Twin Peaks
Tags: avant garde, mystery, murder, neo noir, paranormal, cult, violence, magical realism, psychedelic, romantic

Plot synopsis:
=== Season one ===
In 1989, logger Pete Martell discovers a naked corpse wrapped in plastic on the bank of a river outside the town of Twin Peaks, Washington. When Sheriff Harry S. Truman, his deputies, and Dr. Will Hayward arrive, the body is identified as homecoming queen Laura Palmer. A badly injured second girl, Ronette Pulaski, is discovered in a fugue state.
FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper is called in to investigate. Cooper's initial examination of Laura's body reveals a tiny typed letter "R" inserted under her fingernail. Cooper informs the community that Laura's death matches the signature of a killer who murdered another girl in southwestern Washington the previous year, and that evidence indicates the killer lives in Twin Peaks.
The authorities discover that Laura has been living a double life. She was cheating on her boyfriend, football captain Bobby Briggs, with biker James Hurley, and prostituting herself with the help of truck driver Leo Johnson and drug dealer Jacques Renault. Laura was also addicted to cocaine, which she obtained by coercing Bobby into doing business with Jacques.
Laura's father, attorney Leland Palmer, suffers a nervous breakdown. Her best friend, Donna Hayward, begins a relationship with James. With the help of Laura's cousin Maddy Ferguson, Donna and James discover that Laura's psychiatrist, Dr. Lawrence Jacoby, was obsessed with Laura, but he is proven innocent of the murder.
Hotelier Ben Horne, the richest man in Twin Peaks, plans to destroy the town's lumber mill along with its owner Josie Packard, and murder his lover and Josie's sister-in-law, Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie), so that he can purchase the land at a reduced price and complete a development project. Horne's sultry, troubled daughter, Audrey, becomes infatuated with Cooper and spies for clues in an effort to gain his affections.
Cooper has a dream in which he is approached by a one-armed otherworldly being who calls himself Mike. Mike says that Laura's murderer is a similar entity, Killer Bob, a feral, denim-clad man with long gray hair. Cooper finds himself decades older with Laura and a dwarf in a red business suit, who engages in coded dialogue with Cooper. The next morning, Cooper tells Truman that, if he can decipher the dream, he will know who killed Laura.
Cooper and the sheriff's department find the one-armed man from Cooper's dream, a traveling shoe salesman named Phillip Gerard. Gerard knows a Bob, the veterinarian who treats Renault's pet bird. Cooper interprets these events to mean that Renault is the murderer and, with Truman's help, tracks Renault to One-Eyed Jack's, a brothel owned by Horne across the border in Canada. He lures Renault back onto U.S. soil to arrest him, but Renault tries to escape and is shot and hospitalized.
Leland, learning that Renault has been arrested, sneaks into the hospital and murders him. The same night, Horne orders Leo to burn down the lumber mill with Catherine trapped inside and has Leo gunned down by Hank Jennings to ensure Leo's silence. Cooper returns to his room following Jacques's arrest and is shot by a masked gunman.
=== Season two ===
Lying hurt in his room, Cooper has a vision in which a giant appears and reveals three clues: "There is a man in a smiling bag"; "The owls are not what they seem"; and "Without chemicals, he points." He takes Cooper's gold ring and explains that when Cooper understands the three premonitions, his ring will be returned.
Leo Johnson survives his shooting but is brain-damaged. Catherine Martell disappears, presumed to have perished in the mill fire. Leland Palmer, whose hair has turned white overnight, is rejuvenated by Renault's murder and returns to work.
Phillip Gerard is the host for Mike, a demonic "inhabiting spirit" who used to retain the services of Bob, a lesser demonic entity, to help him kill humans. Mike reveals that Bob has been possessing someone in town for decades, but he does not tell Cooper whom Bob has possessed. Donna takes on Laura's old route for the Meals on Wheels program in the hopes of finding more clues to Laura's murder. She befriends a young man named Harold Smith who is in possession of a second diary that Laura kept. She and Maddy attempt to steal it from him, but Harold catches them in the act, loses all faith in humanity, and hangs himself in his orchid greenhouse. The officers take possession of Laura's secret diary, and learn that Bob, a friend of her father's, raped her repeatedly as a child and that she began using drugs to cope. Cooper believes that the killer is Ben Horne, but Leland is revealed to be Bob when he brutally kills Maddy.
Cooper doubts Horne's guilt, so he gathers all of his suspects in the belief that he will receive a sign to help him identify the killer. The Giant appears and confirms that Leland is Bob's host and Laura's and Maddy's killer. Bob assumes total control over Leland's body and confesses to a series of murders, before forcing Leland to commit suicide. Leland, as he dies, free of Bob's influence, tells Cooper that Bob has possessed him ever since molesting him as a child. He begs for forgiveness, sees a vision of Laura welcoming him into the afterlife, and dies in Cooper's arms. The lawmen question whether Leland was truly possessed or mentally ill, and considers the possibility that Bob might still stalk the community of Twin Peaks in search of a new host.
