...A couple of nights ago I watched the entire first season of Twin Peaks...in one night...the next day my eyes were burning, but it was worth it. Twin Peaks is funny, sad, terrifying, exciting, addictive and sometimes moving. It is a high-point in television history, paving the way for shows like The X-Files, and more than that, it managed to integrate wild surrealism into popular culture and made great auteur David Lynch a household name. By keeping strong surrealist style in balance with great story and character, Lynch managed to suck people into a world television had never harbored before. Critic David Thomson said in his entry for Luis Bunuel in the Biographical Dictionary of Film that surrealism is best suited to a mainstream audience, as it is both highly escapist and highly relatable. Twin Peaks may just be evidence of his claim, although the films of Luis Bunuel and David Lynch have never found a mainstream audience...but enough focus on the cultural impact of it, let's take a look at the show itself...
The Pilot episode - This is where it all started. Directed by David Lynch and created by Mark Frost and Lynch, this first episode is tight and dark, keeping the black humour and wild surrealism restrained (they had to convince studio people that this would be accessible). After the hypnotic opening credits (the robin a reference to his earlier Blue Velvet; thematically similar), we are see the somber face of an Asian woman, humming quietly to herself as if sensing that something isn't right. Then we meet Pete (played by Lynch favourite Jack Nance), a decent but hen-pecked man and his bitter wife. He goes out fishing, and this is where everything kicks into place, with the discovery of a body wrapped in plastic on the beach. Sheriff Harry Truman (shouldn't be too hard to remember) is alerted and arrives with his emotionally frail and endearingly simple deputy Andy and forensics man Will Hayward. They then discover her identity; Laura Palmer, local prom-queen, known by everyone and loved by mostly everyone. Shocked and appalled, they then decide to contact her parents. Then there are two particularly gut-wrenching scenes, the first in which her mother searches the house for her and calls around asking for her to no avail, the second in which her father, having been interrupted from a business meeting with Norwegian tourism folk, speaks to the distraught mother on the phone, only to be interrupted by the Sheriff, who informs him. The phone drops, and he and his wife break down emotionally. Then we are introduced to Bobby Briggs, Captain of the high-school football time and supposed "girlfriend" of Laura, who is making out with ditsy waitress Shelley Johnston in his car. A police car rushes past them and at the sight of a metal truck parked outside Shelley's Bobby freezes in fear. Then it takes us to Twin Peaks high-school, where the register is being called out in Laura's class. Bobby arrives late and is called into the office, while deputy Andy arrives at Laura's class asking for him, also informing the teacher of what has happened. In a harrowing sequence, Laura's best friend Donna Hayward (daughter of Will Hayward, the forensics man), senses something at the arrival of the deputy and the reaction on the teacher's face when told the news. Then inexplicably, a girl is seen out the window, running and screaming. Donna, her eyes widening, glances round at James Hurley; secret boyfriend of Laura and biker. Then she looks at the empty chair beside her and burst into tears. Meanwhile, Bobby is being interviewed by Deputy Tommy "Hawk" Hill and Andy, oblivious to what has happened. Upon hearing the news, he reacts aggressively, declaring some kind of phoney love for her. Then he is taken away. The principle, also emotionally distraught, makes the announcement to the school and lets everyone leave for the day. James rides away on his bike after seeing his uncle, "Big Ed" Hurley. Then another teenage girl is seen wandering across a bridge, tortured, raped and severely truamatised. And then finally we are introduced to the series' main character; Special Agent Dale Cooper, an eccentric hypomaniac who talks to an invisible entity known as "Diane" through a recorder. We first see him driving into Twin Peaks, admiring of the Douglas Firs and ecstatic about a slice of cherry pie he recently had. He then joins forces with the sheriff, and the adventures that follow this brilliant pilot are hilarious, tragic and mysterious...
(Feeling excited now? Look it out!)
But what makes this show work so well, even to this day? Well first of all, it has a great setting; a beautiful, autumnal town high up near the mountains, where the air is fresh but tainted with corruption. Secondly, it features a great cast playing great, compelling characters. The standouts include Kyle MacLachlan (Blue Velvet) as the hilarious, sharp, trustworthy FBI man, Michael Ontkean as the headstrong sheriff, Sherilyn Fenn as the bratty and manipulative but charming and seductive Audrey Horne, Lara Flynn Boyle as the sweet Donna Hayward, and James Marshall as the confused biker outcast James Hurley. We follow these characters through a story filled with love, loss and mystery. While Cooper, the Sheriff and his deputies investigate intensively and (mostly) professionally, the kids pursue their own line of enquiry into the death of their beloved Laura, learning hurtful and sad things about her. Laura. Laura Palmer, the dark, corrupt core of Twin Peaks, a symbol of the false sense of happiness and stability in Twin Peaks, a face as pure as water but tainted with sadness and desperation. Who was Laura Palmer, really? Will we ever know? Will the sight of her pale green face lying on the beach haunt us forever, eating at us like the worms inside her corpse? The mystery that is Laura Palmer is only seen in flashbacks and movies, her hair a golden blonde, her smile white and pure, her bright blue eyes flashing. Who couldn't love her and protect her, no matter her corrupt and lost soul? Sherilyn Fenn looks right for the part, and overplays it perfectly, as Laura only exists in memories and photos...
However, the show is not perfect. It drags sometimes, particularly with the story of the Horne brothers and their exploits. Lynch was away promoting Wild At Heart sometime into season 1, so he can't be blamed for the odd misfiring plot strand...
But so many episodes are simply impeccable. They bear his trademark style; bold and frightening dream sequences, brilliant use of sound and image to create mood, visual and aural beauty and humour as black as midnight on a moonless night. The story unfolds with effortless precision, and the broken and disturbed characters are filmed with the same stark nakedness and soft tenderness that suffused his masterpiece Blue Velvet...
Highly recommended, even if you're not a Lynch fan...bewarned though, it is addictive...
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