Twin Peaks: Season 2 Episode 2

It is 6 October 1990 and time for the next episode of Twin Peaks Season 2.

Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Truman (Michael Ontkean) attempt to question the awakened Ronette Pulaski (Phoebe Augustine). Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) meets Laura's secret friend Harold Smith (Lenny Van Dohlen). Audrey (Sherilynn Fenn) remains trapped at One-Eyed Jacks for a third straight day.

So: one plot thread at a time. Donna heads out on Laura's old Meals on Wheels route. Her stop is to an old lady who fusses over being given creamed corn when she didn't want it. No problem: her tuxedo-wearing grandson teleports it across the room and into his hands. There is no explanation given for this, and Donna seems surprisingly calm about it. It is also the beginning of a worrying trend for Twin Peaks that will come to cripple this second season: weirdness for its own sake. In the first season, even when things got delightfully surreal, there was a sense that the supernatural elements were informed by something behind the narrative. This is the first episode where it really feels like things are getting made up for their own sake. It is not a development I like.

Twin Peaks: Season 2 Episode 1

It is 30 September 1990, and time for the Season 2 premiere of Twin Peaks.

Nadine (Wendy Robie) and Leo (Eric Da Re) remain in comas. Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan), shot by an unseen assailant, lies bleeding on the floor of his hotel room when he has a supernatural encounter with a giant. Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) is pressed by the Log Lady (Catherine E. Coulson) to investigate Laura Palmer's 'meals on wheels' route.

Twin Peaks returned for its second season with a 90 minute premiere, written by Mark Frost and directed by David Lynch. From the get-go there is something off. Much was been written about the decline of the series during its second season, particularly once Lynch left the series following its seventh episode, but to be honest the rot - if we can call it that - has set in already. There is a wooliness to this 90-minute opener. It feels somewhat lost in its own storylines, and quite a few of them are simply not very good.

Twin Peaks: Season 3 Episode 2

While in custody Bill Hastings (Matthew Lillard) admits to his wife that he has had an affair. Bad Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) goes on the hunt in South Dakota. Good Cooper (also Kyle MacLachlan) meets the Man from Another Place in his new form. In Twin Peaks, Hawk (Michael Horse) continues hunting through the woods.

I think it is really obvious by this second episode that the Twin Peaks of 2017 is significantly different to the Twin Peaks of 1991. The series is much more disturbing now, not just in content but in presentation. Scenes that would have been accompanied by a melodic score are now backed by harsh deep bass rumbles. Without the confines of a 42-minute time limit, events are stretching out to dizzying lengths, and performed with a deliberate slowness. The scratchy hand-made feel of Lynch's most avant garde works is infiltrating Twin Peaks from the sides. This all adds up. The series used to be a soap opera satire with occasional intrusions of weird arthouse moments. Now the series is a slow-boiling, constantly groaning, and deeply unsettling horror show.

Twin Peaks: Season 3 Episode 1

It is 21 May 2017, and time for the Season 3 premiere of Twin Peaks.

This review assumes that the reader has either already viewed the first two seasons of Twin Peaks, broadcast back in 1990 and 1991, or does not remotely care about having key plot points from those seasons spoiled for them. I have recently reviewed Season 1, but not Season 2. Keep an eye on the blog titles to ensure you know which season I am reviewing in any subsequent review, as I will likely be jumping back and forth between Seasons 2 and 3.

25 years later in New York City, South Dakota and the small town of Twin Peaks, mysterious events occur. That is pretty much the only synopsis you need.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 7

It is 23 May 1990, and time for the Season 1 finale of Twin Peaks.

Under the orders of Benjamin Horne (Richard Beymer), Leo (Eric Da Re) sets about burning down the Packard sawmill - with murderous intent for Shelley (Madchen Amick), Bobby (Dana Ashbrook) and Catherine (Piper Laurie). Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) successfully lures Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz) across the border to the USA, and discovers his role in Laura Palmer's murder.

Season cliffhangers were a popular technique in American television at the start of the 1990s: get the audience on the edge of their seats and then leave them hanging desperately over the Summer months before the series can make a widely hyped return in the Fall. Twin Peaks engages in a cliffhanger as well, but it does so in a typically self-aware, ridiculous and over-the-top fashion. I am not sure any other American series has developed a cliffhanger with so many characters' welfare at stake.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 6

It is 17 May 1990, and time for another episode of Twin Peaks.

The only witness to the Laura Palmer murder may be a myna bird belonging to suspect Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz) - so long as it can be coaxed to talk. Leo Johnson (Eric Da Re) plans revenge on Shelley (Madchen Amick) and Bobby (Dana Ashbrook). James (James Marshall), Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) and Maddie (Sheryl Lee) uncover tape recordings made by Laura to Dr Jacobi (Russ Tamblyn) - and hatch a scheme to get inside Jacobi's office to find evidence he killed her.

In this, the penultimate episode of Twin Peaks' first season, the plot threads are getting pulled together towards some loose sort of climax. We have one set of characters moving to determine whether or not Dr Jacobi is Laura's killer, and another doing the same thing with Canadian drug runner Jacques Renault and local thug Leo Johnson, and Audrey Horne (Sherilynn Fenn) doing her own independent investigation in parallel. It seems to be a common element of the series to run identical storylines at the same time. The series started with a string of simultaneous secret love affairs, and this episode also features Leo plotting against Bobby while Bobby plots against James while James plots against Dr Jacobi. It gives the series a weird sense of unity while it juggles its relatively unwieldy cast of characters.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 5

It is 10 May 1990, and time for another episode of Twin Peaks. Or, to put it another way, hey let's all celebrate the 27th anniversary of episode 5 of Twin Peaks.

