper, Michael Ontkean who plays Sheriff Harry Truman and Sherilyn Fenn who played the sultry Audrey Horne, one of Laura's friends. It isn't the question of who killed Laura Palmer that makes the series so fascinating, that gets solved early in the second season; it is discovering little details about the characters as the series progresses and when it ends you will either be tearing your hair out in frustration or thinking you've just seen something great... or possibly both! -
Created by David Lynch(director of "Eraserhead" and "The Elephant Man") and Mark Frost, "Twin peaks" combines drama, comedy and mystery with some elements of supernatural horror in a unconventional, impressive manner.
The story follows the investigations the agent Dale Cooper to solve the mysterious murder of a beautiful and beloved girl, Laura Palmer, who is seemed as a role-model by almost everyone in the town of Twin peaks. However, things aren't what it seem in "Twin Peaks" and no one is who pretends to be. Many dark secrets of almost all the characters are revealed in every episode, but always in a fascinating, intriguing way. This show caught me since the first episode, until the surprising, disturbing and impressive last episode. This is one of the most artistic TV-shows ever made. All the characters are unique and the performances are great. The music made by Angelo Badalamenti, is great as the show, giving a unique feeling. Many shows tried (like "Lost") tried to be like this one. But for me at least, it never won't be any shows like this. This is a must-see for everyone. -
Twin peaks at first is like a lot of David lynch's work. Let's say you need to watch most of his films 2 times round to get an understanding of them. When I watched the pilot for the first time I felt like I was a part of the twin peaks community. The show does such a great job in combining genres. From the pilot to the last episode of season 2 I was intrigued by everything. I think the reason for me being so intrigued by twin peaks is not quite understanding everything at first and then later on having it all make sense. A big part of twin peaks is the beautiful soundtrack by Angelo badalamente. Without the soundtrack twin peaks I think would be very different as each scene has a stylish song playing to set the scene. For example the black lodge has the arm dancing to badalamete's dance of the dream man. Twin peaks is by far my favourite tv series and really do hope lynch makes a fourth series.
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"Twin Peaks" was a fantastic show that was quite experimental for its time (1990-1991) that at it's worst was better than most everything else on TV. I wish the show could have survived longer, but with an awful second season time slot - Saturday at 10pm - it had no chance. The revelation of Laura Palmer's killer took the wind out of the sails somewhat just nine shows into the second season, but the true theme of Twin Peaks was about the evil in the woods that took the form of the killer and the seamy underbelly of what appeared to be everyday small-town life. The murder of Laura Palmer was just the surface of that. Three somewhat pointless episodes followed the one that revealed Laura's killer, but then the show bounced back with the Windham Earle storyline. Unfortunately many viewers had stopped watching the show by then. Perhaps the lasting legacy of "Twin Peaks" is that it made series with weird subplots, long story arcs, and oddball characters more acceptable to the networks. For example, I don't think that "The X-Files" could have made it to the air in 1993 had it not been for "Twin Peaks" preceding it and succeeding. After all, after a show where there is a dwarf that materializes on a bed, dances, and talks backwards, an alternate reality where clones are created and sent out to the world, and creamed corn as a symbol of suffering, the adventures of Scully and Mulder look as thematically tame as Dragnet. Highly recommended.
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CinefanR16 January 2012"Twin Peaks" must be the best TV series of all time, since even today, 20 years after its first run, there is still nothing like it. This is the strange little town where black coffee, cherry pie, red curtains, the smell of Douglas firs and an ancient evil presence make heaven an interesting place. And of course, "there's always music in the air"
This truly unique blend of mystery, comedy and horror with surreal undertones and deeper layers of symbolism manages to be hilarious, touching and disturbing all together. The music, characters, dialogues and story lines, the visually arresting sequences, the unmistakable directorial approach - everything about the series is so "out of this world". Peculiar and timeless, the mysteries of "Twin Peaks" are irresistible and open to interpretation. -
Twin Peaks started off with enormous popularity, and by the middle of the second season the show began to lose it's fans as it became stranger and stranger. And it is understandable why people stopped viewing. The main question when the show started was "Who killed Laura Palmer?", and after only 17 episodes, the question was answered and the show's plot switched. Characters were also being killed off left and right. This show's progression was too fast for it's own good, and that's what probably led to it's downfall...that and the second season which was a big let down compared to the first.
Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) is one of the most beloved residents of the small town of Twin Peaks, so it comes as a huge shocker when she is found dead. Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle McLaughlan) is called in to town to help with the case, and the possible murderers are many. Also in the town of Twin Peaks, or in the outskirt forests, are many secrets, and supernatural happenings.
Season one of Twin Peaks is great. It introduces the characters well, and is the perfect mixture of comedy and drama. This season only touched upon the supernaturals that the series would soon adapt, which may have been a complaint among fans, but season two went overboard. Season two is good, but was just too much. Laura Palmer's killer was revealed mid season, and really that was the end of the show's plot. It tried to be a smooth transition, but it wasn't. Before this point, Laura Palmer was the show's star, and when she was laid to rest along with her murderer (In one of the show's most brilliant episodes), the show lost something. It went off to become too bizarre it was bordering on silly. But still, even with this season, this was an excellent show.
As for originality, this show is one of the most original shows ever thought up. It's basically a supernatural soap opera murder mystery that attracts both males and females, and has a huge cast, with each episode playing as an anthology of character observations. Season one was near perfect, season two was near great, and overall this was an excellent series.
