"She’s dead… Wrapped in plastic…"




Twin Peaks started as a series in 1990, produced by the director David Lynch and Mark Frost. It ran for 2 seasons, and concerned itself with the characters and community of a lumber town, Twin Peaks, and centred on the investigation of the murder of a popular and well-liked member of this community, Laura Palmer.


It was a genuine TV phenomena back then across the world, with the mystery being a big talking point. I remember pages and pages of magazines and newspapers going through all the evidence and the theories of how was involved, who killed her, and why. It's was hellish good fun. Equally talked about was the weirdness of the series, and the quirky characters and dialogue. Finally, everyone realised there was a genuie quality in the making of the series that was so absent in many TV dramas of the time.




This thread is intended to be a running episode-by-episode analysis and discussion of the entire run. I'll try and do a brief synposis each episode avoiding spoilers in these where possible, to give everyone a chance to catch up (especially since season 1 is hard to get)



The program of discussion, which I'll update in this starting post as it goes on, is currently as follows:


SEASON ONE
PILOT - 26th March
Episode 1 - 30th March
Episode 2 - 2nd April
Episode 3 - 13th April
Episode 4 - 16th April
Episode 5 - 20th April

TWIN PEAKS - THE PILOT

The pilot does a great job in presenting all this, with a quality and style that you wish you'd see in most feature films. Lynch creates a strange, eerie feel in presenting these small town details, and has enough Lynchian elements (a screaming girl in school for example) to both disconcert and keep you paying close attention. It's a great intro to many of the characters, and having seen it, I enjoy the references to characters unseen but to come (Miguel Ferrer's 'Albert' for example).

I enjoyed the pilot greatly (4th time I've seen it), and have more to say, but was hoping some others might want to comment first...

I wasn't thrilled with the pilot. I don't really know why; it just didn't do it for me.

One specific thing I disliked was the kid out of the 50's...James is it? His acting was annoyingly over the top. However, I assume this was done on purpose, and I can see myself possibly warming up to him later (like a hot bath).

I have nothing else to say about the episode, except that obviously Agent Cooper is the coolest.

Oh and I think Lynch didn't care at all about the murder "mystery" and wanted it to remain unsolved forever. He was more interested in the weird characters and surreality, but the general public liked it for the mystery.

agree w/juntmonkey. wasn't thrilled by the pilot. way too much overacting by many of the characters--not in the good way either.

wish i had been in on the fun when this show aired originally. i remember the buzz about it, but my family didn't have a tv. suppose it'll have to do to watch all of the episodes with you folk.

how does a professional editor do this: toward the end of the pilot when the sheriff flips on his lights to pull over james and donna the shot in between shows the truck without the lights on.

Probably because he didn't have a shot that would match what you're talking about. 99% of continuity problems are not an editors fault - he can only use footage that was shot - not that should've been shot!

I never watched Twin Peaks when it first aired. I finally got all the episodes after I heard some podcasters compared Twin Peaks to Lost. I was immediately intrigued and started watching. Great, great series. Had Twin Peaks been around during the age of the internet, this would've been a worldwide phenomenon.

I remember watching the pilot the night it first aired - this is the first time I've seen it since then. It brought back all the glee and amazement and pure awe at what I was seeing. What a fantastic pilot and a wonderful jumping off point for the series.

The characters are indelible and completely unreal - but they work in the context of the Twin Peaks - both the town and the show.

I have a thing now and forever for Peggy Lipton. First in The Mod Squad and then this. And I think the actress who played Shelly is absolutely gorgeous.

Great show...I hope I can find the first season somewhere.

no, it could have been edited correctly: simply by shortening the first shot, for one option.

you seem to have accidentally mentioned shelly and peggy when you meant to tell us that audrey horne is your crush.

well that goes without saying

dom, have you ever seen boxing helena? that's the film that started my infatuation with sherilyn fenn. (that may say some things about me that shouldn't be said, but i'm no psychologist.)

yeah....really bad movie, IMO...and written and directed by Jennifer Lynch, David's daughter

I'm just too tired to write something deep about this tonight but I just watched the pilot and thought it was pretty interesting. If I can get my hands on season 1 (doubtful) I would be up for discussing it with you guys.

