Twin Peaks

This article is about the television series. For alternative meanings, see: Twin Peaks (disambiguation).

It aired on the ABC network in the United States from April 8, 1990 until June 10, 1991. Some episodes were written/directed by Lynch and Frost, but most were directed by guests invited by Lynch. The show was co-produced by Aaron Spelling's production company and ran for 29 episodes over two seasons.

Overview

Twin Peaks tells the story of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and his investigation into the murder of a popular young local girl Laura Palmer. The programme portrays small-town America via an imaginary tight-knit community of unsophisticates. The pilot was filmed in the real-life town of Snoqualmie, Washington, not far from Seattle, in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

The gradual unraveling of the tale necessarily exposes each Twin Peaks inhabitant to unwelcome scrutiny from Agent Cooper and men from the Sheriff's Department. As with much of Lynch's other work (such as Blue Velvet), Twin Peaks explores the relationship between the veneer of respectability and the seedier layer of life beneath it. The programme borrowed generously from American soap operas in its melodramatic presentation of its characters' morally dubious activities. However, like all Lynch's previous and subsequent work, there exists a strong moral seriousness that informs the totality of the production.

The series is particularly memorable for Kyle MacLachlan's performance as Special Agent Dale Cooper, who had the most famous line in the series (which became a catch phrase): "This is a damn fine cup of coffee."

The series made use of multiple red herring plot elements and spin-offs into other media that was novel for American television at the time. While the search for Laura Palmer's killer drove the first season, single episodes would detour into self-contained plots. Most fans agree that once the killer was revealed the series lost pace.

It should be noted that each episode takes place over the course of a single day, usually beginning in the morning and ending around midnight.

Summary

Cooper quickly establishes that Laura's character and relationships are not as they first appear, and that she's far from the innocent homecoming Queen that the town knew her as. Laura had been two-timing her boyfriend Bobby Briggs with the biker James Hurley, a situation known to Laura's best friend Donna Hayward. Cooper also finds traces of cocaine in Laura's diary, a habit she shared with Bobby.

Cooper is staying at the Hotel owned by the Horne family. Audrey Horne develops a crush on Cooper and when he traces Laura's cocaine usage to a club called 'One-Eyed Jacks' she infiltrates it for him. It is revealed that Laura had also been working as a prostitute sometimes based at the club. Cooper has a dream in which he visits the Red Room where he meets the Man from Another Place and the trapped spirit of Laura Palmer who whispers into his ear the name of her killer. However when he awakes, Cooper is unable to remember the name.

The information that Cooper has gained from psychic and observed means leads him to a number of suspects but he knows that finding Laura's secret diary holds the key. This diary is held by Harold Smith who was one of Laura's confidants. The secret diary reveals that from a young age Laura was abused by a character called Bob and that her use of drugs and sex are the means she has evolved to supress Bob.

Maddie Ferguson, who is Laura's cousin and her spitting image, arrives to stay with Laura's parents. Both of them at times confuse Maddie with Laura. Maddie also becomes obsessed with finding Laura's killer and discovers that this is Leland Palmer, Laura's father. Leland kills Maddie but is captured by Dale Cooper who realises he has been possessed by the malevolent spirit of Bob. Leland smashes his own head against the wall of his cell and in his dying moment his soul is restored.

Soundtrack

Variant versions

After the TV series had ended, Lynch made a prequel movie, Fire Walk With Me, co-written with Robert Engels (a writer from the series).

In September 2002, the first season (episodes 1-7) of Twin Peaks was released as a DVD box set. The box set was noted for being the first TV show to have its audio track redone in DTS. The set was heavily criticized for not including the key pilot episode, which could not be included due to the fact Lynch sold the rights to it to another company in order to facilitate its release theatrically. The pilot episode is included in the box set released in Europe, but as of late 2004 it is not yet known whether the televised version of the pilot (which ties in with the rest of the series) will ever be released to DVD in North America, or if the version released there will be the theatrical version.

The second season is due to be released worldwide by Paramount.

The European version wraps up the story by showing Mike, the one-armed man, shooting Bob who admits to the murder. Most of the supernatural aspects of the story are toned down or eliminated.

Characters

Trivia