Returning to TWIN PEAKS After 25 Years
After a 25 year hiatus, Twin Peaks is coming back to our TVs! If you like a good mystery with interpersonal and supernatural drama set in a small town populated by quirky characters who love homemade pie, fresh donuts, and steaming black coffee, then this is the show for you.
Launched in 1990 and created by David Lynch and Mark Frost, Twin Peaks starts with the discovery of a dead naked female wrapped in plastic and washed up on the shore of the lake. The deceased is the local high school’s homecoming queen, Laura Palmer.
When another girl who was assaulted with Laura wanders across the state line, Twin Peaks Sheriff Harry S. Truman calls in the FBI. Special Agent Dale Cooper arrives dictating messages into his hand held tape recorder for his assistant, Diane. Cooper’s a great detective with many interests including Tibet, coffee as black as night, and the fresh smells of the great northwest.
Upon examining Laura Palmer’s body, Cooper discovers a link to a murder a year ago. Something bigger is going on here than meets the eye. And as Agent Cooper and Sheriff Truman investigate the final days of Laura’s life, they realize that she is “full of secrets” as is the town of Twin Peaks and its unique inhabitants, many which are suspects in Laura’s murder.
Twin Peaks had only an 8 episode first season and was a hit. Unfortunately, the show got canceled after it’s second season. This didn’t happen because Twin Peaks was a bad show, but because it was ahead of it’s time.
Serialized story telling on TV today is the norm. We can binge seasons and entire shows, not getting lost in the narrative. Back then ABC wanted resolutions to issues.
Specifically the network forced Lynch and Frost to reveal Laura Palmer’s killer against their will. This creative interference deeply impacted the show and derailed it to some degree.
Twin Peaks wound up on the chopping block and was cancelled after Season 2. This left an unsatisfying cliffhanger with the fates of many characters, including Agent Cooper, left unknown.
A prequel movie, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was released in 1992. It chronicled the last week of Laura Palmer’s life. Though interesting and original, it is much darker and not as fun as the show. One scene hinted to Cooper’s fate, yet resolved nothing.
But now Twin Peaks is coming back to TV, this time on Showtime beginning May 21st. Lynch and Frost have full creative control and have produced 18 episodes.
After 25 years we’ll finally find out what happened to FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper and many other characters.
Ironically, the show predicted this. In the last episode of season 2 in the other-wordly red curtained room, Laura Palmer told Agent Cooper that she’d see him again in 25 years.
So here we are 25 years later and returning to Twin Peaks. I’m as excited for this as I was for The Force Awakens.
There’s only five television shows that I’ve seen every single episode of: Twin Peaks, Planet of the Apes, Cheers, Breaking Bad, and House of Cards.
Twin Peaks however I’ve watched in its entirety three times. It is an incredible story. And despite the network interference, only jumped the shark with one horrible subplot in the second half of the second season.
If you haven’t seen Twin Peaks before, I encourage you to add it to your queue. You’ve got three months to watch all thirty episodes. Then you’ll be ready to return to this northwestern town that’s to quote Agent Dale Cooper is “a place both wonderful and strange.”
Are you a Twin Peaks fan? If so, let me know your opinions on the upcoming series revival.
And if you watch Twin Peaks after reading this, please let me know your thoughts on the show.
Also, if you haven’t picked up your free copy of my book Why We Need Great Stories, click this link and I’ll email you a free copy today.