Audrey Horne (Sherilynn Fenn) blackmails the department store owner into giving her Laura Palmer's position at the perfume counter. Maddie (Sheryl Lee) joins up with James (James Marshall) and Donna (Lara Flynn Boyle) to investigate Laura's death themselves. In the woods Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and Sheriff Truman (Michael Ontkean) discover the log cabin that they believe is the scene of Laura Palmer's murder.

There is a lot of plot advancement to enjoy in this episode of Twin Peaks, not only for the investigation into Laura Palmer's murder but also for the plot to burn down the sawmill, Shelley's (Madchen Amick) desperate need to escape Leo's (Eric Da Re) clutches, and two independent quests to find Laura's killer - one by Audrey and the other by Maddie, Donna and James. It feels as if there are more narratives simultaneously developing in this episode than other other episode so far. That's a lot of plates to keep spinning for 45 minutes.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 4

It is 3 May 1990 and time for another episode of Twin Peaks.

The Twin Peaks police successfully track down the one-armed man from Agent Cooper's (Kyle MacLachlan) dream. In addition it becomes clear that the mysterious crazed man seen in Cooper's dream and the visions of Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriski) is indeed the one person. Suspicion grows around Leo Johnson (Eric Da Rae) and Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz).

There is quite a bit of work done in this episode to tie the events of Cooper's episode 2 dream back into the main narrative of the show. For one thing, the mysterious one-armed man seen in Cooper's dream and spotted sneaking around the hospital by Hawk (Michael Horse) is actually tracked down and questioned by the police. His name is Phillip Gerard, a travelling shoe salesman who does not seem to have anything to do with Laura's murder at all. The name is a reference to the 1960s TV drama The Fugitive, which featured both a US Marshal named Phil Gerard and a one-armed man.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 3

It is 26 April 1990, and time for another episode of Twin Peaks.

Agent Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) struggles to remember the details of his dream. Laura Palmer's funeral ends in violence and tragedy. Truman (Michael Ontkean) introduces Cooper to the "Bookhouse Boys", and their investigation into alleged drug runner Jacques Renault (Walter Olkewicz). Diner owner Norma Jennings (Peggy Lipton) prepares for her incarcerated husband's parole hearing.

The problem with the previous episode of Twin Peaks is that it is so inventive, strange and unexpected that any follow-up would likely disappoint. Episode 3 is the first episode of the series not written by David Lynch and Mark Frost, and you can immediately sense the difference. This is a much more conventional hour of television: not bad by any stretch, but unavoidably somewhat underwhelming.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 2

It is 19 April 1990, and time for the second regular episode of Twin Peaks.

FBI agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) employs a bizarre method of investigation to get a clue as to Laura Palmer's killer. A mysterious one-armed man is seen lurking in the hospital where the killer's other intended victim has been admitted. FBI forensics expert Albert Rosenfield (Miguel Ferrer) arrives to review evidence. Laura's father Leland (Ray Wise) grows emotionally unstable. Cooper has the strangest of dreams.

This is pretty much the make-or-break episode of Twin Peaks. Get through it with a smile on your face and you will know this is a television series for you. Come out frustrated, annoyed, or even bored out of your mind, and I honestly think you can move on and never watch the show again. With Episode 2 the series dives full-Lynch into some remarkably odd territory - and it only gets weirder as the episode goes on. It is probably easiest to run through the episode in order from the most normal to the most inexplicable.

Twin Peaks: Season 1 Episode 1

It is 12 April 1990, and time for the first regular episode of Twin Peaks.

James Hurley (James Marshall) is interviewed by the police about his relationship with Laura Palmer. Waitress Shelley Johnson (Madchen Amick) discovers a bloody shirt belonging to her violent husband Leo (Eric Da Rae). Truman (Michael Ontkean) and Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) interview mill owner Josie Packard (Joan Chen), who received English tutoring from Laura. Laura's mother Sarah (Grace Zabriskie) has a terrifying vision of a creepy man in her house.

One of the great achievements of Twin Peaks' early episodes is the sheer number of characters that the series throws at the viewer without ever coming across as overwhelming or confusing. This first post-pilot episode juggles numerous plot threads, all of which may be related to Laura Palmer's death, and also undertakes the impressive task of interrelating half of them. It is actually quite easy when in the thick of all the different threads to overlook how carefully and slowly the episode is paced.

Twin Peaks: The Pilot

It is 8 April 1990 and time for the pilot episode of Twin Peaks.

The small town of Twin Peaks, Washington, is rocked by the discovery of popular high schooler Laura Palmer, her dead body found naked and wrapped in plastic on the river's shore. When a second missing high schooler is found raped and tortured across state lines, the FBI dispatches Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) to work with local sheriff Harry S. Truman (Michael Ontkean) and investigate the crimes.

Twin Peaks burst onto the television landscape towards the end of the 1989-1990 broadcast year, burned brilliantly for a season and a half, and then collapsed due to audience disinterest and behind-the-scenes turbulence. It is arguably that here never been another drama to last for such a brief amount of time yet exert such a phenomenal influence over the entire subsequent history of American television. The shadow cast by Twin Peaks is enormous. It is echoed in the quirky comedy-dramas of Northern Exposure and Picket Fences, the creepy mise-en-scene of The X Files, and the swathe of 'murder in a small town' serials that have continued to be produced both in the USA and overseas. Each of these subsequent works has drawn inspiration from some aspects of Twin Peaks, yet none have really managed to draw from them all. The original series remains comparatively unique.

It is also coming back: Showtime has commissioned an 18-episode third season to commence next month (it will be on Stan here in Australia), a mere 26 years since the second season ended on a whopping great cliffhanger. With the series returning, and having not re-watched the existing episodes in many years, it seemed an appropriate time to dive in and catch up.