I've never seen Twin Peaks before and didn't know what to expect.



I agree completely. The style is very unusual for a television series. Just strange and fascinating. I rather liked it even though it was campy. It had a strange, eerie feel which completely creeped me out staying up late to watch it by myself. The screaming mother and the crying cop gave me the heebie-geebies. I need one of you guys here to watch it with me. The music didn't help the creepiness factor either.


Like Dom said, the characters are completely unreal (and yeah, Agent Cooper is the coolest) but it works somehow and I can definitely see where I could get hooked. I'm just doubtful I'll be able to find Season 1 so don't want to get too excited about it yet.


(Btw, I don't even know which one was Peggy Lipton but I think her daughter stars in The Office now, right?)

what?!? with an imdb rating of 3.7 it can't possibly be bad.

katy, yes, peggy's daughter is on the office.

fun facts, all around.

Cooper is the coolest. Truman is a pretty cool dude tho, as is Bobby's dad (who we only saw briefly)

overacting? hmmm, well, it's pretty stylised for sure, but I think the only one that didn't work completely was Bobby in places, who did look like an actor overacting in places rather than part of the twin peaks weird (I have no idea if that makes sense).

I was also struck by how young Audrey looked. Audrey was my twin peaks crush, but she looks illegal in that pilot. I'm sure she looks older as it goes on... (I hope I hope I hope).

I was also surprised how wimpy Leo came across as, becuase I remember him being pretty scary...

Looking forward to episode 1....


Katy I'll hold your hand. And one incentive to stay with it. Later in the show, David Duchoovny appears, in the unlikeliest of roles...

I haven't been able to see the Pilot. The university library bought it but has been processing it for the last month or so, I am still waiting for it to be available to check out.
Fortunately, they do have the hard to get Season 1 and I saw all of it (about a month ago), looking forward to the discussions on those episodes. I haven't seen Season 2 yet either because it is in the same situation as the pilot in the university library (bought but not yet processed by the library). I can't wait to continue with the story, then watch the movie (although I heard the movie was not good).

I wasn't the only one creeped out by the ceiling fan, right?

Laura's mom was hilarious in Seinfeld, and is apparently scary as hell in Inland Empire. Come to think of it...isn't Susan's father from Seinfeld also in Twin Peaks?

I did mean Bobby with the overacting, not "Jimmy".

Oh, it also must be said the music of Twin Peaks is fantastic, as is the general use of sounds.

these people are gonna freak when they first see Bob!

Dom

ixnay on the oilerspay

And to be fair, so are we...

"Fellas, don't drink that coffee! You'd never guess. There was a fish... in the percolator! Sorry..."


Episode 1: Traces to Nowhere


discussion to follow.

This is a great episode, and sets the tone for the entire series absolutely perfectly. We have 'damn fine coffee' (this comment was HUGE when the series aired, but was one of several) that's black as midnight on a moonless night (that's pretty black) , cherry pie that'll just kill ya, noiseless drapes, 'shenanegins', logs, brief glimpses of characters to come, and beautiful colours and more cool dialogue.

Thank goodness Sherilyn Fenn looks a lot older (and so drop-dead gorgeous) in this one compared to the pilot. LoL at the snippet of conversation between Cooper and her ('do your palms ever itch?'), and the assorted people stuffing their faces with donuts in the cop-shop. Leo also comes over as a bit tougher. I'm wondering if there was a big gap between the pilot and the actual first season.

Overall, loved watching this episode, and can't wait for the next one.

carter, fenn looks way older because she is. there was a year in between the pilot and episode one, if you didn't know. no worries, though, you aren't a dirty old man for lusting after her. she was already twenty-five or so in the pilot.

anyway, really wish i'd seen this show when it was on tv. probably would've thought it was pretty cool, but it's just dumb now, for the most part.

it seems i analyze things from a different perspective than most of you, so i'm just going to shut up about not liking it for the rest of the way and comment on other things.

"I feel like I know her but sometimes my arms bend back..."

Episode 2: Zen, or the Skill to Catch a Killer



A terrific episode, one of the best. Discussion to follow.

carter, it looks like you and i are the only ones watching twin peaks. shall we continue discussion via pms? lol.

Patience little trooper. If you build it, they will come.