My rating: *** 1/2 out of ****. 48 mins per episode. TV14 -
Dawny_Darko7 October 2006After watching this show I just had to write a review so here's my 1st one!
I didn't know what to expect of this, I remember the music of this when I was a child and that was about it. In the first few minutes of the pilot with Lauras death I was thinking it was going to be a serious typical US 80s Knightrider type show. Boy was I wrong! The quirks of this show is its ability to use various styles of acting and get you gripped with its twists and plots of its storyline. The characters personalities are intriguing and you may soon start interests for them and wondering what will befall them next along with a lot of strange, exciting and twisted things that would happen, not forgetting the humour of which there is a lot of not all obvious. David Duchovny in his Denise outing was a source of a lot of fun!
Two things for me I found worked effectively, I was genuinely scared of that 'Bob' character, especially in one of his introduction visions where he crawls from a door over the carpet and over the sofa to Lauras mother which was very creepy even at 27yrs! The other thing was the brilliant and very disturbing piece of acting when Maddy was being beaten/raped/killed by Leyland/Bob and the switch between the two characters when she was being attacked really turned me and made me think of the reality that there are some people like that out there that get sick pleasure out of the last few desperate moments of someones life and a glimpse of what they are actually feeling. I really felt what was being put across there and it scared me..
Personally, the Laura story ended at the wrong point in the middle of the 2nd series, maybe it would have been better being a full series, apparently Frost and Lynch were forced to end it sooner than they wanted due to network pressures. Even though the rest of the episodes weren't as gripping but it still had LOADS to offer before it was snapped at its neck. Current shows that seem to regularly end after the 1st series definitely could learn something out of this wonderful piece of film.
There are lots of familiar faces from contemporary acting seen here in their earlier days, I was surprised to see Don Davis (General Hammond from Stargate SG-1), David Duchovny from X-Files, Billy Zane and the lead, Kyle MacLachlan also spring to mind. Overall one of the best and most enjoyable shows I have ever watched, including some fine acting especially by Kyle MacLachlan, and God doesn't Leyland with him evil grin just make you cringe! Favourite was Nadine for purely humorous reasons! lol -
planktonrules3 July 2017"Twin Peaks" is not a show for everybody. This isn't really a criticism...more an indication that the style of the program and the plot is something that the average viewer won't like or appreciate...but many others will. This is because the show is ultra-bizarre and often surreal--with strange dreams, visions, plots that go off the deep end with oddness and more. Believe me...it's among the strangest TV shows ever made...like the later episodes of "The Prisoner"...but weirder.
What did I like about it? Well, the show's music was amazingly evocative and cool...really cool. The direction was often exquisite...well crafted and distinctive. I really appreciated it from the onset. Acting was generally good, though the show had a million and one subplots apart from the murder of Laura Palmer...and a few of the characters and their stories were both unnecessary and boring (such as Bobby Briggs). All in all, a highly uneven show (later ones got a bit too weird at times) but one of the most creative ever made. Worth seeing if you have a high threshold for the ultra-odd. -
ramair3507 June 2017First of all, let me state that I am viewing the show from the lens of 2017, which is a fantastic era for television. For the last 20 years we have seen dozens of "top shelf" dramas, many which probably were inspired (to some degree) by the original Twin Peaks. I have no doubt Twin Peaks was an important show and helped build the foundation of TV greatness today. At the time, I have no doubt that it was light-years ahead of the garbage that was airing on the major networks (and honestly still is ahead of most of the major network programming, although that isn't saying much).
Now on the my review, which reflects season 1 and season 2 of the original Twin Peaks show. If you are tuning in for the first time to these shows like me (I was in college when the shows originally aired and I did not watch them), then I would advise you to skip them. If you want to watch the "new" version of the show, I would recommend just going to Youtube and finding a nice summary of the original series. Because I promise that watching 30 hours of the original series is NOT time well spent, at least for my wife and I.
My expectations were not real high as I knew that the show would be dated. I knew it would be quirky. I knew that the director has some real oddball stuff, and that of course is part of the appeal. But the show is just bad. The acting in some cases is so bad that I was not sure if it was supposed to look like bad acting, or if it was just bad acting. The story line started off good, and honestly season 1 is tolerable and had some fun moments. And then season 2 kicks it up to a ridiculous notch and never gets grounded for the run of the series. What started off as a murder mystery turns into a complete mess that reminds me of something Stephen King would have written during his drug-altered years (Dreamcatcher anyway? Yeah, that kind of bad). I love David Lynch, I love Kyle MacLachlan, and I love Stephen King for that matter. But this show is just a steaming pile of crazy bad television. Incredibly unsatisfying to say the least.
So I know I will get lots of non-helpful votes, and I'm fine with that. If you love the show, good for you, but ask yourself if you love the originality that the show brought in 1990, or if you really think this is great television in 2017. I'm sure a 1990 Corvette scored high marks by the auto magazines in 1990, but a 1990 Corvette evaluated by 2017 car magazines would slam it for being a slow piece of junk that is unreliable, gets terrible gas mileage, is very uncomfortable, and is much slower than a 2017 Toyota Camry. Since we live in 2017, my review is written from a current perspective.
Bottom line, if you have never seen the show, I advise you to skip it and instead jump into something like Fargo (a quirky screwball show but it is very well done and ultimately is satisfying to watch). Thanks for reading my review.