By Plagiarize (of Dread Central)
Damn fine coffee. Cherry pie. Owls. A lady with a log. Wrapped in plastic.
These images and phrases have become part of the public consciousness thanks to Twin Peaks.
In the early nineties, a TV series created and conceived by David Lynch and Mark Frost took everyone by surprise and its impact on television and popular culture came as a surprise to everyone involved in the show. Launching with an incredible pilot with the hook of "Who killed Laura Palmer?" that drew viewers back each week, by the time the short series had run its course, ending on a hell of a multi-faceted cliffhanger that left many characters in life-threatening situations, Twin Peaks had indelibly left its mark.
A second season was not only ordered, but a full season of twenty-two episodes (with a feature length first episode) was assigned and work began in earnest. No one predicted that the hottest TV show on television would be fighting to stay on TV and end up canceled by the end of its second run.
The debates rage about what killed Twin Peaks. A move from Thursday nights to Saturday nights? The TV studio pressuring the creators to solve the mystery of Laura Palmer’s murder before they had really got their next main storyline off the ground? The weirdness of the show moving from the background to the foreground?
Whatever the reason, time has passed and like far too many shows that were cancelled early, Twin Peaks' stamp on television cannot be debated and its popularity remains strong. In fact as I write this, this very box set is creeping up the top ten DVD charts on Amazon.
Watching the second season again, it's hard not to reflect on how it lost its way — but I have to say that my favorite episodes of the show undoubtedly come from season two, even though my least favorites do too.
Peaks begins as it left off at the end of season one: Compelling and believable even as the weirdness ramps up. Early on we’re treated to a couple of Lynch-directed episodes, the first admittedly containing the worst moment of Twin Peaks involving a guitar and a pitch-shifted James, but his second (episode seven), which finally reveals Laura Palmer’s killer, is still one of the most shocking and downright scary moments from any television show I have personally seen.
From there the Laura Palmer storyline is quickly resolved leaving ... well, the next big plot line, the Windom Earle storyline, was still just being seeded into the show and all that is left are subplots. Up to that point, Twin Peaks had had one central plot tying its huge cast of characters together, but without that, the show was reduced to a slightly weird soap opera. While the Windom Earle storyline slowly starts to build, it isn’t really until episode sixteen that it becomes the driving plot for the series and the show finally starts to pick up again.
Article comments
1 - Max K
I already have the first season and thanks for shedding some light on the special features with your review. I am going to order it.