Cooper is set to leave Twin Peaks when he is framed for drug trafficking by the criminal Jean Renault and is suspended from the FBI. Renault holds Cooper responsible for the death of his brother, Jacques. Jean Renault is killed in a shootout with police, and Cooper is cleared of all charges.
Windom Earle, Cooper's former mentor and FBI partner, comes to Twin Peaks seeking revenge because Cooper had an affair with Earle's wife, Caroline, while she had been under his protection as a witness to a federal crime. Earle went mad, killed Caroline, and stabbed Cooper. He was committed to a mental institution but escaped, hiding out in the woods near Twin Peaks. He plays a twisted game of chess with Cooper in which someone dies each time he captures an opponent's piece.
Cooper tries to discover the origin and whereabouts of Bob, and learns more about the mysteries of the dark woods surrounding Twin Peaks. He learns of the existence of the White Lodge and the Black Lodge, two extra-dimensional realms whose gateways reside somewhere in the woods. Cooper learns that Bob, the Giant, and the Man From Another Place all come from one of the two lodges. Meanwhile, Bob restlessly seeks another host. Josie Packard dies mysteriously during Truman and Cooper's attempt to apprehend her for shooting Cooper. At the moment of her death, Bob briefly appears to Cooper, drawn by her fear.
Cooper falls in love with a new girl in town, Annie Blackburn. When Annie wins the Miss Twin Peaks contest, Earle kidnaps her and takes her to the Black Lodge entrance in Glastonbury Grove. Cooper realizes that Earle's real reason for being in Twin Peaks is to gain entrance into the Black Lodge and harness its power for himself, and that his chess game has been an elaborate decoy. With clues from Deputy Andy and the Log Lady, Cooper discovers the entrance to the Lodge, which turns out to be the red-curtained room from his dream. He is greeted by the Man From Another Place, the giant, and the spirit of Laura Palmer, who each give Cooper coded prophecies about his future and demonstrate the properties of the Black Lodge, which defies the laws of time and space. Searching for Annie and Earle, Cooper encounters doppelgängers of various dead people, including Maddy Ferguson and Leland Palmer, who taunt him with strange denials, warnings, and falsehoods. The doppelgängers eventually lead Cooper to Earle, who demands that Cooper give up his soul in exchange for Annie's life. Cooper agrees and Earle stabs him. Seconds later, Killer Bob appears and reverses time in the Lodge. Bob tells Cooper that Earle cannot ask for his soul and then kills Earle and takes his soul. Bob then turns on Cooper, who experiences fear for the first time in the Lodge. Cooper flees, pursued by Bob and a doppelgänger of himself.
Some time after entering the Lodge, Cooper and Annie reappear in the woods. They are discovered by Sheriff Truman, who has been waiting for them since he saw Cooper disappear. Annie is bloodied and hospitalized, but Cooper's injuries are minor enough that Doctor Hayward is able to treat them in Cooper's room at the Great Northern Hotel. Upon waking, Cooper asks about Annie's condition, and then states he needs to brush his teeth. When Cooper enters the bathroom and looks into the mirror, his reflection is Bob, revealing that he is Cooper's doppelgänger from the Black Lodge. He then rams his head into the mirror and, while laughing maniacally, repeatedly mocks his earlier question about Annie's condition.

Review: 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Possibly 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...
"Twin Peaks" was created by David Lynch (arguably the finest American film-maker, along with Martin Scorsese, living today) and over two very abbreviated seasons (only 29 total episodes) television reached an age that may never be experienced again.
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.
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).
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).
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..
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.
Twin 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.
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.
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.
SPOILER: I'd just started watching the 2017 version of Twin Peaks, but realised that I was a little hazy about some of the characters from the old series, so I've just binge-watched all 30 original episodes.
In a bad way.In short, Twin Peaks, while fondly remembered, was actually pretty terrible for almost half it's entire running length and while some of the performances still stand up - MacLachlan, Beymer, Fenn and Wise in particular - it probably would have been a better series if all the other hands on the tiller in season two hadn't flailed around trying to find a series of plot lines, and more importantly a tone - that worked.
"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.
that is simply not a good argument, x files was old too and i loved it, twin peaks is dull and not even remotely scary.this show is consisted of a dull storyline, unfit music and stupid actors who have no idea of how they should act, all these elements and much more that i can't recall right now makes this show a cheap attempt to what i don't know, if their purpose was to make a horror series i have to say they failed big time, throughout the show i felt everything but horror, even laughing occasionally occasionally..
25 years old and as good as ever, probably because this show is a flawless mix of different styles: horror, parody, nostalgia, mystery, humour and more, which makes it completely original.Of course, the storyline isn't perfect and maybe some of the character plots are a bit redundant, especially in the second season, but who cares?
This all wouldn't work if Lynch couldn't manage to weave a unique spell around the viewer that seduces him into a reality permeated by mythical truths that can be taken as profound and lightweight at the same time.Focal point of course is FBI Agent Dale Cooper whose idiosyncratic methods to find a murderer are based more on intuition than logic, but he's just one of the oddball characters that make "Twin Peaks" a real treat: Meet - among others - e.g. Deputy Andy (Stan Laurel inspired), FBI Regional Bureau Chief Gordon Cole with a hearing problem (Lynch himself), a dwarf, a giant and a shady presence with the common name Bob to name just a few.
After having watched a few episodes from the first season of 'Twin Peaks' it struck me that this is a series that manages what virtually no other has before it, or since.
The attributes of the small town named after its dramatic natural surroundings invites the viewer into a world where secrets are kept, and where information is only available through careful observation and analytical thinking, as well as a keen sensibility to the spiritual, or perhaps emotional aspects of the human psyche.Special Agent Cooper, the man who arrives in 'Twin Peaks' in order to investigate the murder of Laura Palmer seems to possess all of these attributes, enabling him to painstakingly yet elegantly work his way through the layers of understanding and deception before him, and us.
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...
But over the course of the past few years I have managed to get my hands on the DVD's, and after watching The second Episode of Season 1, I was glued to the TV, mainly because of the Horror part of the show, The murder of Laura Palmer, Bob, LMFAP, The Giant, Mike, and The Waiting Room were my main interest.
But managed to get back to the point at the last 2 episodes of the series which I was happy with.They simply don't make shows like this anymore, but had David Lynch got the rights to make a season 3 and filled in all the gaps and cleared up all those unanswered questions, Twin Peaks would have got the recognition it deserves.If you've seen this, My advice is watch the movie, "Fire Walk With Me", which was a Prequel to the series which somehow clears up most unanswered questions, but not all.Unpredictable, weird, scary, and some scenes of comedy.
In a time when sitcoms, cop shows and medical dramas culminated, David Lynch and Mark Frost managed to change the face of television forever with their groundbreaking cult TV show Twin Peaks.The recipe was simple.
I've recently started to watch Twin Peaks for the first time and I can say it already found its place among my favorite TV shows.My highlights of the show:The characters are so real.
Twin Peaks appeared as a two season television series, initially to soaring audience interest, and then largely ignored except for the art-house cult that like most Lynch productions.
However, Twin Peaks featured exceptional dialogue, tasteful scenery, beautiful, well written characters and a sense of intrigue and profound suspense, taking place in a quaint, idiosyncratic logging town near Canada, where a senior school girl has been murdered, for unknown reasons.The crime is investigated by Kyle Maclachlan's character Dale Cooper - a clean cut FBI agent surrounded by likely suspects; failed, hateful lovers, corrupt wealth, drug smugglers, small town losers, a wacky psychiatrist and a handful of eccentric, possibly insane people that appear throughout the show, enabling all sorts of symbolism and dramatic experimentation in an otherwise highly conventional genre.
After 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.
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 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.
All kind of weird stuff happens to Dale in Twin Peaks.David Lynch created this excellent TV series and it ran in the years 1990-91.I myself saw this show first time in 1991 when I wasn't even ten years old yet.I'm pretty sure I couldn't follow everything that was happening in the show back then.Second time I saw this in 1995 and the third time in 2000 and yesterday I saw the last episode of it.I guess it takes a few times to watch this show to understand it completely.There were many memorable characters in the show.Michael Ontkean played Sheriff Harry S.Truman, Dana Ashbrook was Bobby Briggs, Mädchen Amick was Shelly Johnson, Benjamin Horne was played by Richard Beymer, Sherilyn Fenn his daughter Audrey, Lara Flynn Boyle was Donna Marie Hayward, Harry Goaz was not so bright Deputy Andy Brennan and his sweetheart Lucy Moran was played by Kimmy Robertson, Sheryl Lee played Laura Palmer and her cousin Maddy, Ray Wise was Laura's father Leland and Frank Silva was the scary Bob.Who could forget the log lady and many other special characters.The show kept you interested from episode one to the final episode.This was very surreal and weird show and that's why people liked it so much.Now it's known as a classic television series.
I enjoyed the pilot and the first few episodes (although they weren't groundbreaking or anything) which did a great job at the introduction of this very strange town, but what this WHOLE series needed was time to think things through, it didn't.I think this show was a good change of pace from what the average viewer watched on television during the 90's, but upon scrutinisation, the flaws are just too apparent with the most important things: the writing and development..
Sure, it lasted only two seasons, and had an admittedly weak period during the second season, but without the ominous investigation into the death of Laura Palmer and the ensuing mysteries that Lynch created over the better part of 29 episodes, Television today would be years behind the quirky and original programming that has been implemented with shows like Lost, the X-Files, or even The Sopranos.
So I decided to find time for it now and watch all episodes in sequence - as it is wise with all series with flashbacks and hints to the past.I liked the beginning and the main characters and performances, particularly FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper by Kyle MacLachlan (although I had difficulties to individuate young females at first due to their similar looks), some mysticism and Lynch's features (not too much, as I am not particularly keen on supernatural solving human issues), but then some scenes and events became protracted, and I decided I would confine myself to the Season 1...
The Story is following: The FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper has been sent to the small town of Twin Peaks, where a girl named Laura Palmer has been murdered.
Twin peaks at first is like a lot of David lynch's work.